Art and Learning through NZ History

Hi Squiddlers! I am very excited ...

I am buying this painting by Scotsman, artist and Kiwi, Liam Barr and am going to read more about the character portrayed by searching online. Liam's art is amazing! Check out his website

Free e-book online about John Rutherford here

Government information site, Te Ara, has more here

What are you learning about in your spare time? Our best learning is fired by our interests, needs and passions...

Peachgrove Yr 7 Bilingual cool dudes

I had the pleasure of hanging out with my good friend Whaea Mana's class today. They are very interesting young people. We discussed maori and pakeha culture as well as some geography from around Aotearoa.
One of my favourite parts of NZ is the East Coast from Te Kaha to Gisborne. My wife and I fell in love on a road trip around that region and we found the Ngati Porou people to be very welcoming.
I later got to know a teacher from Rangitukia called Tepu Houia. He gifted me a special carving which I have looked after for several years. Today I discovered that his nephew is in this class so I have gifted it to Whaea Manawaroa and her students to look after.
Their job now is to find out about the history of the clock carving. Tepu's nephew, Aiorangi is in the class so they should be able to find out all about the carving. They can post comments here explaining what they learn.
Also, I would like to introduce the Big T Surfers from Tahaaroa to the Peachgrove Bi-lingual class, Room 24. Please get to know each other and share your differences and the experiences of living in town, country and coastal areas.
Ka kite ano

Mihi

oh my goodness... i have to do a mihi and sing a waiata in front of about 900 people tomorrow morning as a "welcome"or powhiri at my new school. It's a cool thing to experience, but it's also scary when you don't quite know what to do.
Oh well. When faced with difficult expectations one is better to face them and get them over and done with rather than worry and try to avoid them. In fact, now that i have received some assistance from the fabulous Miss Freeman and Heheboy I am actually feeling like it will be a cool thing to do.
I will take my Peachgrove waka huia to explain how we are bringing experience and knowledge with us and expecting to receive more knowledge and experience from the new school community.
Here is some of my mihi. Please offer advice or correction where you think necessary.

Tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.
Ko David Woodcock toku ingoa.
Ko Susan Tucker toku mama.
Ko Eric Woodcock toku papa.
Ko Pirongia te maunga.
Ko Waikato te awa.
No Kirikiriroa ahau.

Then I will use the waka huia as a metaphor for our new beginning at Fairfield and the sharing of our collective knowledge, skills and wisdom [the last being debatable of course].
To finish I may share the words of the the Second Maori King, Matutaera Te Wherowhero Tawhiao:

"Kia hora te marino
Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana
Kia tere te Karohirohi
I mua I too huarahi"

May peace be widespread
May the sea glisten like greenstone
May the shimmer of light guide you on your way."

Tena koutou tena koutou katoa

winter planting

What should we be planting at this time of year?
Do you know about Matariki and the maori planting calendar?
What are your favourite veges or fruit?

http://www.gardenews.co.nz/

Winter Crops

MAtariki

Do you know your whakapapa?

Do you know your whakapapa? No, not that ski field at Ruapehu. Your family tree. Where are your whanau from?
I find this fascinating - in many ways it controls who we are. We get our genes from our ancestors. I might be short because i might be decended strongly from Cornish tin miners. I might be related to some very stupid, pirate killing exiles on the Scilly Isles in the English Channel.
Mostly I know I am a genuine NZ pakeha [and that is a more specific thing than many people realise] and of that I am very proud.

I wrote this in another post:

"As for my heritage [which i also find fascinating] i am a genuine New Zealand pakeha. I am very proud of this.
By my understanding, I am Pakeha because on both sides of my whanau [- Maori for 'family', mr teehan's class] my ancestors were British subjects sent here on the first colonist ships in the 1800's and are the people invited here by Maori under the partnership agreement known as the Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
If you are Maori you are Tangata Whenua - the people of the land. If you are a later immigrant not of British decent, you are tauiwi. Room5ians can find out what that means.
So before my ancestors became Kiwi/New Zealanders/Pakeha, they were all English except for some smatterings of Irish which are in there too."

Maybe some of you Room5ians and Mr Teehans' class will comment here about your ancestry or ask questions on the topic. I'm sure Mr Teehans' class will be wonderign what many of the words are in Maori. Maybe the te reo teachers in Room5 will make those audio files or podcasts this week to teach some basic reo to the NewJerseyites.
I hope so!

Ask me what culture quilts are in class.

From the first line of the Maori version of the treaty:

"Ko Wikitoria te kuini o Ingarani..."

- what do you think this says...?

Matariki

here is a resource for future use... guess when

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/classroom/matariki-maori-new-year

cultural perceptions

With one of our most important days of th eyear comign up - WAITANGI DAY - I find myself reflecting upon the nature of Maoridom, the state of our nation, our cultural values and so forth.

What do you think about Waitangi Day? What does it mean to you?

What do you picture in your head when someone brings up Maaori [two a's to show the long vowel sound] culture?

No doubt there will be many haka, wero, etc on show at various events around the country this week, but is that the only important expression of Maori culture we could be experiencing?

Read this article for some interesting opinions.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10490483

Theologian Dr Jenny Te Paa has been critical of what she sees as male aggression - "staunchness" - becoming celebrated in Maori culture, as evidenced by the haka.
Other features such as kindness, gentleness, hospitality and integrity did not get nearly the same attention as the haka or taki, she said.
"The question is, how do we want to be for ourselves first and foremost? Dr Te Paa said.
"We're not alone in this world and I think it does matter how we behave and how we perceive ourselves and therefore how other people will see us."

I would like us to think about this significant day. No doubt some of you have been bored by studying it year in, year out. Some of you may have extreme opinions based on what you have heard adults saying. Some of you may simply not care and resist engaging in a discussion about our history. I believe it is important and would like to find a way to bring the subject alive for you without making it tedious.

Any ideas?

Here are some facts...

The signing of the Treaty
The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840. It represented an agreement between the British Crown and over 500 Māori chiefs of New Zealand.
There are a number of reasons why a treaty was seen to be needed. These included the increasing lawlessness of traders and settlers necessitating some form of governance, and the interest of other countries such as France and America in colonising New Zealand. The Crown recognised New Zealand as an independent nation after the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1835); consequently, any issues regarding governance needed the formal agreement of Māori.
This agreement took the form of the Treaty.

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/hot_topics/waitangi_e.php

More info about our history here:

http://www.enzed.com/hist.html