Kia pai tou tatou Matariki!

Did you know it's the Maori New Year? Matariki is the Maori New Year and it is celebrated each year when the group of stars called Matariki reappears in the sky.

Towards the end of the term we learnt about Matariki by reading some picture books about it. We learnt that Matariki is a good time for being with family, eating yummy foods together and remembering people in our family who have passed away. It is also a good time for planting some different kinds of plants.

Elena and Trelia planting their seedlings and watering them.

In Room Two we each got to plant a seedling. Miss McKenna had bought some potting mix and some different flower seedlings for us to transplant into our own containers to take home. We put on gloves to protect us from the soil and then Miss C. helped us put our plants into our pots. There were three types of flowers to choose from - primula (pink), viola (yellow, white and purple) and antirrhinum (red, yellow, peach and pink).

Our class with our plants. "Happy Matariki!"

On the last day of term we took our plants home. Please help us to water them and take care of them so that we can help them get bigger and stronger and watch them flower. What will the flowers look like?! You could take a photo and email it to Miss McKenna to show her when yours flowers. I wonder how long it will take?

These are some of the picture books we read which helped us learn  about

Matariki. You can find more at your public library!