Noho Marae

NOHO MARAE

On Tuesday the 5th of March Room One and Room Eight  went to Arahura Marae for an overnight
trip. When we got to the marae we had the powhiri. The powhiri process is when you are welcomed
onto a marae or a sacred area. I had been to the marae before. After the powhiri process we went
to the wharekai to have morning tea. A wharekai is a place where you eat. For morning tea we had
red velvet cake and savouries.

After everyone had eaten we all went back into the wharenui. In the wharenui everyone stood up and
shared their mihi.  When everyone had shared their mihi we budded up and did our activity books.
In our activity books it asked us to do things like draw a birds eye view of the marae and  sketch
some carvings outside. Later in the day everyone went down to the river to look for pounamu. A
few people found some but not many. After about 45 minutes of searching we all went down to the
beach to do a sculpture building contest. The sculpture had to do something with the legend of
Poutini and Waitaiki.  My group made a waka out of sand and stones.

After the sculptures were done we walked back to the marae and went into the wharekai and had a
snack. Then we went into the wharenui to listen to the stories about the pou. We split into three
groups and each group got to choose a pou and listen to its story. When we had finished listening
to the stories of the pou we had dinner in the wharekai. After dinner we had evening activities.
First I did weaving then Ki-O Rahi (Ki-O-Rahi is a maori game they used to play to train warriors).
It was dark when we played Ki-O-Rahi so it was hard to see the ball.

When everything was packed up we went to bed. It was about 10pm. It was hard to get to sleep
because everyone was talking but I eventually got sleep.  When we got up we packed up the
mattresses and then had breakfast. When breakfast was done and everything had been cleaned
we got in cars and drove to Lake Mahinapua to do a walk and talk about the war that had happened
there years ago.

We walked from the start to the edge of Lake Mahinapua. It was a bit misty and there were some
sandflies. When we got the the lake it was covered in mist. On the way back to the cars we had
some morning tea. After everyone had eaten we walked back to the cars and drove back to school.

I thought that the marae trip was fun and exciting.

Camp Thank You Letters

For camp we wrote letters to thank people for coming on camp. Here is my letter. 

20 November 2018      

Dear Scott

Thank you for coming on camp with us.  I really enjoyed camp. Thank you for taking me in the car too. I enjoyed working with you in the activities.  🏕

One of  my favourite things was the river crossing.  The water was REALLY cold . I was in a group with: Billie, Dakota, Mackenzie and Summer. When we got out all of us wanted to go again. My group went 3 times.  When we finished my feet were  frozen!!❄

Another one of my favourite things was the water pipe challenge. I was at the bottom so I got saturated.  My team won so then we helped the other teams and I got even MORE wet. By the end I was wet from head to toe . So when I got back I had a nice hot shower. 🌊

I also enjoyed the Squawk Squad activity. It was when you had to follow a map and try and find things (we had to find predators and  letters). My group had to walk along the Devils Punchbowl track. At first we had trouble reading the map but soon we got the hang of it. My group had to find a blue duck. It was at the post office. 📬

My favourite food  was the self saucing cake with Ice cream.🍦 The thing I missed from home was my bed.

Thank you again. Did you enjoy camp? I did. Ngā mihi

Yours sincerely

Sasha. 😉

Camp Photos 2018

Safety Tips For Camp

This week we are going to camp on Arthur's Pass. We had to get into groups to present our knowledge about safety tips about the bush and hypothermia. Here is our work.

Powhiri Process

Before we went to stay the Marae, we learnt about the powhiri process.  Here is the presentation I did with Mackenzie to show My learning about the powiri process.

Kia ora, Ko Mackenzie toku ingoa  

Kia ora, ko Sasha toku ingoa.   

Click here if you want to hear us explaining the powhiri process

Today we are going to be explaining the Powhiri process.

First if you are lucky enough you get a wero and if you are a very import person like the queen you will usually  have a wero.

A wero is a challenge for the hosts to see if the visitors come in peace. The hosts normally send out their best or fastest warrior. The warrior will put a stick or a branch down on the ground and if you pick it up and walk backwards it means you come in peace so the warrior runs back to tell his tribe and if you pick the stick up and turn your back it means you don’t come in peace.

