Years 4-6
ANZH in action: Years 1–3 examples
Teaching Guidance
These videos show teachers actively trialling elements of the new Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum content in their classroom. Watch them demonstrate a range of teaching strategies and learning activities to bring the new histories curriculum content to life.
PART 1
(Waiata begins)
Decision making and planning
We made a histories team where, the four teachers that were piloting it, we’d meet. And one of our bilingual teachers was part of that and she would help guide us. So, even if she wasn't from the iwi that we were focusing on, she would help support us or find someone that could support us to find the stories to focus on. Because what we found is when you did a Google search, you need to know what you're searching for! You can't just say, “voyager” or “stories of Māori from Hawaiki”, because you're not going to come up with a specific story. So she supported us heavily with deciding what iwi to go with. Then we kind of came back to her and said this is the stories we're thinking of running with. She either confirmed or said maybe look at this version of the story. And we'd just talk as a team. And we all decided to focus on a different iwi. So our children got different stories.
Tipapa, Teacher, Corinna School, speaking to camera
We're focusing mainly on that Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of New Zealand. So that's what we've – what's driving our learning at the moment.
(Children visiting locations)
The place names that we're looking at are here in Porirua because it's familiar. They know this area. We've looked at Te Rauparaha. We wanted to connect it back to Ngāti Toa.
Tipapa, Teacher, Corinna School, speaking to camera
And we wanted them to understand that Ngāti Toa is the local iwi here and that a long, long time ago, these things happened and because these things happened, that's why things are the way that they are now. We dove into teaching them about Te Rauparaha and why that place is named after him and who he was and why he was so significant to the local people here of Ngāti Toa.
Amy, Teacher, Corinna School, speaking to camera
Because some of our teachers have been here a long time, they have really strong connections with some of the families and the community as well. And knowing that, you know, this person has connections with this iwi, or this marae, and this place. So, yeah, really working on those community connections as well to help. So it’s just, yeah, as simple as having conversation to see what knowledge people bring and what connections they know, from kids in their community, or, you know, a kid in my class’s parent knows this or whatnot. It’s just having the conversations.
Kylie, Teacher, Rāwhiti School, speaking to camera
So our students because they're in the akomanga reorua environment, so a bilingual environment, they come with a high level of mātauraka Māori. They have their own stories from their families, their families have knowledge and stories about their areas and our areas that maybe we don't know. So it's trying to share what they know and getting their perspective as well. We... each unit we do each year, we look at our big idea, we get our whānau in and we talk to them about what our big idea is this year. So we talked about belonging and what do they know? What can they offer us? What do they want their tamariki to learn? What might their tamariki already know about? We sort of share with them what we're going to be doing. And then they say, “Oh, that we know this”, or “We've got this aspect”. And so they come in and give us some help, or they say what they want their children to learn.
Connections with whānau and iwi
(Waiata as slide plays)
Kylie, Teacher, Rāwhiti School, speaking to camera
I think it's important to ask your children what they might know or what they might bring, or maybe get whānau in and have a relationship with them so that they might have information or knowledge or expertise that you can share in your classroom. So instead of… I think sometimes as kaiako we go – “Well, this is the story we know, so we're going to tell you, and this is how it is!” But actually for their whānau it mightn’t be. So just being really aware that maybe they have different stories or different perspectives that you could include in your classroom. I think that's one of our challenges as kaiako is to get those different perspectives because it is hard. I think we are lucky. We are lucky in our akomanga. We've all done Kā Poupou Reo o Tahu, which is a course by a Ngāi Tahu and it's about mātauraka Māori and our stories and looking into that. So we have the knowledge that can be brought to a classroom. Our cultural narrative also was gifted to us by mana whenua and that has a lot of information in it as well about our local area and where the school is. But they make sure that we know the stories that they want shared, and how they want them shared.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories
Special thanks to Rāwhiti School, Te Papapa School, Corinna School
PART 2
(Waiata begins)
Understand, Know, Do
Kylie, Teacher, Rāwhiti School, speaking to camera
I chose Māori history as the foundation and continuous history of New Zealand because we are looking at an overarching theme this year of “belonging”. And so I went into the resources and looked at Tūrangawaewae me te kaitiakitanga.
I wanted them to know that places are named differently because of different reasons. I wanted them to have an understanding of how the area, the places in the area, have been named and the stories behind the naming of those areas. And then looking at our area and our school and why we've named our buildings after… we have named them after atua Māori. And looking at our cultural narrative and how that shows the area, and then looking at our room and why we are named as we are.
So we started with looking at where their houses were on a map, and what their streets were called and what their addresses were, purely because I was starting this with new entrants. Then we brought it out to Brighton and we looked at the areas in Brighton. We looked at the hot pools, why they were named that, why the areas we did that. We did a journey around, we took them there in the school vans and we visited. And then we went right back to the creation story and we looked at the creation story. And then we looked at the Kāi Tahu creation story, which is different. So we looked at the two different perspectives. And we talked about how they're different. And then we went back to the story about Rākaihautū coming out on the waka Uruao, and we talked about that story, and we acted it out and we drew pictures. And now we're going to come in a little bit further and look at some more areas closer to home and what they're known for, the stories.
(Slide “Young learners can show an understanding of historical events when retelling a story through art or drama”)
Kowhai, Student, Rāwhiti School, speaking to camera
I drew this picture of the boat that he rided in. Rākaihautū was the one that ridden it in, ridden, rided in it, and all of his whānau. He came to this place, where, where we all live. He also dug up the mountains for this whole entire place that we all live in.
