Māui and his first journey, retold by Kyra

We have been learning about myths and legends. Here is a fantastic retelling of Māui’s first journey by year five student, Kyra.

Māui and his first journey

How do I retell a story in my words?

Step 1 Plan

• Structure  
• Order of events
• Details (senses - dialogue - thoughts - actions - feelings

Introduction	Event 1	Event 2	Event 3	Event 4	Ending
Taranga taught the children how to talk and sing a waiata to Maui while he was in her tummy.They sang him this song “Taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e...	One day she went on a walk and she could feel a nigly pain. She fell to the ground yelling help.	Maui was born and his mum was really worried and her puku was sore. His mum taranga thought he was dead because he didn't move. Wrapped him in her hair and set him out to sea.	He sailed and then found Tama-nui- ki-te-rangi.	He went to find his mum and brothers but his brothers did not know who he was, Maui showed his brothers his powers and then they believed him.	He saw his mum and she asked him who he was, so  Maui sang the song and  then his mum realised it was him.
Hook	Details	Details	Details	Details	Details
Taranga had four children and was about to have a 5th.	Speech, hear.	Actions, feel, feeling, see.	See.	See, actions.	Speech, see.

Taranga had four children that she had raised on her own and was about to have a 5th. When it was born it will be half man and half god. Taranga taught her four children how talk and sing to Maui well he was still in her tummy. They were all very excited. They would talk to their pepe everyday. They sang to him, "taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” One day Maui Taha asked Taranga, “When we are singing to our pepe, can he hear us?” 

“Yes my son, he can,” replied Taranga. From that day on, they would waiata, haka, and korero to their growing pepe.

One day when Taranga went for a walk on the beach she felt a niggly pain in her tummy. She could tell that Maui was coming. She couldn't walk any further and she felt really weak. She cried out “Help!” But no one could hear her. Then she started to give birth.

Maui was born but he did not move. Taranga accidently thought he was dead. She grabbed a shell and cut the pito, but he still didn't move. She cut her hair and wrapped him in it. Then she put him in the water and he floated out to sea. What she did not realise was that Maui was still alive.

Tangaroa had noticed Maui bobbing up and down in the sea and sent seaweed to wrap Maui in. The seaweed would protect Maui. The seaweed carried maui to his grandfather Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi. During the trip he sent a few of his other children to help Maui along the way. Maui then reached his grandfather.”What have you brought me? “ asked Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi. He saw Maui through the thick hair and then Maui sang the song “ taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” He knew then that it was Taranga’s son and his grandson.

He grew older and got taught waiata, haka, taiaha and whakapapa. He also learnt how to control his powers. Every night as he went to sleep his grandfather would sing the song to him. “Taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” One day he wanted to go and see his family. He asked his grandfather where he would find them. He got told all about his birth and were he would find them. Then he went off to the place he would find them. He traveled far and long until he came to the place where he would find his whanau. He saw a flicker of fire and heard some voices. When he got closer he recognised the song they were singing. Then he knew, it was his four brothers. He joined them and also tried to explain he was their brothers. They did not believe it was him until he showed he could do the haka, and showed his powers to turn into a bird. That's when they noticed it was Maui. They were all shocked.

They all asked him questions but Maui just kept on saying that he was their brother. During all of that, Taranga was watching. She had no idea who this man was, but she had a weird feeling in her puku. Maui walked up to her and Taranga asked “ Who are you?” 

Maui song the song again, “taku kurapounamu taku motoi kahurangi o taha, o roto, o pae, o waho e…” That's when Taranga realised it was Maui. She give him a big hug. Taranga told Maui how she had always thought he was dead. All of Maui’s brothers welcomed him. Now Maui is known as Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga.

Learning Fun with Miss Eglinton

Miss E's Medal Chart

For the last two weeks, we have been lucky to be learning with the wonderful candidate teacher, Miss Eglinton. She is in the first year of her teacher training and has been making a fantastic contribution to the learning and culture of Room 6.

What will happen next?

Miss Eglinton been reading the class the mysterious and adventurous novel, "The Ghosts of Young Nick's Head" by Sue Copsey. Room 6 love it! One group of students have been creating their own retells of the chapter, "Plunged into Darkness". They have been focusing on adding interesting details through choosing emotive language. Check out Ben's example here!


