Are the Maori still alive?

Today we began making a giant Haast eagle to hang up in the room at ChIL time, while the children were cutting and sticking a discussion began.
Eva: Are the Maori still alive?
Claire: No, because when we weren't alive, they were alive.
Connor: Yes, cause I think they live in a different land.
R: They're not alive, I went to New Zealand and didn't see any.
Connor: Thats because Maori live in deserts.
Amelie: Yes they are alive because people can talk Maori.
Lily: The Maori are alive but there aren't many left but I don't know why.
Vida: Theres not many left because they are very old.
Deepak: I saw a Maori in a museum.
R: Was it alive?
Deepak: It was a statue.
Amelie: When I went to the museum, I saw coloured people of Maori, trying to kill a moa. They were in a forest.
Dakota: They are still alive because some Maori people are on the news.

This was an interesting discussion and it is interesting to note that a couple of children in this discussion have Maori ancestry but have not made this connection.

In a discussion a few day earlier the words ancestors came up and we discussed how our ancestors are our family from a long time ago. I told them that some children in our class had Maori ancestors but they obviously did not make the connection that, that means they are Maori. When we were talking about this Thomas asked the question, What am I?, which may lead us onto some interesting learning about ourselves.

How big were moa eggs?

Today we explored the size of moa eggs. To do this we looked at a chickens egg, then an ostrich egg and then a balloon blown up roughly to show the size of a moas egg which was about 24cm by 18 cm. The children were fascinated by the eggs wanting to know what was in them and what had happened to the babies, the two real eggs had been blown to prevent possible accidents, but even once this had been explained the children still wanted to know where the babies were.

Extinct Birds of New Zealand

Today Lily brought in a beautiful book about extinct birds of New Zealand to share with the class there was a large section on Moa at the beginning.
Miss B: Now what is extinct again?
Vida: You can’t see one ever again, they are all dead.
Eva: Where did they live?
Miss B: Well we could look at where they live.
Raul: Extinct means fossils, Dinosaurs had lots of bones and they turned into fossils. Fossils that means they are rock.

We opened the book and counted how many different species of moa there were, the book we were reading noted 12. I read some facts out of the book for the children. We learnt that moas could live up to 50 years.
We started talking about the fact that moas would lay one or two eggs each season.
Vida: A moas egg is big and white and bigger than a chickens egg.
Miss B: I’ve got an ostrich egg and it is about this big but I think a moa would have an egg even bigger than this.
Claire: Maybe a moa would have an egg about this big. (Indicating about half a metre in height)

We looked at a picture of a Giant South Island moa.
Miss B: Where is this moa living?
Vida: In the jungle.
Brody: Or a forest.
Miss B: The biggest moas lived in the South Island.
Claire: Where we live.
Miss B: The biggest leg bone ever found was 1m in length. (The Tibia)
We compared that to the length of my Tibia and then against the children. Tyra would have been looking just above the moas knee is she was standing next to it.

Miss B: They had a flat beak.
Brody: Just like us.
Thomas: we don’t have beaks Brody.
I read a small section of the book outlining what the moas ate, which included trees, shrubs and vines. This proved to be exciting because the children had developed a theory of what they ate based on their current understanding of the world and it was proved right.
Vida: There were stones in the moas tummy too, it showed it in a book
Miss B: You’re right
At this point we discussed what gizzards stones are for and how they help the moa munch and crunch the food.

Miss B:So why do you think the moa became extinct?
Hannah: Because they shot them.
Charlie: Volcanos
Vida: The Maori ate all of them.
Claire: Because a crocodile bite them.

Claire: I wonder how they ate the foot and the beaks.
Charlie: I thinks beaks are bones. They didn’t eat them.
Vida: they chopped them up with spears.
Claire: The dinosaurs ate them.
Caitlyn: The mothers would have eaten the brains.
Amelie: they would have chopped them into little squares.
Miss B: What would they have used?
Claire: knives
Miss B: Where would they have got their knives from.
Claire: Make them
Miss B: Out of what?
Vida: rock and wood
Eva: They could have used axes.
Tyra: they could make their axes out of greenstone
Hannah: they could chop them with their hands
Caitlyn: they had claws.
Charlie: they let their finger nails grow and then they scraped them.

Using the book, I introduced the Haast eagle another predator to the moa. They had a wing span of 2.6 metres and were a hazard to the Maori as well. We talked about how the Haast eagle was also extinct and that we have a job to make sure that other birds/animals don’t become extinct too.

