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'. 

Poipoia te kākano - ka puawai

 We have been seeing ngā tohu signs of spring everywhere. After a few fine days Harakeke was keen to sow some seeds for the growing season ahead. Tamariki were given the choice of sewing kamokamo seeds for themselves to take home once they were seedlings, or pumpkin. They all wanted to plant kamokamo! 

We will sow some pumpkin and huē seeds in the coming days. Some for the maara at the kura - some to give away. While whānaungatanga is the pou we are focusing on this term kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga continue to be woven through everything we do. 

Storytellers Residence Ōtaki - 'In other words Ōtaki'

 On Friday the nohinohi of Ngāi Kete welcomed some storytellers for the afternoon. They were in residence in Ōtaki for ten days as part of the storytellers residency - 'In other words Ōtaki' 

Ruth Paul (author of many books such as "My Dinosaur Dad" "Stomp" "The King's Bubbles")

Fifi Colston (author and illustrator of ,many books such as "The Last Crayon" "The Little Yellow Digger")

Peter Hambleton (actor and director)

These three wonderful people have been working on a project together and this residency in Ōtaki was an opportunity to really focus on their mahi as well as trial some ideas with students from the College, as well as with our tamariki at Ōtaki Kura.

Ruth started us off by selecting some tamariki to act out her story 'I am Jellyfish"

There were heaps of giggles as our actors tried on their costumes and acted out their parts.

THen Ruth shared her story "The Lion Guards the Cake"

"The Proud Pūteketeke" was the book up next. The was illustrated by Fifi, so she read this to us with Ruth managing a very cheeky pūteketeke beside her!

It really was a wonderful afternoon! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! 

We often talk about authors and illustrators - it was great for tamariki to meet people that do creative things for their jobs. Someone that writes for their work. Someone that draws pictures to their work. Someone that works on stage, televison, movies. All things we learn to do at school. All options for our tamariki in the future.

He mihi ka tika ki ngā kaiwhakahaere o te ahurei "In other words Ōtaki" 

He ahiahi pai rawa atu!

Ngā mihi.

He aha tō tino? What's your favourite?

 The weeks have been flying by... 'o' week turned very quickly into 'g' week! So the scientists we are we decided to look carefully at some delicious winter fruit. Namely oranges and grapefruit.

Not everyone had tried grapefruit before. So we sat them next to each other and talked about the differences between the fruit. What can you see? What do you notice?

Oranges are like circles... are like balls... are orange.

Grapefruit look like lemons. Do they? They look like flat lemons. They look yellow.

We cut them open to further our investigation. 

Do they look the same?

We smelt them - is there a difference? Yes! Oranges smell like oranges... what do grapefruit smell like?

Then the taste test - umm... some not so keen - a quick lick? 

Oranges were the universal favourite - but it's always good to try new things!

Te Manawa Dinosaur Dig

 At the end of July the nohinohi of Ngāi Kete travelled to Papaioea (Palmerston North) to Te Manawa for an educational session about dinosaurs and fossils in the New Zealand context. What fossils have been discovered here.

After talking about dinosaurs and the different things around in the time of dinosaurs that we still see today (plants like magnolias, tuatara etc). We talked a little about people that discovered dinosaur remains and fossils.  We were lucky enough to be able to handle some real fossils that had been discovered. Including some coprolite (dinosaur dung!).

We then went to another area of the museum and pretended to be paleontologists and fossil hunters. Using the tools that these people use to find and excavate fossils.

Korean War Veterans

 Every year we have the priviledge of hosting the Korean War Veterans, the army and many people from the Korean Embassy, for a morning tea and ceremony of remembrance. It's a chance to talk about the long standing effects of war on the people who fight and those that are left behind at home. The cost to all of us.

Harakeke popped out to kōrero with the visiting NZ Army members before morning tea.