Maori Language Week

Tena Koutou, greetings,
We have been celebrating Maori Language Week. This year Arohatia te Reo is the theme which means cherish the language.We embrace and enjoy our Maori language and culture at kindergarten and our tamariki (children) know many lovely waiata and poi songs which they perform with great enthusiasm. They also love to sing our Natonal Anthem and you can will see some lovely photos below of them with their arms around each other as they sing. At mat time we often say "Kei te pehea koe?" meaning "How are you". "Kei te pai ahau" is the reply we are hoping for meaning "I'm good" or even better "Ka nui te ora" which means "I'm great". We have been reading some of our favourite stories such as 'Mere McGaskill's Boil up', 'The Kuia and the spider', 'Kei te pehea Koe?', Nana Mihi's Rainbow along with Maori myths and Legends. As a special treat we purchased some Rawena Paraoa, a traditional loaf made with potatoes. Because it takes a long time to prepare and cook we decided to buy the loaf but made some Maori Fried Bread to share as well. The plates were empty in no time at all and the children agreed that the bread was really, really good.

Ruby, Alex and Sasha - great friends singing our National Anthem.

Tayla, Aimee and our new friend Emma singing beautifully.

Jac, James, Tyler and Nick - Ka pai to mahi. Great work!

Our enthusiastic helpers mix up the ingredients for the Maori fried bread

Kneading the dough - what great teamwork!

Master chef Megan at work

Rawena Paraoa

We shared the Paraoa outside. It was such a lovely, sunny day.

Kimberly said the bread tasted "really yummy"

A satisfied Stella finishing off the last piece.

How To Leave A Comment On Our Blog

I hope the school holidays are going well for everyone. Our team has been attending Professional Development Courses, so we will be back with lots of fresh ideas next week.
Up until now it has been a bit tricky to leave a comment on our Blog but hopefully you will find it a bit more user-friendly now.
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We welcome your feedback and look forward to reading your thoughts and comments.
Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine.

A Trip To Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World

Due to the on-going interest in the ocean and sea life we planned a trip to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland. The children were so ecxited as they counted down the number of sleeps until the trip. They have especially enjoyed some stories about sea creatures lately including 'Tiddler', 'Commotion in the Ocean' and the ever popular 'Rainbow Fish' book. We have also noticed that the children were sitting down with our non-fiction books to look at all the photos of the sea creatures. The great thing about going to Kelly Tarlton's was that they could identify many of these amazing creatures such as penguins, sting rays, sea horses, sharks, hermit crabs and of course Nemo. Kelly Tarlton's also put on a very good puppet show which was enjoyed by the children and the parents. It was a great day out and provided a valuable learning experience for the children. I'm not sure who looked more sleepy on the way home - the children or the adults!

A rock pool with all sorts of star fish to look at

We had a great view from the conveyor belt

"Look at their bright blue eyes" said Sasha

Fish, fish and more fish

Amanda and Thomas had a good look around

Well hello Mr Hermit Crab

Anya - driving already!

James thought the Hermit crabs were "really cool"

Our clever children knew a lot about the sea creatures, especially sharks like this one

Conor dressed up like a diver

We all enjoyed the puppet show

Did you know that seahorses can change their colours to camouflage themselves?

Watch out for those sharp teeth everyone