Class 6 ‘Te Akomanga Tuaono’ 

The Class 6 Child: “How I Stand In the World” 

 

He urunga tangata he urunga pā hekeheke, 

he urunga oneone, mau tonu. 

To rest on human support is unreliable,  

to rest on terra firma is sure. 

 

The children turning twelve have arrived at the age of ‘consequences’. For the first time we can reason with them: “If you do this, then that will happen.” At this stage they can begin to practice self-control and begin to imagine into the outcomes of any deeds or behaviour. The students’ bodies are changing and, as these changes occur, they must work, albeit unconsciously, with them. They must learn to live in their bodies in a new way. The movements of these twelve-year-olds begin to lose the natural rhythm and grace of the younger child.  

 

More than ever at this point in their development the young people must be given imaginative pictures and stories that speak to the highest aspects of their beings, they must be inspired and they must be protected from feelings of hopelessness or inadequacy. 

 

The Task 

To allow the children to experience themselves as; true, honest, fair and brave. 

 

Geography 

The children will be turning their gaze outwards and begin a journey that will bring before the students the many wonders of the region of the earth closest to them. The children will be studying the different island groups and the peoples of the Pacific and these studies can relate back to the origins of the Māori and Māori voyaging and migration. Again the te reo Māori teacher can support the class teacher with the student’s studies of the Pacific. 

 

Geology 

The Class teacher will be directing the student’s gaze back to the land we live upon. The students will be looking at the ground beneath our feet and the mineral world that it is made of. The students are asked to become aware of the different types of minerals and rocks in Aotearoa so the importance of Pounamu to Māori could be explored in a variety of ways this year. 

 

 

Approach/ Content (For specialist teachers) 

• The class are introduced to the use of taiaha and the importance of taiaha as a tool to learn self-discipline 

• Pakiwaitara 

• Haka pōwhiri 

• Ngā tikanga a te taiaha  

• Waiata-a-ringa 

• Asking questions 

• Providing information 

• Ngā toi whakaari – role play, group-work -  performance 

• Pronouns – continue practising. 

• Whakatauki/proverbs 

• ‘He’ sentences – extend and continue. 

• Descriptive language 

• Whakairo  

 

 

Learning Content (for Class Teachers) 

• Stories of Māori biographies and historical voyages around the Pacific. 

• Kapa haka 

• Artwork from where Māori and Pacific Island art meets. 

• Written Māori emphasis on grammar. 

• Particular studies on importance of pounamu to Māori culture. 

• Stories relating to concepts of Māori geology. 

• Stories from the tangata whenua that describe the geological features and activity of Aotearoa. 

• The beginning of oratory/speech making. 

• Māori literature.  Poetry, short stories, novelists.