Ngaa whetu mo to maatou rakau!

Riki, Takarea, and Ono-Mariri asked if they could make whetu this morning. When asked why, Takarea, you said, " For our Christmas tree". "But we don't have a Christmas tree here. I wonder what else we can use," I (Vila) said. Then Riki, you said, " Can we put it up on our rakau?" What an awesome idea. Therefore, here are some photos of the tamariki going through the process of making whetu and placing them on our rakau.

More photos at Koro Lukes whare!

Here are some more photos of the children visiting Koro Luke's whare.

Visit to Haedyn Reeve's Koro farm:

This morning we were fortunate to go to Haedyn-Reeves koro Luke's whare to have a look at the rakiraki and heihei. The children had such an awesome experience. There were so many different animals to see, poaka, rakiraki, heihei, ika, doves, parrots, the beautiful garden and the amazing native trees and flowers. Thank you so much Koro Luke, Whaea Mere and of course Headyn Reeves.

"We were looking at the birds and they were yellow." Isla

"I was looking at the pole and I followed Haedyn and she showed us to look at the chicken and the duck. And the birds, and piglets, Haedyn's house and the big dogs." Irihapeti

"I having a loook at the ducks. They eating their kai. My koro feed them." Haedyn-Reeve

Kia Ora Everyone,

We are now well underway with the costumes for the Float Parade. If you want your child to attend the parade Please please please return your permission slip or get in touch with us to let us know. It would be really sad if we didn't know your child was coming and they arrived on the day-too late for us to make them a costume.
So far these are the children who we know are attending. if your child is not on this list and you want them to attend please let us know asap.

Manea
Mihiata
Aniheta
Forsaith
Wairere
Riki and Kanuehi
Haedyn-Reeve
Ono-Mariri and Titarakura
Takarea and Rita
Isla and Kyan
Georgia
Marley
Reremoana
Eru and Cedric
Te Kereama and Naru
Kupai
Tuhaka and Irihapeti

On the day, we will be providing the superhero cape and possibly some other accecsories (if your child wants them as part of their superhero costume) such as arm bands, headbands, superhero masks etc, as well as face paint but your child will be wearing their own clothes under the cape-so it is your and their choice what they wear. Shorts and a tshirt, singlet and tights will be fine-no need for any undies over the top of tights, like some superheroes have-unless they really want to! Even swimming togs will be fine as it's likely to be a hot day. Please try to have plain colours clothes only-no pictures/writing on tops etc. Please sunscreen your child from head to toe before the parade. And do have fun with hairstyles etc-we want to wow the crowd again!

And The Winners Are...

Going off last night's Lotto draw, we are now able to announce the winners of the Christmas Float Parade Fundraising Raffle!

Drumroll please...

The winner of the Toys Basket-pictured above-was Whaea Meri
The winner of the Wine and Cheese Basket-pictured below-was Whaea Puhi's Dad

The winner of the Toiletries Basket was Whaea Frances

The winner of the Groceries Basket was Luana Hickey

The winner of the Christmas Basket was Whaea Meri

The winner of the Stationery Basket was Nikki.

And the winner of the Fruit Basket (not pictured) was Whaea Sue. Congratulations to all the winners and Thank You so much for supporting us in fundraising for the costumes and decorations for the Whakatane Christmas Float Parade!

Well, as you can see we're getting well underway with the costumes for the Whakatane Christmas Float Parade. We don't like to give too much away in this public domain, but just ask your Tamariki to get an idea of some of the fabulous things we've made so far!

We've been stitching, sequining, cutting, measuring and decorating-directed by the Tamariki who have the most wonderful ideas. By the way Luana, the one on the far right is Manea's Tiger Girl cape-she came up with the idea and Sue helped her to bring it to life!

Matua will give anything a go-what a great example for the Tamariki-even teachers can learn something new-and he's now very good at sewing!

Manea and Mihiata starting their modelling career early.

Rita and Tiana joining in.

Haedyn-Reeve showing me her "H Harry Horse!"

Whanau, don't forget to pencil in Saturday 5th December for the float parade. If you haven't yet handed in your permission slip-please do. If you have any spare fabric, felt pieces, cotton threads, beads, sequins etc please send them in with your children so we can use them on the costumes. And if you are available to help decorate the float the night before the parade, or would like to help in any other way please let us know. Don't forget whanau you will need to stay with your children the entire duration of the parade. We are so excited!

HE MIHI AROHA!

Ngaa mihi aroha ki te whanau a Forsaith me te whanau o Whaea Lucy i te wiki i mahue ake na. Moe mai ra e ngaa kuia o eneeki whanau, kua riro atu ki te po, hai noho i waenganui i a o tipuna. Moe mai ra, moe mai ra.

Sadly, last week, Forsaith's nan and Whaea Lucy's grandmother past away. On behalf of all the whanau of Matariki, we send our aroha to you all.

Four of our tamariki and two staff members attended Forsaith's nan's tangi at Waiotahi, Maromahue Marae, and after saying bye to Forsaith and Lil, we stopped at the gorge for a swim.

