Welcome to the first week of the Summer Learning Journey. For our first week, we are going to be learning all about the land habitats here in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is going to be a great adventure!
DAY 1: In the Beginning...
Activity 1: The Legend of New Zealand [4 points]
According to Māori mythology, much of Aotearoa New Zealand was formed when Māui, a powerful demigod, fished it out of the sea. Legend has it that Māui created a magical fish hook from the jawbone of his grandmother and that one day he took his hook, boarded a boat, and rode out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Once at sea, he threw his magical hook into the water and caught a fish. This ‘fish’ was actually the North Island of New Zealand! In honour of this legend, the North Island of New Zealand is sometimes referred to as Te Ika a Māui or ‘Māui’s fish’ and the South Island of New Zealand is sometimes referred to as Te Waka a Māui or ‘Māui’s canoe’.
To learn more cool facts about New Zealand, check out the Tourism NZ website. Read the fun facts posted on the website and choose your ‘Top 3.’ On your blog, post your ‘Top 3 Fun Facts’ about NZ.
New Zealanders are also called kiwis but kiwi is not a fruit. It is NZ's native flightless bird.
The Maori name of New Zealand is Aotearoa which means the land of the long whit cloud.
The official language of NZ is Maori and English.
Kia ora Kestrel,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Patricia and I am part of the Summer Learning Journey team. How nice is to see that your are actively engaging on completing the activities, way to go! I am here to comment and support your posts and guide you through this program.
Thanks for sharing such a cool and curious facts about New Zealand! I love how the word kiwi can mean 3 different things, I think that is great but also it can be confusing specially for the many tourists that visit this country every year. Just to clarify, kiwi is also a fruit but it can be the bird or just a way to call the people who is from here, so this word can have 3 different uses!
Furthermore, on your third point about the official languages in new Zealand you forgot to mention the New Zealand Sign Language which happens to be as well part of the of official languages of New Zealand despite the fact that we don't use it much still it is important to mention and be aware of it. Well done on completing this first activity! For the future I want you to be more careful during your research of information so you can make your posts full of useful and reliable content.
This is a great start of your journey, keep up with the good work!
Kia kaha,
Patricia
You have made a great on your Summer Learning Journey. Keep on learning as much as you can. Best wishes with your learning journey.
ReplyDeleteRegards