Tō tātou whakapapa - Family History Inquiry

After a very successful sharing of family taonga/heirlooms and stories at the beginning of Term 3, our attentions turned to digging a little deeper on our own history. We became curious! What caused our ancestors to move around? What experiences did they have? A great chance to make some connections not only to our Aotearoa New Zealand History Inquiry but also some of the history of the world at large. 

We began exploring, by interviewing family, friends and grandparents and doing some background research. Then it was time to sort and create - either through historical fiction, biography or artistic expression. 

In the middle of all this, we were plunged back into a nationwide level four lockdown. Fortunately this played right into our hands. It meant we had a much more direct line to those interviewees. More time and space to check out artefacts, photos etc. The Inquiry rolled on, and for many of us it gained momentum. 

When we meet again, we are looking forward to celebrating this learning with each other. For now, here are a few examples of our mahi. Enjoy! 

Family story collage - what an amazing mix of countries/cultures!

Celebrating Ngā Kōrero ō Mua - NZ History Inquiry

 This week we celebrated the end of the first part of our NZ History Inquiry, Ngā Kōrero ō Mua. Students have been investigating different topics within our rich national and local histories. Thinking hard about the cause and effect of certain events, they have produced detailed essays, beautiful works of art and entertaining films. We are really proud of the engagement and thinking that has taken place and are looking forward to connecting these national stories to those of our own families in Term 3. 

We celebrated this Inquiry with our friends from Tautoru. Our work will be on display next term and we also look forward to sharing it again during Student-led Conferences! 

Here are a few snippets of our mahi:

Will's Cause & Effect diagram about the Wairau Affray

There were misunderstandings in The Treaty between Pakeha and Maori which led to conflict, such as war and land confiscation. Although things are improving, we still see conflict today for example, Putiki Bay, Waiheke Island which is being developed into a shopping area/loading dock which is frustrating local iwi. I think that in the future the Treaty will be respected more. - Isabella W

What's happening in Māhutonga Matariki?

By Mae, Anastasiya and Emily

We are focusing on quite a lot of things, one of many would be art. For art we are focusing on Marc Chagall's work. We are getting inspired by his work and turning it into our own art. Another thing that we are hugely focusing on is Inquiry. We are doing our own inquiries about New Zealand's history and digging deeper into our history. We are trying to think like historians and see different perspectives.

Everything we are learning at the moment is hard but while we are struggling our brain is growing and developing. Don't ever forget your brain grows no matter what age! We are learning to not give up if we make a mistake. By trying again or fixing it, we all agree that this is a crucial part of learning, and we respect our learning a lot. We also think it’s important to remember to express our feelings and ideas through art!

 Art: 

We have been making at inspired by Marc Chagall here are some examples of his work:

 

We made backgrounds,  added objects and people. We are learning to use only a limited amount of paint. We use white paint to build up a shadow with white paint before adding colour which helps develop the shadow to make the colour more visible. We blend different colours depending on our background. For example if we had blue and green backgrounds then our figures would be red and yellow so they would pop and you would be able to see the objects better.

Art in progress!

Inquiry:

For our Inquiry we usually get to choose our subject, the teachers do give us some borders for our questions. We enjoy making interesting inquiries around lots of different subjects. At the moment we are doing Inquiry around NZ history, we talked to some people and asked them what they are doing for inquiry. Most people are doing things about Māori and when  Captain Cook came to NZ, We are learning to use keywords when we are finding information. 

Once we finish our research we will be writing an essay about what we have been learning about. The essays are conclusions on our research showing our knowledge about this subject. We develop our knowledge around this subject because we think that Māoridom is a big part of our history and we are always keen to learn more about it. Learning how to do essays will help us in later life during college and university. We enjoy doing essays because they challenge us. We enjoy doing this topic because it is interesting and we enjoy learning about our past.

Ngā Kōrero ō Mua - Stories of the Past

Motukairangi History Walk

This term we have been getting stuck into a new Inquiry, Ngā Kōrero ō Mua / Stories of the Past. While a new NZ History curriculum is being implemented across the motu, we are really proud of the learning we had already been doing, especially around the Treaty of Waitangi, Polynesian Navigation and the rich history of our places - Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Whetūkairangi. 

We started off by thinking about what history is and how it's recorded. How much of it is just plain wrong?

We're really lucky to have an excellent vantage point up here on Seatoun Heights Road, for imagining the past. Te Whanganui-a-Tara, the Great Harbour of Tara. How would it have looked 800 years ago?

Our peninsula history walk has become an annual experience. Each time we build a little further on our knowledge of Māori history through stories such as Ngake & Whataitai and Kupe & the Giant Wheke. This time we added the story of Hutia Kākāriki Pā at the bottom of Awa Road. Ask us what we learnt! Our scavenger hunt also encouraged us to look a little closer at post-contact history including the Wahine Memorial and Fort Dorset.

