I have introduced Whakataka Karakia as a Waiata at morning mat time as suggested by Karlene and feel that it is defiantly helping me with both remembering the words and my pronunciation. I thought it would be nice to hold hands in our circle and sway in time to the music, our tamariki seem to be enjoying this and I feel more of them are joining in. Today I had a bit of a technology melt down and couldn't get my iPad to work so couldn't access you tube where the Waiata is based, a few weeks ago this would have put me into a nervous panic especially with tamariki, teachers and parents all watching and waiting. But instead I just went with it knowing that I had been feeling better about the Waiata so decided to do an echo with the tamariki. I was really proud of myself it came out so much better than I had hoped, I felt I was a much better role model to our tamariki and the words came out with much greater ease. Dianne gave me some nice feed back which also boosted my confidence. I think for me Te Reo is easier for me to learn through song, this is how I learnt at school and it just seems to work for me.

I have been really struggling with my pronunciation of our new karakia to start the day. This was even more evident when it was my turn to lead it this week, I got so nervous about thinking that I was going to make a mistake that it all turned to custard and came out all wrong. I felt terrible as I really want to be a great role model to our tamariki and kept thinking that if they hear the words pronounced the wrong way that its how they will learn it, I felt so awful all day about this experience and it was a real knock to my confidence.
I decided I had to get help and approached Kohine's mum Karleen asking for some support with my pronunciation, she was there for the mat time a few days previously and knew just what had happened. She was so supportive and said it was great that I was even trying and showed me on my Ipad two sights that had the karakia, one was the waiata version and the other had the words and a button to push to hear it spoken. What a fantastic help this was to me, I have been taking my Ipad home and playing both versions and practicing them and are already feeling better having reached out to Karleen. She also suggested we teach the children this karakia through waiata, that it may be easier for them to learn it this way. When I am next on mat time I will try and introduce it this way.

One of our goals at our conference was to try and access a local person from our community that we could ask advice from regarding Maori culture.This afternoon we had a meeting with George Hawera who has offered to support us with our quest to find out about local Maori legends, waiata and tikanga so we can provide our tamariki with a more holistic and meaningful experience here at kindergarten. George said he was just as excited to be working with us as we were with him as it directly impacts on his grandson Tawera. We were able to ask George for assistance with protocol, waiata and contacts in our wider community.
As a team we have been looking for a farewell karakia to match with our changes to our mat time routine in the mornings, George had prepared a booklet of things that he thought would be useful for us and he included a farewell karakia that we could use. However it does mention the Heavenly Father and we are aware that there are many different religions that make up Aotearoa. We feel that it wouldn't be appropriate to include this in our karakia so will leave this out, as the karakia starts with these two words but also reads fine without them we will check with George to see if he feels it is appropriate to use an adapted version.  I acknowledged to George that on my reo journey I have often been hesitant to speak te reo in fear of making mistakes, George was very supportive and said as long as I try my best and use reo every day improvement will come. He also used the example start with two words use them lots then they will become four, four will grow to eight, eight will grow to ten and so on. He said that to keep reo alive it needs to be used. I found this to be powerful advice and will challenge myself to keep increasing my vocabulary each week, slowly building and increasing my knowledge, I have a strong desire to improve so that I can be a  role model to nga tamariki. I think its important that our tamariki see that teachers are learners too.
When we asked George if  he had any ideas about why we struggle to get our Maori whanau to enrol at kindergarten he said that he thought it was a generational thing, that many whanau have not had positive experiences at school and this has impacted heavily on the way they view education for their tamariki. I had never considered this view and felt it made a lot of sense. I felt sad that as a country we have many generations that this has negatively impacted, making me even more aware of why it is so important as an educator that we strive for best practice and help our Maori akonga thrive.

After brain storming our next steps at the conference it was exciting to get back to kindergarten and begin implementing some of them being aware that small steps are important for sustainability. The new mat time routines gives our mat times a more holistic approach and is reflecting a greater commitment to tikanga. by sitting in a circle we are all able to see one another which makes the experience more meaning full. Starting the day with our welcome karakia feels right and lighting the candle embraces the day ahead. Our tamariki have responded positively to these new changes.

At the end mat time I have thought for quite sometime that it was lacking as far as ending the day by just sending the tamariki off the mat so this week in consultation with the team I introduced our ka kite song which we sung in a standing up circle. the tamariki responded really well to this and I felt it gave a nice closure to the day.

At Nature Discovery we have begun to use the word Mihi when talking about the Atua in our morning ritual and raising our arm and saying tena koe to them. As this is new the tamariki did seem a little taken back at first but we have now done this twice and they are beginning to come on board with it. I do still feel it would be nice to Mihi back at the kindergarten to the atua at the start of our kindergarten day but feel that this isnt possible at the moment as mat time has gone under quite a change and is risking getting a little long if we add anything else. I will look into fresh ways of making the atua visible and are looking forward to hearing back from Paparangi Kindergarten about their atua waiata.

I am excited about George coming next week to help us create our kindergarten pepeha.

Today I supported Hannah with her interest in the Atua, she is very familiar with them as I speak about them with any opportunity I get, referring to them both at kindergarten and Nature Discovery. I could see that she has a developing interest in them but just needed some help with remembering their names. I made sure that I modeled correct pronunciation and linked each Atua to their guardianship. By doing this I was able to support Hannah's learning and desire to deepen her understanding. Through Hannah's interest I was also able to support the other children who joined the activity, encouraging them to share knowledge with one another.

Once I posted her story on story park it was really great to see this morning that her mum had posted a lovely comment about Hannah and this emerging interest. I was able to reply and say that I had noticed similar attributes in Hannah and how she is developing some wonderful nurturing skills and is showing a new awareness of other peoples feelings. Her mum said how much she enjoyed reading about how Hannah has been encouraged to learn about Maori methodology and culture and our commitment to biculturalisum.

I will continue to support Hannah's emerging interest in the Atua and support her developing skills in her artistic creations by helping her to look for detail in her art work by offering ideas and questions about looking deeper at her chosen subjects.




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Hannah and the Atua

Today I supported Hannah with her interest in the Atua, she is very familiar with them as I speak about them with any opportunity I get, referring to them both at kindergarten and Nature Discovery. I could see that she has a developing interest in them but just needed some help with remembering their names. I made sure that I modeled correct pronunciation and linked each Atua to their guardianship. By doing this I was able to support Hannah's learning and desire to deepen her understanding. Through Hannah's interest I was also able to support the other children who joined the activity, encouraging them to share knowledge with one another.

Once I posted her story on story park it was really great to see this morning that her mum had posted a lovely comment about Hannah and this emerging interest. I was able to reply and say that I had noticed similar attributes in Hannah and how she is developing some wonderful nurturing skills and is showing a new awareness of other peoples feelings. Her mum said how much she enjoyed reading about how Hannah has been encouraged to learn about Maori methodology and culture and our commitment to biculturalisum.

I will continue to support Hannah's emerging interest in the Atua and support her developing skills in her artistic creations by helping her to look for detail in her art work by offering ideas and questions about looking deeper at her chosen subjects.




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