Clearing the Garden for Spring

Spring is just around the corner so with this in mind we cleared out our flower garden ready to replant. It was so much fun digging and hunting for worms!!

Pet Snails

We have been learning about Tanemahutu the kaitiaki of the forest and this has led to an interest in the creatures that live in our New Zealand forests including insects.

With this in mind we decided that it would be great to have some pet snails that we could observe.

Here we are setting them up in their new home.

This Years Potato Competition

Its that time of year again and at Uxbridge we are planting our entries for the Great Potato Competition at the Clevedon A&P show. This year we have planted two entries and we will keep you posted on their progress.

Where the wind blows..

Ranganui

The tamariki were keen to create a sky scene representing Ranganui - The sky father. We have read the story - 'In the Beginning' many, many times and have Ranganui represented on a panel in our playground so we already had a had a great understanding of who Ranagnui is, what domain he is the guardian of and how he fits into the story of being the Sky Father. The children came up with their own ideas of what we needed to create our Ranaganui scene and when we read the story again to check we had captured all the things that were in there we hadn't missed anything out!! 

The tamariki used their amazing drawing, cutting and painting skills to work together to get the pieces done. As we did the mahi the tamariki shared their korero and knowledge about the different things we were creating and their pride and mana was evident when the display came together in our classroom! Tino Pai Tamariki!!   

"We need lots of glitter on the sun because it shines so bright"Said Elle as her and her friend Sasha drew and painted Te Ra

Harland added that we needed to have Hihi hihi (sunrays) and the children we discussing how we made these for our Maui slowed the sun story too.

"I think the rainbows and the sun are the most beautiful things in the sky"said Sasha

Leo G did a great job drawing the clouds and covering them with fluffy cotton wool. "The story says the rain is Ranganui crying" Said Leo. G

"Star"says Stevie. she sat for a long time painting lots of whetu for our display

"The moon is actually grey but we see it yellow because of the sun" Harland shared his knowledge with his friends as we designed Marama. 

Fishing up Te Ika a Maui

A bridge with water!!

A story of Questioning, testing theories, problem solving, being resourceful and 

of course great teamwork!!

There seemed to be a plan for mahi in the sandpit today "We want a bridge" the tamariki said.  And so they gathered some pipes and water channel stands and began to construct. Upon completion, Brody says "What if we put water in it?"  "Cool idea" Tristan says.  Teacher Laura then posed the question "How would the water stay in the bridge and not fall down?"  "Hmmn" there was a pause.

Brody suggests to cover the sides and Tristan suggests using a bucket but they can't make them stick.  Teacher Laura offers some tinfoil and all then all together they tape the foil to each side, getting into a bit of a sticky situation as they try to figure out how to use it and where to put it!  "Lets test with water" says Brody as he pours some in.  "Oh no there are drips" says Tristan pointing to the end.  "How are we going to fix that?" says Laura.  "Lets put sand in" says Tristan.  And so they did, Awesome stuff, what a great mornings mahi in the sandpit today.

The leaves are being attached to the branches......

Our tree is starting to take shape as overnight it magically grew a branch with big bright green leaves!  Freya and Harland continue the mahi today as they attach more leaves to the other branches using the glue gun.  Soon our tree will flourish!

In the beginning!!

The scene was set and the Uxbridge tamariki were ready to put on a play!!  

Retelling the Māori creation story In the beginning, the children of Ranginui (sky father) and Papatuanuku (Earth mother), tired of living in the dark and so they find a way to force their parents apart and allow light into Aotearoa.

It was hard work, they could not push them apart!

Then Tane Mahuta (Leo) had an idea!  He lay on his back and pressed his feet against his fathers chest.  With an almighty heave he straightened his legs

Rangi flew up into the air and light streamed in.
Tane dressed Ranginui with clouds, rainbows, stars, the sun and moon

He dressed Papa in trees, flowers and ferns.

A great performance tamariki ma, kia ora!

The audience also played a vital role in the story telling today too, ka pai!

Little Kiwi

Ninja Challenge

We have a new Ninja Challenge course and today was our first time trying it out.  We had to climb on to the balance rope which was secured around our swing frame and use the various hanging hand holds to make our way along. What an exciting experience it was!

Creating some of our forest friends....

These are going to look amazing in Tane Mahuta's forest, we start by making the piwakawaka...

Leo says his is going to live in the trees and have lots of feathers

"And mine will fly high in the sky" says Shaan

Jack shows us his Kiwi that he has made using a stencil
and brown paint.

Jono is concentrating very carefully to paint around the beak using
the yellow brush