Riki deciding whether he wants to go for a swim or not.

Tuhaka wanted me to take this picture of the kohatu he found while at the gorge.

Te Kereama enjoying his swim at the gorge.

Takarea having a cool refreshing kaukau.

"I was trying to wet you." Tuhaka

ISLA'S RUATOKI STAY OVER!

Irihapeti and Isla decided amongst themselves that Isla was going to stay at Matua Vila's and Whaea Ata's whare tonight and no one was going to change this, not even their own parents lol.

Here Irihapeti, Isla and Tuhaka are making chocolate cupcakes for Irihapeti's teacher; Whaea Kim (from Paora school) for being such an awesome teacher.

Time to taste the cupcakes, 1,2,3 yummy!

"I'm eating my riwai. Isla and Irihapeti, they eating their kai, Riwai and totiti." Tuhaka

6 cups of cocoa please. Thanks tamariki maa!

"Matua, I know a Bella, Christine's cow is named Bella too, just like Irihapeti's Bella. I think Bella really likes me." Isla

Arohani Whanau for our lack of blog posts lately. Our computer has a nasty virus! the Tamariki keep asking us why the computer is sick and when can we get a computer doctor to come and give it some medicine! Whanau if you do happen to know someone who can help us out with this please let us know.
Here are some pictures of the Tamariki making volcanoes last week in the sandpit with Whaea Jo.
Tutepakorarangi brought in a delicious selection of fruits which the children used to make fruit kebabs. Yum! We have had lots of fabulous recipes coming in with the Tamariki. Keep them coming! Our kaupapa will be cooking for the rest of this week and then next week we will be on to our Christmas kaupapa. We will be entering the centre in the Whakatane Christmas Float Parade again this year, and we are hoping to keep the title as "Best Kindergarten or Kohunga Reo". We have just beun fundraising for this so keep your eye out for a panui today. Watch this space it's going to be so much fun!
Today we have been blown away by some of the children's awesome learning, playing and sharing. Kupai-for his beauiful piano music and the amazing way in which he listened to the cd playing and then picked out the notes and played them on the keyboard-such talent!
Wiremu-for his wonderful picture of a pair of glasses "just like Koro wears" Wiremu, we love your artwork! Wairere has been sharing toys and caring for her friends so beautifully-we are so proud of her! Tutepakorarangi and his Nan have been so generous in bringing Kina, fruit and other treats to the centre! And Riki has done some amazing writing today-writing not only the "R" from his name but the initials of several of his friends too! Our Tamariki really are so amazing aren't they Whanau?

Morehu having a taste of the milk shake.

Wow, did we have quite a busy day today. Lots of cooking and swimming as Tamanuitera was out in full force, just lovely. Following is a variety of photos from both the Ngaa Whatu Iti side and the Star-lights side cooking and making an assortment of kai. Tutepakorarangi nan shared with us what he enjoys eating at home, especially fruit kebabs.

Ngaa mihi kia koe e te koka mo ngaa huawhenua i homai e koe kia matou hai mahi wetahi o ngaa fruit kebabs i konei.

Also, Isla shared with us her favourite kai (macaroni and cheese). Thankyou mum for the awesome recipe. The macaroni and cheese was so yummy.

On the menu for the star light side was making of milk shakes. Absolutely delicious tamariki ma!

Remember, if you wish to pop in and cook with your tamaiti and peers, ring the centre to let us know when you would like to do this. We would love to have you here.

Georgia and Makere having fun making their milk shake.

Tutepakorarangi, Rarotapuhikura, Wiremu and Kupai tasting their macaroni and cheese.

Matua and some of the tamariki preparing our macaroni and cheese dish.

Fruit kebabs for morning tea. Thankyou Nan for the huawhenua. We had cool fun making them and Tutepakorarangi enjoyed eating most of the strawberries.

Here are a few more photos from the Charity ball.

Irihapeti, Tuhaka and Vila having a cup of tea before going to the ball.

If you wish to view the ball photos taken by the professional photographer go to the following website via Google to: lazerphotos.com

You will have to go into Google and type in: lazerphotos.com
I tried to complete a hyper-link but it doesn't seem to take you to the proper site.
Enjoy every one!

Emily (ex staff member) and Jo Reuben (staff) enjoying their night at the ball.

Hiiti (part time staff and sister to Vila. Hair stylist by Iri and co), Vila, and Rakai (sister).

Vanessa (part time staff. Hair stylist by Iri Davis and co), and Ahofitu (Part time staff)

Tuhaka giving me a hug and kiss before we head off to the Charity ball. Hair stylist by Iri Davis and co (Riki's mum).

Koro (Ata's dad), Pareraukura (Vila's mum) and Tauwhiri (Ata's mum) during the event.

Meri and Kylie in their stunning gowns before heading into the hall.

A beautiful shoot of Kylie and her fantastic hair style done by hair stylist Iri Davis & co (Riki's mum).