A Visit from our sister school Siyanqi Primary School in Ningbo, China

Siyanqi Students Visiting in Room 10

We were so excited to have visitors in our class, from our sister school in China. Some of the students spoke great English, but that didn't stop us from trying out some conversation in Mandarin.

We spent some time colouring a traditional Māori meeting house (wharenui). These then get folded together to make a 3D model.

It was nice to share with the students about traditional Māori colours and the importance of a wharenui in Māori culture.

Here are just a few pictures of us developing relationships with our Siyanqi School friends.

MATARIKI ART

Mr Collins shared the story with us, 'The Seven stars of Matariki'.  After hearing one version of the story of the matariki stars, we looked at how we could create some pastel art to represent the Māori new year.
We talked about how pastels can be blended easily and colours can layer overtop of other colours. It was good to choose colours that complimented each other but we didn't have to.
When we had finished creating our art. Miss Waghorn sliced it into three pieces to be glued onto black paper (this made us a bit worried at first). Pictures cut into three pieces like this are called triptych's.
Learning about the Māori new year let us compare it to other new years celebrations that we already knew about. It was fun and a lot of learning.

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

What a great day we had celebrating Chinese New Year and all that the Chinese culture has to offer.

Have a look at the photos to see a snippet of our day.