Sail Away - Parts of a Boat

 We have been trying out Yachting NZ's 'Kōkōkaha' sailing education programme. No better time, given Beach Week is upon us! Goals are being set and Māhutonga Matariki are about to get out on the water. 

In this rotation we thought about the different parts of a sail boat and how they contribute to the stability, power and movement of it. 

We connected to last year's learning around Polynesian Navigation. Many of us were aware of how double-hulled boats give more stability for ocean voyages. He waka hourua tēnā! 

Learning about the keel (or centreboard in the boats we'll use) was especially useful for those of us who worry about capsizing! We prototyped, testing our designs in an icecream container and blowing a gale at them. 

Te Waka!

Beach Week 2019 rolls on. Tāwhirimātea has spared us and we've enjoyed sunny weather and calm conditions. Good enough to construct and float a waka hourua inspired driftwood raft!

As you can see below, there is even a hoe (say haw-eh) or rudder. 

At present, she still requires plenty of man-power. 

And a support crew, close at hand. 

As we played around on our waka this afternoon - our inspiration sailed right on past. We saw the three waka hourua of Tuia 250; Haunui, Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti and Fa'afaite leaving the harbour. Haere rā koutou!

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

Mā runga i te... Describing method of transport in Te Reo Māori

We've been learning to ask the question:

Mā hea koe tae mai ai? - How did you arrive?

...and responding with:

Mā runga i te pahi. - I came by bus.



We are also building our vocabulary, learning modes of transport from plane (waka rererangi) to scooter (kutarere). Check out the flash cards here.