Ko Au te Kīngi o te Maunga - I'm the King of the Mountain

 This was our mahi hei whakanuia te reo māori i tēnei tau! We translated the classic "I'm the King of the Mountain" by Joy Cowley. While we celebrate te reo every day in our akomanga, otirā i roto te kura katoa, it was a good opportunity to have some fun with this classic tale.

Seed sowing - He tohu a koanga

 For some time we have been preparing for our summer maara by sowing certain seeds inside where it is warmer. Tamariki had a choice of pumpkin or kamo kamo to sow - with most choosing kamokamo. Once grown they will take their own seedling home to plant and care for in their own gardens.

Very soon they sprouted...

Success! So we sowed some more! This time some huē and some sunflowers, with the remaining pumpkin seeds.

The tamariki from Harakeke have proven to be great kaitiaki. They have undertaken the care of these kākano - manaakitanga in action. It is they that have remembered to keep them watered in our warm akomanga. Miharo!

Things progressed...

It was time to pot the seedlings on. It's still too early to have things growing outside, but the roots needs more room to grow. So we potted up the seedlings into a bigger pot.

So hard for such little hands to manage such fragile seedlings. 

Here they are safety repotted...

Mahuru Māori

 While we whakanuia i te reo māori at Ōtaki Kura i a rā (every day!)... we are planning something special to celebrate Mahuru Māori with the motu.

We are working on an adaption of a pukapuka (book) that is a firm favourite with so many tamariki.

This week we've been working on props and learning lines... (watch this space!!)

First one tamaiti worked on the design concept for our maunga (mountain). 

Then we worked together to paint it!

Manuhiri hou!

 We had some new visitors to Ōtaki Kura this week - Ōtaki Early Learning Centre. With our focus on Whānaungatanga this Term, we have reached out to OELC to imporve our relationship and the transition of our tamariki into the kura. It was really lovely to meet some tamariki that will eventually come to us, and to meet some siblings of tamariki already with us at school. 

Volcanos!

 Fast furious fun in the sandpit after reading a book about volcanoes.

So hard to wait to have a turn!

Manaakitanga in action!

Leading to some pretty amazing creativity in the following days...

Dinosaurs are how BIG? Mokonui at Ōtaki Kura

 This term we have learnt a lot about dinosaurs. Within Harakeke are some tohunga with epic pronunciation and an encyclopedic knowledge. There has been an enjoyable exchange of knowledge and the fasination has been sustained throughout the term.

We turn our thoughts to the size of dinosaurs this week - we read that the foot of a triceratops was around one metre. We found a metre ruler and measured this out. Then tamariki compared their feet and bodies to the size of foot. 

But wait!! There's more! 

We had to make a few corrections to the shape of the triceratops foot because it wasn't as pointy as we first created it. While we were doing this the question was asked 'how big is a tyrannosaurus rex's foot?

Pai tērā pātai!

We were all a bit surprised to find it was actually a little smaller than the triceratop's foot!

Then the question was asked - what is the biggest dinosaur footprint? Pai tērā pātai hoki!

So we found out that the largest footprint ever found was from a sauropod! It was close to 1.8 metres long!!!

Then we wondered how many tamariki could fit in a foot!

A good exercise of uniform and non-uniform measurement!

Then we invited our friends from Kono to see our footprints also!

Next... we are going to find out how big a velociraptor's foot is!

Rippa Rugby

 Early on this week we welcomed Josh to kura for some Rippa Rugby sessions.

The sun shone one warm afternoon and Harakeke joined Rourou for a session filled with giggles on the back field. They first practised a range of skills before a round of 'ripping'.