2021 Here we go!

 Welcome back to Te Waka Ako's syndicate blog. We are all very happy to be back at school and leaping into a new year of learning. 

We had a lot of fun with bubbles. We had to design a game that would be played using two bubble wands. We then taught our game to another team and vice versa. It was a lot of fun...although the wind had a lot of fun too.

We have hit the ground running with learning all about the Te Tiriti o Waitangi - The Treaty of Waitangi while we work towards developing our own syndicate treaty. Did you know that not all the Rangitira (chiefs) of the iwi across Aotearoa signed the treaty? Some didn't even see it! There are some very important differences between the two versions (English and Te Reo) of the treaty too. Possibly because Henry Williams and his son Edward translated it in just one night! The other reason is because some words like 'Sovereignty' didn't have a direct translation into Te Reo, the closest they could come up with was Kawangatanga, which didn't exactly mean the same thing. In the English text, Māori leaders gave the Queen 'all rights and powers of 'sovereignty' over their land. In the Te Reo text, Māori leaders gave the Queen 'te kawanatanga katoa' the complete government over their land.

It has been very interesting learning about one of the most important events in Aotearoa's history and why is is still so important today.  We can't wait to share with you our finished treaty.