Thinking about the strategic placement of Fort Dorset and Ōruaiti Pā

We are also exploring history through our reading programme. Take a look at this term's Literacy Links document which is full of useful and interesting sources.

Reading about the New Zealand gold rush in Bright Fine Gold.

We'll continue covering the stories of our past through Literacy and Inquiry learning. We're also very excited to head over to Wellington Museum next month to take part in the Te Upoko o Te Ika programme. Ko Te Upoko o Te Ika e tangi nei, ko Whetūkairangi e tangi nei!

It's Our Treaty/Tiriti!

Our first week back at school was punctuated by our beloved national holiday, Waitangi Day. Everybody was, of course, very thankful for such a gradual return to routine. However, by Tuesday of week two we were really kicking our brains in to gear, starting with a question of national significance - What IS the Treaty of Waitangi?

A day of rich learning ensued. Read more about the social experiment our teachers literally plastered on us here. 

Through a 2018 collaboration between The Spinoff and The Ministry of Education (via School Journals) we now possess the most colourful, engaging and honest Treaty of Waitangi resources in existence.

As one of the comic's creators Toby Morris points out, Te Tiriti o Waitangi "tells the story of the Treaty of Waitangi for primary school and intermediate-aged kids, but considering how sparse education in New Zealand has been around this subject, we think the adults might need it too." You can see it for yourself here.

We kicked off our Treaty learnings by reading the comic together. We then investigated some Tika/Teka (True/False) statements using a range of resources. 

This group answered the true/false question "The Waitangi Tribunal has helped make things more fair" with "True - It's the reason there's peace today."

Learning about the Treaty inspired us to do something about our own unfair dot/non-dot situation. 

At the end of the day we reflected on how our Dots/Non-dots social experiment connected to our Treaty of Waitangi learning. 

How does this connect to the treaty of Waitangi? Because the British took over New Zealand 🇳🇿 and bossed the Maori around (that was the dots which was not me). But later the British listened to the Maori and switched it around (the teachers listened to the non dots and switched it around) - Charlotte C

People make agreements like the Treaty of Waitangi to stop wars and tribal rivalries. The treaty made peace between people - Billy B

I was sorry for the other people because the green dots were kind of mean. People should have a treaty so they are not told what to do as people do really mean things. We need a treaty in our class - James N

People make agreements like the Treaty of Waitangi because they don't want their selfish, mean, greedy, annoying, tattling leaders being mean to them and acting like they're worthless MUD! - Nye W

We are certainly powerful, connected thinkers here at WBS. Our Treaty of Waitangi day of learning was the beginning of an Inquiry centred on relationships. We'll call it 'He Waka Eke Noa' - We're all in this together.

Tuia 250 Vessels Open Day Trip

The Tuia – Encounters 250 commemoration is a programme of events, education and over 50 projects enriching communities nationwide. It celebrates Aotearoa New Zealand’s Pacific voyaging heritage and acknowledges the first onshore encounters between Māori and Pākehā in 1769–70. Use Tuia 250 as an opportunity to hold honest conversations about the past, the present and how we navigate our shared future. Read more about it here.

After a year in which we, as a both country and a school, have really boosted our understanding of and commitment to Aotearoa's shared past and future - being invited to the Tuia 250 Vessels Open Day was an unmissable opportunity.

The Ministry of Culture & Heritage and the Ministry of Education put on a wonderful event and catered to over 1500 kids from around the region.

We boarded the Endeavour replica, the Spirit of New Zealand and three Polynesian waka hourua Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti, Haunui and Fa'afaite. What better way to get a sense of what things would have been like at sea 250... 350... 800 years ago!

On land, Polynesian art and star navigation activities were on offer. We even got a gift bag! We heard familiar stories, like that of Tupaia, and added to our growing 'kete' of knowledge about New Zealand's history - going MUCH further back than 250 years.

The Endeavour!

Boarding Fa'afaite, the Tahitian va'a tipaerua/waka hourua/twin-hulled waka. 

Exploring Fa'afaite's narrow, tiny cabins

Hanging out in between two hulls

Tahitian print artworks

So many ropes!

Fun with connectors

Fa'afaite

Haunui

Tahitian art prints

Onboard the Spirit of New Zealand

Whare on the horizon - Star navigation

Māhutonga - the Southern Cross

Tekoteko (carving) onboard Fa'afaite

A day we'll never forget.

Tuia 250's karakia is the same one we use after Kapa Haka. Here are the words:

Tuia i runga
That it be woven above

Tuia i raro
as it is below

Tuia i waho
Woven without,

Tuia i roto
as it is within

Tuia i te here tāngata
Interwoven with the threads of humanity

Ka rongo te pō
Felt in innocence

Ka rongo te ao
And in consciousness

Tihei Mauri Ora!