My Blog List

Wednesday 29 November 2017

Installation of our Hou

Our hou have nearly all been completed and installed in their pride of place in the classroom.
They contain messages and images that reflect the culture, backgrounds, goals, activities they have taken part in, things that stood out for them over the past year.  They are incredibly well done and reflect the students who created them, in many ways.

Although they took a long time to create and we had many interruptions, they are a very good representation of some Room 17 students' journey over 2017.











This hou was much larger than the others and took a little longer to create.
We are now wondering where to install this one!

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Kiana's Beyond Honours Day

Kiana is a student in Nepia House. As part of her Beyond Honours Project, she organised a full day of Maori art (toi) where she coordinated artists, flax weavers, cooks, students from other schools and teachers to come to HNI to assist her.  She organised fifteen workshops that ran three times over the day.  All Nepia students opted into one workshop per session and learnt more about toi, crafts and skills. It was a great day, enjoyed by all.




These two Year 5 students taught whai (string games)  three times over the day.  They were great as they were so keen to help us learn. They were so patient and supportive when trying to teach us how to create a wide range of shapes and designs.























Moai Poetry


Mysterious Moai
Ambitiously carving my way through rock,
Bulky and towing as they mock,
Collaborating together to walk,
Despite no talk,
Exhausted but satisfied,
With what I have achieved, as I lurk,
For moving Moai is no light work.

By Elizabeth




The Gods
Moai is their name,
People built them for their chiefs and leaders,
In the high mountains they did,
Rock against rock to make a gigantic sculpture of a God.
To move them to the edge of the island they need a hefty squad!
Facing the sea protecting the people so they can live carefree.
All trees fall and people start eating each other...
1000 years later the moai fall and the people shed tears.

By Adrien


Moai Poem
Heads on the mountains,
Heads by the shore,
The people that built them ended up poor.


But how were they moved?
Did they walk?
Image result for moaiOr were they rolled?
No one knows but here's a theory,


Ropes tied round the eyes,
The moai awaited,
Would they fall or would they live?


Men and boys maybe girls,
Pulled with strength,
Pulled with might,


Swearing under their breath as the giant walked,
Their veins showed,
Their sweat dripped,
The sun was heavy on them.


After their effort,
After their strength,
After their might, the moai in situ,
But some friends of the moai, were dead on the glade.

Ashlee



Moai Poem


A moai is bulky
The massive statues of Rapa Nui
They lay their eyes
Focusing on the humans
Backs to the mighty ocean
Crusty, burnt grass surrounding them
Located on Easter island
A confident team
As workers in two groups
Sent from  Chille   
In slo mo they are listed
To transfer the moais
Accidently
The beast suddenly fell on a angle
From their bare hands
Using our solid muscles
We force
slanting the maoi back up
Intensely pushing
Peeling the grass open with a spatula
For an entry we dig deeper
plugging the moai inside.

Summer



Max Moving The Moai

Our muscles burning, sweat glistening
The ropes are tight and fingers are slipping.
Now pulling hard with all our might,
the great Moai put up a huge fight.
Finally, the Moai is stuck in its place,
staring out at the Rapa Nui race.
Standing strong and tall bracing
as the elements come racing.
Chewing away at the rock
the wind and spray are hard to block.
Many years quickly pass,
And now the Moai lie in the grass.
Max


Image result for moai
Man-made statues,
Standing tall,
Towering over
Everything small
Representing the chiefs,
Created with little tools,
Stone and ash combined,
To create the mighty statues,
Rhythm exert to  transport,
Heave back and forth,
The moai have been planted,
Leaving few to lie,
Broken,
destroyed.


Moai are stone heads,
Tilt and tug to transport rock,
Buried deep through time.

Eva


Moai poem
                                     
                            Pulling the ropes with all their force
The moai starts to walk,
The dirty track making dust
Every pull a painful scream my hands burn to bits
the stone drops like a rock hitting the ground below,
The statue shattered into bits
How emotional   
Lewis

Moai Poem

Image result for MoaiRopes from tree bark
An Island surrounded by sharks
There lived a race
That made statues with a fierce face
Pulling the moai with the rope
With everyone gleaming with hope
Heaving and hoeing                                                      
Although they are knowing
That it will be worth it.
They puff and puff from pulling that tuff
After the last pull, they had enough.

Luke


Standing Tall

Moai stand tall,
On the odd occasion they don't fall.
On their way to the coast,
They look like they are most.
Solid and square,
As they stare.
At everyone who lives on the land,
As they stand.
Their backs to the ocean,
Waves crashing in motion.
On the odd occasion they don't fall,
Moai, stand tall.


-Renee



Tuesday 7 November 2017

Congratulations to Roksolana


Image may contain: 1 person

Roksolana received a second placing for her Lions Peace Poster entry. The theme was  'The Future of Peace'.

The only criteria was that there was not to be any writing in the artwork.
Roksolana created a colourful visual representation of peace within the world.

Congratulations on your efforts, Roksolana!


Monday 6 November 2017

Mandarin Lessons are Underway

We started today learning to speak a language in a completely different method today.
Miss Tong is teaching us via speaking and getting us to reply back to her, songs and by our own research.
Ruby is able to help us as well which is great for that little bit more help.

We began with this cute song today which has firmly entrenched these words with us:
  • Hello
  • How are you?
  • Good morning
  • Good night
  • teacher
Have a listen and enjoy the catchy tune.



Saturday 4 November 2017

Chinese Language Week Celebrations

 As part of Chinese Language Week, a group of classes got to make dumplings with Miss Tracey Tong, our Mandarin teacher. In fact, over 500 dumplings were made. we were lucky to be chosen, even though we hadn't started out Mandarin lessons at that point.

Dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, found mainly in the northern regions of China.
Oliver is beginning to portion out the meat to go into his dumpling.
While waiting for the dumplings to cook, we were given an opportunity to practise using chop sticks in a race. We had to move sultanas one by one, from one a bowl to  another in 30seconds, to then see how successful we were.  Riley and Fletcher are having a try here.
Riordan and Melissa  are underway here with Melissa ahead by one!
Elizabeth getting some practise while being watched by Eva and Ruby.
Callum getting ready to fold his dumpling into the  correct way, so that it won't fall apart in the cooking process.