Best for
Lesson openings, exit slips, pastoral check-ins, hauora units, and any class where students need better language for noticing feelings before they escalate.
Health / Hauora • Years 7-10 • Lesson opener or exit reflection
Kare-ā-roto Check-In
Use this page to help ākonga notice their mauri, name what is happening across the whare, and choose a safe next step without turning a classroom wellbeing check-in into forced public disclosure.
Free tomorrow-useful check-in, premium continuity when needed
This handout is free and ready to teach with straight away. The paid workflow becomes useful when you want a version with your kura language, school-specific support pathways, lower-reading-level prompts, or scenario-based alternatives for sensitive classes.
- Adapt the tone for junior, senior, or mixed-age groups.
- Add your actual pastoral pathways before printing for repeated class use.
- Save a school-ready version to My Kete for tutor, mentoring, or hauora lessons.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 5-10 minutes as a lesson opener or closing reflection, longer if it leads into support planning.
- Grouping: Individual first. Offer pair or teacher share only as an opt-in second step.
- Prep: Decide whether students will reflect on themselves, a fictional tauira, or a shared class scenario.
- Teaching move: Frame the task as noticing and naming, not as a demand for public vulnerability.
Resources already provided
- Mauri-state prompts with space for student language
- Whole-whare signal mapping
- Next-step support choices
- Safe participation options
- End-of-lesson reflection prompt
- Curriculum companion for planning and reporting
Kaiako often end up improvising check-in language. This page already gives you a culturally grounded structure that works for tomorrow morning.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning to notice and name our kare-ā-roto more precisely.
- We are learning to connect feelings to signals across Te Whare Tapa Whā.
- We are learning to choose safe support steps when a feeling needs attention.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can identify the mauri state that is closest to how I am arriving.
- I can describe at least one signal in my tinana, thoughts, or relationships.
- I can choose one strategy or support pathway that would help next.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
The curriculum companion makes the emotional-literacy, self-management, and help-seeking value of this check-in explicit so it can sit inside real Aotearoa health planning rather than reading as a generic wellbeing worksheet.
Check-ins should build trust, not create pressure
A strong class check-in helps students notice what is happening earlier and gives kaiako better language for support. It should not require anyone to tell their whole story in public.
Offer silent completion, fictional scenarios, or a brief teacher-only follow-up when that is the safer path.
1. Which mauri state fits best right now?
Mauri moe
Low energy, flat, heavy, or shut down.
Mauri tau
Steady, calm, settled, or ready to learn.
Mauri oho
Activated, restless, alert, or on edge.
Mauri ora
Hopeful, energised, connected, or thriving.
2. What do I notice across the whare?
| Part of the whare | What I notice | What might help |
|---|---|---|
| Taha Tinana | Where does the feeling show up in my body? | |
| Taha Hinengaro | What thoughts, emotions, or worries are present? | |
| Taha Whānau | How is this affecting my relationships, communication, or sense of belonging? | |
| Taha Wairua | Does this affect my values, identity, hope, or connection? |
3. Choose the safest next move
Quick reset I can try now
- kōrero breath or steady counting breath
- water, stretch, or a brief movement break
- quiet drawing, writing, or karakia
Person I can check in with
Place or routine that helps me settle
If this still feels heavy
Ask for a trusted adult, kaiako, dean, counsellor, or the support pathway your kura has already named.
4. Pick the safest way to use this page
Me
Use your own check-in if that feels safe and manageable today.
A fictional student
Use a made-up tauira if you want practice without personal disclosure.
A class situation
Use a shared scenario such as friendship tension, exams, sport pressure, or online stress.
5. End-of-lesson reflection
Finish one or more of these stems
- Right now my mauri feels more _____ because:
- One thing I noticed earlier than usual was:
- The support step I want to remember is:
If this check-in points to something bigger
Use support early
If this page brings up something that feels unsafe or too heavy to carry alone, the next step is not to keep completing the worksheet in silence. Ask for the trusted adult or support process your school has already named.
Getting tautoko is part of protecting hauora.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- Name and describe emotions using both English and te reo Māori vocabulary
- Locate emotions in the body and describe physical sensations associated with them
- Identify what an emotion might need — rest, connection, movement, expression
- Practise checking in with emotional state as a regular wellbeing practice
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- I can name at least five emotions and describe what they feel like in my body
- I use at least one te reo Māori emotion word with confidence
- I can identify what I need when I notice a strong emotion
- I complete the check-in honestly, without judging my feelings as wrong or right
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Health and Physical Education — Hauora
Level 3–4: Identify and describe the relationship between feelings, thoughts, and actions; develop strategies to maintain and enhance hauora across the four pou of Te Whare Tapa Whā; recognise the impact of connections and relationships on wellbeing.
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Understand how cultural practices and values shape identity and wellbeing; recognise the role of community and whānau in supporting individuals; explore how Indigenous frameworks offer ways of understanding health that are distinct from Western biomedical models.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Te reo Māori has a rich vocabulary for emotional states — pōuri (sadness/grief), māuiui (illness/unwellness), koa (happiness/joy), riri (anger), wehi (awe/fear) — that encodes cultural understandings of how those states work and what they require. Using te reo in emotional check-in tasks is not simply a language exercise: it connects ākonga to an emotional vocabulary shaped by centuries of Māori experience, including grief, love, and resilience at scale. Naming our feelings in our own reo is a form of mana-affirming self-knowledge.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
- Unit 8 Hinengaro Journal (unit-8-hinengaro-journal.html) — deepen the check-in with reflective writing
- Unit 8 Stress Thermometer (unit-8-stress-thermometer.html) — track intensity alongside identification
- Unit 8 Coping Menu (unit-8-coping-menu.html) — what to do once the emotion is named
- Unit 8 Grounding Cards (unit-8-grounding-cards.html) — immediate tools when the check-in reveals high distress
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Name how you are feeling right now. Where do you feel it in your body? What do you need?
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this hauora resource to build holistic wellbeing knowledge, connecting te ao Māori perspectives on hauora with personal, social, and environmental dimensions of health.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain key hauora concepts using their own words and personal examples.
- ✅ Students can connect te ao Māori frameworks (e.g. Te Whare Tapa Whā) to real wellbeing contexts.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide sentence starters, graphic organisers, and entry-level tasks to scaffold access. Offer extension challenges for capable learners to address a range of readiness levels.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key vocabulary (hauora, wairua, tinana, hinengaro, whānau). Allow students to draw or respond in their home language as a first step.
Inclusion: Hauora topics can be sensitive — create a safe learning environment. Neurodiverse learners benefit from choice in how they demonstrate wellbeing understanding. Use accessible, non-threatening language.