Reinforcement of At Home Practice, Reminder of Te Kōtuku Cultural Festival and Photos

We've had some strong practices this term. I'm loving the Te Pou Manawa area. Thanks to the whānau who get in the mix and learn with their children. It helps reinforce the value that you give it. I'm an advocate of people getting involved. It helps normalise what we do but shows that you care. I want to make sure that we keep our whānau involved. If you want to get involved you are welcome to just jump in. Have a chat if you want to. I remember, when my children started, helping line up the boys and girls and learning bits and pieces. It's fun to support them and I always felt welcome to do it. I want that open environment to continue. I love how organically people do it but I want to make sure that everyone feels welcome.

 

We have used practices to slowly introduce a number of different waiata. I think this helps the rōpū remain engaged and energetic. We need help to support this learning from home. I'd love the learning to continue at home. I've heard from parents that the kids really enjoy listening and joining in with songs at home. It becomes obvious that they are that little bit more up to speed with waiata at practices. Our teachers are looking to introduce the waiata to the greater kura as well which increases the frequency of exposure. We've been working on introducing links to SchoolTalk to give our learners direct access to resources. I have curated resources to help independent learning i.e. Kupu (lyrics), videos, audio files. As we collect more artefacts to share we'll put them up on the blog. Even if the learners are listening to them or watching the videos at home it helps us when we come to practices. Children soak up the music really quickly, so I'm keen to support that if we can. Our 2021 waiata (that we are introducing slowly) are:

 

E Minaka Ana

E Nga Hau E Wha

Ka Waiata

Maumahara Noa Ahau

Tai Aroha

Utaina Mai

Whakaaria Mai

 

The Te Kōtuku Cultural Festival is next week. It's an event that is in its infancy but we've performed in it two years ago and it was great. We continue to lead the way with our cross culture diversity on show. I think we surprise people as they never expect us to be very strong. I think we will be in good shape for this event. As said previously, it's really important to us that as many of the rōpū attend. I know that the weekend can often be filled with other commitments but we are optimistic that we can come up with solutions that can benefit our learners with this awesome opportunity.

 

Also, next week we are having school photos. The Kapa Haka photo is taking place on Wednesday the 18th of November. We have to be ready and at the hall by 8:25am. If we can get the learners at school by 7:50 to get the Kapa Haka uniform on and moko on (if they want) then we should be good to go. We need to have a practice on that day so will be good to do it in uniform as a dress rehearsal.

 

Please connect with me or any of the supporting teachers if there are any queries or requests.

 

Bryan Fox

 

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