Inquiry: Our Stories - The stories of Tangaroa and Tāwhirimatea

Through our inquiry 'Our Stories'  we will learn about whakapapa. Whakapapa is a Māori concept that helps us to make connections between our past, our environment and who we are today. We have been learning our pepeha (our family whakapapa) and have also begun to learn about the whakapapa of Te Ao Māori (the Māori world). Māori whakapapa begins with the story of Ranginui, Papatūanuku and their children. 

You can watch the story of Ranginui and Papatūanuku here:

This week we learned about two of Rangi and Papa's children: Tangaroa (the guardian or the ocean) and Tāwhirimatea (the guardian of the wind). We made windmills to connect to Tāwhirimatea who will make our windmills move outside, and we also went to the beach to learn about the story of Tangaroa. 

We did a quick beach clean-up to show how we can be kaitiaki of Tangaroa's children (all the sea creatures) then had some fun creating some art inspired by them. You might spot some whales, octopi and fish!

Matariki writing

This week, Tautoru have been learning about the Matariki stars. We now know that there are 9 stars that are kaitiaki of different things.

Waiti = watches over the freshwater environment

Waita = watches over the saltwater environment

Tupuanuku = kaitiaki of food from the ground

Tupuarangi = kaitiaki of forests and birds

Waipunarangi = kaitiaki of rain, hail and snow

Ururangi = kaitiaki of the wind

Pohutukawa = kaitiaki of those who have passed away

Hiwa-i-te-rangi = the wishing star

Matariki = connecting everyone together

Here is a website that gives more information.

Check out some of our finished writing pieces from the week.

Preparing for Matariki

Today, Worser Bay School have been getting their hands dirty in preparation for our Matariki celebration tomorrow. 

Suz talked to us about the different Matariki stars and what they are kaitiaki of. Tupuanuku is the kaitiaki of the food that grows in the ground, Tupuarangi is the kaitiaki of the forests and birds, Waiti is the kaitiaki of the freshwater animals and waita is the kaitiaki of the sea water animals. This is why we have vegetables grown from the ground, seafood and chicken in our hangi. It is said that the steam from cooking the food feeds the Matariki stars.

Remember the Matariki Celebration, with a BYO lunch and a nibble of the kai prepared today, starts at 12.50pm to 1.40pm. Students will still need to bring their own lunch as there isn't enough veges to fill all their bellies!

Many of us learnt a new skill, how to peel vegetables! Now they definitely can't use the excuse of they don't know how to when you ask them to help with dinner!