Tō Mātou Peitatanga

Over the past few months, I have been working on a painting project with my 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. It is a multifaceted learning and exploration project, with the four main goals being:

1) learning and using words and phrases in te reo Māori in an integrated and meaningful way

2) creating a collective "world" that we all have ownership in and care for together

3) increasing our knowledge of and connection to ngā atua Māori (guardians) and which parts of our world each one looks after

4) spending intentional time thinking about how we represent ideas and objects through painting

This is Mātou Peitatanga ō Te Ao Tūroa ō Te Rā (Our Painting of the Natural World during the day). We painted the background together, and then each child got to think of something from the natural world that he/she would like to add, and paint it in.

We then did the same thing for Te Pō (the night). We still stuck with the Natural World, however, I did encourage some children to pick kararehe (animals) that live on te pāmu (the farm) for the lefthand, darker land area, so we could include the atua (gardian) of agriculture.

We talked about each thing that we painted using as much te reo Māori as possible. For example, I would say, "Whiriwhirihia he tae." ("Choose a colour.") and the child would name the colour they wanted in te reo Māori. We talked about body parts and parts of plants using Māori vocabulary, and talked about who painted what exclusively in Māori. I role modeled using the dictionary to look up words I didn't know yet, until the children would say, "Do you know it, or should we get the dictionary?" This learning together was so meaningful and I believe helped the children to see the value in a growth mindset.

At some point, I will have to do a more in-depth post about each atua, but for the moment, I will simply share the pictures I took of the signs I made for each one. I displayed the signs around the peitatanga (paintings), with pictures of what each child painted clustered around the atua who would look after that particular part of the natural world.

Papatūānuku is also known as the Earth Mother. We sing Morena (good morning) to her each week when we go to the Botanic Gardens, and thank her for all the wonderful growing things she looks after.

Ranginui is the Sky Father, and he and Papatūānuku are the parents of all the other atua.

Tāne Mahuta looks after the trees and all the creatures who live in the forest. We have a particularly beautiful book about him creating and planting the first tree, and then creating birds and insects.

Tongaroa is many of the children's favourite, although they struggle to believe me when I say that even though he has long hair and a mermaid tail, he is still a boy.

Unsurprisingly, Rongomātāne's focus on peace makes him one of my favourite atua. He's also a great one to reference as we encourage the children to be careful and respectful of the plants in our garden at Whare Kea (my room at work).

As I mentioned in my post a few weeks ago, Tāwhirimātea is always a popular atua, as the wind makes itself known in Wellington, so he is often actively influencing our day.

There are more, equally wonderful atua Māori, but those are the ones that I could specifically and meaningful connect to our peitatanga, and that the children could see as having ownership in the things they chose to paint.

I have taken pictures of some of the labels I put around the peitatanga, clustered around the appropriate atua. You'll notice that they're cut off on one side. That is because in addition to the close-up of their painting and the words, I also included a picture of them in the process of painting it, so it was clear to the children who painted each thing, in case they didn't see. However, I can't post pictures of the children, so you just get the closeups and words. 

The words "I peita a (child) i tētahi (object)" mean "(Child) painted this (object)." Some of them have additional specifications, and some don't. I also had a glossary up on the wall for parents and other teachers to use, so that they could learn the words not only for what the children painted, but for the body parts, plant parts, landscapes, etc.

Sadie put lots of time and effort into this crocodile, which got fancier and more amazing each time she came back to add more detail.

(Cared for by Tongaroa)

James is a lot younger than Sadie, but he also put lots of effort into his shark, and was especially pleased with its long hiku (tail).

(Cared for by Tongaroa)

Xavier is currently very focused on how nature works, and after he painted his flower, he was determined to add pollen, so that the bees could come visit it.

(Cared for by Papatūānuku)

Sorry for the glare on Jake's cow. This was a really exciting creation for Jake, as he doesn't often spend time painting, and he was very proud to have made waewae (legs), whatu (eyes), and a hiku (tail).

(Cared for by Rongomātāne)

Maddy is one of our youngest children, and she chose to make a fish because her closest friend made one first, and they are the only two fish in te awa (the river), so I like to think that they play together.

(Cared for by Tongaroa)

Tūī are one of our favourite birds, as we often see and hear them when we visit the gardens. Ramiyah and I spent a long time examining pictures of tūī in books and thinking about what they look like before she carefully and intentionally painted this stunning specimen, of which she is so proud!

(Also, I have just noticed that I spelled her name wrong on the sign! How awful! I know what I'm doing first thing Monday morning!)

(Cared for by Tāne Māhuta)

As soon as I asked Elva what she wanted to add, she said, "A pūrerehua!" She knew exactly what it should look like and needed no guidance as she painted. Unfortunately, Jake leaned over on it and smeared one of the wings, but Elva was amazingly gracious about it.

(Cared for by Tāne Mahuta and Ranginui)

Lucy painted this bird with gorgeous big red korokoro (toes) smack in the middle of the rangi (sky), much to the consternation of several other children who were 100% sure that it was a penguin and therefore couldn't fly. Lucy insisted that it was not a penguin, and after some confirmation from me that whoever the artist is gets to decide what it is, they came to terms with it.