Kylie, Teacher, Rāwhiti School, speaking to camera
So we've been doing... I share the story, verbally.
(Children with teacher in classroom)
So I verbally retell the story to them. We act it out, we stand up and we move through it, we become the characters in the story. We do a lot of hot-seating where they ask questions or they pretend to be the characters, and we talk about how they might be feeling or what they're doing or why they made decisions. They do pictures and they sequence, we sequence the pictures and put them in order. They say what their favourite bit was, why they liked it, what happened at the beginning, the middle and the end of the stories.
Kylie, Teacher, Rāwhiti School, speaking to camera
And then we sort of put it all together and then they retell it and they can do that in their own way. Some of them use pictures, playdough, act it out, puppets. So that they're putting their understanding into it, so you know that they've got it.
Kydene, Teacher, Te Papapa School, speaking to camera
I focused on the story of Kupe, travelling from Hawaiki, when he was chasing Te Wheke. And we spent about two weeks just unpacking as a Journal story. We incorporated it into writing, so we’d break the story down into parts, and then we'd write about what we'd read that day.
(Children looking at artwork on classroom walls)
And from there, once they were comfortable with the story, we moved it into our inquiry about how we came to Aotearoa. And some of my children now have been able to identify that they’re Māori. Although they don't have the story of Kupe and Te Wheke, as their story, but their ancestors travelled here on waka.
(Slide “Learning is shown when a connection is made between historical events and the learners’ own lives”)
Other children can talk about how they came here on an aeroplane, or how their grandparents came here on a boat. But it wasn't information that they held.
Kydene, Teacher, Te Papapa School, speaking to camera
So it was an inquiry that the children had to unpack, that parents had to support with. And they've actually made artworks that have shown where Kupe came from, and then where they came from, and they can talk about the similarities or the differences between their story and Kupe’s story.
Amy, Teacher, Corinna School, speaking to camera
The context that we've been focusing on are various place names. Buildings that have been built, looking at their place names.
(Images of Porirua Harbour)
And we did the Porirua Harbour, looking at the name behind the Porirua Harbour and Mana Island. And so we've done a bit of natural kind of features. We've decided what we want our learners to know is that the big idea is that there is a past, and that it is different to now. And that the Māori history of the area is really important and it's important that we learn about that.
Tipapa, Teacher, Corinna School, speaking to camera
So we've been telling stories, we read books, we sing songs. And you know, all those things that come together help them with their understanding. All those different activities and learning that they do.
(Historic images of the past, students exploring maps)
The names of marae, hapu and iwi and geological features relates to experiences and whakapapa. And what we've done with the kids is we've used photographs, we've used maps so that they can get an understanding of the area and make those connections. And we’ve asked them questions around what they notice, whether they've been in these places. And that's kind of building up their understanding of the local area. We've been able to lift up mātauranga Māori and Māori histories for our kids in our classrooms by allowing them to see themselves in these stories, so they feel a connection to it. So they feel more empowered and more engaged. And they’re more interested in what we're teaching because they can see themselves in these stories. So especially for our Māori children. They're like, "Oh, I'm Māori, Oh, I know who that is. I've got a cousin named Te Rauparaha", you know, things like that. So they're making those connections.
Progress outcomes
(Waiata as slide plays)
Kydene, Teacher, Te Papapa School, speaking to camera
I focused on the outcome of migration and mobility. And, as I'm in a Year 1 class or Year 0/1 class, I have solely focused so far on the Māori journey from Hawaiki to New Zealand and then I've linked it into my children’s own family stories, which is just the beginning of this new part. So over the next couple of years, what the children will be doing is building on that, and looking at the Pasifika histories and stories, from how the Pasifika people came from the Pacific to New Zealand.
Amy, Teacher, Corinna School, speaking to camera
Part of the progress outcomes is to look at the mana of the name. So when we were looking at Te Rauparaha and his story, we thought what we wanted the kids to be able to do is just to retell his story and what he did, and why that name, why that place is named after him. And obviously there are multiple different stories and some would say, disagree or agree. And it's different from across iwi as well. So what we've done to help the children with that knowledge is we have done lots of stories, reading stories. So we read a story about Te Rauparaha, and how the haka came about.
(Iwi representative with students at Te Rauparaha exhibition)
So we read that and then we follow that on by looking at the Te Rauparaha Arena, down in Porirua city, and looking at why that's named Te Rauparaha Arena. We picked that story because, also, it linked back to the big idea – to the big understanding that Māori history is continual and foundational.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories
Special thanks to Rāwhiti School, Te Papapa School, Corinna School
There are two videos per year grouping. The first covers: decision making and planning, and connections with whānau and iwi. The second covers: Understand, Know, Do elements and progress outcomes.
Tip: Regardless of which year grouping you’re interested in, you may wish to watch the videos as a series – a number of themes repeat across them.
You can use these examples in multiple ways:
- Watch the full video series for loads of great ideas on including the content in your planning and teaching.
- Focus on the two videos for your year grouping to get in-depth suggestions and see learners in action.
- Review the examples template for your year grouping for tips on how to build on your planning and include the new content using the examples in the videos.
As part of this pack, you will also find a handy planning guide and planning log template for your classroom level, including a blank editable version for use. These are designed to help you get started in your thinking.
Planning log example: Year 1–3
Get started with Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum planning.
Get started with Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum planning.
Planning guide
Prompts for planning your Aotearoa NZ histories programme.
Prompts for planning your Aotearoa NZ histories programme.
Planning log blank template
