Topic - NZ History

This term our school wide focus is Exploration.

This will begin with us exploring where we came from (Pepeha, Whakapapa) and "Who we are" as people (Bio Poem). We will then move on to a Historical focus looking at some key dates and people in New Zealand History, as well as explore how things were before with everything from cooking, communication and games.

We will finish the term by creating our own piece of history with our very own Time Capsule and piece of Art showing our view of what makes us Aotearoa.

We have over 700 years of history to choose from, which period, event or person fascinates you?

What do you know about the history of Aotearoa?

What do you want to know?


  • How many of these events do you already know something about?
    Parihaka, The Women's Suffragette, Gallipoli, the Springbok Tour, the Wahine Disaster, the Bastion Point protests, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Rainbow Warrior bombing.

  • Have you heard of these influential people in Aotearoa's past?
    Kupe, Captain James Cook, Hone Keke, Kate Edgar, Sir Edmund Hillary, James Busby, Kate Sheppherd, Jean Batton, Lisa Carrington.


WEEK 1-3

  • Pepeha - A Pepeha is a way of introducing yourself in Māori. It tells people who you are by sharing your connections with the people and places that are important to you.

  • Whakapapa / Family tree - Whakapapa links people to all other living things, and to the earth and the sky, and it traces the universe back to its origins.

  • Bio Poem - Students will begin looking into “Who am I?”. This activity is aimed at helping students clarify important elements of their identities by writing a structured poem about themselves.

WEEK 4-8

  • NZ History / Timeline - We will spend the next few weeks taking a deep dive into New Zealand History. This will tie into our planned class trip this term.

  • Early Explorers / Pre-1800's

  • 1800 - 1900's

  • 1900 - 2000's

  • 2000 - now

WEEK 9-10

  • Time Capsule - A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, it can be used as a way of keeping objects and writing memories and ideas down in one particular place, before returning to them in the future.

  • Aotearoa Taonga's - New Zealand Treasures, things that are important to us as Kiwi’s and have shaped our history.