Matariki

I realised this year, in my 8th year of teaching as Matariki came around once again, that I did not have any solid Matariki resources to draw upon, to help me with my planning for Matariki. I decided to change this, and created a little book where I wrote in information all about Matariki for me to use each year. You can see how to make these journals by clicking on the link Journals To Make.

I took a lot of my information from Te Papa's amazing blog that is full of wonderful stories and ideas for what to do relating to each star in the Matariki cluster.  Do take a look at their blog here Te Papa Matariki Education Resource.

But the blog only covers the 7 stars - and there are actually 9 stars. I used information from both Te Papa and Te Wananga o Aotearoa to create stars that depict what each star relates to.

Matariki is the star connected with whanau, or family, and the coming together of people. It is connected to our well-being, and our connection to the land.

 I have two conflicting sources of information for Waiti. According to Te Papa's information, Waiti and Waita are connected to invertebrates. But according to Te Wananga o Aotearoa, Waiti is connected to freshwater sources and the creatures that live in them. I have illustrated Waiti with invertebrates, because many of them, such as dragonflies, require a freshwater source for their pupae, and live around fresh water.

 According to Te Wananga o Aotearoa, Waita is connected to the oceans and all the creatures in it. This is different to Te Papa's information, which suggested it is connected to invertebrates also, as Waiti and Waita are twins. Tamariki have been picking up rubbish and we have been talking about how so much rubbish ends up in our oceans, and we need to protect them.






Waipuna-a-rangi is the star connected to the rain.

We made ice, which was lots of fun to explore, as one block was not fully frozen inside, and we could see bubbles within. It happened to hail outside, so we investigated the hail and picked it up in our hands, and read books about weather patterns, rain, and how hail was formed.  We also put on raincoats to run in the rain and filled up buckets and containers with the rain.

Tupu-a-nuku is the star that is connected to plants, especially those that provide food, clothing, and medicine.

We have been weeding the garden, picking oranges from our tree and cutting them up to eat for morning tea; and making vegetable soup.
We have also been learning to weave flax and paper.

Tupu-a-rangi is the star connected to the forests and the birds.

I made a bird feeder with the children, to feed the wild birds in the winter time, to look after them. We have also been learning about our native birds through stories such as Little Kiwi's Matariki; A Booming in the night; How Kiwi lost his wings; and finger puppets.

Ururangi is the youngest child of Matariki, and is the star that is connected to the 4 winds - Hauraro (north wind); Tonga (south wind); Hauauru (west wind); and Marangai (east wind).

We have been making kites and windmills to celebrate Ururangi.

Hiwa-i-te-rangi is the star connected to our hopes and dreams.







Pohutukawa is the star connected to the memories of loved ones who have passed on. I love that this star is called Pohutukawa and that she is connected to our tupuna, as it is so fitting. The Maori believe that when someone dies, their spirit makes their way to Cape Reinga, at the top of the North Island, which is also known as "The leaping place of spirits". There is an old pohutukawa tree right on the very edge of the cliff, and the spirit climbs down the roots to Hine-nui-te-po, the atua of the darkness, who takes them to their final resting place. What is significant about this pohutukawa tree, is that it has never, ever flowered.

Other things we have been doing with the tamariki are wrapping wool around popsicle stick stars. I prepared them the night before with a dab of glue in the middle of each stick, and tied a bit of wool to each star, ready for children to begin wrapping.

Our teachers and tamariki have been learning to sing "Tirama tirama nga whetu" (Twinkle twinkle little star):

Each day the tamariki have been acting out a Maori legend or Matariki story. I created headbands for each atua, and the children wear them as they tell the story of Ranginui and Papatuanuku; or the 7 fishes of Matariki. We have been using finger puppets to tell the story of Little Kiwi's Matariki, which is a lovely picture book. I have been taking photos of the children as they act out the stories, and then using the photos to create our own versions of the stories to read and retell.

As part of our Matariki celebrations, I have been telling the story of Te Waka o Tamarereti (The Waka of Tamarereti).  To create a display for this story, I wanted to make a wharenui.  After a bit of contemplation on how best to do it, I settled for making it with craft sticks.  

The Wharenui

You will need:

A pack of long craft sticks

A pack of short craft sticks

Good craft glue

 I began with making the roof - you need to make two sides. I laid 6 long craft sticks next to each other and glued two short sticks across them to hold them together.

 I then glued a long craft stick along the edge of the sides of the roof.

 Next came the walls... two short sides and one long side for the back.  I lay the sticks next to each other and then glue 2 sticks crosswise to hold them together.  

 When sticking the lengthwise sticks on, make sure that they are at a different height to the next side so that when you put the two sides together, they fit.

 Glue the 3 sides together.

 To make the front, you need to make two short sides to create a doorway.  I laid 4 short sticks next to each other and cut a short stick in half, which I glued across them. Again, make sure that the lengthwise sticks are at a different height to the lengthwise sticks on the sides of the whare, so that the two sides fit together.

 Glue the front sides on.  I glued a long stick across the top and bottom to secure them, and also create the doorway.

