Waitangi Day Activity

Read the included article.

Find the definitions and synonyms listed at the end.

Answer the questions at the bottom and blog it with a link to the original article.

What does Waitangi Day mean to me? abridged version. For full article read here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/opinion/9665624/What-does-Waitangi-Day-mean-to-you

by KIERAN BULLOCK 30/01/2014

I woke up today and found my Facebook feed jam-packed full of "Happy Australia Day" messages. I've lived in Melbourne for nine years, so unsurprisingly a large majority of my Facebook friends are Australian.

Australia Day falls on January 26, It wasn't until last year that I actually got to experience a full Australia Day celebration.

I use the word "celebration", because that's exactly what it is. Australians celebrate their national holiday, which was a bit of an eye-opener. I was invited to no less than three parties. The first two were great, and the third party was a picnic affair in the Edinburgh Gardens, just to the north of the Melbourne CBD.

The weather was gorgeous, about 30 degrees Celsius without a cloud in the sky. The park was staggeringly full.

Thousands of people decked out with rugs and camping chairs, with just enough room between groups to set up some backyard cricket or kick a football. The aroma of barbecued meats wafted on the breeze, carrying with it the excited chatter of several thousand people having an absolute ball. It was a celebration.

This year I will be in New Zealand for Waitangi Day. The last time I can recall actually making plans for Waitangi Day was about six years ago. I was home, on my university break, working fulltime. It just so happened that the Super Bowl fell on Waitangi Day, which meant we had the day off and could watch it.

I've asked around my friends here about their Waitangi Day plans this year and for the most part I get a similar response: A shrug. Ambivalence. Waitangi Day is a day off work for most.

In many respects Waitangi Day is a day far more worthy of celebration. It recognises the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the coming together of two groups to create the country we now live in.

Whilst some will argue that the document has been disrespected, ignored and mishandled over the years, the very fact that the Treaty was created and signed is undeniably important to all New Zealanders.

It has created an invaluable dialogue that can never be closed.

By contrast, Australia Day is the anniversary of the day the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove and planted the British flag on Australian soil. To the large indigenous community of Australia, the day infers that Australia became a nation proper only when the British arrived, and has henceforth been dubbed "Invasion Day" in protest.

Where Waitangi Day celebrates a forward step in cross-cultural relations, Australia Day arguably represents a step back. Australia Day is flawed.

For every "Happy Australia Day" message, there are just as many links to articles from various outlets regarding the dark history behind the day. The articles call for higher authorities to take action and right the wrongs of the past.

For many it is a day of celebration, for many a day of mourning and a day for protest.

Waitangi Day has its protests, too, and so it should. Everyone should have the right to protest if they feel aggrieved.

But what I feel Waitangi Day lacks is the celebration. Where are the barbecues, the backyard cricket matches, the clinking of glasses? If people want to use Waitangi Day as a national holiday to highlight what's wrong with the country, that's fine. But conversely, people should want to celebrate what's right with this country.

New Zealand is amazing, and Waitangi Day should be the day where we sit back, crack a gorgeous local craft beer and say, "It's not perfect, but we're proud of what we're doing here."

I believe, as a nation, we need to get behind Waitangi Day as a day of celebration. Even those who protest should do so, in the belief that their grievances can be aired, resolved, and progress made.

In my opinion our national holiday should be a day to focus on what's right with your country - and that's Waitangi Day. We have 364 other days to sort out what's wrong it. That should be enough.

Happy Waitangi New Zealand! Get out there and celebrate this fine country of ours!

Find the meaning for the following words, and one Synonym.
Once you have found all the definitions re-read the article using the synonyms to help you understand it.

	Meaning	Synonym
Staggeringly		Amazing, Astonishing, Astounding, Mind - Boggling , Shocking and Stunning
Aroma	a distinctive, typically pleasant smell.	Bouquet odor, perfume, scent, spice
Ambivalence	the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone	doubt, hesitancy, hesitation, indecision, uncertainty,
Mourned	feel or show deep sorrow or regret for (someone or their death), typically by following conventions such as the wearing of black clothes.	ache, agonize, bemoan, complain, deplore, fret, grieve
Indigenous	originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.	lament, regret, anguish
Aggrieved	feeling resentment at having been unfairly treated.	disturbed, grieving, oppressed, persecuted, wronged.
Conversely	introducing a statement or idea that reverses one that has just been made or referred to.	opposite.

