RNZ Ballet visit

On Thursday Lauren from the Royal NZ Ballet came to our school and took all the Year 5's and some Year 6's for a creative dance workshop!  

We learnt some ballet moves and positions for our feet as well as some jumps and then we learnt a section from one of the ballet performances Romeo and Juliet!  It was a lot of fun!  Thanks Lauren! 

Here is the dance section: 

Not for the faint hearted!

One of our camp activities for 2019 was to go eeling!  We were all very excited - some had done it before and others hadn't!  It didn't matter which group you were in eeling is exciting!  You have to go late at night, set the traps and then check them early in the morning.  Eels can't see very well but can sense light so when it is dusk they come out!  Well when we first arrived there was a huge one in the river!  Wow excitement ripples through all of us!  

We set 2 types of traps - hinaki we had mad ourselves out of wire and a fyke net which was lent to us by Mr Farmer.  This one as you will see caught the most eels!  We were astounded to see over 25 eels in there in the morning!  Some had blue eyes which means that they are on their way to Tonga to breed so Jed (our parent expert) let those ones go to keep the species alive!  We kept 7 eels for our learning and put the rest back. 

Today, March 12, we dissected the eels.  It was very smelly and we had to be very self disciplined because the equipment is very sharp.  We learnt a lot about dissection, anatomy and cultural practices.  

The rules were: 

• Be respectful of the animal - no sillyness and trying to scare others. 
• Be responsible with the equipment - it can harm you. 
• Wear safety gear. 
• Take turns. 

The anatomy we looked for was: 

• The 2 types of fins. 
• Eyes
• Mouth
• Ears
• Vent
• Heart
• Gills
• Guts
• Liver - gall bladder
• Brain

Culturally we: 

• Learnt about their habitat and why eels are special creatures to NZ
• Blessed the life we were using to learn from with Karakia
• Buried the remains to give back to the Earth
• Hung them in a tree to deslime. 
• Learnt how to catch them traditionally with hinaki. 

Big thank you to Rachel, Miss McIntosh, Matua James and Jed for teaching us and helping us with this learning. 

Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou
ka ora ai te iwi

With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive

Tamararo 2018

On September 1 Makaraka School performed our Atua bracket at the Tamararo competition.  It was a great performance and very polished.  These Waiata are named after our school classroom names and are about the Atua and the essence of what they stand for in Maoridom.  

Our class names in the order performed are: 

• Tangaroa - God of the ocean (a moteatea)
• Tanemahuta - God of the forest (Waiata-a-ringa)
• Tawhimatea - God of wind and storms ((Waiata Poi)
• Ruaumoko - God of the underground and volcanic action (Haka)
• Rongomatane - God of peace and land (Waiata-a-ringa)

Here is the video of us performing.  We hope you enjoy it!  

War Memorial Theatre Arts night

On a starry night by the light of the moon the River and Sea Creatures play together!

Each year students from Makaraka School create something artistic to showcase the performing arts.  This year we created 4 performances in our House groups.  House groups are cross school groups where we do whole school activities.  Each house group took one of our school values and created a performance to show the key ideas of that value.  

Blue House  - Kia Maia, Stand Proud

Red House - Kia Kaha, Be Strong and brave

Yellow House - Kia Manawanui, Have a Heart

Green House - Tuku Patai, Be Hungry to Learn and Have Curiosity. 

After these performances were shown, the Year 5 and 6's performed their Stage Art entry which is going to be in a competition in Napier.  The Stage Art is about a local Whatatutu story depicting a man called Whirikoka and his pet seal Oioi.  The story explains how oil is made and the origins of fossil fuels.  

Here is our performance: 

Whirikoka Yr 5&6 Dance Workshop 14-05

Today the Year 5&6's had a dance workshop with Lucy from The Royal NZ Ballet.  First we warmed up and then worked on the opening sequence.  Just before lunch we shared what we created and then went for a walk to the Botanical Gardens.  After lunch we worked on the final sequence and nearly timed it with the music :-).  It was a full on day but a lot of fun!  We really got cracking and choreographed about half of our dance!  Whew! 

The process we followed to choreograph was:

1. Look at vocabulary describing our scene/characters/feelings.
2. Turn those words into moves.
3. Create 8 count phrases from the moves.
4. Layer entries/exits/freezes and unisons into the mix. 

Don't forget Levels, facials and gestures and you have a great movement sequence!  

Ka Pai everyone!  Now we just have to remember it and practice it, create costumes/props and we're done....  (not a big ask really is it!)

Looking forward to our Sunday practices starting this week! 

Thanks Lucy!  You are awesome :-)

Here is a snippet of our work today.  I didn't video the rest of it but will do on Sunday!