Te Reo meets Comic Life

In the classroom we have been learning about Te Reo. On Comic Life we've taken photographs about activities at a marae such as a powhiri. Then we thought carefully about what they might be saying or thinking and tried to use as much maori language as we can. Our visit to the marae has been a great learning experience that has helped us understand what would happen at a marae. We have all experienced what a powhiri is and now know what it is like in action.
 

This is one of our amazing comics made by Paige and Abbie. On the bottom right corner is a photo of two people (can you guess who they are?) having a hongi, a formal way of greeting, (like a maori way of shaking hands.) A hongi is made by pressing the forehaed and the tip of your nose together with another person.

 This is another wonderful comic page. In the bottom right hand corner is a kuia calling to welcome the visitors, the manuhiri, onto the marae. This is called a powhiri, the welcoming ceremony.

On this comic page you can see a wide variety of thinking bubbles, speech bubbles and even one shouting or yelling bubble. In the top left corner is the entrance to the marae, the marae atea, where the powhiri would usually take place.
 

By Cassidy Bell

Cricket coaching

Cricket coaching
From week two to five Indie and Christian (Cricket players) came in to teach us about how to play and learn some skills about cricket. Week one of the cricket we were practising our bowling at the wickets. Week two we we practised our catching for the game at the end of week four. Week three we practised our batting so if we want to be a cricket player when we are older, we know how to hit the ball properly to hit a six. Final week the big game we thought it was going to be a game of cricket but it was just some fun activities at the end some people got a lollipop for winning some of the activities Matthew came first in catching, William came first in the batting and bowling.
Written by Luke McArley

The ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy and Brendon McCallum

Yah, I got Liam out

Going to hit a six

Moteo Marae

Kia ora

On the 11th of March, Bledisloe School visited Moteo Marae for the day. We were taken on buses and needed five buses to transport the whole school to the Marae. When we got there we had a Powhiri  (which is a welcoming to the Marae.) After the Powhiri, the Bledisloe Senior Kapa Haka performed some waiata (song) and haka (fierce dance.) Then Hoani had a hongi with the teachers:


Mr Hodgetts and Hoani

Mrs Dale and Hoani

Mrs Stephens and Hoani


Hoani shared some of his pepeha with us. During the day we got into our class groups and did some activities. Room 13 started making porotitis which are small, musical instruments that you create sound by twirling them around. We then rotated around class groups so we were with Mr Holloway playing Ki-O-Rahi. Ki-O-Rahi is a traditional Moari game.



This is a diagram showing how to play Ki-O-Rahi





Once we had played Ki-O-Rahi, we had lunch. It was a shared lunch so everyone had to bring something to eat. You could go back for seconds and some of us got so full we couldn't eat anything else!

What an awesome day for the whole school. 

Here is a link to an interactive activity to help you with learning the parts of a wharanui. 

 
Written by Matthew Harvey



Storybird Publishing

One of the tasks during our literacy time was to write and publish a Word Power Book.We have had lots of fun finding ways to explore images and search for words that we can use to write a story about the images. We share these books in Storybird online with others after they have been checked by our chief editor - Mrs Dale.

Here are a couple that have been published so far.

Tohunga mahi toi

Tohunga mahi toi - Artists in residence ( Room 13)

Our amazing art is based on the New Zealand Artist Warren Pohuta. Warren Pohatu is a graphic designer and artist with a strong passion for his culture. Originally from the east coast of the North Island, Warren is a member of the Ngai Tamanuhiri tribe, with links to Ngati Porou, Ngati Kahungunu, Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki. We were inspired by his colourful images of many of our special creatures that inhabit New  Zealand.

• We had to plan and sketch our ideas in pencil first.
• We focused on getting the big image proportioned.
• Next we added in some of the finer detail ideas on our plan.
• Then we began our final copy taking care not to press the pencil to hard.
• We outlined in sharpie, adding in all the black details.
• Finally we put all the pastel colour onto the paper. We had to think carefully about colour tones that contrast and /or complement each other.
• Lastly we had to either go over with black pencil, or scratch out some of the pastel to add extra detail..

We are proud that our hard work produced such fine artwork.

Whakamihi (Give praise)

Our James K. Baxter poetry

We began with the line

The town was usual enough: it had

We all had to close our eyes and think about what our place looked like, who was important, and then use some descriptive vocabulary to create a vivid picture for our readers.

We had to play around with lots of ideas, writing up and redrafting our thinking. Having the poem to model our writing on gave us a clear plan to use.

We all discovered that using the synonym function in Word was very useful.

Hopefully you can see the pictures of our place we have tried to share.

Swimming

We were inspired by the amazing swimming sports day. Perfect weather, excited kids, keen competitors, noisy spectators, and organized teachers all mixed together to create a successful action packed Bledisloe School Swimming Sports.