Leadership

As a class task we had to create a google drawing and define what leadership means using either word or sentences. For mine I chose sentences and this is what I created.

Matariki Report

Matariki

Matariki is a maori new year,it is a cluster of 7 stars named the pleiades. Maori celebrate matariki in there own ways and there own believes.

What is Matariki?

Matariki is known for the maori new year,which has different meanings behind the word Matariki.  Matariki rises in late May or early June. Some maori say Matariki means the god of eyes,as Papatuanuku and Ranginui were separated. Tawhirimatea became so angry tearing out his eyes and hurling them into heaven. For many maori Matariki is a huge celebration, not just because itś a maori new year but because is mentioned as a awesome time for planting,growing and harvesting as well as fishing.

The stars

Matariki believes the brighter the stras are the better the crops will be the following year.

Matariki,

Waiti,

Waita,

Waipunarangi,

Tupunanuku

Tupuanrangi

Ururangi

Importance of Matariki?

Maori also have their own New year, Which has marked by the rise of matariki(the group of stars also known as the Pleiades stars cluster or the seven stars)and the sighting of the Next new moon.Matariki has two meanings both referring to a tiny constellation of stars; Matariki Tiny Eyes and Mata Ariki Eyes of God Traditionally, depending on the visibility of Matariki the coming season's crop was thought to be determined.

How is it celebrated?

Matariki is celebrated with education, remembrance and the planting of new trees and crops signalling new beginnings. Matariki was the optimum time for new harvests, and ceremonial offerings to the land-based gods Rongo, Uenuku and Whiro to ensure good crops for the coming year. Some hold festivals,others gather their families and have hangis. Traditionally Matariki was celebrated by gathering with whanau and reflecting on the past  years.

Our new beginning

As part of our Matariki researching we got a task to find a buddy and create a animation. The hard task we got was that it had to have something about navigation. So our one was the stars navigated them to find help. We had to write our own story, for Tyissa and I it took us only a few hours has we already had a type of plan how we wanted our story to sound like. For the animation it took us 1 week and a bit. We have 68 slides. It took us quite a few times for us to finish our screen castifing as we keeped laughing or got distracted by different things.

Last goodbye.

It was July the 1st, a normal school day, my siblings and I got ready to go to school, at the time we were living in Waima. The school bus arrived at our driveway, we hoped on the bus.  Minutes later we all arrived at school. Hours flew by and it was lunch time, my school got a phone call from my dad saying “can you give a note to my kids to tell us to get our stuff together because he would be here to pick us up any minute.”

He arrived at our school to pick us up,as we got into the car we asked “why we were leaving so early from school?” He replied to us, “Nan is unwell and your mum is gone to Rawene hospital with her.”

Minutes after we all arrived at Rawene Mum and Nana were hopping into a helicopter. Dad drove us back to Waima and called my uncle (dad’s brother)saying “there's something with mum I'm dropping Tawhiti and Brittney off at home, can you come and look after them while me and Alex head down to Whangarei”.

We arrived at Whangarei but by then it was too late, no one got to say their final goodbyes and love you’s apart from mum.  I felt like a strike of lightning struck my heart. Mum said to us “she took her last breathe just before they landed in Whangarei. No one knew she was sick as she was one of those stubborn people.”  One of the doctors came in and told us how Nan had died, “she had pneumonia” said the doctor. So many questions were asked. I couldn’t feel anything apart from nervousness crawling down my spine. Family all  gathered together at the hospital and loved each other.  I rang Brittney to tell her the sad news, no words were spoken just tears.  

My eyes closed gently and thought about all the good,annoying things my nana did for me. I had always been nana’s girl so I was in so much of shock that she had been taken so early at the age of 56.  That was a lesson to many of us to always get a check up.

A day  later community and family gathered all together in the marae, I looked around and tears falling down so  many familiar faces. I looked to my sister and she was in such of shock with tears rolling down, I crawled over to her and just squeezed her. Hours shot passed, people came and went.  

It was the final night that I would spend with her, the toko toko went around and many voices spoke about the memories they shared together. I was thinking and realized it was my birthday tomorrow. I wished no one knew because I didn’t want the day to be about me. I just had one regret and that was that I didn’t acknowledge my nan enough for what she did for all of us.

The sun rose, I wasn’t ready for this day.  Songs were sang, but it was time I had to say my last goodbye, it was hard and emotional. Thoughts were flying around my head.  But it was time we laid her to rest.

Have you ever wondered how to make a paper mache Pa?

Ingredients:

Paste glue

Hot glue gun

Sticks

News paper

Card board

Paint. etc

Firstly you draw a plan of what you would like your pa to look like from a bird's eye view, as you start developing ideas and designings you should be getting a model of what you have created on your plan in your head.

Secondly it’s time to start creating, you put the cardboard on a table and start glueing news paper onto the cardboard with paste glue. When it starts getting bigger and you're happy with you have done so far and it's starting to look like your plan, leave it to dry for a few hours.  

Thirdly use the sticks you gathered up and start making a fence, depending on what you would like to have on your pa you decide what materials you need. When you're designing is done and paper massaged and it kind of looks like your plan you paint it whatever colours you want.

Lastly you can do some touch up’s if there’s any white bits or just paint layers.

Taumarere train ride.

The last 5 weeks we have been researching about ruapekapeka and as a EOTC activity we traveled there.

I enjoyed all the learning that came with the trip, and all the challenging questions that got asked.

Frogs

Frogs

Have you ever wondered how tadpoles turn into frogs?

Tadpoles go through many changes, difficult and easy but as it starts growing it turns into nice big frogs.

Tiny frog eggs are laid in masses in the water by female frogs, then 6-21 days the tadpole then begin their lives by hatching out of there eggs into tadpoles.

The tadpole spends most of its time swimming in lakes and ponds, eating and growing. Tadpoles breathes by using their gills as it hasn’t fully grown so doesn’t know hot to breathe out of there lungs, its tail is still fully on.

The tadpole develops hind legs and then next sprouts out there arms after their legs start growing, it has a longer body how long the arms grow out to, it also has more of a distinct head.