Vida: Like kiwis they are almost extinct.
Claire: In the botanic gardens there are kiwi. They come out at night.
Vida: Kiwi only wake up at night time.
Miss B: This means they are nocturnal.
Claire: Like owls

At the end of the session, one of the children asked what flax was so we went for a walk to to find some flax to look at.

The Legend of the Breathing Lake

Today Charlie brought in a book for us to read called 'The Legend of the Breathing Lake', it explains why Lake Whakatipu moves up and down. The legend goes that a giant who stole a chiefs daughter was burnt to death by a warrior to prevent him from terrorising the tribe again. As he burnt a hole developed beneath him making the base for the lake, the fire spread up the hill melting the ice that then became the lakes water supply. The rising and falling of the lake is caused by the giant breathing beneath the water. The book made a number of references to tools the Maori used and what they were made of. It mentioned the use of flax for rope, stone and greenstone for tools and a fire stick that was used instead of matches. The children decided that the Maori actually made the things they needed, where as we would just go to the shops. They developed the theory that the Maori did not have shops, as previously they had thought, and that the made everything.

Making a Moa

Today we made a life size South Island Giant Moa to put up in our class. It stands 3.7 metres tall and we had to bend its head to fit it up in the room. The children cut out feathers to stick on its body. When we were putting it up the children made lots of comments about how big it was.

Connor: It is bigger than adults and kids.

Raul: It is as big as a T-Rex.

Amelie: A giant is bigger than a moa.

Dakota: They are bigger than emus.

Lily: Moas are gianormous.

They also started developing some theories.

Eva: Moas are long necked dinosaurs, that eat trees. Dinosaurs with long neck eat trees and moas have long necks.

Tyra: A giraffe has a long neck and eats trees too.

We refined their ideas and wrote down the theory as...

We think moas eat trees because they have long necks.

We wrote a list of where we could go to find out whether our theory was right or not.

Early New Zealand Maori

Today I asked the children to draw a picture of what they thought the Early Maori lived in and a picture showing what they wore. I then asked the children to talk about their pictures and recorded their thought and ideas.

Moa Bones

Thursday 19th August

Today vida brought to school some moa bones that had been found on a farm.

Vida: This is a moa bone.

Miss B: What is a moa?

R: It swings from tree to tree

Campbell: They climb

Hannah: Scratch people

Charlie: Run Fast

Claire: (Pointing to bones) They look like claws.

Amelie: They lick people.

Lily: Moas are extinct.

Miss B: What does extinct mean?

R: They are gone and turned to bones like dinosaurs.

Dakota: They are dead.

Alex: They are like a kangaroo.

Charlie: They don't have pouches.

Connor: They got stinged. (extinct?)

Amelie: They are Stinky

Miss B: What do they look like?

Charlie: Brown fur. I hopped ona pretend moa that was hard and black.

Claire: It looks like a rock that is brown. (Talking about the bone)

Connor: It has sharp teeth.

Thomas: Like a T-rex

Connor: No

Vida then showed them a picture of a moa in a book, we talked about the fact that some were taller than us. Vida explained that they were hunted for meat and that the bones she was showing us had been cooked which was why they were black, where the fat had burnt into the bones.

Miss B: Who would have eaten the moas? (Wait time, no response) Who were the first people in NZ.

Lily:Maori

Claire: Was god the first one in New Zealand?

Caitlyn: They cooked them in ovens and they turned black.

Miss B: Did they have ovens?

Hannah: They didn't have ovens, they used fire.

Claire:They had pots and they put the moa in and put it on the fire.

Vida: They killed them with spears they made.

Hannah: they have fur.

Connor: I think they look like kiwi mothers.

Claire: I think that the people who ate them picked them up, put them in a fire and cut them.

Vida: They have tiny wings like kiwi so they can't fly, it makes them special.

Amelie: Why did they eat moas?

Miss B: Where do you think the Maori lived?

Dakota: In the desert.

Amelie: In a different country.

Lily: Caves

Charlie: Tents

Claire: Boxes

Amelie: Big Containers

Hannah: They make houses out of straw.

R: They lived in trees.

Eva: Cubbies

Dakota: They made their houses out of wood.

Connor: Moa look like giant birds.

Vida: Like ostriched but taller than them.

Dakota: Moa have sharp teeth

Brody: and vampires

Amelie: Why did they get the moa?

Campbell: Why did moas become dead? (extinct)

Amelie: Where did the Maori and moa live?