Freshly squeezed orange juice

There seem to be alot of mauiuitanga around at the moment. He rongā te Vitamin C! Harakeke had the opportunity to squeeze some juice for themselves to sip! Reka rawa!

 

Omaroa - Kura Cross Country at Harātai Park

 On Tuesday the full school walked down to Haruātai Park for our annual cross country. It was a beautiful day in 'Sunny Ōtaki', i whiti mai te rā! 

We sat on some whāriki under the trees. Tamariki from Harakeke were amongst the first to have their turn to run.

It was a very long way for the smallest of our kura! They did so well to finish the full track!

Ngā mihi nui to all the whānau that came out to cheer their tamaiti on! 

Bubbles - Mirumiru

 To round off our week of 'b' out came the bubbles. Just pure joy...

Beautiful Butter!!!

 Following on from the beautiful butterflies in the week of 'b' we made some beautiful butter to spread on bread.

After a quick kōrero about where butter comes from - or more accurately where cream comes from and the process to make butter - we got straight into it.

We started with the cream...

Everyone had a turn mixing with the hand mixer. Harakeke mixed with the hand mixer for a looooooooooonnnnnnngggggggg 

time..

Then Whaea Marise brought in the big guns!! Out came the electric hand mixer...

Hūrē! Nothing like turning cream to butter!

Time for bread! (Toast!!!)

Tino reka!

Waiting is hard!!

Nothing beats beautiful butter on bread! (toast!)

Beautiful Butterflies - pūrerehua at Ōtaki Kura

 B is the phoneme or sound of the week... Harakeke made some beautiful butterflies and learned about symmetry along the way... painting on one side of the butterfly shape thenfolding it in half and opening it out to reveal a beautiful butterfly!

Then Harakeke worked on a sky backdrop for the pūrerehua...

Whakapapa

 For the first term of the year we have been exploring whakapapa. Looking at our different connections to Aotearoa, as well as Te Ao Whānui. We have been surprised by some of the connections we have with each other and some of our differences.

Last week we worked on a visual representation of Aotearoa - starting with the main islands. 

Then we worked together to create the moana...

Harakeke captured the different moods of Tangaroa well...

Harakeke made kākahu representing their whakapapa. We had a kōrero about how our whakapapa cloaks and protects us. How we carry our whakapapa with us where ever we go. How our tūpuna, ahakoa nō hea,  are there to guide us always.

Padder Tennis Party!

Padder Tennis is hugely popular at Ōtaki Kura. So much so that we have a timetable for tuākana and teina to ensure that all tamariki have a turn. However it has still proven to be too much for the nohinohi of the kura! The small ball is so tricky to see. 

Harakeke improvised a net from some string and a scarf - blew up a balloon - and they were away! Even as the youngest of our kura they were able to uphold our mātāpono of manaakitanga. It was not always easy - but everyone took turns! Waiting patiently on the side of the whāriki for the timer to buzz to signal it was a change of players. Kei runga noa atu koutou!

In no time at all Harakeke will be ready for the big wide world of Padder Tennis kei waho te akomanga!