(Cared for by Tāne Mahuta and Ranginui)

I deeply enjoyed doing this project with my wonderful children, and am thrilled with the learning, empowerment, and ownership that it gave them. They have been dragging their parents over to the peitatanga and telling them about what they and their friends have painted. On several occasions, I have heard them using the Māori words and then translating for their parents. Bentley said, "Mum! That's my ika! My ika, Mum. Mum... it's a fish, okay?" I love hearing them speaking Māori and taking pride in that, even when they have to make allowances for their less informed parents. In fact, the parents have given me wonderful feedback that they're loving learning te reo Māori from their children, and are so excited for them to have a strong knowledge of and pride in their bicultural heritage. I'm so glad to be a part of it!

J's Camping Trip

J spent last weekend camping in Glendhu Station with a guy from work and some of his friends. 

You see that little, tiny box near the ocean? That's where they stayed. Roughing it is just fine, but they were banking on hot water and electricity, both of which were not, in fact, present. So that was a disappointment, but they made do. And you just can't beat the location! How beautiful!

The sleeping arrangements were cramped, but again, you make do.

One of the big attractions of this location and of the entire trip was that they were going to be able to dive for paua. I think I've talked about it before, but just as a reminder, paua are large sea snails, called abalone in the States, and ormer shells in the UK. They're brown and crusty on the outside, but you can polish that away and reveal beautiful, swirling purples, blues, and greens. These colours are also on the inside, although lighter.

J and the guys got all suited up in wetsuits to go and collect paua, which they were told were always prolific in this area. However, after multiple failed attempts to find even one that was big enough to be legally harvested, they had to give up. They found out later that a fishing boat had come in and illegally harvested not only all of the full-grown paua, but a large percentage of the smaller ones. This breaks multiple laws, and for good reason. The paua population is carefully regulated and maintained, as they are not a species that easily "bounces back." J said that it would take at least 5 years for this particular area to repopulate, and 10 to thrive. All because a fishing company didn't care. It's so disheartening!

Really, I look at all this natural beauty, and I don't understand how people don't want to take care of the ecosystems and wildlife here. (Although I do have to remind myself that many people do, and many people put lots of effort into conservation, so I shouldn't forget about them).

J and the guys took walks around the stunning landscape. I love the exposed rocks. I need to go out there sometime myself!

If for nothing else, I must go and see this amazing rock formation! It is a natural, charmingly fragmented white stone bridge, and I love it! Even J was impressed, and he is not a landscape kind of person.

The water runs under said bridge into this pool. It is so cool!

They also got to feed lambs, the lucky guys! It is spring here, and the countryside is full of beautiful, fluffy babies, a fact which kept me entertained during the entire drive up and down the mountains the weekend before. But lucky J got to actually spent time with them!

He and this lovely baby made friends. Animals always adore J, of course, and he is rather fond of them as well.

So, even though the weekend had its downsides, it is always good to spend time somewhere beautiful. Maybe this summer we can go out there together and he can show me around.

Snowboarding/Charming Weekend Away

J and I have been wanting to get back up in the mountains to go snowboarding since two winters ago when we went to Mount Turoa twice - once with Anna and Ollie and once by ourselves. Last winter we were busy with people visiting from the States and then us traveling to the States. We made a plan to go earlier this winter, but then J hurt his back, so we had to wait until it was healed. Well, last week we decided it was finally strong enough, so off we went to Mount Turoa for two days of snowboarding.

The weather was mostly cloudy and sometimes threatening snow, but we ended up being appreciative of that, because when the sun did peek out, it was too hot for us in all our warm gear.

We decided to start out just paying for the beginner slopes, since it was only our third time and we hadn't been in two years. Fortunately, the comfort and balance that we'd learned hadn't been forgotten, and we were able to get straight into it.

Unfortunately, this picture of J strapping on his board is the only one I have of him, because he did three or four descents without falling, and then had one fall that didn't look like much, but tweaked the same disc in his back and meant that any more snowboarding that weekend was out of the question. Crap. I felt awful for him, especially as he had been so looking forward to it!

Fortunately, it wasn't hurting too badly, and J was beautifully generous and hung out with me on the slope for a while so that I could get some snowboarding in. It was so incredibly sweet of him!

He even took a video of me from the bottom of the slope. It's hard to pick me out at the beginning, but I get closer, and please feel free to be impressed that I managed to stop without falling, because I maintain that that is the hardest part. Click here to see the video.

We decided that we were comfortable enough on our boards that the beginner slope was not challenging enough because we couldn't get up enough speed. So next year when we go again, we'll get the whole mountain pass and explore some steeper and longer slopes. And by then J's back will be in tip-top shape, and there will be no stopping him!

We decided to stay in the B&B we'd reserved, even though we'd just be heading home on Sunday, rather than back up the mountain. It's always nice to have a relaxing time together in a nice place away from home. We were very happy with our decision when we saw our beautiful B&B. It's called Llanerchymedd, and if you're ever in Taihape, I highly recommend it.

