Osana & Harakeke

Last week my class and I had the privilege to experience the kaupapa (protocols) of collecting harakeke (flax). Flax is a taonga to all Maori people because they used flax for all sorts of things like for example clothing, baskets and many more things. We all walked down to Omaru Creek and talked about the rules.

Some rules were to not pick flax at night and to not pick them when it's raining. One of the most important rules was to not cut the Pepi (baby), Matua (father) and the Whaea (mother) because if you do then the whole bush will die. There were some other rules we were not to do with it

After discussing the rules we went off and picked our flax. My friend Jorja and I didn't really get to pick flax but we did get to capture everyone participating in this event. It was amazing seeing everyone co-operating together as a team. It was a short time down at Omaru Creek.

We came back to school with our flax in our hands and our class sat down quietly ready to start weaving. We were trying to weave a putiputi (flower). Some people got through it but some struggled. This was a great experience.

Even though I didn't get to do all of these things but I still had fun seeing people make the putiputi. At the same time is was funny. Anyway this day was AWESOME!!

Lisia's day at the school picnic.

Guess what?  Pt England School walked down to Pt England Reserve for our school picnic last week. This happens every year so that the students, teachers and other adults can bond.

Walking down to Pt England beach, I felt excited. But then started wondering, "What I should do first?"  When we got there everyone had to wait for Mr. Burt to tell us where.  The first thing I did was eat my lunch.

After eating a whole lot of food Jorja, Levi and I wondered off wanting to do something exciting. As we were walking, Mr. Barks called us and asked if we wanted to learn how to fly a kite, we all said YES. First it was Levi. When I got the chance to fly the kite it felt like I was going to be pulled up into the air. It was scary but at the same time fun.

My favourite thing that day was playing ball tiggy with Jorja, Tyla, Gloria, Kaycee and Neo. Even though it didn't even last 10 minutes, it was still fun. It was fun because you can get tagged easily and there was heaps of action.

At the end of the day I felt really tired but happy that mostly everyone got along. I am really looking forward for next years picnic.

Anamei making Koauau

Kia ora my name is Anamei, I am A year 7 at Pt England School. I am in Rm 19. At the end of this week some kids that finished all of their work got to make Kouauau (a flute).

First we had to cut our cube of clay in half with a string. Then we had to use our thumb and fingers to curve it like a bowl. We were pinching the clay.


Then we had to use a special tool to put lines on it. People call it criss cross. After that we had to use a toothbrush and some water to make the clay stick together. We had to do that on both halves of the clay.

Then we had to stick the clay together. And put our initials on the clay. Then we had to wrap it up and tape it because if we didn't it would dry overnight.

The next day we had to make a hole for the mouth. We used a special tool for it .The tool was sharp. I was blowing in it. We made three other holes as well. Then we had to rub it with the spoon (burnishing) to make it shiny.

Stay tuned and read my next post. We are going to carve it.

Introducing... Anthony.

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce to you one of our new students to Pt England School.  Anthony is experimenting with some creative programmes that we commonly use here at PES.  We often use these to help create and share our learning.

This is Anthony's first attempt at an iMovie, using iPhoto and Garageband  His brief was to create a quick introduction of himself and to share something interesting that others may not know about him.  Enjoy his very first DLO (Digital Learning Object) Ka mau te wehi Anthony! Awesome!