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Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020!

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Māori language week is an opportunity for us all to celebrate, promote and encourage the use of Te Reo Maori in our everyday conversations. It is a time to acknowledge the importance of culture, and a time in which we can strive reflect on our implementation of the language and the culture across our centre. 

At Best Start Kauri Flats, we affirm and celebrate cultural differences, and aim to help children gain a positive awareness of their own and other cultures. It helps them to weave their perspectives, values, cultures, and languages into the early learning setting, as guided by our curriculum, Te Whariki.  

During Te Reo Maori Language Week, our tamariki  had so many opportunities to celebrate Te wiki o te reo Maori by performing  waiata together with the kupu, where Poi e, and  A ha ka ma na were popular song choice. In addition to this, they participated in koru making activities which was made using the dry sand powder. 

They also painted a black and red koru each! Our children loved listening to the stories Maui and the Sun and How Maui slowed the sun, which inspired them to paint a sun using their imaginative and creativity skills! We then displayed the sun as an amazing piece of art for our classroom wall!

Throughout this week, we practiced a lot of Te Reo numbers, colours and songs, all as part of an extension on what we already try to instill in our children on a weekly basis at the centre as part of recognising the language and the culture as an important part of who we are as New Zealanders. Our children had an absolute blast celebrating throughout the week. We continued with other activities such as face painting, sung the National Anthem and had great mat time conversations too! What a way to come together!