We have also really enjoyed our Commonwealth Games challenges. Look at the awesome medal chart that Miss Eglinton created! Can you guess which country each flag belongs to?

Wonder Character Art

Here are four of our awesome Character Traits artworks based on the characters in the book, Wonder. We used lots of our reading comprehension strategies to summarise our chosen character. You can see more examples on our Wonder page! Artworks will continue to be added as students finish them in their iLearning time.

Via by Maddison

Auggie (August) by Taylor

Summer by Mary

Jack Will by Liam

What is Matariki?

Created with Padlet

Today we had a shared reading of the short information text, Matariki by Moira Wairama. Our Padlet shows what we now know about Matariki after reading this text. Many of us would like to find out more.

Wonder: "You are beautiful no matter what they say"

We just finished reading Part Three of Wonder. Each part of the book written by R.J. Palacio is told from the perspective of a different character. We love the character Summer, because of the way she respects and has fun with August.

At the start of each part of the book is a quote. This quote is from Christina Aguilera's song "Beautiful". We have enjoyed listening to the song before and after reading this part of the book. It makes us think about respecting others. It is as August would say, "cool beans".

Outside Our Window

Outside our window we have a lovely view. Lately, our literacy groups have been writing hard or interesting words on the windows. I wonder if it will wash off.

Good readers notice words. They especially notice words they don't know the meaning of. They know it is important to find out the meaning of these words. The words in the window are from the Jedi Knights. What might they have been reading about?

Where's My Teddy?

A page from the picture book by Jez Alborough

Here is Jared, George and Traylan's version of Where's My Teddy by Jez Alborough. I think they did very well. They recorded it one hour after getting the script.



Where's My Teddy from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

The Sound Collector

listen to ‘The Sound Collector’ on Audioboo

The Sound Collector 

A stranger called this morning
Dressed all in black and grey
Put every sound into a bag
And carried them away.

The whistling of the kettle
The turning of the lock
The purring of the kitten
The ticking of the clock

The popping of the toaster
The crunching of the flakes
When you spread the marmalade
The scraping sound it makes

The hissing of the frying-pan
The ticking of the grill
The bubbling of the bathtub
As it starts to fill

The drumming of the raindrops
On the window-pane
When you do the washing-up
The gurgle of the drain

The crying of the baby
The squeaking of the chair
The swishing of the curtain
The creaking of the stair

A stranger called this morning
He didn't leave his name
Left us only silence
Life will never be the same.

 ROGER MCGOUGH

listen to ‘The Sound Collector (fast)’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Sound Collector - beginning’ on Audioboo

What Am I?

What Am I from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

The Stormtroopers literacy group read a new poem today. We recorded it on the iPad and then listened back to ourselves. Everyone improved after their first and then their second try. I think the Stormtroopers showed good reading skills! We guessed what the answer to the riddle in the poem is. Can you?

Buddy Reading!

Today our buddy class, Room 3 visited. It was fantastic to see how beautifully all the children related to each other. Our task was reading together. Ezra created a trailer all about it.


Buddy Reading from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Wonder: Ordinary?

Wonder by R.J. Palacio is not an ordinary book. I love it. I am looking forward to reading it as a shared reading with Room 6. We have twenty copies of the book from the library. The book trailer above does a good job of advertising the book. It is persuading the viewer to read it. We discovered that the words come from the first chapter, Ordinary.

Ordinary

I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an XBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

(Taken from Wonder, by R.J. Palacio)

Like a movie inside your head!

Maia's visualising sketches of Cry Baby

We have been reading the wonderful short stories of Paul Jennings. They are so enjoyable. We have also been learning about the reading comprehension strategy of visualising. As I read aloud Cry Baby, the students drew pictures of what was happening in the story. They also labelled their sketches. I was very impressed with their sketches and labels, which show their understanding of the story.

Can I get back to you on that?

Today, we read the last two chapters of Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos. Here are our thoughts on the book and our favourite parts. Can we get back to you on that?

 

Created with Padlet

Here is a Lego stop motion video created by an American student about the book. We have enjoyed watching this in class.

 

New Trailer for Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key!

We have been reading the book Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos. It is a very special book because it is funny, moving and really makes you think. It also helps us understand the challenges that people can face.

