Matariki Celebrations

  Our last couple of weeks of Term 2 also saw us finish off our wonderful Matariki celebrations with a school hangi and a trip to the Star Compass.  Both events were amazing and enjoyed by everybody.  It was great to see all the children really interested in the process of the Hangi- the preparation of the pit and the cooking of the food. And when it came to actually eating the hangi, everybody enjoyed the delicious offering as you can see by the photos.

Our visit to the Star Compass was the coldest day of the year to date but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm.  We took the whole school in 2 buses and arrived there to be met by some friends of Whaia Jaquie, our Te Reo tutor, who had organised a wonderful series of activities to learn more about the Star Compass.  We found out the names of the main carvings and the stories associated with them and the significance around the stars at this time of year- the Maori New Year or Matariki.  We were shown how to use and throw a rope when travelling on a waka and also a game to learn the Maori names of the compass. It was a great trip and one I know will be a special part of our on-going celebrations around Matariki.  

We finished off the term and our Fractions unit making waffles.  They were divided into fifths, so we had fun working out how much of one we could possibly eat.  Could it be 1/5 or could we possibly manage 2/5 ?  As there was only 16 of us on the final day of the term most of the children actually got to enjoy 5/5 or one whole entire waffle!!  They all enjoyed squeezing lemon and a sprinkle of sugar to make their very own delicious waffles.