Statement of Intent 

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This Main Lesson marks the completion of a cycle that began in Class 4 with the Human and Animal lesson, which compared the attributes and abilities of the human being with selected animal types. The following year the human abilities of cognition, emotion and free will were compared with three animal archetypes and then we directed the students' attention to the plant world. In Class 6 the children studied the inorganic minerals of the earth. 

Having studied the three worlds of animal, plant and mineral, the children now turn to the human being, and with that their own wellbeing at this time of physical and soul-spiritual transformation. 

Understanding their own physicality and gathering the knowledge that will keep them well physically, emotionally and spiritual is an essential step in their quest to be the “captain”. 

Lesson

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Remembering back to Class 3, the class can look again at the Whare and its relationship with the human being. From here they can investigate the concept of Hauora within Mātauranga Māori, and especially its manifestation in the Te Whare Tapa Whā model. 

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The four dimensions Taha Tinana (physical well-being), Taha Hinengaro (Mental and Emotional well-being), Taha Whānau (family/social well-being) and Taha Wairua (spiritual well-being). The fifth dimension Whenua, the land, and its health and well-being in turn is connected to ours. It is our place of belonging. 

Possible Lesson Content  (also within the Whare Tapa Whā model) 

• The journey to here and beyond: an artistic investigation of the changing ratio of the human body from baby to adult. Comparing of the changing sizes of the head and the rest of the body; comparing the size, shape and texture of the skin of the hands throughout the stages of childhood and into adulthood. 

• Specific physical changes at puberty towards the physical maturity of the adult, and capacity for procreation. Hormonal changes and mood swings, physical expressions of sex.  

• Attraction, sexuality (depending on the maturity of the class, and keeping in mind the actual age of the children). It is essential that this aspect is fully inclusive of the diversity of sexual orientation and also gender identification – heteronormativity and binary gender allocations should be avoided. 

• Caring for our bodies: personal hygiene, healthy rhythms, sleep, exercise, balance (activity and quiet times, work and play) and mindful diet; clothing, and also peer pressures connected with labels and other group identifiers 

• Nutrition: food groups and nutrients; balancing the parts of the plant (root, leaf, flower, fruit and seed); ingredients of processed and convenience foods 

• Monitoring their diets – analysing food groups and evaluating balance 

• Vital organs – a basic overview: e.g. the movement of the blood - pulse and heartbeat, and changes with activity; the eyes as the “windows to the soul”; the skin as the largest organ, fingerprints as the ultimate manifestation of individuality; the inter-relationship of human and plant through the oxygen - carbon dioxide cycle. 

• Alcohol and drug use, depending on school guidelines. It is of vital importance that the teacher understands that this lesson deals imaginatively and practically with all references to the vital organs and the internal makeup and functioning of the body. Detailed pictures and descriptions of vital organ function are not appropriate for this stage of the children’s education. The lesson content should at all time stay within the children’s direct and practical experience, studying that which can be seen or directly experienced.

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All subject matter is brought as practically as possible, and intellectual and abstract discussion on any of these matters is to be avoided. ​

This Main Lesson is a suitable context for a comprehensive statistical inquiry into lifestyles and dietary habits.