YOUR KETE

Includes Learn about pull-out poster. Matariki. How do you find it in the sky and why is it EDITION important?

PRESCHOOL ABOUT MATARIKI Matariki is a cluster of stars in the . There are about ORA, a thousand stars in Matariki but only some KIA can be seen with the naked eye. We want all Kiwi kids For many iwi, Matariki resets the to know how important Māori calendar (Maramataka). Matariki is in New Zealand Before there were calendars, people would use the Moon to set the months and the to culture, and how to find mark the seasons. it in the night sky. The cycle of the Moon around Earth In this booklet you’ll find (lunar cycle) doesn’t fit evenly into the cycle of Earth around the Sun (solar cycle). Each year, information for you to the Moon cycle is around 11 days shorter than use to teach your class the solar cycle, meaning that after 12 months there are still about 11 days until Earth returns about Matariki. to the same position in its orbit around the Sun.

We hope you find Stars can be used to reset the calendar because they appear in the same place at the it useful. same time every year. When you see Matariki Ngā mihi nui, rising in the north-east at early dawn, you’ll know the Maramataka will soon be reset and TEAM a new year begins again. THE EDUCATION The Matariki Festival is observed by many iwi during the phases of the moon known as AT STARDOME Tangaroa, the phases of plenty. The Tangaroa phases occur in the week leading to Whiro, the new moon and the beginning of Maramataka Māori. This is why Māori New Year happens on different days every year.

MATARIKI, ALSO KNOWN AS THE , Ururangi IS DOMINATED BY BLUE STARS WHICH ARE Waipuna-ā-rangi Tupu-ā-rangi SCORCHING. THEY Matariki ARE MUCH HOTTER THAN OUR SUN!

Hiwa-i-te-rangi Tupu-ā-nuku Waitī Waitā Puanga (Rigel) Taygeta is used by some Pōhutukawa iwi to mark Māori New Year instead of Matariki. ACTIVITIES

STAR BURST! Get messy and creative to make a galaxy of stars. YOU'LL NEED • Paint • Paintbrushes • A3 card per child • Glitter and star stickers • An old dishbrush INSTRUCTIONS

1. Each child gets the inside

of one hand painted in their chosen star colour.

2. When ready, create a hand print in the middle of the card,

with their palm as the start of the centre of the star and their fingers splaying out. 3. Make another hand print clockwise to the right of

their first print, joining the palm prints together.

4. Keep going around in a

circle, repainting their hand

if needed, until a whole star has been made.

5. With the print still wet, sprinkle glitter on the star.

6. If they want to add smaller

stars around their main star,

dip the bristles of the dish brush in paint and print this in the surrounding space. Viola!

TRY AND GET NINE STARS IN TOTAL (INCLUDING YOUR HAND PRINT) TO MIRROR THE NINE VISIBLE STARS OF MATARIKI. The star cluster can be seen all around the world, so it has many diff erent names, like: ASTRONOMERS ESTIMATE The Pleiades Greece THE CLUSTER WILL SURVIVE The Seven Sisters Greece FOR ABOUT ANOTHER 250 Subaru Japan MILLION YEARS BEFORE ALL The six wives of the six sages Tamil THE STARS DRIFT APART. FROM Seven chickens Thailand Matali’I Samoan MATARIKI Astronomers call Matariki Messier45 JUPITER OUR SOLAR SYSTEM Pareārau The Matariki star cluster becomes hidden for about a month VENUS in late autumn due to Earth’s changing perspective as it Kōpū orbits the Sun. The stars are hidden behind the Sun from our point of view in the month of May, and appear again in our morning sky in the month of June.

SUN Tamanuiterā

MERCURY MOON Marama Apārangi Matariki can be seen from almost every single spot EARTH on Earth. Papatūānuku

MARS Matawhero

The stars in Matariki were NEPTUNE formed around Tangaroa SATURN 100 million years Rongo ago – that’s URANUS only 1/50th Whērangi the age of THE PLEIADES IS SOMETIMES CALLED ‘THE SEVEN SISTERS’ our Sun! BECAUSE OF THEIR CLOSE PROXIMITY TO ONE ANOTHER.

