Kiekie – the respect I wear

Malo e lelei! It’s Tongan language week.   We had the opportunity to learn about an important piece of clothing called the kiekie and ta’ovala.  This piece is worn around the waist by men and women.  It is worn as a sign of respect ‘Faka’apa’apa’ within the Tongan culture.

There is now a talented designer creating kiekie for women, inspired by what she sawon programmes such as Xena!  It was so interesting.   With all this in mind we moved into creating our own kiekie designs in google draw.

Here are designs  by Joel and Genesis.  Tino pai to mahi!

Nau mai haere mai. It’s fun day at OPS!

Our packed playground for Whanau Fun Day

The year has started of well with our new class of Year 5 and 6 students.   We have spent time getting to know each other including our teacher Whaea Matapa.

As part of our getting to know each other at OPS we had a great big fun Whanau Day!   We managed to capture a shot of this eventful day.

You will be able to see some bouncy castle type activities, our parents, packed playgrounds and more on this day.  We want to say a great big ‘Kia ora’ to all our neat staff and whanau who helped to make this day so enjoyable.

We look forward to sharing with you on our class blog.

Nga mihi nui

Nau mai haere mai ki te Ruma Tekau mā Whitu, Te Whanau Tutakitanga.   Term 1 had us learning a lot about each other.    We created here an art piece to share with any who come to our ruma for a visit or stay.

Our whaea – whaea Matapa thinks we did a great job as you can easily identify us in these artworks.  They look like photos to you, if you can look closely you’ll see it’s all done in pencil.  We had to work out which parts had lighter and thinner shaded lines through to the dark and thick lines.

We hope this artwork might inspire your class to try the same.

Have a great term 1!