Matariki

 

Matariki signals the Māori New Year. It happens when the Matariki star cluster rises. In the past, Matariki was celebrated, following a harvest when the pātaka (storehouses) were full. This is a time to farewell the dead, honour ancestors and celebrate life. 

Matariki is a time for feasting. We celebrated this year by cooking a hāngī (a traditional Māori method of cooking). 

We helped to prepare the food:

Thank you to everyone for making this happen. It was great to see our whānau at our Matariki celebration!

We learnt more about Matariki in our Whānau groups.

Lala Rolls' Visit

On Tuesday, Lala Rolls came to visit. She talked to us about the films that she has been making.  She makes short films, documentaries and music videos. These are mostly about Māori or Polynesian culture. Find out more: https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/lala-rolls We are very grateful that Lala was able to spend time with us. We are inspired by her work! 

Cleo: When Lala visited I was really amazed at how she did things for the green screen and stuff and I am really excited for when we are going to see the new movie.

Yoichi: Lala rolls was interesting of how she made the film, "The Navigators". Though they are still working on it. I can't wait to see it.

Will: I really enjoyed when the movie maker, Lala Rolls came on Tuesday to show us the animated movie she was working on, and about animating and the history of the Māori travellers and navigators.

Sabine: A plus of my week was Lala Rolls coming to visit. I thought what she did was really inspiring because she did it about History and It was New Zealand history in the Māori perspective, not the European perspective. Also it was cool to hear about what they do behind the scenes when their making movies and how much they have to go through to get the whole movie finished.

Mae: I liked having Lala Rolls come over to show us all of the behind the scenes things and how they animated the movie. I liked watching the clips of the un-released movie.

Charlotte: I find it interesting that sometimes writers have to write a draft about 30 times to get it perfect so that it can be turned into a movie.

Whakpākehātia tēnei Kōrero: Translate this conversation

Translating conversations makes us have to really use our ears, our previous knowledge and our research skills.  When two brightly coloured Teddy Bears talk you never know what they will say. 

1. E Teti Pea Karaka, kei te aha koe i tenie rā

2. Kei te hāere au ki te tātahi

1. Kei te aha a Teti pea Kākariki?

2. Kei te hāere mai ia hoki

1. Kei te kaukau kōrua?

2. Kei te kāukāu au, engāri kāore a Teti Pea Kākariki e kāukāu ana.

1. Ka panui pūkapūka ia?

2. Ae, he tino mōhio ia

Here is a translation by Finn of the full conversation is on Seesaw.

Pātaka Art + Museum Trip - Kupe to Cook

"CREEEEEEEEAK... puff!" 

That was the sound of brakes. The bus had stopped. "Boom boom!" 

Jenny's voice echoed over the walls of the bus. "Say thank you to the bus driver as you SLOWLY head out!" 

Kids pushed their way through the small bus, and quiet 'thankyous' got murmured through the crowd. I pushed through the crowd of kids, quickly saying thank you to the driver I rushed out... and fell into a puddle. I was soaked. 

Me and the others ran to the museum, excited. I glared at the pictures of warriors and ships, statues and much much more...

Mae S

The first thing we did was go to the education room where we made waka hourua. Me and Emelia made one that suffered a horrible storm. - Greta L

 In the education room we made our own waka houruas with driftwood. We learned the evolution of navigation and how (and why) navigators got to new places. - William J




At the Pātaka museum we saw a big rock and it turned out that it was Kupe's anchor stone. We thought the boat must must have been big if it could hold that enormous stone! - Evie R

 

The only thing we were allowed to touch was Kupe's anchor stone from his waka hourua! - William J

I am bewildered at how cool this experience was! We were amazed at how much Māori treasure tapa cloth - Solly Y

We stopped at a big tapa cloth. The tapa cloth was very sacred to the Polynesians. We don't have that much in NZ because the weather was too cold to grow it. - Cleo S 

We went to the Pātaka museum, in Porirua on Monday. We attended the exhibition 'Kupe to Cook' and saw some really cool things, from Kupe's anchor stone, to signatures from the Treaty of Waitangi. One of the first things we did was study a painting made on Tapa. Tapa is a type of fabric that is made from plants, and is sacred to Polynesians. When Māori came to NZ they brought Tapa seed with them, but it was too cold for it to grow. So when Cook came, with Tapa, he experienced quite a bit of excitement about it. After that, we did a remake of a Polynesian navigation swell chart, which was quite fun. We then went through the story of Tupaia, although we already knew it! The whole exhibition locked in nicely with our own inquiry, which is all about Māori Navigators - Emelia K 

We also learned that Te Maro was the first Māori to be killed by a gun and Tupaia and him never got to meet. - Stella Z

On this trip, Māhutonga Matariki learnt more about our Polynesian ancestors who were very intelligent navigators. They used the stars to sail around the biggest ocean… the Pacific! They used big waka hourua - double hulled waka - which we got to make. That was really interesting. We also learnt about a very special type of fabric or paper that Māori and other Polynesians appreciate. It's amazing to know that the knowledge at Pātaka connected with ours at Whetūkairangi. - Gina L

Polynesian Navigation Inquiry - Nik's Base Group

This week we've been studying the Polynesian navigators Kupe, Whatonga and Tupaia. Three very similar men from three very different times! Here's a three-way Venn diagram we made together today to compare them.

