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Curriculum Alignment

Māori Astronomy and Navigation • for kaiako planning, sequencing, and reporting

4
Key alignment areas
Learning Languages
Primary planning lens
Years 6-10
Most useful teaching range
Strong fit
Ākonga give and follow basic directions using clear, purposeful language in a meaningful context.

How this handout aligns

For kaiako, the key move is to teach direction language through a real task rather than isolated vocabulary. The route reasoning prompts give students an authentic reason to use location and movement language.

Learning Languages Directions Ako through action

Useful when teachers want direction kupu to feel purposeful, spoken, and tied to place.

Strong fit
Ākonga recognise that Māori astronomical knowledge and celestial navigation continue to shape language, ceremony, and practical decision making.

How this handout aligns

The resource keeps mātauranga Māori visible as a contemporary knowledge system. Kaiako can use it to connect Matariki, navigation, and observation without stripping out cultural meaning.

Mātauranga Māori Matariki Navigation

Strongest when teachers foreground tikanga, local examples, and relationship with place.

Supporting fit
Ākonga locate and describe position in relation to other places and known environmental features.

How this handout aligns

The sketch task and route choices ask students to reason about location, direction, and landmarks. That gives kaiako observable evidence rather than vague “understands navigation” statements.

Position and place Compass thinking Local context

Useful for integrated mathematics and place-based inquiry, especially when students map a local route.

Kaiako use
Use this as a teacher-facing bridge between oral language, local inquiry, and culturally grounded navigation study.

How to use this resource

In Te Mātaiaho terms, this companion helps kaiako make the language and inquiry progression explicit. Start with oral rehearsal, then move to route reasoning, then ask for written explanation once students have enough shared vocabulary.

Te Mātaiaho Kaiako planning Practical next step

Best used before teaching so the task is pitched as direction-rich inquiry, not as a decorative add-on about stars.