After a wero there is a karanga. A karanga is a call of welcome. The karanga is usually done by an elder woman. A karanga lets visitors know they are allowed to come onto the Marae. A karanga is also a time to remember those that have past away.

After the karanga there is the whaikōrero.The whaikōrero is done by the men, both the hosts and visitors do the whaikōrero. The whaikōrero honours the dead and welcomes the guests and sometimes they also debate many issues.

After the whaikorero there is a koha given. A koha is a gift usually given by the visitors speaker. The gift is usually some money to help keep the marae running.     

After the Koha there is a waiata. After each man from the hosts and visitors do their speech their people sing a waiata. The waiata is usually started by the women.

After the waiata everyone lines up and it’s hongi time!!!!

This means you share the breath of life. It also lifts the tapu. The hongi is when you touch noses.

Once everyone has lined up and hongid. You have kai. The hosts make kai to welcome everybody and to lift the tapu which means once you have eaten kai the powhiri process has ended.

After the kai it is the poroporoaki. At the end of your stay everybody gathers in the wharenui again. That means that anybody can get up and say something. Like what they liked, how they felt and they thank the hosts. Sometimes some people sing waiata.

That is the end of the Powhiri process.

           Bye!

Recount On Marae Trip

Here is my recount about my trip to the Arahura Marae.

This is a piece of writing that retells and evaluates (what you think) events or experiences.

Title A brief name for the experience or event.	The Arahura Marae
Orientation Tells when and where the event began and who was there.	On Thursday, the senior school went to the Arahura Marae to stay over night. We were also learning about the powhiri process as well. At 9:30am we split into our car groups and off we went.  I was feeling nanawe and nervous.  The Arahura Marae is up a steep hill and near the Arahura river.
Sequence of events Tells the events in the order they happened. You need to have a minimum of 3-4 events. Remember one topic per paragraph.  Your paragraph should have an introductory sentence use a time sequence word/phrase and then detail.	Firstly, when we all got to the Arahura Marae we lined up to do the karanga. The girls were at the front and the boys were at the back and we slowly walked onto the marae grounds.  When we were halfway down the path we stopped and bowed our heads for one minute to remember those who have  passed on.  When we got to the Wharenui we had to take our shoes off so we wouldn’t get the carpet dirty. When we got into the Wharenui the boys and the men sat in the front and the woman and the girls were at the back.  Then the man from the Arahura Marae said a speech and then Emille said his speech. After Emille had finished his speech we did a waiata. Then we all did a hongi. I was nervous to do the hongi  but it wasn’t so bad after I had done it!   Then, everyone went into the dining area to have some morning tea. There was a lot of food! I had a mince pie, a potato top pie, a sandwich and a sausage roll.  I had so much food.     After everyone had finished lunch we all went down to the Arahura Awa ( river ) to look for pounamu. Only four people found some. Then we went to the Moana (sea ) to do a rubbish clean up.  After we had done a rubbish clean up we had a sculpture making competition to see who could make the best poutini taniwha. My group made our taniwha out of long bits of wood and we made our eyes out of paua shells.  I really enjoyed building our taniwha.  I think my groups taniwha looked really cool. When we got back from the beach we had dinner and dessert and then did some evening activities. I got to do weaving and ki o rahi.  After we had finished the evening activities we sat around the fire and made smores and sang waiata.  The smores were delicious and very sticky.   Next we got into bed and went to sleep.   All you could here all night was a beeping sound from someone's watch and everyone whispering to their friends next to them. I could also hear a lot of snoring. At five o’clock in the morning someone's phone went off and woke everyone up so we were all up really early.   Inside the building where we slept, there was a lot of beautiful carvings. Instead of  traditional painted kowhaiwhai there was modern LED lights that changed colour inside carved  bits of metal.  All of the carvings inside the wharenui ( big house ) represented a person (tupuna/ ancestor).
Personal Comment/Ending Tells how the experience/event ended and some thoughts you may have about it.	What I liked about my Marae stay was sleeping in  the beautiful wharenui ( big house ) and going on camp with my friends. I would really like to go on to a marae again.