Māori

Bex and Mrs Earl have started coming on Fridays to the hub to teach the children Maori. I have found this very beneficial to my own learning. It has been a great time to practise the correct pronounciation of words and phrases. The children have enjoyed participating in the songs, actions and games. I have been joining the Distance Learning Friday Fun Day sessions online. It is great to learn alongside the children. I have also had a session online with Bexs myself to work on my Mihi pronounciation. I have been grateful for the learning opportunities offered by the school. Lately I have downloaded the Tipu app on my phone and have been working my way through the levels. It is great to have easy access to a tutor online. Bex showed me the Maori Dictionary online which I have added to my favourites bar. It's a great way of looking up Maori words and being able to hear the correct pronouciation. I think this will come in very handy at school. On the 10th March the teachers visited a Marae. This was a very interesting experience. We completed our own Mihi's and had to stand up and say them twice infront of a group of our peers. Our Mihi's got critiqued the second time through and it was good to get some help with the correct pronouciation. I also enjoyed participating and learning about a Powhiri on a Marae. I think it would be great to take the children for a Marae visit one day. I will continue to incorporate what I have learnt into the daily routines of the school day.

Production-PMI

POSITIVES
-Amazing script by Louise
-All children participated and had a part
-Simple props worked well
-Costumes looked really effective and we kept the cost down
-Hall became availiable for the production
-Amazing turn out and support from our parents
-Collaborative planning
-Each teacher was incharge of organising/teaching/practising with the children key parts
-Dress rehearsal and practises in the hall before performance
-Songs fitted in well, practised many times, most children confident
-Steves props were amazing, came together well for NZ
-Great practise public speaking to an audience
-Children enjoyed themselves and were proud of what they had learnt
-Provocations on Maori Legends worked well
-Individual solos for some children to showcase their talents
-Children remembered all their parts
-Learnt more about Maori Legends, learnt some new Maori words
-Children got to see all the other Hubs performances in the matinees.
-Their was such variety between all the Hubs performances

MINUS
-We would of liked to have more practises in the hall if it was availiable earlier
-Had to change the direction we were performing in the hall a bit last minute.
-Rakau group had to change to two lines they were sittting in at the last minute
-Boat fell down in the matinee performance
-Behaviour at rehearsals sometimes
-Needed a timeframe of exactly what we needed to complete for production set out more clearer
-Some children didn't turn up to the night performance with no notification and we had to fill in the places we could
-Some children had been absent during rehearsals and found it hard to catch up to the changes that had been made, usually had a short timeframe to learn. Especially difficult for Rakau sticks as they were performing with a partner. I had to go with a child who had no partner on the night performance
-Children had to learn to project their voices as there wasn't always a microphone they could use. (could also be a positive)

INTERESTING
-Louise's script that rhymed and had many funny parts
-How we planned togther how the North Island would be pulled up from the sea and how the South Island would come out of the waka.
-The clay necklaces that the children designed from examples
-The music pieces that we chose to fit in with the script
-The boats the children had made at Makerspace that we included in the performance
-How the children really took on their parts and made them their own
-How the performace all came together after breaking it down and practising individual/group parts
-The children experimented and came up with their own stick movements in Rakau and we included a move in our performance
-The amazing backdrop that Mikayla had made and let us borrow for our production
-The headbands that the children wore with different designs

Maori language

This year I have tried to incorporate more Maori language into our daily routines. These include:
Roll-Maori greeting
Days of the week/months of the year
Counting-call to attention, maths, story, big books
Colours-art, big books, story, singing
Commands-song to lead at assembly, Room 7 teach other classes in the junior syndicate
Maori from Monday morning meetings incorporated throughout the day
Body parts-song throughout the day
Maori library books
Maori magnets on whiteboard for counting, colours, body parts
Matariki unit
Treaty of Waitangi
I have found the Maori morning meetings helpful especially if the pronounciation of the words are on the website. An action to go with the Maori words works well to help me remember them. It is a valuable resource to have and be able to refer back to.
My next goals are:
P.B.L Animals-learn Maori names
See if we could visit a Marae
Visit from a fluent Maori speaker
Watch the Kapahaka group perform
Maori legend story/art display
Source some Maori games/puzzles
Teach the children songs/actions with rakau sticks
Learn about how a hangi is prepared, see one in action
Learn about Hongi greeting
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