I tēnei tau, te Rūma P īwakawaka is a tau 2-3 akomanga of 15 delightful tamariki who all have amazing pūkenga in lots of different areas of learning. We have had a wonderful start to the year building our whanaungatanga, trying lots of different activities in the akomanga and having as much fun as possible.

We have been completing a range of activities such as mahi toi kiriāhua (self portraits), Ara Ako on Seesaw (developing goals based around our hauora and whanaungatanga) and hanga pukapuka (making Ko Wai Au pukapuka). Over the next few weeks, we are getting ready to focus more on our formal learning in pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau, as well as digging a bit deeper into our main kaupapa of “wai”.

Whakamiharo ana te āhua o ēnei tamariki. Nōku te waimarie ki te whakaako ki ēnei tamariki. Aroha ki te tangata te tūahiwi ki te whai ao!

As part of our learning inquiry about wai, our two teina Whitireia akomanga Pīpī and Pīwakawaka went to Ōruapaeroa (Travis Wetlands) in Ōtautahi to take part in an akoranga (lesson) run by the Christchurch City Council. Our tamariki learnt about the manu (birds) and ngārara (insects) who live and thrive in the wetlands and how water is important for their survival. We also learned that Ōruapaeroa was an important source of kai for our tupuna.

We were very lucky to have the expertise of Whaea Tracey from CCC on this day and our tamariki had a fantastic time looking for ngārara in the ngahere (forest) as well as looking at the habitats of the manu (pūkeko and pūtangitangi) in the freshwater areas. We even managed to play a few kēmu as well. He rangi pukumahi mō te katoa. Despite it being a very hot day, we all enjoyed going for a haerenga and making connections to te taiao.

We were incredibly fortunate to have wonderful whānau tautoko from Whaea Katie (Willow’s Māmā), Whaea Olivia (Te Kapua’s Māmā), Whaea Thalia (Khobe’s Māmā) and Tuāhine Georgia (Whaea Carla’s tamāhine) on this day. He pīki mihi ki ēnei māmā mō te tautoko o ā tātou tamariki mokopuna. We really appreciate your tautoko with our tamariki.