Matariki

To celebrate Matariki we read the legend of the Seven Fish...

 and created some Kidpix artwork.

  We made observational drawings of our special New Zealand silverfern.

We learnt a song with the names of the Matariki stars,

 and created some artwork using koru patterns and the star names.

We read a journal story, Hauhake Harakeke, that told us how to harvest harakeke - flax.
Step 1:  We sang a karakia
Step 2:  We cut the outside harakeke blades, the "tipuna"(grandparent) blades.  If you leave the middle three blades the harakeke will live for a long time.  These are called "whaea" (mother), "matua" (father), and "rito" (baby).
Step 3:  We made our bracelets.
Step 4:  We collected all the pieces of flax we didn't use and returned them to the plant.
Step 5:  If we make something with harakeke, we should give away first one away to someone special.

Wow! What a busy week!