Māori creation myth

Check out this wonderful telling of the story.  It doesn't even use any words.

Here is another version of the story.
Is this entertaining?
Does it have a more important purpose than just being entertaining?

This myth tells how the world was created.
It also tells us how the North and South Islands and even āoraki came into being.
These myths are an oral history, a way of remembering shared knowledge.  

Powhiri for our new principal

On Monday we were gifted a tonga - a precious treasure from Lauriston School.  They gave us our new principal - Mrs P.  Take a look at the videos Carol took of the amazing ceremony.

Karanga:
This is the calling on the visitors or manuhiri and is done by a woman or wāhine.

Speakers: 
There is always a speaker from each side and they are men or tāne.  They are supported in song after their kaikōrero.  Our speaker is talking about our place and the welcome we have as a school, the Taumutu Rūnunga and as Ngai Tahu.

Songs to support the speaker:

After every speaker there is a song of support.  

The Lauriston School sang to support Mrs P's speech.  The have a school song that they wrote which is very catchy and stuck in my head for ages!

Hongi then kai:

Notice that Mrs P was collected by two very important women or wāhine.  She was then placed in the middle of the group, where she was protected.  This is because she is recognised as a treasure.

After a powhiri there is always a hongi or the sharing of breath.  You shake hands or hug and press noses.  The hongi shows that we all now belong.  

We then eat kai together to lift the 'tapu'. This makes sure that we all belong.

This is the first time a Selwyn School has had a powhiri like this to hand over a new principal.  It was done by our Rūnunga of Taumutu - our local mārae right by Lake Ellesmere or Waihora.

He mihi tēnei ki Te Taumutu Rūnunga mo tōu awhi ki te kura.

A greeting to the Taumutu Rununga for your support of the school.

Week 6 Whakatauki (Maaori proverb)

This is our whakatauki for the week.  Click on the MP3 link to hear how it should sound.  Leave a comment to explain what you think it means to our learning.

Whaowhia te kete mātauranga.mp3

Fill the basket of knowledge.

Hoplite War

On Friday, the Athenian Goddesses (Allana and Elaine!) declared war on the Hoplite Army.  The Athenians had the advantage of modern weapons (Nerf Guns) but the Hoplites knew how to work as a team.  They overlapped their shields and moved together to protect the whole group rather than just themselves.  The designs on their shields represented the Greek Values they most identified with.  Thanks to Stu for his help with these.

This challenge reminded us of what the Ancient Greeks have taught us.  They showed us that team work is very important.  We can see this also in Māori Values or Kotahitanga and in the Springston A+ Characteristics.  We will tell you more about what we have learned next week.

Kotahitanga - Maaori Values

We learned about Kotahitanga with Elaine.  Some of the values are like our A+ Characteristics.  It is our class target to use Kotahitanga every day.

Write us a comment to tell us what values you can see us using in this challenge.

Kotahitanga - Maaori Values on PhotoPeach

Kotahitanga - Maaori Values

Kotahitanga - Maaori Values

This is what Isabella learned about kotahitanga from Elaine.  We are thinking about using kotahitanga in our class.  Oops - sorry that Isabella is sideways.

Taniwha