Kio Ora! Welcome to New Zealand! Students were welcomed into Room 22 with Miss Scarth and greeted with the traditional Maori greeting of ‘kia ora’, which means hello!

Miss Scarth introduced us to the New Zealand islands and we were amazed at how the population of New Zealand (both islands!) is still smaller than the population of Melbourne! We talked about the different towns and cities and about how there was a massive earthquake in Christchurch. Each city has its own landmark that Miss Scarth shared with us, including Rotorua.

Our main activity was about the Maori culture and the jewellery they create using animal bones and stones they find in the ground. We used air-dry clay to create our own piece of jewellery in a symbol that meant something to us. We used spirals, hearts and twist symbols, which is similar to the symbols used in Maori culture. We gave creating the Tiki our best shot but it was very hard!

Finally, Miss Scarth taught us how to count to 10 in Maori! It was so cool to be able to count in a language that is different to ours. We practised using a video and made sure we pronounced the words correctly.