I had set up the play dough with very few cutters, rollers and accessories today as I

wanted the children to focus on a discussion about the Matariki stars.

As I sat down with the children I commented that they had made Matariki stars. Which
of course prompted them to ask “what’s that?!” I explained that it means in winter time
“we can see the stars at night and means Maori New year” I was pleased that the chil-
dren had accepted my explanation! Then we talked about Matariki is Maori, Te Reo,
then followed by counting tahi, rua, toru, wha, rima, ono, whetu. The number seven ac-
tually means star. We love language here at An-nur so the children loved that they had
learned some new Te reo and they began to call their play dough stars Matariki stars
and the count them in Te Reo and call them whetu. Childrens minds a truly amazing be-
ing able to pick up new languages and sounds so easily. They were able to pronounce
Matariki so well. It was awesome to hear children incorporating the new words into
their own speech as they happily made stars.
Our programme at the moment is about our cultural identity. This experience definitely
meets the brief! Children were able to discover Maori legends, Te Reo . Our learning is
about what it means to be a kiwi and a Muslim. Children gain a sense of Identity and
who they are in the world.
Thank– you to this gorgeous group of children you have given me a little more confi-
dence incorporate Maori ways of being and Te Reo into our learning, I love that you
were all so open and practiced the Language right away.