We are planning to make an information board for the school about Polynesian Navigation. We think it will have a map to show where the first navigators went, a timeline of navigation events in Aotearoa, background art inspired by our view and information on Kupe, Whatonga and Tupaia.

We spent some time outside imagining what it might have been like to see a waka hourua sailing past. How would our view have been different?

We plotted the journeys of Kupe, Whatonga and his sons Tara and Tautoki on a map after reading and hearing their stories.

We discussed when navigation events in Aotearoa happened in relation to one another.

Taonga Puoro

Al Fraser is a widely respected player, composer, builder and researcher of traditional Māori instruments ngā taonga puoro with a performance background. During Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori he came and visited Matariki and Māhutonga to share some of his amazing instruments and play some of them for us.

While he showed us his taonga puoro, he explained that taonga (treasure) and puoro (sound) translates into special/treasured sounds. He had crafted instruments from all sorts of sticks, rocks, logs and bones – even those of dogs, birds and whales!

These instruments are very special and unique to Aotearoa and it was such fun for us to see them all and learn about how they are made and played. Some of them are even made to play with your nose!

Tara Burton

Te Reo Māori

There's a saying in Te Reo Māori which goes: Ko taku reo taku ohooho, ko taku reo taku mapihi mauria. It means "My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul." At WBS we want to make sure that staff and students alike are able to learn and grow in their understanding of Māori language and culture. 

Many of us dream of a future where te reo is used more widely in the lives of all Kiwis. We are working towards that future now, with regular Te Reo Māori lessons as part of our programme. 

Here is a recap of some of our learning so far this year:

We can describe giving and receiving objects

We can express how we are feeling

We can express likes/dislikes

We have adopted kīwaha/sayings

We can have short, informal conversations

We can recite our pepeha

This is a mere snapshot of all our reo. All the while we have also been performing kapa haka, learning about Māori history, celebrating Matariki and carrying out tikanga Māori such as pōwhiri, karakia and kōrero paki (storytelling). Mīharo!

Stay tuned as our Te Reo Māori learning for Term 3 kicks in next week. With Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori coming up, it's going to be a big one. Kia kaha te reo Māori. Korero Māori mai!

Māori History

This week we jumped in to a bit of reading and research about the legendary Māori explorer Kupe. With our new Inquiry, Whāia Ngā Whetū (Follow the Stars), we are starting to think about what kind of place Whetūkairangi would've been when Kupe came across it over 800 years ago.

We know how beautiful our view is - now we are wondering what the tāngata whenua might've been thinking about as they gazed out at the same magnificent scene. 

We are also starting to think about things like the staggering distances covered by Māori travellers at that time, in waka hourua, or twin-hulled waka. We watched a fascinating video about Hekenukumai (Hek) Busby, who built a waka hourua and sailed to Rarotonga to recreate a journey like that of Kupe.

Hekenukumai (Hek) Busby - a great leader and tohunga (skilled person)

The most exciting part about all this is the many connections we are making with other learning areas. Not only are we building our understanding of Te Ao and Te Reo Māori, we are also developing our skills in English Literacy - reading, watching and listening to heaps of interesting stuff! There was also a chance to put our character writing skills to good use in describing Hek Busby. There are chances for Mathematics learning around Māori navigation and construction techniques and, the Arts! Don't even get us started on the Arts...

You can watch the video here: https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/kupe-voyaging-by-the-stars-1993

Kapa haka: Tōia mai

Tōia mai te waka nei
Kūmea mai te waka nei
Ki te takotoranga i takoto ai
Tiriti te mana motuhake

Te tangi a te manu e
Pīpī-wha-rau-roa
Kūi! Kūi! Kūi!
Whitiwhiti ora!
Hui e, tāiki e.

Haul this canoe
drag the canoe up here
to its resting place;
the Treaty gives us our autonomy.

May the cry of the bird,
the shining cuckoo
- Quee! Quee! Quee! -
signal a change for the better.
Draw together, become intertwined!