Nga Tae

whero is red

karaka is orange

kowhai is yellow

kakariki is green

kikorangi is blue

tawa and poroporo are purple

ma whero is pink

kiwikiwi is  grey

parauri is brown

pango and mangu areblack

by Scarlett

The Star Fishes

Go to this WicKED site to learn more about Matariki.








Click on the constellation to learn more about Matariki, the Maori New Year.

Today during Maori we read a legend called The Star Fishes to celebrate the Maori New Year.
This is our class retell...

Long, long ago a mother ika told her tamariki to keep close to the rocks and don’t go into the open sea because Tataraimaka is out fishing.

Tataraimaka was a giant who had an enormous black net made out of harakeke. This net was magic.

The sun was shining its brightest which caused the seven ika’s tails to reflect as they played tag. They forgot about their mama’s warning.

Then there was a major disaster. The seven ika got caught in the net. The seven fishes cried salty tears. Tane the God of Light felt sorry for the little ika and took away Tataraimaka’s net and pulled it up into the sky.

The seven ika are now called Matariki. You can see Matariki in early June on the horizon. This time marks the first month of the Maori year. The ingoa of the six stars are – Toheti, Toheta, Tupuanuku, Tupuarangi, Ururangi and Waipuna-a-rangi. One star remains nameless so that it is left for a tamariki who feels lonely to put their ingoa on just before going to sleep. This means they will have company among the star ika.

We created a mural about the story. Here are some photos.

Nga Mihimihi

Whaea Marianne is teaching us how to present our mihi. We have made a book to help us remember it and to refer to if we get stuck. Over the next few weeks we will all present these to the class. We will record some of these and podcast them for you to listen to.

Tēnā koutou katoa!
Greetings to you all

Ko (name) toku ingoa.
My name is…

(age) oku tau
My age is (your age).

No (place where you live) ahau.
I live at…

Ko (mum's name) toku māmā.
My mother's name is...

Ko ( Dad's name) toku pāpā.
My Dad's name is ...

Ko (Grandfather's name) toku koro.
My Grandfather's name is...

Ko (Grandmother's name) toku kuia.
My Grandmother's name is ...

Ko (brother's name) toku tungane.
My brother's name is ...

Ko ( sisters name) toku tuahine.
My sister's name is...


This is our nga mihi self assessment criteria...
I can name an audience for my mihi.
I was able to speak to a big audience.
I was able to introduce myself in Te Reo.
I was able to name my parents in Te Reo.
I was able to introduce my brothers/sisters in Te Reo.
I was able to introduce my grandmother/grandfather in Te Reo.
I was able to retell the mihi in English.
I spoke clearly so others could understand.
I spoke loud enough for others to hear.
I felt proud of myself.
Next time I would...

Nga Tae

WALT...
say the colours with the correct pronounciation
match the Englsh word to the Maori word and complete some fun activities using the Maori Nga Tae


We have been revisiting the Maori colours (Nga Tae) this week. Click on the image to practise your pronunciation. Nga Tae - ('Nga' meaning more than one, gives the plural meaning to a word, ' tae' is the colour')

Here are the words of a beautiful waiata.
Kahurangi the colour of the sky
Kakariki the colour of the grass
And there's Kowhai, the lovely kowhai tree
With its yellow flowers for us to see
Kahurangi, kakariki, kowhai, nga tae

Ma is white as the whitest, whitest snow
Whero red like the rata flower's glow
Mix them together and what do you think?
You get Mawhero, the colour we call pink.
Kahurangi, kakariki, kowhai, nga tae

Black is night time and pango is its name
Brown is Uru, purauri means the same
Kiwikiwi is grey like rainy skies
Karaka orange like flames of distant fires
Kahurangi, kakariki, kowhai, nga tae