Te Ao Māori • Whakapapa • Years 5-10 • Belonging and story

Whakapapa Connections Map

This handout helps ākonga map identity through people, places, stories, and values. It deliberately avoids forcing a single biological “family tree” model so students in blended, foster, whāngai, adoptive, or complex whānau situations can participate with dignity and truth.

Ingoa / Name

Akomanga / Class

Best for

Unit 1 identity work, whakawhanaungatanga, whānau interviews, and reflective tasks where students need to show connection without over-disclosing private information.

Kaiako use

Use it before oral sharing, writing, or visual art. It works especially well when kaiako want to hold whakapapa as a living relationship system rather than a narrow genealogy chart.

Ākonga use

Students can map people, places, values, and stories that shape who they are, then choose how much of that map to turn into a poster, oral explanation, or reflective paragraph.

Linked next step

Best paired with Pepeha Builder and Whakapapa Mathematics Connections.

Free classroom starter, premium localisation path

This version is classroom-ready now. If your kura wants a bilingual version, a junior adaptation, a whānau interview sheet, or a local iwi framing, Te Wānanga can reshape the resource while keeping the whakapapa lens respectful and inclusive.

Turn the map into a digital poster, oral script, or visual art brief.
Differentiate for support, core, and stretch groups without losing coherence.
Save your adapted version for later in My Kete or Creation Studio.

Adapt this in Te Wānanga Open Creation Studio Compare paid workflow options

Kaiako planning snapshot

Use length: 30-45 minutes for mapping plus reflection, or longer if paired with whānau interviews and poster creation.
Grouping: Individual mapping first, then optional pair kōrero or teacher conference before public sharing.
Prep: Make it clear that students may map support networks, places, and values rather than only direct biological lines.
Teaching move: Model one example that includes place, stories, and responsibilities as well as people.

Belonging Story and identity

Resources already provided

Flexible whakapapa lenses: people, place, stories, and values
Whānau interview prompts and reflection scaffold
Draw-and-write map space for multiple family structures
Support, core, and stretch options
Curriculum companion for teacher-only planning clarity

If the lesson mentions mapping prompts, interview questions, or poster space, those supports already exist here.

Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions

We are learning how whakapapa connects identity, place, history, and responsibility.
We are learning how to gather whānau knowledge with care and respect.
We are learning how to represent belonging in words, drawings, or both.

Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria

I can explain at least two parts of my whakapapa map.
I can include people, places, stories, or values I am comfortable sharing.
I can show how my map connects identity with belonging and responsibility.

Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment

Use the companion page to make the curriculum link explicit around identity, belonging, whānau knowledge, and how stories of ancestry help sustain culture in Aotearoa.

Learning Languages Whakapapa Identity and belonging

Open curriculum companion

Why this matters in Aotearoa

Whakapapa is not only a list of ancestors. In mātauranga Māori it can hold relationships across people, whenua, kōrero, taonga, and responsibilities. That makes it a richer and more humane classroom lens than a rigid poster of names in boxes.

Students may have partial knowledge, complex histories, or reasons for privacy. Strong pedagogy allows truthful mapping without forcing disclosure, comparison, or deficit thinking.

Choose the map that fits your truth

People map

Who are the adults, siblings, cousins, friends, or mentors who help shape you?

Place map

What maunga, awa, suburb, marae, kura, church, field, or country matters to your story?

Story map

What family story, migration journey, memory, or whakataukī travels with you?

Values map

What values do you inherit or choose to carry: manaakitanga, courage, humour, service, creativity, persistence?

Whānau interview prompts

Who could I talk to? ________________________________________________

One place our whānau connects to is: _________________________________

One story or saying I want to remember is: _____________________________

One responsibility I carry forward is: _________________________________

Draw or draft your whakapapa map

You may choose a tree, river, woven pattern, constellation, or another shape that better reflects your story.

Alternative response mode: use labels, arrows, colours, photos, or oral explanation if full sentences are not the best fit yet.

Explain two important parts of your map

Support, core, and stretch pathways

Support

Use one lens only first, such as place or people, and build your map in small chunked steps with teacher conferencing or a trusted partner.

Core

Create a map with at least three connections and explain two of them in writing, audio, or kōrero.

Stretch

Add a whānau story, a value you carry forward, and a reflection on how your map might change over time.

Neurodiversity and inclusion note: offer choice of format, sentence stems, teacher scribing, and private sharing options before expecting public presentation.

Teach this tomorrow

Print or share

One copy per learner
Optional coloured pencils or sticky-note labels

Decide before class

How you will frame privacy, consent, and optional sharing
Whether students are building solo, with whānau input, or from a class model

Good progress looks like

Students produce honest maps instead of “correct-looking” but invented ones
Whakapapa is discussed as connection and responsibility, not only names on a tree

Natural continuation

Move into pepeha, oral introductions, or whānau story writing
Adapt it in Te Wānanga for a localised identity unit

Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment

Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi

Level 3–4: Understand how cultural identity, whakapapa, and tikanga shape people's place in their community and the world; recognise and respect the significance of te Tiriti o Waitangi and the contribution of Māori culture to Aotearoa New Zealand's national identity.

Te Reo Māori — Language and Culture

Level 3–4: Use te reo Māori to express identity, whakapapa, and cultural concepts with accuracy and respect; understand the significance of place names, personal names, and whakapapa as cultural knowledge systems.

Aronga Mātauranga Māori

In te ao Māori, whakapapa is the foundation of all knowledge — the framework through which the origins of people, land, and all living things are understood. A family tree template that only records names and dates captures the structure of whakapapa without its substance: the stories, the connections to place, the obligations that flow between generations. This template invites students to begin with what they know and ask: Who came before me? What did they face? What did they carry forward? What am I called to carry? These questions honour whakapapa not as a historical record but as a living relationship with those who shaped us.

Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials

Pepeha Builder (pepeha-builder-template-unit1.html) — use completed whakapapa in a pepeha
Whakapapa Mathematics (unit1-2025-whakapapa-mathematics.html) — apply mathematical thinking to the family tree
Unit 1 Whakapapa Poster Template (unit-1-whakapapa-poster-template.html) — present the family tree as a poster
Unit 1 Guided Inquiry Project (unit-1-guided-inquiry-project.html) — use whakapapa as the starting point for cultural inquiry

Curriculum alignment

Identity, Culture, and Organisation: Understand how cultural identity shapes participation in society — whakapapa, tikanga, and mana as foundations of Māori identity in Aotearoa New Zealand.