 Now for the roof... I wanted to fill in the top part of the roof.  To do this, I laid the roof sections on a piece of paper and drew the angles down on the paper.

I then lay my craft sticks down on the triangle to fit, and drew the roof outline on them. 

 You need to do this twice, for the front and the back of the whare.

 I glued a short stick across them in the centre, to secure them.

 Secure them to the front and back of the whare with glue.

 I put glue along all the edges and then put the sides of the roof on top.  I also added a beam across the middle, right in the centre, to help secure the two sides.

 Add long sticks to the front of the wharenui and a short stick to the top, for the tekoteko.

 You could draw carvings on them before gluing, but I decided to leave mine plain.

The Waka

This was simply made with one long craft stick in the middle, and two long craft sticks glued together for each side.  I used one whole short stick for the back of the waka, and cut a short stick in half for the front of the waka.

Peg People

 I used wooden pegs to make people for my wharenui.  I didn't give them arms or faces - just kept them really simple.

 To make a cloak, I used some mesh ribbon and cut a small rectangle to use as the cloak, and pushed feathers through the top around the edge.  I secured the cloak with glue.

 To make a wahine, I plaited some wool and wrapped it around her body, securing it with glue.

 To make a grass skirt, I cut a small rectangle of paper, and cut slits across the length of it.

 Put glue across the top of the skirt.

Wrap the skirt around the body for both the wahine and the men.

Some other ideas I did for Matariki...

 Stars frozen in ice with a bit of blue glitter.  These were star shaped ice cube things that you freeze and put into your drink - I picked them up on special for $2 a bag.  I cut up washed milk cartons as the mold, and put 7 stars into each container, to resemble the Matariki constellation.  Although in actual fact I have just learnt that there really are 9 stars in Matariki.

Weaving   

 I made two weaving looms from branches... the above one is four branches lashed together, while the bottom one uses a forked branch.  I wrapped string around the branches for the warp to weave grasses and ribbons through.

Natural Resources

 I try as much as possible to weave mathematics and literacy in throughout our day, and one way of doing this is by having it available and set up on tables for a table top activity.  The above activity is simply a pile of sticks and a povocation to put in order from shortest to biggest, although children can do whatever they want with them, and they usually find other ways to use them that I had not thought of. 

Once we had defrosted the stars, I left them available to play with on the numeracy/literacy table, so children could sort them, make them into patterns, count them, pick them up with tweezers, transport them, put them onto a dark background to make their own star constellations, etc etc.

Felt Stars

I created these stars out of felt, to go with the story The Waka of Tamarereti.  I decorated them with a tube of glitter glue. I made 9 stars, as I have just learnt that there are actually 9 stars in the constellation of Matariki, and each one has a different pattern, as each star represents a different aspect of life.

Some other things we have been doing to celebrate Matariki...
We painted a large cardboard waka to create Tamarereti's Waka
Weaving paper stars
Making Maori bread
Telling Maori myth and legends
Acting out the stories
Making and flying kites
Weeding the garden
Making poi (you can find instructions on how to make poi and do the four plait here.)
Learning waiata (I have made a previous post on some of the waiata we sing here.)
Singing the Matariki Macarena....


Matariki Macarena

Waiti, Waita
Waipunarangi
Tupuanuku
Tupuarangi
Ko Ururangi
Te potiki o te whanau Matariki.

Do the actions as for the Macarena as you sing it; when you get to the end of the verse, jump 90 degrees to the right and do it again.  Keep going until you are facing the way you started.
The words are the names of the stars, but 'Ko Ururangi te potiki o te whanau Matariki' means 'and Ururangi is the youngest of Matariki's family'.

Space Theme

 The children are currently interested in Space - planets, stars, rocketships, and aliens.  There is a fantastic song on Youtube, The Planet Song that teaches facts about the planets - and another one about the Dwarf Planets.  One of my favourite songs is another educational song by They Might Be Giants - Why Does The Sun Shine?

Galaxy Bottles

 As part of our interest in Space, I made Galaxy bottles with the children.
We used:
Empty plastic bottles
Synthetic stuffing (you could use wool roving, unspun sheeps wool, or cotton wool balls)

Water storage crystals - the kind you put into your pots when gardening, to retain water during the hot sumer months.
Acrylic Paint - I used purple, dark blue, burgundy and black. You could use food colouring instead.
Water
Jugs
Teaspoon
Glitter
Star sequins


Mix a bit of paint with water.  You can use a lot of water with acrylic paint. Have jugs of each colour available for children to pour into their bottles.

Layer in paint/water; water crystals; wool/stuffing; another paint colour; more wool /stuffing / water crystals / another paint colour.
The wool/stuffing helps to keep the colours of paint separate so that you retain the different colours within the bottle.
Don't fill the bottle right to the top - allow time and space for the water crystals to expand. I ended up pouring out a bit from each bottle and filling up an extra bottle with the excess.
Add glitter and star sequins.
This is great for children developing their fine motor skills - pouring, scooping, measuring, pushing, which are essential for pre-writing.  I found it was easier to use a pencil or the handle of a paintbrush to push the stuffing into the bottle.

