Swimming at Dean Greenwood

The year 3 and 4 children have been lucky enough to go to Dean Greenwood Swimming School 

for 2 weeks!

We have been enjoying the swimming lessons and the bus rides!

We have been learning how to dive, do proper arm strokes, breathing techniques and swimming on our backs!

We can't wait to show our mums and dads what we have learnt!

Taniwha by Garath and Michael

              Taniwha

Once upon a time there was a tiny taniwha called Makare.  One day he went to his Matua Tupuna’s house and he was given a hook. Matua Tupuna told Makare to go fishing at a special place where lots and lots of fish live.         

When Makare went fishing he met a new friend called Tama. Tama and Makare went fishing together. Makare

thought that Tama was a nice friend to him except, Tama tried to take the hook off Makare.

Makare and Tama were fighting over the hook really badly. Suddenly, Makare lost the hook while they were fighting and it sunk down to the sea. Makare felt really bad because he knew that Matua Tupuna would get mad at him.

Then Makare went looking for the hook in the sea but he couldn't find it. So then he went back to Matua Tupuna’s house. Matua Tupuna said “Have you realised what you have done? That hook wasn't a normal hook it was a magical hook. That hook can give people lots and lots of powers.”

So then Makare went looking everywere. Then Makare went looking around the place where he lost the magical hook. Makare was really happy because he found the magical hook sunk under the sea. Then Makare told Matua Tupuna that he found it and then they lived happy ever after.

Shark Rock by Dalton

Shark Rock

As I was swimming in the water along the bay I heard a strange noise coming from shark rock.  It was named that because it had  three rocks which looked like real shark fins. Suddenly there was a huge crack of lightning that struck the rock, even though it was a fine day.

Then the rock began to shake and transform into the grey colour of the amazing great white shark. It wiggled and broke loose of the other two rocks that were left. They too were the colour of a great white shark. 

“Ahhhh! Shark in the water” called Dominic. Everyone then looked at the water and saw the great dorsal fin of the beast. People were out of control, they swooped their children out of the water and like a stampede of elephants ran out of the water. The lone shark was no more because the other two sharks had broke free of the rocks during the stampede of people. The sharks circled the bay, waiting there.

People were scared out of their minds. The fear was unbelievable. No one was brave enough to do anything. Then someone emerged from the crowd. He was the local country boy named Anthony. He called to everyone and suggested that they transport the sharks to the local marine reserve. The crowd whispered among themselves the said, “yeah that's great.” And they all yelled.

So Anthony called for cranes and asked the marine reserve for a huge tank to transport the beasts. The cranes did their job and lifted the sharks into the tank. They were put on a truck and off they went. Everyone waved good bye and had happy, smiley faces. And they ran straight back into the water because it was so hot. The water refreshed everyone as they splashed with joy.

The Taniwha by Taine, Nikita and Jarry

The Taniwha

One day Maui and his brothers went fishing. Him and his brothers went out to the middle of the sea and set out their hooks. Maui used his special hook which he made out of his grandmother's jawbone. He hoisted the hook out to the sea with his biggest throw. They waited for ages and ages, finally a tug.

The brothers heaved and pulled and they had got a big, huge taniwha. Then Maui and his brothers went back to their house, but the taniwha started to swim away. Maui and his brothers didn’t notice that the taniwha was swimming away. When they saw it they all hopped in the water and chased the taniwha. They swam and they swam and they swam. It was a long chase but finally they caught him.

They got home and Maui was starving. He was going to cook the taniwha right away when his grandmother came and said, “stop!!! Taniwha have been loyal to our tribe and we should set the taniwha free.” So even though Maui was starving he let the taniwha go free in the ocean. So Maui went out fishing again but this time by himself. Maui didn’t have that much power in the waka because it was just him. So it might be hard to catch a big fish now. When Maui set the hook into the water he caught another big fish. It was bigger than the taniwha that he just caught. So Maui pulled and pulled but the fish was too strong.

Then Maui almost fell into the water. Maui used all his strength to pull the fish up. Maui pulled and pulled and pulled. He finally got the big fish up. No one else could pull the fish up and he started to swim back to his village and told everyone what happened. They were so angry that they banished him from the village forever. Maui was walking along the river when suddenly a taniwha approached him. But this time he had all of his taniwha family with him and they all looked angry. The taniwha took him away and from that day on Maui was never heard of again.

By Taine, Jarry and Nikita

Tane Mahuta's Forest by Seth and MacKenzie

Long ago there was a kauri forest that covered a secret. A secret that was in the very middle of the forest was a very big green-stone cave that was surrounded by the forest and the forest was surrounded by a lake. In that cave slept the great Tane Mahuta the god of the forest. When he sleeps he chants a karakia which helps the forest to grow and thrive. Tane Mahuta has been asleep for over a million years, all is well for now...

