Matariki at Te Papa

We had time either before or after our Matariki session to explore Te Papa. We found out more about the where early Maori stored their food for Matariki celebrations and traditional instruments. 

Exploring around Te Papa.

Drawing pictures of the storage house.

In our Matariki session with the Te Papa educators. We listened to a story about a magical eel (tuna in Maori) and acted it out through movement and dance. 

We did a lot of leaping and twisting and turning. 

We had fun pulling out the things that were in tuna's mouth and having a dance. 

The star lab was exciting too. We climbed inside and saw the night sky come up above us. We saw the stars that our areas are named after: Autahi, Tautoru, Mahutonga, and of course Matariki. 

Looking closely as we draw. 

We found some interesting instruments in the Pacifica exhibition, linking into our current Sound Inquiry. 

Patterns

We are exploring patterns in Autahi. We are thinking about making colour and shape patterns. We are learning that a pattern needs to repeat. This was our first thinking about what a pattern is. We had to create a pattern and then explain it to the group. 

Visit the Vet

A new vet has opened in Miramar...right here in Autahi. Our play corner has been transformed into a vet for all sorts of animals. From the giraffe with the broken neck to the very sick Tui we are here to help.

It has been fantastic to hear the discussions between the students and watch them put their writing skills into practise as they write notes.

The doctor is performing surgery on this kiwi.

Making important notes about what the animal needs and what the doctor needs to do. 

The assistants are looking at the schedule and making plans for what needs to happen. 

Rakau Sticks

We have had a great morning working with students from Tautoru. It has been a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and work on creating musical patterns with rakau sticks.

Yesterday we had kids from Tuatara Kids join us for a Matariki story and some weaving!

On Tuesday and Thursday we had two different groups of children from Tuatara Kids come to visit us.  We listened to Matariki stories with them, had some kai and then did some weaving.  We got to be hosts to our visitors and show them around our class.  It was fun reconnecting with some of our old friends and being the big kids!

We are remaking our story. What did you make?

Last week we read a story called Robots and it was all about making different robots.  This week we are reading a story called Painting and it's all about making paintings using different materials and paints.  We experimented with our own paint techniques, using sponges, stamps, bubble wrap and more.  We also each had a word and had to put the sentence back in order.  Here it is!

Matariki Kite Art

After our kits flying beach day last week we did some kite art.  We used crayons and dye to create pictures of flying our kites with our families.  We also did some writing on our own about it. 

We worked on this puzzle together. We took turns and persevered.

Matariki beach day

Matariki

Kite flying Matariki celebration