Telling the Time - Paper Clocks

To help us focus on how a clock looks and works Pitau 2 have had super fun making our very own paper clocks. We then looked at different types of clocks such as watches, grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks and more. Then every student transformed their paper clock into their favourite type of clock.

Manu tukutuku

In Pitau 2 all of our class worked collaboratively to create a manu tukutuku, a traditional maori kite. 

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Manu Taratahi

We used native New Zealand plants which will last for a long time and make the kite light and strong. Some children stripped the middle part of the toetoe plant we will use this to make the frame of our Manu taratahi.

Other children prepared 

the harakeke, a flax. They split

 it into thin strips so that we can use these to tie the frames 

together with.

Manu taratahi is a triangle shape kite. Blake made sure that he held the frame steady so our teacher could tie our frame together.

Rows of Raupo were tied onto the frame with the harakeke. Emily-Jane, Blake and Savanna began this process for us by making cross patterns down the middle of the frame to hold it together. 

Team work was very important for us to be able to complete our kite. Myrah, Ella, Jarome and Charles joined Emily-Jane to continue finishing the sides of our kite! 

Te Iwa O Matariki - The nine stars of Matariki

We began our learning journey of Matariki believing that there were the seven sisters (stars) of Matariki but new found knowledge is being revealed that there are nine stars. 

So Pitau 2 decided to work collaboratively again to create a stunning representation of the nine stars of Matariki. 

The wishes, remembering and gathering stars, Matariki, Hiwaiterangi & 
Pōhutukawa 

The water stars Waitī , Waitā and Waipuna-a-rangi.

Our friends from Koru 3 helped us to create a mould for our earth stars  
Tupuānuku, Tupuārangi and Ururangi using clay.

 A huge thank you to Mr Boyd and his team of clay experts from Koru 3 for sharing their knowledge of plaster of paris clay moulds with us! 'Mean as' Mr Boyd!

Discovering Matariki

We have been learning about Matariki through wonderings, stories, conversations and exploration into this important celebration in New Zealand.  

 Our Matariki expert and extraordinaire Miss Jan-Hai (Wiremus Mum) popped in to share her knowledge to further enhance our wonderings and understandings of the Maori New Year.

Wiremus Mum encouraged us to share what we knew about Matariki.
"Matariki is the new year," said William
"There are seven sisters. The oldest is Matariki," said Max 

We talked about celebrations and harvest time. If the stars are bright and high it will be a good season for harvesting. If the stars are low and less visible. Hazel said "It will be cold and not very good for harvesting." 

We discovered that there are nine stars of Matariki. We were fascinated by the water stars and what each star represented. These are some of our drawings of water stars on ipads.

After learning about kites being used as maori text messages, eating hangi and rewana bread, singing waiata (song) and it being a time to remember. The children were given stars to decorate and take home as a taonga (treasure) to share with whanau. (family)