NZ History

NZ History Term overview

Week 1:  Bring what I know. 

Students will discuss what they know about the topic and complete a classroom KWL. 

Week 2 to 3: Origins, voyaging and adaptation

• stories of journeys to Aotearoa (for example, by waka and sailing, steam, and motor-driven ships; on early and later flights; as boat people; involving the challenges of travel and different journey lengths over time) 

• stories of journeys by different groups at different times (for example, by early British, Irish, Chinese, and Indian migrants; by Pacific and Asian communities and communities from continental Europe, the Americas, and the African continent; and by refugee and minority communities) 

• experiences of arriving in a new and different land – the different climate, food, culture, and language 

• how these experiences have shaped identities (for example, as iwi, and as distinctive communities). 

Week 4 to 5: Māori origins, voyaging and adaptation 

• stories from iwi about their point of origin, why they left, and whakapapa connections to their waka, its captain, and its landing site(s) 

• aspects of the natural world that guide oceanic navigation – the flight paths of migratory birds, the sun and stars, ocean swells, changes in wave patterns, the presence of certain fish and birds, flotsam, and cloud formations –ART  

• how Māori would have adapted in this new land – from customary societal structures in the Pacific (not immediately viable given small numbers and the priority to survive) to the gradual formation of more recognisable iwi and hapū structures, to strengthened iwi identity, and to working collectively in more settled agricultural communities, protected through the development of fortified kāinga. 

Weeks 6 to 7: Adapting to new environments 

• The technologies and tools Māori brought to Aotearoa New Zealand (for example, hunting and fishing tools and techniques, weapons, clothing, food and gardening practices) 

• adaptations to the very different climate and resources of Aotearoa New Zealand (for example, of language for new phenomena such as hail, technologies, food, shelter, and clothing) 

• food production – for example, a phase of hunter-gathering, then the resumption of gardening as the main source of food production (adapted to the new environment, based around kāinga, and following a lunar calendar with the new year beginning in winter when the stars of Matariki rose before dawn) 

• early European use of the environment (for example, the harvesting of seals and whales, the felling of timber, and trading for flax). 

Weeks 8 to 9: Local economies and trade 

• iwi economies based on unique local resources – for example, inland North Island iwi hunting birds and fishing for tuna across wide areas; the exploitation of thermal resources by Te Arawa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa; river iwi catching tuna; the access of coastal iwi to rich kaimoana; the extensive gardens developed in some parts of the country; in much of the South Island, the gathering of resources on seasonal heke, including mutton birds from the Tītī Islands 

• exchanges between iwi (for example, of preserved foods, tools, weapons, taonga, whalebone, argillite, obsidian, and pounamu) 

• economic relationships between coastal iwi and early newcomers such as sealers, whalers, and traders – hapū began to engage more fully with new economic activities, due to a desire to access European trade goods and as an expression of manaakitanga; this in turn linked Māori into a globalising economy, with some joint ventures between Māori and Pākehā (for example, whaling stations, and the shipyards at Hōreke). 

Week 10: Reflection and evaluation  

Students to complete an exit ticket and complete the L part on your KWL.