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!

Kei te aha tōku whakapapa? Our Family Museum

On Friday, we shared artefacts from our family history. We asked what brought your family here? Were they ‘pulled’ to New Zealand by opportunities? or were they ‘pushed’ by something happening in their homeland? What events in New Zealand History was your ancestor around for? Did they contribute or participate in some way? Would their life have been affected or changed by war, natural disasters, or something else?

What a great hook to begin the next part of our History Inquiry. 

Lillian: I loved interacting with people and telling them about my artifact and its story. I loved seeing them interact with the artifact and hold it. I also loved looking at other people’s things and asking questions about them. Seeing where things come from gives me ideas of how things looked in the past.

Ella: Everyone loved my trunk. There was a lot of conversation about it. I learned a lot about my family when I did the research by asking dad. The museum exhibition was really cool. It was displayed well and so you could see everything. It was well organised with Matariki people going through to see the other classes work first and they came to us.

Some of our students shared their artefacts with students from across the school in their whānau groups. 

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

Cause and Effect: Our History Inquiry

We have been exploring how events of the past, Ngā rā o mua, influence the present day. In order to do this we have been exploring cause and effect, observing and discussing events and noting the consequences. We have mapped our thinking using cause and effect charts and rippple effect diagrams and we are now, after sustained research, beginning to put this together as a report or essay. Many of the issues are complex. What are the effects, both positive and negative of the Treaty of Waitangi? How do Māori and Pākekā views of conversation differ? Are they becoming more alike? What were the causes and effects of the Smallpox epidemic? How did the events of the government raid on Parihaka affect the people living there? How have these events influenced people today? These are some of the pieces of writing, the introductions underway. Check out more on seesaw next week.

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Matariki Māhutonga City Gallery + Wellington Museum Trip

 We are so INSPIRED after our trip to the City Gallery and Wellington Museum.

City Gallery

We explored the latest exhibition called 'Every Artist'. We were curious about the messages/meaning behind the artwork and enjoyed trying to figure these out throughout the gallery.

We were particularly drawn to Emily Karaka's work which displayed her inspirations for her work. 

We also created our own books for a place to record our inspiration, which I'm sure will be filled soon! 

Wellington Museum

Learning about the history of Wellington/ NZ has been a focus recently. It is great to understand the formation of New Zealand with greater depth. 

'Understanding the mistakes of the past ensures we don't repeat them'  - Lillian 

At the museum we heard more about characters like the Wakefields as well as the sharing of history through the Te Ao Māori lens. We look forward to continuing this learning in the weeks to come.

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!

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.

History of Sailing

We have been learning about the History of Sailing. This is part of our preparation for Beach Week(s). This rotation has two parts. Students learnt about the history of sailing and wind turbines. 

   

Both wind turbines and sails on a boat adjust their angle and direction to capture the wind as they move. The blades of a wind turbine work using the same principles of lift and drag as an aeroplane wing, a sail or wing foils on the America's Cup boats.

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