Matariki Celebrations 2018

Can you believe, another year has flown by!

Around here we just love this time of year

Matariki

For us this means we take special care to make time to connect with each other and spend quality time together...sharing the mahi, experiencing new things and creating fond memories to last a lifetime.  It's all about whānau, aroha, care and respect.  What an awesome time we've had together!

This years Matariki celebrations took place over the month of June and as is our tradition we began with our annual Matariki breakfast.  We had such an amazing turn out for this and it was a great way to get celebrations started.

Matariki Breakfast

Our breakfast was a feast!

What a great way to start off our celebrations.

During our Matariki celebrations we've had a number of projects on the go...

Taonga

• We made precious taonga (in the form of sculpted jewellery)

 

 Kakahu

• We made an assortment of kakahu (cloaks to keep out the winter chill at kindergarten)

Trash to treasure

• We made a mosaic rainbow table out of an old pallet (for outside however it is so lovely we might keep it inside!)

Can you believe how beautiful a pallet can be!!

We do love to re-purpose things!

Waiata

• And we learnt a few more waiata to sing (ataahua! beautiful songbirds everyone of them!) 

Welcome guests

We were also very lucky to have some special people come into kindergarten to share their gifts and talents with the tamariki.  A huge thank you goes to both Ruakaka Primary School and Bream Bay College for their willingness to be involved in our programme and share their time with us. We loved hearing your korero and waiata!

Tamariki were keen to share and draw their favourite memories of this...

"All the people came and singed us a song and danced.  There was a lot of people singing and dancing" said Rose.

"They are singing a big loud song to the people" said Caden.

"I liked when they were singing because I loved the singing.  They wanted to sing us a song, the kids and it was very good" said Brooklyn.

 "They were being happy because they were doing the hangi.  The singers were singing the songs and I was feeling happy.  I loved that song" said Asjah.

Matariki Hangi
We ended our celebrations with a traditional hangi at the kindergarten.  This year was exceptional!  

The weather played the game well stunning us with crystal clear blue skies and sun that warmed through to the bones...one of those rare and beautiful winters day.

The company was awesome too!  We had so many people come to enjoy the day with us, sharing their unique talents, aroha and care.  We simply could not have achieved all that we did without the help of our community.  We are so grateful to 'our people' and give a heartfelt thanks to all those who were guided by thoughtfulness and love for others...you are all shining stars and such wonderful role models for our tamariki and others to aspire to...just wonderful!

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi Engari, he toa takitini.
My successes are not mine alone, they are ours - the greatest successes we will have are from working together.

And that's all folks...that's what Matariki looked like for us this year.  As we look forward to another busy year ahead, we wish you all every happiness, long health and an abundance of aroha and joy.  Take care of each other, be kind and thoughtful and may all your dreams come true.

Arohanui

Tania