Marae Trip

1.It was Thursday the 7th of April whole of Maungatapere School was going to a Marae to learn about the history from our area. We jumped on five different buses and headed off to the Marae. When we got there we took our shoes and hats off because it’s disrespectful. We were welcomed inside and the years 0-6 sat squished on the ground while the years 7-8 all sat on chairs the people who ran the Marae said there Mihis and said prayer and gave a couple of speeches then the school sang a couple of songs. Then they told everyone the boundaries. They slowly released us class by class out for our morning tea.

2. After morning tea we headed back into the Marae to ask some questions and play a game. We all took a seat while Mihinoas Dad started to explain the Marae rules and its history about the past events and meanings to the Marae. When he had finished talking about the Marae it was question time, questions were asked mostly about what the Marae was used for and the what the pictures of past people on the wall, all questions were answered before we headed into playing a game it was a hand clapping and coordination game the start of the game was really easy but as we kept going it got harder and harder!.

3. During lunch at the Marae and we learnt about the eels, we learnt all about them like where they were born and how they can choose if their a girl or a boy. We got to smell the eels oil and they use it for numbing your teeth when you go to the dentist. The mum and dad go back to where they were born to lay their eggs. We saw lots of pictures of eels and of what they do but we didn't get to see the eels.

4.  After we had finished our lunch it was time to head back over to the other side of the.arae for some sketching. We all sat out on the grass in front of the Marae while the teachers explained to us what was going to be happening for the next hour or so. After a while of sitting we finally got to start everyone grabbed a pencil and paper before splitting off to find what we wanted to sketch. My friends and I sat out in front of the Marae and sketched the Maori patterns that stretched out across the top of the building. Outside It was extremely hot laying in the sun and I could barely see the patterns it was so bright. I found it pretty hard trying to sketch the drawings as they had quite a bit of detail in them. But the Marae visit was actually pretty good day, even though we didn't get to go see the eels or do the flax weaving but overall I still thought it was pretty fun.