Aroha 5: In celebration of the opening ceremony for Cook Island's language week!

What a fantastic start for week 2 for Aroha 5, beginning with participating at school assembly.

 In celebration of the opening for Cook Island language week. Meitaki to all our Cook Islands Maori school families, friends and wider community. We totally enjoyed embracing the beautiful culture and learning alongside each other... 

15 Facts shared at the Opening Ceremony

1. Rakahanga aka Tapuahua - found at the top of the Cook Islands group
2. Penrhyn - Tongareva
3. Manihiki - Te fuinga on niva. Known for its black pearls
4. Pukapuka - Te ulu o te watu
5. Nassau - Te nuku o ngalewu
6. Suwarrow - no one lives on this land except for a caretaker 6 months of the year
7. Palmerston - Pamati. They have no Cook Islands traditional language, they only speak English
8. Manuae - not far from Aitutaki. No one lives on this Island as well
9. Takutea - considered part of Atiu. It has been designated a wildlife sanctuary so no one is allowed to live on it.
10. Mitiaro - Nukuroa - known for their big eels
11. Mauke - Akatokamanava. They have the best maire for ei/lei
12. Atiu - Enuamanu. Land of the birds and coffee
13. Aitutaki - Araura Enua. with its beautiful lagoons
14. Rarotonga - Tumutevarovaro, capital of the Cook Islands
15. Mangaia - Aua Enua. Have beautiful caves

To end this lovely special day Aroha 5 had fun exploring Art by creating their own Ma'ani' ei katu 

(head garland) by using a range of resources such as different coloured flowers, paper and glue.

As part of the Cook Island's culture, the ei katu is known to be used for generations to mark special occasions, special people and special objects...

Well done Aroha 5, so proud of you all in completing your task and showing your PRIDE values.

Aroha 5: It is celebration time !!!

Aroha 5: First week of Term 3 !!!

Aroha 5: Duffy Government Book Week Celebration!

AROHA 5

What an awesome finish for Term 2. The whole kura,  our lovely staff and tamariki all having fun coming dressed in their favourite book character in celebration of Duffy Government Book Week.

To top it off  Aroha 5 taking out two prizes!!! Wahoo!!!  

Yes we did it Team AROHA 5!!! Well done!!!

Congratulations to our gem Izrael for being picked by the judges in winning one of the best dress book characters overall from the Aroha group. I love your outfit Mr Harry Potter, so proud of you in taking the lead at mat time by role modelling the alphabet sounds, along with building up your courage in walking down the fashion show and choosing your own prize. May you enjoy reading your frog book with your Mum and Dad over the  school holidays. 

Well down Aroha 5,  so over the moon that Louisa Wall our local MP selected our box for being the overall winner for the best duffy box. One of her reasons being,  it demonstrated a strong message in promotion of reading 

" I'm a Reader! What's your Super Power?" 

Congratulations Candice for  receiving the caught being good award for Aroha 5! Keep it up!

Aroha 5 has been blessed with new chairs for our classroom 

Wahoo !!! Thank you Mr Vasau !!! 

Enjoy a sneek peek of Aroha 5 having fun on last day of Term 2.  

Keep up the learning at home.  Happy reading with your loved ones in support of their Holiday reading logs in which was provided on last day of school. Please remember to bring back first day at school all completed. There are prizes up for grabs ...

Please stay safe and warm until we meet again Aroha 5 fanau. 

Have an awesome fantastic school holiday!

Team Aroha : Room 5 It is Karakia mo te kai time

Here at Rowandale, as part of our Te Tiriti based practice and bi-cultural curriculum.  

Aroha 5 incorporates learning Te Reo Māori by having fun learning and respecting tikanga practices such as saying the karakia mo te kai. 

In fact two weeks into term 2 our students have been awesome listening carefully to the sounds of the words. Followed by every week two students were given the opportunity to take the lead in leading the karakia. So proud of Aroha 5 for taking turns and supporting each other. In which has boosted their confidence in now saying the karakia without looking at the words. 

 Well done Aroha 5!

Karakia mo te Kai 

E te Atua Whakapainga ēnei kai 

Hei oranga mō ō mātou tinana

 Whāngaia hoki ō mātou wairua 

ki te taro o te ora

 Ko Ihu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki 

 Ake, ake, ake, Amine 

Dear Lord Bless this food

 For the goodness of our bodies 

Feeding our spiritual needs also with the bread of life

 Jesus Christ, our Lord

 Forever and ever

 Amen 

Philip and Lucy taking the lead for Karakia mo te kai!