Taini teaches us a new waita!!

On the 4th July UELC in conjuction with the Matariki Marae and the Uxbridge Arts Centre we will be hosting and welcoming other preschools within the area to a special Matariki Celebration.  This is our first time hosting and what an honour!  Taini came to visit to teach us the waiata so we can practice our singing for the big day.  This is a special song that was written especially by Taini and teaches us about Matariki.

Star Cookies

Anu and the children made some yummy star cookies's to celebrate Matariki. The children really enjoyed using our new plastic knifes to cut the butter. They used the rolling pin to roll out the dough and the beater to combine the egg and sugar! Once they were ready we iced them and had them for afternoon tea! Delicious!

Banana Muffins!

Part of celebrating Matariki is the preparation and sharing of kai. With this in mind we decided to make some delicious banana muffins. The recipe that we use calls for the banana's to be mashed first which took lots of hard work but was also lots of fun. Then we measured and mixed the dry ingredients, mixed through the banana and other wet ingredients and stirred and stirred until they were mixed. Our sticky batter was then carefully spooned into muffin cases and baked in the oven.
The cooking seemed to take forever but finally they were ready and it was time to taste test. Yummy! 

Making Kite's for Matariki!

The Māori kite is known as Manu tukutuku or Manu aute. Manu means both kite and bird, and the word tukutuku refers to the winding out of the line as the kite ascends. Kites were also known as pākau, a name for the wing of a bird.  Ancient Maori kite flying tradition have a highly symbolic connection to Matariki.

Today we made our own Matariki Kites and flew them to celebrate the start of the Māori New Year.  It was a great day for kite flying, we were pleased that Tauwhirimatea was out on this lovely Winter’s day.

Flax Weaving

Little Kiwi's Matariki!!

When the Moran family moved on from Uxbridge to school, they were nice enough to give us a gift.  The gift was a book called “Little Kiwi’s Matariki”. It was written by a cousin of the Moran family.  This book follows Kiwi as he learns about and then celebrates Matariki with his friends Weka, Ruru, Tui and Katipo.  Our tamariki have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and we have used it as a tool to learn about Matariki.  When we asked our tamariki how they would like to celebrate Matariki, they followed the lead of the characters by suggesting Kai, time with Whanau, Music and Fun.  Follow us on our journey as we celebrate Matariki at Uxbridge.

Making our little kiwi Collage – A group Project

Aue It's coming! I must tell everyone says Little Kiwi

Haere I tea ta tu, ka puta mai ngā whetū Matariki! whispered little Kiwi, ‘The light comes, and the stars of Matariki’

Making our Matariki Stars

A change is as good as a holiday!!

Something different can be very inspiring.  We can find ourselves getting stuck doing the same old things.  And while some methods are proven, it can be fun to step outside of the box and try something from a different perspective.  Instead of setting up an art experience on the top of the table, we tried an art experience around the table!  By wrapping cling wrap around the legs of the upturned table, a new, unusual and different experience was created.  The children were a little unsure to begin, but after a little observation, they decided to give it a go.  Because the cling film is transparent, you  exercise your eyes and depth perception.  Well developed depth perception is very important for all the times you need to move around within a confined space.  Negotiating furniture, judging distance, and hand eye co-ordination are all things that benefit from well developed depth perception.  As the cling wrap moves when you paint it, you are able to exercise your ideas around pressure and force.  Touching the surface with enough force to transfer the paint, but not so much that you pushed right through is a big ask.  It will help you to learn to apply the correct pressure when you put pen to paper and learn to write and form letters, as will good depth perception.  Such a fun experience today.  A change of perspective can bring so much learning.