Tuesday 25 June 2013

Nga Tamatoa

Check out this video of the Nga Tamatoa group performing at assembly last week.   This is a leadership group for senior boys lead by Matua Whaitiri.  They demonstrated what they have been learning over the past 10 weeks.  This group has been developing their leadership, discipline and confidence through the learning of Haka, Patere (chant) and Mau Rakau (long sticks).

Ka pai to mahi Nga Tamatoa!

Sunday 23 June 2013

Matariki @EHS

We have been celebrating Matariki 2013 in lots of ways at Eastern Hutt School. Here are some photos of some of what we have been doing across the school. Click on the link to be taken to each blog post.


Waiata for C1



A9 News : Matariki News

It's Matariki this week! Therefore, people have been celebrating around Aotearoa the Maori New Year.
A9 reporters, we interviewed Mia about Matariki celebrations at Waiwhetu marae.

In class we have been reading a few stories about Matariki and seeing how they are all different. We have been drafting, editing then publishing sentences about words that describe Matariki. We published these into stars to represent the constellation of the seven stars, which is called Matariki.

Here is our work.

Ka kite ano,

Ainsley and Ariana























A8
 Matariki is a Māori word that can be translated as tiny eyes, or eyes of God. It is also the name for the Māori New Year celebration and the Māori name for a small group of stars (Pleiades) that drop below the horizon in April and reappear in June. When this happens, it is the signal for the Māori New Year to start. Early Māori sailors used these stars to help them find their way.

We read three stories about Matariki and brainstormed words that summarised each one of them.  Then we chose seven words that represented each of the seven stars and wrote them into sentences.  Lastly, we chose our favourite and published it on our very own Matariki Star.































B6 (Year 1) made amazing kites 


B2 and A10 (Year 2 and Year 4) spent their buddy time reading the legend "The Star Fishes" and then they made some colourful Matariki art

B3 (Year 2) made a beautiful paper Korowai (feather cloak) and published some facts about Matariki on the laptops

B4 (Year 2) made another beautiful Korowai with facts about Matariki on the feathers and also did some art and writing about the legend The Star Fishes


C1 (Year 1) also made some sparkling Star Fishes artworks


E7 (Year 1) also made kites and then flew them out on the Senior Field - they made a great video and posted it on their blog.


E1 (Year 3) made an amazing Kakahu (cloak)


E3 (Year 3) created some poi dances - click on the link to see videos of their amazing moves!



A9 (Year 5) have been reading lots of stories about Matariki and they also interviewed one of their class members about Matariki celebrations at her marae.  They published their learning on beautiful stars.  Click on the link to watch their amazing Matariki news video!