School Cross Country

It has been a really busy week at school.
On Thursday afternoon we walked all the way down to Snowden's Bush and it was a loooong way. The Middle syndicate was running first so we didn't have long to wait before our girls took off at a great rate. They ran round the park beside the road and through the beautiful native bush on the muddy track before heading back to the cheering crowd. Our boys went next and they sped ran the track too. Jack, Peita and Aria were the best performers from our class and have been chosen to represent Brightwater school at the inter school cross country next Tuesday.
We all ran our best race and it was cool doing a real cross country race.

Visit from Nelson Museum

What an amazing morning we had at school on Wednesday. Our Syndicate welcomed Cindy Batt and Nicky Green from the Nelson Museum with a waiata before they took us through the history of several maori instruments. They showed us how to play them and one flute was even blown with your nose. Shells, rocks, and wood were used to make the various instruments which were all very precious.
Next we each made our own koauau out of bamboo. Our first job was to remove the membrane from inside by sanding and then smooth the ends as well. Finally we decorated the outside with black markers and attempted to blow them to make a musical sound. It was really hard work but some of us were successful!
Cindy and Nicky also told us some maori legends - Case-moth cocoon and Maui, Legend of Fire as well as Matariki (Maori New Year).
At the end of the day the Syndicate met together again and performed the haka and poi as thank you to Cindy and Nicky. They thought we were really good and we had an awesome time.