Not to scale. STARDOME.ORG.NZ The star cluster can be seen all around the world, so it has many diff erent names, like: ASTRONOMERS ESTIMATE The Pleiades Greece THE CLUSTER WILL SURVIVE The Seven Sisters Greece FOR ABOUT ANOTHER 250 Subaru Japan MILLION YEARS BEFORE ALL The six wives of the six sages Tamil THE STARS DRIFT APART. FROM Seven chickens Thailand Matali’I Samoan MATARIKI Astronomers call Matariki Messier45 JUPITER OUR SOLAR SYSTEM Pareārau The Matariki star cluster becomes hidden for about a month VENUS in late autumn due to Earth’s changing perspective as it Kōpū orbits the Sun. The stars are hidden behind the Sun from our point of view in the month of May, and appear again in our morning sky in the month of June.

SUN Tamanuiterā

MERCURY MOON Marama Apārangi Matariki can be seen from almost every single spot EARTH on Earth. Papatūānuku

MARS Matawhero

The stars in Matariki were NEPTUNE formed around Tangaroa SATURN 100 million years Rongo ago – that’s URANUS only 1/50th Whērangi the age of THE PLEIADES IS SOMETIMES CALLED ‘THE SEVEN SISTERS’ our Sun! BECAUSE OF THEIR CLOSE PROXIMITY TO ONE ANOTHER.

Not to scale. STARDOME.ORG.NZ ACTIVITIES

BLAST

OFF! Have fun with everyday craft supplies to make personalised rockets. YOU'LL NEED • Popsicle sticks (either coloured or blank for kids to colour in or decorate themselves) • Colouring pens

• Selection of coloured and white paper or light card • Glue or tape • Scissors

• Streamers (if you want to use them for rocket ‘fire’) INSTRUCTIONS 1. Assist the kids in taping 3-5 (depending on their chosen rocket size) popsicle sticks together at the top and bottom. 2. Cut out a small ‘window’ from your paper (get the kids to draw themselves inside, if they like!) and stick onto the rocket.

3. Decorate the rest of the rocket body with the other coloured paper or various crafty decorative items.

4. Cut out a triangle, decorate and glue to the top of the popsicle sticks.

5. Cut out ‘fire’ from coloured paper or use streamers and attach them to the bottom of the popsicle sticks. 6. Make multiple rockets, playing with different shapes, sizes and decorations.

EITHER TAKE THEM HOME OR CREATE A CLASSROOM WALL OF SPACE EXPLORATION. FOIL PAINTED SOLAR SYSTEM YOU'LL NEED • Circular object like a plastic plate • Large card per child OR (like we’ve done) a long roll of paper to create a class Solar System • Tinfoil • Paint in various colours • Star confetti or stickers (optional) INSTRUCTIONS 1. Trace around the plates or different sized circular objects. This will be the planet or the Moon. 2. Scrunch up a square of tinfoil into a ball, with at least one side a little flattened. 3. Dip the tinfoil in your paint and then onto the card/paper, within the lines of your circle. 4. If you’re creating a Moon, use varying levels of pressure or amount of paint to create the grey ‘craters’ on the Moon. 5. If you’re creating planets, mix and match the EVEN MORE HANDS-ON? colours to create imaginary planets or see if CUT OUT EACH PLANET the kids can use certain colours to recreate OR MOON, ATTACH SOME some of the real planets in our Solar System. STRING AND CREATE A CLASS SOLAR SYSTEM MOBILE! HOW TO FIND MATARIKI

AUCKLAND NORTH-EASTERN DAWN SKY LATE JUNE / BEFORE SUNRISE

Matariki is visible most of the year except in late autumn when it is too close to the Sun. In New Zealand it rises in the north-east and sets in the north-west, travelling across the northern sky in between. This movement, as with all other stars, is not caused by the stars themselves moving but by Earth turning,

making it appear to move across the sky.

Matariki appears further and further

away from the eastern horizon as PUANGA

the year goes on until it sets again RIGEL – keep looking for it using this method. 2 1

MATARIKI PLEIADES

TAUTORU ORION’S BELT

2 1 To find Follow a line through the three Matariki, stars of Tautoru look for towards north and Orion’s belt. you will see a small cluster of stars. You’ve found Matariki!

STARDOME.ORG.NZ