Term 3 Week 5

Kia  ora koutou, Ruma Rima.

What an exciting week we all had last week! I had such a wonderful time putting up all the art for our school exhibition.  I, of course, loved the room 5 'David Bromely'  paintings the best.  So many people came to the opening night.

 Everyone loved looking at the videos with aurasma on each piece of art.  I also loved the way you worked with your little buddies on Friday when we visited the exhibition together.

A special congratulations to the two people in our class that received awards for their art works!

Rocco

Jemima

We all need to say a big 'thank you' to Patrick and his family for letting us borrow the real David Bromely painting.  It has really inspired our wonderings!

Fish of our Fathers Legend

 You have said that this term we need to learn about reading with characters' voices to help with our preparation for the show Te Whakatere. 

 I have said to do this we need to read the punctuation correctly to help with this.

This week we are going to have a go at 'Reader's Theatre' to help with this.  If we do it well, we could perform this at assembly on Friday.

Here is the text of the myth that Mrs Winstone has sent us.  Could you practise reading it aloud at home this week!!!! You will need to practise pronouncing the words in Te Reo correctly too!

-Puriri’s Myth-

The Fish of our Fathers

Long ago the oldest tohunga from a race of people on the shores of Aotearoa decided the time had come to build a mighty waka. One that would shake the very bones of their enemies and go forth to travel the ocean pathways of the Pacific. But first a tree would need to be found.

So a search party was sent out, travelling through the clothed land of Papatuanuku until a Totara tree, tall and straight, strong and dense was found.

The oldest Tohunga called on Tane, great god of the forest and of all livings things. And his call was borne on the soft wind of Tawhirimatea so that all the creatures of the forest heard and said ‘it is good’.

Then the Tohunga knew that Tane would let him take from the forest the Totara to build his mighty Waka Taua.

So the men from the village went out with their toki, their adzes of stone to fell the tree and the oldest Tohunga went too so he could speak to Tane and ask for the tree to fall gently to the ground.

With adzes to chip and fire to char the men fell the tree. But many long days it took, long enough for Marama the moon to grow from small and pale and thin, to large and clear and round.

Meanwhile the women from the village travelled to the low lying swampy ground to cut the harakeke. They plaited and wove strong ropes from the flax so that the men of the village could haul the tree from Tane’s forest down to the shores of Moana, the sea.

Matariki came and went and went again once more before the Waka Taua was ready. The Tangata Whenua chipped and chopped and charred the canoe, cut and scraped carvings for the canoe, wove the sails and rolled the ropes for the canoe, shaped paddles of manuka, stuffed cracks with raupo and painted with the soot of the kahikatea and the clay of the karamea. And all the while the oldest Tohunga sang and chanted soft songs to the gods of the forest, the wind and the sea to watch over the Waka Taua and keep it and his people safe.

And then there came a day when the work was completed and the canoe sat on the long sandy beach; ready to feel the winds of Tawhirimatea in its sails, to meet the waves of Tangaroa against prow and paddle and to finally rest in the arms of Moana the sea.

Across the sparkling expanse of Tamaki Makarau’s shores Rangitoto beckoned a maiden voyage and the Waka Taua took to the seas of the Waitemata. The Tohunga and his people cried Ae! Ka pai! Te Ika-a-matua! Truly our canoe is the Fish of Our Fathers!

Beneath them Te Mangaroa, the guardian shark, Katiaki of the harbour, slipped silently and the many creatures of Tangaroa skipped and danced in the waves and sandy beds as they watched the great hull of the Waka Taua glide above casting shadows as the men dipped their paddles.

And the children watching from the beach waved and jumped up and down as they saw Te Mangaroa’s great dorsal fin crest above the water. Tena koe, Taniwha! They called.

As the grey green of the creatures huge back followed the Waka Taua out through the straits and beyond the pa at North Head.

Thanks
Miss C