Matariki Celebrations: Weaving Stars with Shona and Nic

Today we worked in whanau groups and worked with different people across the school. We worked with different teachers too at different times of the day.

Nic and Shona Activities

We brainstormed the names of the stars and what each star is kaitiaki of. We were blown away by what the students already knew about the different stars.

We sang the Matariki song: 

Nga Tamariki O Matariki

Waitī, Waitā, Waipunarangi,

Tupu-ā-nuku, Tupu-ā-rangi, Ururangi e

Koinei ngā tamariki o Matariki

(These are the children of Matariki)

Ngā whetū e pīataata i te rangi e

(The bright stars that shine in the sky)

Ngā whetū e pīataata i te rangi e

(The bright stars that shine in the sky)

We worked with buddies to weave stars. We used wool and paper plates. We knew it would be tricky so we discussed what Character Strengths we could use to overcome these challenges. Some of the ideas were judgement, perspective, kindness, bravery, perseverance and zest.

We watched the beautiful story of the Seven Stars of Matariki read by the author, Toni Rolleston-Cummins:

Character Day: Nic, Kaths and John's Base Group

Today was Character Day!

Nicola, Kath and John's base group worked together to create some art and music. We made kindness and gratitude cards. We also made some trees for someone that we love.

We made music to go together with a story that we read about bravery and courage:

We learnt this song:

Character Day: Scott and Gabrielle's Base groups

Today was Character Day

Scott and Gabrielle’s base groups worked together today. We started the day with a bridge challenge. Groups were given materials to build a bridge suspended between two chairs.

It was great to see students forming new friendships, taking the lead, showing bravery, and there was loads of creativity in the air!

I really liked working together to build our bridge. - Greta

I enjoyed working with the seniors - Gina

I liked how we could work with people we don’t really know - Tommy

I really liked doing something with new people - Charlotte

The quiz about character strengths was good fun - Tommy

International Dot Day- Art- Starting From A Dot

Tomorrow is International Dot Day.  Schools across the globe will be reading, "The Dot" by Peter H Reynolds. The author has challenged us to make our mark. This story links to the character strengths of bravery and creativity...

"The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “make her mark”. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe."

Read by Lily V

The story inspired us to do some artwork. We started from a dot and used our strengths of creativity and bravery to create these: 

By Clem

By Lily V

By Nela

By Marnie

By Ridley

By Greta

By Ruby

By Molly

By Emelia

By James

By Eloi

By Jupiter

By Hadley

By Ari