Wild Kai - Bush Stoves

We are learning about all different types of Kai.  Where it comes from, how to cook it and how different cultures think about kai!  We all need Kai and it is an important part of all cultures social and emotional hauora!  

Today we were learning about Wild Kai and how to identify some types of kai that we can eat from the wild.  We will continue with this next Tuesday at Waihirere with Sam The Trap Man helping us!  

In preparation for this visit we made hobo stoves to take to Waihirere to cook on.  Hobo stoves are little burner stoves made from a large and small tin can!  We tested them out by making pancakes and eating them!  Yum! 

Yum yum yum! Can't wait for some bush kai next week!  

Please send along any tin cans like spaghetti can size that we can use as our billys!  

Cedenco Foods - Behind the scenes!

As part of our Kai learning we visited Cedenco Foods to see how food is processed.  Cedenco is a local company owned by a Japanese Family who source local produce and turn it into puree, powder or frozen foods.  

We got to taste some of it: 

See how it is tested and kept to high quality: 

And see how the food is processed and packaged! 

What a great learning experience!  Thanks Carla and the team! I wonder what facts you can remember about Cedenco for example:

What does Brix measure?  

How many different fruit and vegetables do they process?  

What countries buy Cedenco products?  

Farewell Izabella-Rose and Kaitlyn

It was a sad day today we farewelled 2 of our students who have been at our school for 5 years! They are moving to Taranaki and have already visited their new school.  It is an exciting time but also sad to say goodbye!  

We celebrated with a shared lunch of sausages and chips and a delicious cake which their mum bought in.  

Malia even wrote a song for them to say goodbye from Makaraka School.  You can hear from them tomorrow at assembly as they say their final goodbyes. 

Anzac Biscuits 2021

Today Tawhirimatea made ANZAC biscuits to end the term and celebrate ANZAC Day.  We were in groups and shared out the jobs to make the cookies. 

Yum Yum Yum 

Hue season!

Do you know what Hue are?  Some people may know them as gourds.  The year 5 and 6's went down to Brendan Barker-Quin's house to harvest some to  use in our art and production!  

Hue are a kind of pumpkin which grows on a vine.  They are harvested around the end of summer when the stem goes brown.  

They were used by Maori people to carry water and store other kinds of food high in the trees as the skin goes super hard when they are dry.  Hue can also be eaten but more likely when they are young as they are sweet and moist then.  

We are hoping to dry our hue and then paint them up and decorate them for our production!  

Thanks Brendan we learnt heaps about cultivated kai and bees also looking at your garden!  I didn't know that foxgloves are a good companion plant because they have a long tap root that brings up nutrients from deep down in the soil. 

Hot Cross Buns Makaraka Style!

Today we made hot cross buns together with the whole school.  We were in groups with all different age groups. It was really cool to learn about yeast and different types of flour.  

The group that was with Koka Michelle made Gluten Free buns because we have some students who are gluten free (including Koka Michelle).  The recipe was a little different because gluten free flour doesn't have gluten which is the stuff that makes it bind together and stretchy and we needed more eggs and butter to bind it. 

After 1.5 hours when the dough rose, we glazed the buns and put crosses on them ready to bake.  Thanks to the Makaraka Dairy for their prowess in baking the buns for us. 

After lunch we met together as a school to eat them!  Yummy! 

Tuakana Teina and Mapping

Today our senior learners buddied up with the juniors and videoed them talking about their maps.  They then filled in the data on the form for the class teacher to analyse!  What a great bunch of students!  

They were so positive with comments coming out of them like:

"Wow they are so great at talking about their learning!" 

"You know how to make your learning better!"

"I really like how you have included all the parts on your map!' 

Tino Pai Rawa atu Tawhirimatea!  You are such a supportive group of rangatahi!  We are growing young leaders!