Class 5 ‘Te Akomanga Tuarima’ 

 The Class 5 Child: “Where I Stand In The World”  

 

He mahi ta te āta noho, e kī ana te wheke 

To sit still is to do something, so says wheke. 

 

Children turning eleven years old can feel more within themselves; the heart and lung ratio of 4:1 is attained and the normally developing child has entered a stage of ‘balance’, ‘the crown of childhood’ is achieved. The students need to be led to a deeper picture of the world they live in and an experience of the ‘balance’ within themselves in the world. 

 

The Task 

To help the children attain the balance of body and soul that can come at this time as they stand strongly within themselves.  To encourage movement that demands strong form and rhythm and allows the students to experience full control over their bodies.  This allows individuals to experience a sense of control and inner balance. This can be supported by the students learning waiata-a-ringa, poi, kapa haka and taiaha in a more focussed way. 

 

Tapu and Noa 

In searching for this sense of balance, the student can experience that the world has many facets, many points where the microcosm and macrocosm meet and the spiritual interacts with the ordinary. 

The everyday practice of ‘Tapu and Noa’ allows the students to experience this state of being. 

 

Geography 

While the Class teacher will be teaching much of the content of the history and geography main lessons, the teacher of te reo Māori can communicate with each teacher and through this dialogue work out how they can complement what the class teacher is doing. 

 

Following on from the local history and Local Geography studies in Class 4, the Class 5 student will now study the geographical features of the whole of Aotearoa.  Learning initially in an imaginative-artistic way by hearing stories of how Māui fished up ‘Te Ika-a-Māui’ through to the children becoming familiar with the outline and geographical features and place names of the whole of Aotearoa. It is through myths, legends and stories of historical episodes that the configuration of the land (maunga, awa, national parks, towns and cities) can be investigated. 

 

 

Botany 

After studying the lives of the human beings and animals, the Class teacher will be taking the children on a journey to the world of plants.  Archetypal forms will be studied from the most simple to the most complex.  The teacher of te reo Māori could support the students in their studies of trees and ferns of Aotearoa, and the qualities and uses of traditional medicinal plants. 

 

Approach/content (For specialist teachers) 

• The class extends and reinforces the reo learnt.  Emphasis is placed on extending their oral and reading abilities of te reo Māori. 

• Karakia 

• Noun phrases/verb phrases 

• Dual pronouns – tāua/kōrua/rāua/māua 

• Direction words ( hauauru/rāwhiti/tai tonga/tai tokerau) 

• Ti rākau – extension 

• Te Wao-nui-tapu-a-Tāne – The great forest of Tāne 

• Rongoa – Māori medicine. 

• Harakeke; waiata, whakatauki, tikanga, rāranga 

• Waiata-a-rohe 

• Well known place names of Aotearoa 

 

Story Content 

• Historical Stories 

• Stories from tangata whenua that give a living picture of the geographical features of Aotearoa. 

• Significant stories from tangata whenua that give a picture of the sequential history of Aotearoa.   

 

 

Approach/Content (for Class Teachers) 

• Waiata-a-ringa & haka 

• karakia 

• Learning Māori place names of significant geographical features of Aotearoa. 

• Learn sentence structures around Māori prepositions. 

• Significant stories from tangata whenua. 

• Complex kōwhaiwhai designs 

• Studies on Māori medicinal plants. (observation and field trips)  

• Possible class play based on Māori history. 

• Morning circle activities and outdoor games.