Pepeha
Integrating an activity like constructing your pepeha is a great way to start to build relationships with your tamariki and gain an insight into who they are and what they like. This activity is easily tailored to fit the needs and ability level of students,
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in ECE/junior spaces, a visual pepeha can be created to represent themselves.
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In middle primary spaces, akonga can fill out a pepeha that has pre prepared sections and focus more on pronounciation.
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In Intermediate/Secondary spaces, ākonga can start translating their pepeha themselves and/or orally presenting these to their peers
Ensure you are including whānau by sending information home and providing time for ākonga to research their personal history.
It is important to understand the purpose of mihimihi and pepeha in tikanga Māori. Connect with other resources to ensure ākonga understand what they are learning.
Relationship Building
It is important that the learners are not only building a relationship with you as a kaiako, but also with their peers. Activities from the Movewell Resource would be great to incorporate as team building activities. Something like ‘Hot Potato’ can be adjusted to fit any age group from ECE to Secondary, you would just need to adjust the type of equipment and the challenge.
Identity Portrait
An easy and inclusive way to get to know your ākonga can be through art. Art activities can be adapted to fit the abilities of your ākonga while fostering freedom and creativity. An activity such as an identity portrait allows ākonga to explore and demonstrate who they are, what they like, and how they see themselves. This can be simplified for younger learners by segmenting designated sections such as “my favourite animal” “my whānau” “my favourite sport” for them to fill in. To give an activity like this more depth for older learners, change the mediums they are using (eg. watercolour/collage), encourage them to use symbols to represent the facets of their identity, or include an artist model for inspiration.
Team Building Games
In the first week, including games can be a great way to begin to foster that sense of safety and inclusivity an ākonga should feel within their learning space. Games are low-risk, high enjoyment activities that work on building social skills. Changing up the teams can be a great way for ākonga to get to know all of their peers in their learning space.
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Any kind of challenge game is a great way to foster team building skills, eg. “you have 15 mins to create a boat to hold up as many pebbles as you can using the equipment provided”
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A bingo game where ākonga go around the room to find people to tick off their sheet, examples could be “someone that has never broken a bone” or “someone that has been overseas”
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A kahoot quiz, could be random facts, school facts, facts about where you live etc
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Outside games
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Scavenger hunt, get them exploring their learning environment in groups
Personal Website
Ākonga can start creating their own personal website that they can use for the rest of the year. Learn about web design, how to link pages, insert images, etc. Start with creating a homepage and linking to an 'about me' page, where ākonga can share their favourite things, their whānau, where they come from etc.
Expand the sites by including subject specific pages, camp diary, hobbies, sports, and school events.
Useful web design sites are Wix (more design features but advanced), Google Sites (easy to use but simple), and Squarespace (expensive but professional).
Reward Systems
If you choose to use a reward system, you will need to help the ākonga understand how it works. With more advanced systems like Banqer (an online banking simulator), you will need multiple lessons to introduce it. Some teachers choose to mix things up every term and try different systems to see what works for them.
Community Cloth
Learn about the cultural significance of Pasifika art and the importance of symbolism through an art project. The inspiration for the example was Fijian tapa cloth. Each ākonga designs a square of the same size to be combined into a grid which will create a class cloth. Ākonga can cut out shapes, using vibrant colours, or draw their own patterns and designs. Prompt the ākonga to incorporate symbolism that is significant to their identities.
Using a limited colour palet, for example, brown paper, charcoal, and white pastel, will make an attractive and striking wall visual.
