Celebrating Writing in the Māhutonga Matariki Whānau

We have a wonderful positive literary culture in our Whānau. The Library is running full steam ahead, the reader's noses buried in books and our writers too are fully engaged, creating amazing stories and poems. Beth recently surveyed our students to see how they felt about writing and whether or not they see themselves as writers. Overwhelmingly the responses were positive. We work hard at Writing and do it multiple times a day. We write for many purposes, sometimes to inform, sometimes to entertain, sometimes to convice or persuade others to think about an issue in a different way. Sometimes we write for the joy of it, seeing something of oursleves, our thoughts, feelings and sense of humour emerging on the page. This term we have written stories based on personal experiences, retellings of myths, and many poems. The poems below invite a comparison between a chosen animal and some of the kid's attributes and behaviours. A good challenge which involve the students thinking creatively, choosing the best words and arranging them in the best order and working with a set form. Enjoy!

Kaitiaki of our coast!

This week, Māhutonga Matariki took a trip down to Worser Bay Beach, where we took turns sailing and exploring the coastline. 

Year 5/6 students proved themselves to be great leaders and encouragers of our Year 4 students, for some of whom had not experienced sailing before. 

As the day progressed, we transitioned from sailing to a different kind of exploration – delving into the mysteries of marine life with a plankton net. As kaitiaki of the coast, we test the health of the marine ecosystems. With guidance from experts of the Moanamana team, we dipped our net into the water, eager to uncover the hidden inhabitants of the ocean. 

To our amazement, our nets yielded a diverse array of plankton, tiny organisms that play a crucial role in the ocean's ecosystem. Through careful observation and identification, we gained insights into the health of the ocean around Worser Bay. We investigated the health of the rock pools as well, with some fascinating discoveries of peculiar and otherworldly creatures.

The Theme is Adventure: Camp, Philosophy and Hobbits!

We have begun reading the Hobbit. Of course it is a book of great adventure, risk taking, amazing learnings and incredible rewards. Unpacking the them in our Philosophy for Children session (P4C) we came up with questions and considerations and then noted that we have experienced many of the same things at camp last week. Amazing challenges and wonderful rewards!

Examples of the questions we asked: *What happens when we accept the call to adventure? * Why do we fear the unknown? *Why do we focus on our fears and the negatives? *Can we change fate? *How much are our lives determined by free choice? It is interesting to reflect on our real life experiences and compare them to the experiences and adventures of characters such as Bilbo Baggins.

Rooster Art after Picasso

You may never have seen roosters like these before. That's because they are wild roosters, dancing crowing arguing roosters. We used Picasso again as an artist model and got adventurous, drawing spontaneous, loose lines and then using bpunchy colour to bring the vibrant creatures to life.

We used pastel and coloured paper collage to produce the dynamic colour. Come in to see the artworks in our classroom/gallery.

Exploring Poetry: Haiku, Limericks, and Found Poetry

We have been delving into the diverse world of poetry. Poetry comes in many forms, each with its own unique structure and style. In Māhutonga Matariki, we have been looking at three distinct types: Haiku, Limericks, and Found Poetry.

Haiku, originating from Japan, is a minimalist form of poetry. It consists of just three lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5. Haiku often captures fleeting moments or nature scenes with simplicity and depth. We spent time outside in the garden observing the natural environment, using our senses as an observational tool.

Limericks, on the other hand, are known for their playful nature and humour. They follow a specific rhyme scheme (AABBA) and typically feature five lines. Limericks are often light-hearted and witty, making them very fun to read and write.

Lastly, Found Poetry is a creative form that involves repurposing existing texts to create something new. This could involve rearranging words from a newspaper article, book, or any other written material to craft a poem with a unique meaning and tone. In Māhutonga, we used an old copy of 'Matilda' and 'Little Women' to create 'Blackout Poetry'. We looked for 'golden nugget' words and built our poetry around these rich words. We published our poems onto A3 paper which looks great (but it took us a long time to 'black out'!)

Happy writing!

Moanamana: Sharing our Learning

We are going to be spending some time in the rockpools/intertidal zone again this year. Our very keen marine scientists are itching to get involved in data collection, contributing to a pool of information being gathered by schools on the peninsular. Before we do this we wanted to give the new students to Mahutonga Matariki an overview of last year's learning.

Katie Fenton, our mentor marine scientist then did a presentation which explained her research. She is looking at environmental impacts on Kai Moana in a small East Coast, Ngati Porou community. Students were fascinated and full of questions. Katie will continue to work with us this year. A great role model!

Henare is Back!

Henare has been helping us prepare for tomorrow's Mihi Whakatau. He has amazing knowledge and knows how to lift the enthusiasm within our group. It is great to be back into the swing of it and our new Kapa Haka leaders are looking and sounding really good. Come see us in action tomorrow.