On the Wednesday before the Easter break we had our annual whole school easter egg hunt. This has become a much loved tradition at Ōtaki School for all tamariki and kaiako! Everyone is encouraged to look around the school - EVERYWHERE!!! To find eggs - the eggs are returned to a picnic blanket to be counted - when they are all found then each tamaiti choses an egg for themselves to eat.
The first easter egg hunt can be overwhelming for the newest members of the kura. However our school values are front and centre with many of the tuakana taking a smaller student under their wing as they search the school grounds. No one misses out.
Here is the newest member of Waitī joining in with the hunt...
One of the ideas a tamaiti wrote for things for us to do was bread making. We had talked about the different ways to make bread - but to ensure each tamaiti got the most out of the experience they each made their own individual bread roll. Measuring out the ingredients, mixing, making in to a ball and placing it on the tray to be baked. Initially there was a lot of discussion about the yeast, and the smell as it developed. Some liked it more than others. Definitely the most favourite part of the experience was in the eating!
After lunch each day tamariki come in and sit on the mat for a 'fruit break'. The whetu for the day chooses some books for me to read at this time from the library in the class. This is a lovely time of day where I get an inkling of the different things a tamaiti likes. This day was Sonny's choice. He chose a book about the tuatara and another about animals.
From the second book came the discussion about blue whales and how big they are. The book told us they grew to an average length of 25m. It is very hard to imagine how long this might be. Out came the metre rulers! And out we went to measure out how long this is!
It was a very exciting afternoon - the seeds we had sewn earlier in the year for the hue or calabashes or gourds or tahā - we're not too...
