LATEST STORIES
Celebrating Matariki at BestStart Kapiti
For our community, Matariki is a time for learning, but also celebration and togetherness. This year for Matariki we started at the beginning of June with activities that related to the values of; aroha (love and respect for one another), whakamaharatanga (remembrance), manaakitanga (caring), mana taiao (environmental awareness), and hākari (feasting).
Matariki is a time for renewal and the very beginning of a new cycle of sowing, planting, growing, and harvesting. The rising of Mātariki heralds the first lunar month of the Māori year and it's a good time to plan for the coming growing season. Planting with the children took place in the box planter gardens on the deck. These were growing well at Matariki time but were not ready to eat. The children were reminded to water the garden and a number of the younger children took charge of this with gusto. In the north raised beds, there were a few brassicas, marigolds, and one carrot growing. That one carrot was left to grow and was ready to pull up in time for making Hua Whenua, sometimes also called "Friendship Soup".
The children really invested themselves in making the soup, chopping, and peeling. They were amazing at persisting in the cutting as some of the vegetables were hard or fibrous. The vegetables were cut and the children piled them into a bowl. The scraps were collected and then given to the worms in the worm farm. Our preparation for our feast created many opportunities for learning about Māori culture and how we can look after Papatūānuku (the Earth mother). The teachers wove lots of opportunities for children to be creative and imaginative through the arts and to understand each of the star’s roles.
Matariki is strongly connected to Ranginui (the Sky father) and the stars - we made lots and lots of stars. We made several celestial whānau (families) and discovered the moon. We discovered that the moon isn't actually changing shape - it's just changing places, and that changes how much of it is lit up by the Sun.
On our Matariki Evening, parents were invited to mingle and partake in several planned activities. These included a map for families to share and identify their tūrangawaewae - their place to stand and belong. We also had a remembrance wall and a wishing bowl to place our aspirations and of course, our well-practiced waiata performance all before we enjoyed our amazing array of kai on offer. After a wonderful meal together it was time to explore the darkness of the night with the glow sticks. The Centre was looking amazing ready for a night of togetherness, remembrance, and feasting.
The centre enjoyed a whole month of celebrating Matariki which provided opportunities to explore the values, key competencies and principles of our the New Zealand Curriculum, Te Whāriki. Our Matariki inquiry provided an opportunity to bring The New Zealand Curriculum principles to life, especially the principles relating to the Treaty of Waitangi, community engagement, and cultural diversity. It was also a great opportunity for children to explore the values of diversity within our Centre.