Whanau Group Activity Day

On Friday 20 May we had a whole day in our whanau groups doing fun activities. The first activity we did was tree planting with Glen from Sinclair Wetlands. First we got given dead branches with lots of things that looked like dried up berries on them. These berry like things were seed pods and when you split them open or rather, squashed them open, there were lots of tiny shiny black seeds in them. Next we went outside and planted mini Harakeke, Ti Kouka and Kowhai seedlings. Secondly we went to learn about matariki with Miss Keene. We learnt that matariki is the Maori New Year and that if the stars are bright it will be a good warm year but if they are dull and not very bright it will be a bad cold year. We also made star charts where we had to label the seven stars of matariki with their correct names. Thirdly we went to Mrs Stephen who showed us a short video clip about Tamareriti a maori warrior who made the stars. We got to do some art which included lots and lots of silver glitter, FUN!!!! The glittery stars we made are on display in the school hall. The final activity we did was flax weaving. We weaved huge mats out of old mint green blinds as well as weaving matariki fish with flax from the wetlands. In the afternoon at assembly (it was a special whanau group assembly) we shared the banners we had made in our whanau groups earlier in the term. We all had a really fun day on Friday and everyone enjoyed it.