Huts

 Today we made huts in the classroom.

We had lots of fun making our huts in groups and then using them.

This afternoon we made an iMovie about our hut.

We took photos of our hut.

We made a short video of us talking bout our hut.

We added music into the introduction.

We added our video as "Picture in Picture" in our iMovie.

Do you like playing in huts?

Maybe you can make one to play in.

Here is some of our work.

Lunchbox Legends

Our school is a Green-Gold Enviro School. 

We work hard to eliminate plastic waste. 

One of the ways we do this is with or lunchboxes. 

We try to bring our food in reusable containers rather than wrapping our food in plastic. 

We used Explain Everything to analyse our lunchbox 

and then to design a Lunchbox Legend award.

We recorded ourselves explaining what was in our lunchbox 

and why we are a Lunchbox Legend.

What can you do to be a Lunchbox Legend like these students?

Parihaka

We remembered the people of Parihaka...

Nearly one hundred and fifty years ago there was a village in Taranaki called Parihaka. It lay between the Taranaki coast and Taranaki mountain. 

This village was special because people from many different Māori tribes had come to live there. Many had had their land confiscated and needed a safe place to live – to grow their food and raise their families. Parihaka was also a special place because it was a place of peace. 

The leaders of the village were Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi. They didn’t believe in fighting. They had heard the words of Jesus in the Bible which said, “If anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well”. They told the people to put away their weapons. They told them that if government soldiers came to take their land, they should greet them with gifts. 

One early morning in Parihaka an important event occurred. The people were just beginning to move around the village when a large albatross came down to land on Tohu’s marae and left a feather there. The people believed that the albatross was a chiefly bird with much mana. By landing on Tohu’s marae, the albatross was indicating that Tohu was a great chief and the people should listen to him. The people began to follow the ways that Tohu taught them. And the albatross feather (or raukura) became an important sign for the people of Parihaka. 

The children of Parihaka were called tātarakihi which means ‘cicadas’. The older people said they sounded like cicadas because they chattered so much. The children had jobs to do at Parihaka. They helped to feed the hens and the pigs, and they helped to grow food in the gardens. They also played together and learned to dance and sing. 

One day Tohu and Te Whiti called the people to the marae, and told them: 

“Kua rere mai te kōrero ki ō mātou tāringa, āpōpō ka tae mai ngā hōia ki konei ki te raupatu i ō tātou whenua. Me noho tātou ki konei, ki runga i te marae ātea, tatari ai ki a rātou. Ka tunu ngā wāhine i te parāoa mā rātou, ka waiata hoki ngā tamariki ki te ope hōia.”  

“We have heard that the soldiers are coming tomorrow to try to make us leave our land. We will sit here on the marae and wait for them. The women will bake bread for them and the children will sing and dance.” 

So, late into the night the people of Parihaka prepared for the soldiers to come. Just before the sun rose on November 5th 1881, the children went out onto the road leading into the village. When the soldiers arrived with their guns they saw the children of Parihaka singing and dancing in the road with albatross feathers in their hair. 

The children couldn’t stop the soldiers from entering the village and taking the men to prison, but they made the soldiers ashamed of their swords and their guns. No-one was killed in Parihaka that day because the people refused to fight the soldiers with weapons. Instead they stood up to them with courage and mana.

Sometimes the descendants of the people of Parihaka wear albatross feathers to remember the dignity of their tūpuna and how they resisted giving up their land without using violence.

After we read the story, we wrote words that meant the same as peace in our raukura and prayed for the people of Parihaka.

Do you do anything special for Parihaka?

Here's Ormond's work...

Paikea

This year we have been enjoying learning our local pūrakau. This week we learnt the story of Paikea. 

Do you know the story of Paikea?
Do you know any pūrakau from where you live?

Here's our artwork about Paikea.

Maths Quiz in Scratch Jnr

 How good is your maths?

Test it on the quizzes below that Room 4 made today using Scratch Jnr.

The answers had to be made as characters. The screen recording below shows the game being played with the incorrect answers being tapped first. Then the correct answer is tapped - and look what happens!

Some of us got very creative on our "Congratulations" scene.

If you want to be able to make one of these, the instructions are on our class site here.

Making Kawakawa Balm - Part 2

Did you read the first stage of us making Kawakawa balm? It's here.

Our kawakawa oil has had time to infuse so this week we finished making the balm. 

We poured 1 1/4 cups of kawakawa oil into a pot and melted 1/4 cup of beeswax into it. Then we tipped it from the pot into a jug to make it easier to pour into our jars. All we had to do next was screw the lids on. We have each taken a jar home and are selling the rest to pay for the jars, beeswax and oil.

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

As part of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori we made a Scratch Jnr project on our iPad.

We inserted 2 characters and used the microphone to add speech so they could greet each other. 

Then we added another scene and added ourselves as a character. 
We used the camera to put our face into the character.

Here are some of our movies of our projects.
What else do you think our characters could do and say?

Here is Flynn's mahi

Here is Orlando's mahi

Here is Fenn's mahi