Plus, we were delighted to learn that the owners (who decided to use their huge, fancy house as a B&B when their daughters moved out) are named Alan and Jan, just like our Uncle Allen and Aunt Jan in Iowa! No wonder we felt so at home!

The kind hostess showed us to our room, which was basically a whole apartment, richly and comfortably furnished. We went out to a delicious dinner at the Gumboot Manor in Taihape, then curled up on the couch and watched Shrek. It was hilarious that it was one of the DVDs in the room, because I haven't see it since I was a kid and have been wanting to rewatch it. Jan also loaned us a nice heating pad so J could doctor his back while we relaxed.

We had such a fantastic night's sleep in this comfy bed, and slept in Sunday morning, which I almost never do!

The breakfast part of the B&B came in the form of a fully breakfast-ready kitchen, so we got up and cooked for ourselves in the morning. It was actually quite fun, as we never cook hot breakfasts at home.

Notice anything strange? Yes, a traditional Kiwi breakfast includes canned spaghetti in red sauce, which you put on the toast. I have no particular attachment to what foods are eaten at what point in the day, but I don't think even I had eaten spaghetti for breakfast, let alone on toast, before moving to NZ. J actually really likes it! Also, you'll notice that the bacon is more like ham, or Canadian bacon as we in the States call it. But here if you're offered bacon, that is what you will get. What I grew up calling bacon is called "streaky bacon" here, and is much less common. 

In conclusion, even though poor J hurt his back and we found ourselves not as focused on snowboarding as we had imagined, we had a wonderful weekend together, and came home happy. 

Wellington Zoo

On Sunday, J and I spent the afternoon at the Wellington Zoo. I had been there once before, right after we moved to NZ, which was a shocking three years ago! It feels strange to say that I haven't been somewhere in NZ in three years, but it is true! 

Our neighbour Phil is a zookeeper at Wellington Zoo, and has been telling us how much he enjoys working with the animals, and how wonderful a zoo it is. I have been learning more about how zoos in NZ (and the Auckland Zoo in particular) do so very much conservation work, from breeding to educating the public about their part in conservation, and even to releasing animals back into the wild. I really respect that, and have come to value zoos for the connection that they can create between people and animals, which I think is the experience that will make people wake up and try to do a better job of taking care of our ecosystems.

All that being said, I also just love seeing the animals and marveling at their amazing characteristics. 

Harry told us that his favourite animals at the zoo are giraffes, so I made sure to get a picture for him. Also, I forget how big giraffes are. You always think about how tall they are, but I don't always realize how much bulk there is to them as well, and how big their hooves are, for example. 

Our neighbour Phil did a Penguin Talk while we were there, and did a fantastic job teaching people about what they can do to help Kororā (Little Blue Penguins) like these ones be safe and happy in NZ.

Phil taught us that these adorable little penguins are all rescues that are unable to live in the wild for one reason or another. The big thing that causes problems for them are domestic cats that people let stay out all night. The penguins come on land to sleep at night and have no natural defenses against cats. All cat owners are strongly encouraged to keep their cats inside at night. (Cats are also a huge problem for Kiwi and other native birds, so it is really important for many reasons).

The Kororā were very, very excited about the little fish that Phil brought to feed them. He is clearly their best friend. Pretty cool to have penguins as best friends!

As always, my absolute favourite animals at the zoo are the red pandas. They are so completely lovable and hilarious, and this one came right up into the trees to see J and me, before adroitly climbing back down to go adventuring elsewhere.

J had told me that there were two baby red pandas at the zoo, but when we went to their exhibit, they were nowhere to be seen. After waiting a bit and enjoying the adults, we were just about to give up when this gorgeous little guy climbed up to this perfect viewing spot and graciously allowed me to go into fits of adoration for several minutes. He's SO CUTE!!!

We also visited the Kea, for whom I have a special affinity, because my room at work is called Whare Kea (Kea House). Kea are the world's only alpine parrots, and are extremely intelligent and "cheeky" as the Kiwis put it. They are actually one of the most intelligent birds in the world. Although they can fly, they nest on the ground, and so are at risk of attack by introduced predators like cats, stoats, possums, rats, etc. They are also facing human invasion of their alpine homes, and are sometimes too inquisitive and willing to approach humans, which is obviously not helpful for wild animals.

While most of their feathers are green and brown, Kea hide a surprising amount of colour underneath their wings. You can see a hint of it in my picture, but I'll find you a better one online...

Voilà! Bright colours under the wings.

If you'd like to read more about Kea, please click here.

You may be remembering that I wrote about Kaka and the bright colours under their wings after we went to Zealandia. Kaka are very similar to Kea in many ways, including colouring. But I like Kea better, because my room is named after them, so I feel that we're probably best friends.

It was a lovely afternoon at the zoo. We always love seeing the animals, and it was a fantastic additional treat to get to see Phil doing his amazing work there. We will definitely be visiting again.