The Home Within Me

This activity offers opportunities for children to rediscover their sense of place by connecting to self and community. This lesson offers a simple sharing circle to incorporate into daily practice to support children to rebuild their sense of place in response to losing their home/community due to natural disaster. There are options for how to…

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Navigating the Waves

This activity offers a space where students can contemplate emotional and physical responses to help navigate the circumstances they are experiencing. They do this while creating imagery that encourages them to identify what will help them cultivate a sense of resilience and self regulation as they move forward. Students will create a collage (collaborative or…

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Matariki for Tamariki

In this activity, the teacher provides provocations to prompt the children’s curiosity in exploring the influence of Matariki within their lives. This experience would ideally be offered after Matariki and the seven other stars have been introduced to the children, and is more suitable for a small group of maybe six children (maximum) at a…

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Ku Kulu Pilina (Building Connections)

Students have the opportunity to connect with self and also a partner to cultivate a relationship with emotions of self and also trust with another person. This learning experience helps students build pilina (connection) through yoga. This unit of work was created by Kilihune Ka’aihue, Makalani Franco-Francis and Christy Chadwick at Maui Arts & Cultural…

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The Long and Short Of It

This lesson sequence uses the visual arts to support students in re-connecting with people in their class and starting to explore emotions post a traumatic/crisis event. The approach outlined also encourages the development of creative dispositional qualities that support positive mental wellbeing. In this unit, students will explore and experiment with using the visual arts…

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Alone together

Students return to school after a crisis with different experiences. Dance can help students share their stories while seemingly focusing on something else. This dance work helps students focus on their own time away from school in the crisis and see that others will have experienced similar and different things. This unit of work was…

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Making a Kahoa Kakala

OVERARCHING VALUES: VALUING PASIFIKA WAYS OF BEING AND KNOWING – WITH AND FOR ALL PEOPLE Experiencing this learning should be savoured by all, so allow good time for each part. Remember that this is about relationships – so really encourage the talanoa. Make alongside the students where you can. In your talk and making, share…

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Hello Again!

This dance work uses dance as a way of creating new forms of greetings. Due to physical distancing imposed during some crises, we sometimes have to find other ways of creating both formal and informal ways of saying hello. There is opportunity for students to have fun creating together while discussing the ways life may…

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Teaspoon of Light

This unit of work centres on the story of a little girl who finds that her cloth of dreams has been torn. Using drama, dance and visual arts approaches the children help the little girl restore her cloth of dreams and her hopes for a better world. The video link shows examples of the work…

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The Giant Who Threw Tantrums

A drama about facing our fears From within the protection of a fantasy about a make-believe village threatened by a tantrum throwing giant, this drama gives young children the chance to consider how people respond when they are afraid. In particular, it explores what happens to a group of people living in a small village…

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