Bree is a fantastic Joey Pigza!

Last week, Hannah, Bree, Olivia and Lily created a trailer about the book so far. I thought it was great and it really showed their creativity and how much they understood about key events in the story.

Joey pigza Swallowed The Key from Room16 Parkvale on Vimeo.

The Dead Harry Trailers

Room 16 finished reading Dead Harry by Ken Catran last week. We really enjoyed the story. It made us laugh and also gave us a little scare now and then. As the mystery unfolded, we liked predicting what might happen next.

Most of the class wanted to create trailers so we borrowed a few iPads and gave it go. Watch them below (if you dare!). Which trailer do you think is the best and why? How do they advertise the book and make you want to read it?

Remember to vote for your favourite trailer in the poll. (Poll closed - thank you. Trailer B won a very close vote.)

 

Trailer A: Joshua, Shivom, Jessica, Inderpreet and Ellis.

Trailer B: Hannah, Lily, Teva and Zeb. Guest starring Liam as Mr Dombroski and Ellis as the unknown criminal.

Trailer C:  Tyrone, Nikitah J, Emma and Crighton. Guest starring Zach as Mr Rudd.

Trailer D: Tracey, Cameron, Dylan and Olivia.

Trailer E: Samuel, Zach, Bree and Hemani. Guest starring Joshua as the unknown criminal, Lily as Primula, Ben as Mr Rudd and Teva as the spooky Elias Milton.

Trailer F: Marcus's trailer using GoAnimate. Technical assistance by Teva.

Update: Student letters to Ken Catran (click on the links):

• Joshua
• Hannah
• Tracey
• Samuel
• Nikitah J
• Inderpreet
• Zeb
• Tyrone
• Henry
• Olivia
• Hemani
• Lily
• Nakita H
• Ben
• Crighton
• Jessica
• Ellis
• Emma
• Cameron

Book Character Day

The Book Characters from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Today is Book Character Day! Check out the great trailer Hannah and Lily made, showcasing the characters in Room 16. We sure like to dress up!

I Infer...

Today, we discussed the reading strategy of inferring or making inferences. It means reading between the lines to wok out hidden meanings in the text. You need to combine good thinking with clues in the text and your own prior knowledge. We had a go making inferences from descriptive sentences using Padlet. I think the students did very well! Here are our first two examples.

Created with Padlet

Created with Padlet

Student Work of the Week #6

Student Work of the Week #6 from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Student work of the week number six goes to Ollie! Watch the video to see why.

Tarakura of the Rangitaiki Plains

Tarakura of the Rangitaiki Plains from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

The X-Men have done it again!

Here is their video retelling of Tarakura of the Rangitaiki Plains. Elijah, Cameron, Marcus and Ben edited it today on the iPad using iMovie. Special guest photographer Joshua helped them to film it earlier in the week.

The story was written by Bernadine Ngaheu in the school journal. This is what she wrote about her retelling:
"I've grown up always knowing about Iratumoana and Tarakura. It is a traditional story from my iwi, Ngati Awa, in the eastern Bay of Plenty. My father told it to me and the rest of my whanau when I was a child, and it's always been one of my favourites."

Illustration by Andy Shaw

I Have Always Been Lucky

I have always been lucky.

When I was seven

my parents gave me a red bicycle.    

I rode it every day until

it became a part of me.

~taken from James Brown's poem, The Bicycle.

Here is a video showcasing audio highlights from some of our poems based on The Bicycle by James Brown. You can find the full poems and more on the Tree of PRIDE branches (student blogs) to the side.



Superstar Poems from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Here are links to the poems:

• My Laptop by Imaan (Presented with Sock Puppets)
• My Rugby Ball by Crighton (Presented with Voki)
• The Scooter Poem by Emma (Presented with Sock Puppets)
• The Cricket Ball by Joshua (Presented with audio player)
• The Scooter by Me (Bree) (Presented with audio player)
• My First Motorbike by Tracey (Presented with audio player)
• My First Music Toy by Hemani (Presented with audio player)
• My iPod by Hannah (Presented with audio player)
• The Computer Poem by Zeb (Vocaroo audio player)
• My Own Blackberry Phone by Shivom (Vocaroo audio player)
• My New Dog by Liam (Sock Puppets)