Years 1-3
Connections across the Pacific
Teaching Resource
Stories of discovery and journeying are woven into our collective and diverse identities. This resource shows how four texts from the School Journal series can be used to support learning in the context of whakapapa me te whanaungatanga through the topic of voyaging.
About this resource
The texts have been chosen because of their links to the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum at years 4–6 and not for their reading year level. Depending on your students, you might read some of them aloud. There is also additional teacher support material that provides suggestions for literacy strategies to help all students access each text. See Literacy Online: Instructional Series
These texts provide a springboard for students to explore:
- whakapapa connections between Māori and Polynesia
- Māori perspectives on the arrival of the Endeavour and the events that followed
- ways that stories of discovery and travel are woven into our collective and diverse identities
- stories and views that are missing from well-established narratives and the ways this restricts our conclusions.
Each text provides a stand-alone learning opportunity, but they can be used together to explore the topic more deeply.
Over years 4–6, students will have many opportunities to learn in this topic, deepen their understandings, and grow their critical thinking about the past.