Answer the following questions.

• What do you think about Keiran’s opinion? I think that Kieran's opinion is right because there are some country’s that doesn't know about Waitangi Day here in New Zealand.
• What does Waitangi Day mean to you or your family? Its a treaty for the Maoris and the british.
• What groups do you think benefit from Waitangi Day?
• How do you think New Zealanders could do more to celebrate Waitangi Day? They should make a plan by thinking about it and making a plan as a team.

Water Fun Day.

Water fun Day.

The 7th of February on a Friday overcast morning. Glenbrae School had a exciting, Wild and soapy water fun day. Starting from 9 - Interval. That day we had to split in to our house groups which were (Rata, Nikau, Kauri and Kowhai). As soon as all the classes were down and waiting we got right in to it.Each activity will either need a Sponge, Half - cut Milk Bottle or a plastic cup.

I was put in the colour Kauri . We had to race in our classes. There were 7 water activities. Every 10 minutes we would hear a whistle which is a  sign to move on to a next station. Every activity was announced first was the Obstacle course, Walk the plank, 3 hand race, Through the legs, Water slide and Zig Zag race. The fair idea was to get as much water as you can into your  bin which had your colour on it. In the middle of the court were four buckets lined up with the colours Red, Yellow, Green and Blue.

My first activity was the Obstacle course. We had to Scoop a cup of water in to a plastic cup then crouch down under a chair run to the middle of the court and tip as much water as you can into the bucket. My class Room 10  had been escorted to the course. Kowhai - Yellow house had to run more times than the other houses had because there were a less amount of them. We showed a lot of support and co-operation in that activity by the time we were all puffed out it was 10 minutes already so we went to the next activity.

The next activity was the Water slide it was exactly the same as the last activity but you had to slide down on the slide with the cup in your hand running it to your colour bucket. The fun part about that activity was you got soaking wet. Also when we finished there was still a bucket water full, what my class did was we got cups full of water and wet the teachers who were in charge of that station. That was a lot of fun for me. So we went to the next activity we already knew what activity we went to it was like a cycle.

Our next activity was called the Zig-Zag race. The game was instructed by Mrs Moopanar. The first thing she told us was to sit at the back of our bucket and wait for the rest of the instructions. As we could see there was a sponge in the bucket, so what you had to do was to soak as much water in your sponge, Zig-Zag through the cones down to your bucket. Our class Zoomed through the cones holding as much water in the sponge to the bucket. Kowhai was exhausted sitting  puffed. Room 10’s next activity was the Through the leg race.

Through the leg race had involved a sponge as well.  What you had to do in this race was the person in the front had to soak the sponge with water and pass it on to the person behind you through your legs and the last person carried it carefully to the bin then go to the front of the line to carry it on again. That race involved a lot of water. Already the whistle rung again, Our next activity was the 3 hand race.

At the 3 hand race you needed a partner. Eseki and I were partners, We came up with a strategy when we wrapped our hands together and covered the cup with the other hand reaching the bucket with already a quarter of water. In that session Eseki and I went up and Mrs Tofa tricked me she told me to put the water into a different bucket so while I was up there I tipped water on her which was pretty funny. As soon as that activity was done I was puffed because of all of the running you had to do on that cloudy day.

Our last final activity was to walk the plank. In this activity you will need to run between the plank and hold the water until you get to your house colour bucket. Extreme fun because you got points for house against house.

As we went  back to the court for that last moment. There we are waiting for the results of how we went Mrs Tofa announced the results. So in 4th place was Kowhai, 3rd place Nikau and that last moment in 1st place was a tie between Kauri and Rata. Relieved to hear that Kauri came a tie with Rata and we were all surprised. Then Mr Nath did a funky dance with the whole school laughing with pride.

There was our exciting water fun day experienced and loved, wish we could do that again in the year.  Thank you all the teachers who put their effort into making this day happen especially to Mrs Raj and Mrs Ripata.

THE END By Te Puawai.