Many people used to fish from the sea, until a man from a iwi close by the sea came to fish in the lake that was near the forest. When he cast his line, he caught a fish immediately. He quickly pulled his line out and saw a massive trout on his line. Then, he quickly rowed ashore and grabbed the fish and ran all the way back to the iwi. The other men in the iwi were astonished by the size of the fish, it was massive.

Soon all the villagers in the iwi moved next to the lake to build their village. They weren’t just fishing but also rowed to the island taking wood that they did not need and using it to build things like extra waka, weapons, walls and oars. Soon they were also hunting on the island and killing all the animals and making cloaks and polluting the water.

The great Tane Mahuta had woken up and noticed that half of his forest had been destroyed by the men. They had demolished so much of the forest. He was devastated by the destruction! He stomped through the forest angrily! When he stomped he made a earthquake, but it did nothing to harm the trees.

So Tane Mahuta commanded a volcano to destroy the village and its occupants, soon the whole village was alight! There was fire everywhere, and the sparks landed all over the lake! Later after the village was just smoking, rua boys came out of the smoke, Years later the boys became the guardians of the forest and lake. Meanwhile, Tane Mahuta slept while chanting a karakia to help the forest grow. After that day nobody interfered with the forest or the lake, but the rua boys still guarded. All was well for now...

Matariki by Kimberly

Matariki

Once upon a time there was seven brothers, they were the most brave and handsome men in the village. All the brothers cared about was their appearance, except one brother, his name was Matai. The brothers wanted to get married but they could not find anyone as beautiful as them.

One day they went hunting and found seven fairy sisters. They were beautiful with fair faces and golden hair, the brothers fell in love at first sight. Matai told them they were fairies but they ignored him. Matai was unsure if this was ok.

The brothers wanted to take the girls home and marry them. The girls only ate fish. They made the brothers get food for them and the brothers forgot about getting food for themselves. They were starving from hunger, just what the fairies wanted. They became skin and bone and were not handsome anymore. The brothers fell deeper and deeper in love and did not realise what was going to hit them next.

Over the days that followed Matai thought and thought, finally he realized “the only way I can convince my brothers to not marry them is to give them proof.” Matai quietly sneaked through the forest and saw the beautiful fairy girls. He listened and listened, then he heard them all talk about the marriage. The fairies said, “we shall starve the brothers and no one can stop us…”

After Matai heard that he ran back home to tell his brothers. When he reached them he told them,  “brothers those girls are the fairies. They are evil. They want to starve you to death.” The brothers did not believe him.  Matai said, “look at yourselves, you are skinny and are not handsome anymore. Look at yourselves. Now do you believe me?” The brothers looked at each other. They realized that they were skinny and that Matai was telling the truth .They yelled, “what are we going to do?”

Then they thought of someone who could help them. It was their uncle. They ran to their uncle. By that time they were puffed and were out of breath. When they caught their breath and drank some water they told their uncle about the fairy girls. He gave them a magic net and said, “use this to capture those birds.” And that was what they did, they used the net to catch the fairies.

They placed the net carefully and waited for the fairy girls. When they came past the girls got stuck in the net. The brother’s uncle turned into a big beautiful albatross, with its beak it snatched the net and flew the girls up in the sky where they became stars. That is the story of MATARIKI.

Matariki by Dominic

Makariki

once many years ago, there was a man called Metai. He had special powers because he spent a lot of time with his uncle. He had six older brothers. They were very handsome and they would not settle for any woman because they only wanted the best they could find.

One day they went hunting and they heard the most beautiful women singing. Metai tried to tell them that they were not what they thought they were but they didn’t listen! They immediately fell in love with these woman and they took them back to the village to get married. Every day the men got their wives food. They would starve themselves by only thinking about getting their wives seafood because that was the only thing they would eat.

One day Metai saw what these women had done to his brothers. He saw that they had lost their handsome look and they had turned into twigs. On the way home he saw that the seven sisters had turned into birds. He quickly turned into a bird and followed them. He heard their plan to make his brothers die from starvation. He quickly told his brothers what he had heard.

The brothers made a plan to capture their wives and send them far enough away that they would be no harm to the brothers.They went to their uncle to get help for their plan to capture the sisters. Their uncle gave them a magical net. On the way back to their homes the seven sisters were caught by the brothers who gave them to the god of the stars. He found them very pretty but sent them far, far away. Since they were so beautiful he lets them shine every year!