 Ice Cube Stars

 I found these ice cube stars at The Warehouse for $2 a bag. They are the sort with water in, that you freeze and pop into your drink.  I thought they were perfect for a bit of fun with ice.

 I cut up 2 litre plastic milk cartons and used the bottoms as containers for making large blocks of ice.  I put in the ice cube stars and a bit of blue glitter and put in the freezer to freeze.

It then provided children with sensory exploration, scientific exploration, numeracy (counting how many stars they could see in the blocks, as well as how many stars they managed to get out); vocabulary - hard, melting, frozen, clear, wet, slippery, etc; sorting of colours; comparing whose block was the biggest, etc. We also talked about constellations, as each block resembled a constellation of stars.  We talked about how Matariki is a constellation of 7 stars, (actually it's 9 stars according to some) so children began counting to see if they had 7 stars like Matariki.

You can add salt to the children's ice experiments but I didn't do that with them today.

Bottle Rockets

These bottle rockets were quick and simple to make with a bit of adult help.  You could be fancy and paint the rockets, or you could even put a photo of the child on the rocket! A parent had kindly given us a book of paper samples, including metallic paper, which we used for the circle that we glued onto the bottle.

You will need:
Plastic bottle
Craft knife
Card - parents had recently donated empty cerealboxes, so we used these for our wings.
Pencil
Scissors
Coloured Paper (metallic paper looks great)
Glue

I created a basic template for the wings, and the children  (aged between 3-5) drew around the template and cut them out.  I try to find ways as much as possible for children to do their own work, rather than done by an adult. I like to empower children and let them do it and feel the sense of pride you get when you have made something, rather than when someone else makes it and gives it to you.  I want children to realise that they are capable and able, and to give things a go.  It doesn't matter that it is not perfect.  If a child hasn't cut around the template properly, it doesn't matter - it is their work and that is what is important.  They are learning to use scissors and pencils, and imperfection is part of this learning.

While the children were busy drawing and cutting their wings, I was busy cutting slits in the bottle with my craft knife.  When someone was ready, we inserted the wings into the slits and adjusted the length of the slit as necessary.  We only did 2 wings but 3 would look great as well.  Then the children cut out a circle, and glued it onto their bottle.

While I was having lunch in the staffroom, I was laughing at the sight of children chucking bottles around the playground.  It would look like chaos to anyone who happened to walk into the room. I redirected the random chucking of bottles by grabbing a couple of tires and hoops to be planets, and children stood in one hoop (Earth - Nasa Space Station) and took turn launching their bottles into the tires.
This promoted:  taking turns; waiting; patience; learning about how to keep themselves and others safe; physical skills - aiming and throwing; cheering each other on; good sportsmanship; persistence - not giving up if they don't get their rocket onto Mars; and a feeling of pride when they finally do hit Mars.

Rocket Ship

We are lucky to have parents who donate large boxes to us to use.  We received this wonderful big box and the children helped to make it into a rocket ship.  We had another parent who donated a book of sample metallic paper, so we used that paper to glue onto the outside of the box, and glued a paper plate onto the front of the box.  Two children could fit inside the box and this provided days of fun and counting down from Ten to blast off!

Of course, once we had made the rocket ship, we then needed to make a space control panel....

I made the control panel from two boxes, tinfoil and glue. I put it together, and then I provided glue, brushes and lids to the children to glue on as knobs and controls.  As children were having trouble counting backwards from 10, I made a display on the top of the panel with the numbers on them, to help support counting backwards and number identification.

Some Other Space Crafts...

My colleagues have also been busy doing an assortment of space related crafts to help support children's learning... 

* they painted planets on black card using paint thickened with cornflour

* they made rockets using cardboard rolls, metallic paper, crepe paper, coloured paper and paint

* UFO's made from paper plates, paint and foil paper

* Handprint aliens using hands, paint and googly eyes

* Stars made by bending pipecleaners around a star shaped cookie cutter

* Stars painted on a black background, using a star shaped cookie cutter to trace around, then children painted the inside of the star.  Gold paint mixed with glue in a squeezy bottle was then used to go around the outside of the star. 

Plaster of Paris Moonscapes

This was a great little science experiment that I got from a book full of fun science experiments.

You need:

Plaster of Paris

Hot Water

A foil tray (preferably circular shaped)

A stick for stirring

Pour half a cup of plaster of paris into the foil tray.

Pour hot water over the top (I can't remember exactly how much water - maybe half a cup - 1 cup?)

Stir briefly to mix and wet the plaster of paris. Don't stir it smooth - the lumps will help to form volcanoes and craters, which is what we are after - just like a real moonscape.

Let dry. 

You may need to pour off excess water as it dries.

Jet Packs

I don't have a photo of these, but I made jet packs for the children using two plastic bottles taped together, and wide ribbon attached to go over each shoulder, so they could wear them on their backs. Then they were off running around outside pretending to go to the Moon.