Kaitiakitanga - taking care of Papatūānuku

 Continuing on with our kaupapa of Kaitiakitanga - Harakeke have been preparing one of our maara this week for spring. We have sown a range of seeds as a green manure crop. The seeds will greminate and grow and then will be dug in to rot down before planting our summer flowers and food. Adding nutrients and building up the soil so we can grow strong healthy plants.

We watered in the seeds before covering them with some pea straw.

SUPER Sandpit!

 Some VERY exciting is happening at Ōtaki School! The biggest sandpit this side of the beach is being built at the playground on the back field. We have enjoyed watching the progress. We have had a close up look at the concrete pour, as well as devlivery of materials for boxing up the sides of the sandpit.

We are hoping to open it before the end of term 🤞🤞

Kaitiakitanga - turtles, plastic and Tangaroa

We have furthered our kōrero about Kaitiakitanga this week in the wake of our visit to Island Bay Marine Education Centre. Over the week we have read a number of books and watched a number of different video clips about some of the creatures we interacted with that day.

One of the memorable creatures for the tamariki of Harakeke were the seaturtles we saw there.

We watched the following clip alerting us to the dangers of plastic in the ocean. This started a kōrero about how to be good kaitiaki of Tangaroa.

We went for a quick hīkoi to the front of the kura. We looked carefully at what was in the gutters leading down to a drain. Just the short frontage on one side of the crossing.

We talked about what would happen when it rained. Where the water would run and how it would take the rubbish with it. 

We all felt very concerned for the well being of the turtles and the other children of Tangaroa. Luckily we were able to collect this rubbish and dispose of it properly before it got washed away.

The tamariki from Harakeke made an outstanding effort to collect rubbish from around the school today - protecting Papatūānuku, as well as Tangaroa. Tino pai rawa atu ō koutou mahi i tēnei wiki tamariki mā! 

Haerenga to Island Bay Marine Education Centre

We finished our week with an incredibly exciting trip to Island Bay Marine Education Centre. This is part of our Kaitiakitanga kaupapa for this term. We are learning about what lives in our oceans, creating a personal connection so that we might all find ways to take care of it. 

Dr. Victor and Elliot welcomed us to the centre and cared for us while we were there. They gave us a space to have our kai, then took us down to the centre to view the sealife there.

It was an extraordinary day! We got to hold sea stars! Well... cushion stars!

Sea anenomes! Snake stars! Sea cucumbers!

MĪHARO! It was AMAZING! 

We have been reading up this week about octopus' - never imagining we would get so up and personal with a real octopus!!! We could watch it as it slinked up the glass with it's suction cups. It's long tentacles dancing in the water. It was mesmerising to watch!

It was such an amazing experience!

We went outside to further our experience by searching for sea creatures in the rock pools outside. We each got a net for our mahi - then went to search the rock pools for what we could find. 

We found seaweed, sea snails, limpets and could see in the water other types of seaweed and kina!

It was so great to get such an up close and personal look.

We had a kai and a play at the Island Bay papa tākaro before jumping back on the bus for our return journey. An AWESOME day was had by all. He mihi mutunga kore ki ngā mātua! A huge thank you to those whānau that joined us for the trip - we could not go without you! 

No reira tēnā koutou katoa!

Oma rooooaaaaa! Cross Country

 Tuesday saw the full kura troop down to Haruātai Park to take part in our annual Cross Country running. It was a beautiful day and the tamariki ran their hearts out. It was lovely to have so many of our whānau join us to cheer then tamariki on! Ngā mihi nui!

We went for a quick play before returning to kura...

Kaitiakitanga - Seaweed Tea

 As part of our learning around kaitiakitanga we have been working in our maara outside the classroom. Growing our seeds, nuturing our seedlings. Our kakano have germinated and the tipu are growing. We want to ensure they continue to grow strong and so look for ways to nuture them. Seaweed tea gives nutrients to grow strong and is very easy to make. We made a trip to the beach to gather seaweed for this purpose.

On the way we stopped to have a close look at a banana tree. We were excited to see to see the large bunch of bananas and the type of tree they grew on. Turns out you can grow anything in 'Sunny Ōtaki'!

Then off to the beach!

In no time at all the bucket was filled up with seaweed...

Then we could PLAY! Off down the beach to the 'stick hut'!

Then it was time to return to kura for lunch.

We will fill the bucket up with water then leave it for a couple of weeks to 'brew'. Then we can use it on our maara.

Te Ika a Māui - Mahi Toi

Harakeke has been really fasinated by the pūrākau about how Mauī fished up a land. We have read the book by Peter Gossage so many times - every day for some weeks as chosen by the tamariki as we come inside after lunch. Tamariki have had so many questions about what is described in this book - as well as the art.

Harakeke created their own artwork in response to their interest. We have worked on this over a number of days. Only a picture of each tamaiti features instead of Mauī. We have some pretty amazing tamariki in Harakeke - every bit as clever as Mauī.

Harakeke shared their mahi toi with the kura at Hui-a-Kura.