Saturday 5 November 2016

Waka Ama

On Tuesday we were started our Waka Ama programme.  We are very fortunate to have Rob Cameron (one of our awesome local police officers) tutoring the students.
We started the morning with Rob telling the students the names of the parts of the waka and what they meant.  For example the name Waka is the male part of the vessel and Ama is the female part. We were also taught how to get in and out of the Waka and parts we could not step over.  

Rob then demonstrated the correct technique for paddling. 


After carrying the Waka down to the water the girls were keen to be first.  Some of them had paddled in the Waka previously, for others it was a completely new experience.  I was really impressed by the way the more experienced girls supported the new girls and the amount of time they took out of the water to encourage those new to this activity to have another go and demonstrate the correct technique.

All of the students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to our weekly Waka Ama training.


4 comments:

  1. Hi my name is Mahina and I'm from Kawakawa Primary and I have been on a waka and It was amazing .My mum and I carried a waka into the water it was fun and we all hopped in the waka and away we went.I hope you have a good time in the waka.Bye

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  2. Kia Ora Paihia School,


    My name is Molly, I live on the West Coast. I go to a primary school called ‘Karoro.’ I extremely enjoyed reading about your experience in a waka. I thought that it was a good idea to learn about the parts in the waka before you had ago. Then when you learnt to use the waka properly you knew what parts were what and that would have given you a better understanding of how to use the Waka.


    When I was reading through your Waka Ama program I couldn’t see the photos. I really would have liked to see these photos. Even though the writing was still explanatory the photos still would have given the reader a greater understanding.


    I thought that you were very lucky to have Rob to come and support/teach you how the waka worked. I would really like to have this experience like your class did. Our school has done Waka Ama too. A group of year eights got together and learnt how to use the waka and competed in a competition. What was the technique/techniques you were using? And why did you decide to do the Waka Ama program?


    Check out my individual blog: http://karoromollyw.blogspot.co.nz/.


    Thanks for sharing!


    Molly

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  3. Kia Ora Paihia School,


    My name is Allie and I live on the West Coast. I go to a primary school called Karoro. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post about Waka Ama. It was good to have that extra bit of useful information about the female and male parts of the boat. I also liked how you had an explanation for each photo. It is also very lucky and helpful that you could have someone to come along and support/ teach you about Waka Ama.


    When I was reading through your post I couldn’t see any of the photos. I would have really liked to see them as it would have helped me have a better understanding of the small paragraphs you wrote. I thought this was just my chromebook but my friend Molly couldn’t see them either.


    Our school has done Waka Ama too, the last time we did it was two years ago and a group of the year eights competed. We didn’t it last year though and haven’t this year either. Was it hard to paddle and keep in time with each other? I look forward to seeing your work in the future.


    You could check out my individual blog site: http://karoroalliev.blogspot.co.nz


    Cheers
    Allie

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  4. Hi Room 8

    Well done on this amazing work keep it up.

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