🕘 Lesson at a Glance | Te Hōtaka
Lesson Overview | Tirohanga Whānui
Ākonga construct Te Whare Tapa Whā as a physical system, test what happens when its parts stop supporting one another, and sort everyday examples across the four taha and whenua. They finish by choosing one small, realistic support for a fictional whare before privately considering their own.
Learning Intentions | Ngā Whāinga Ako
- Describe whenua and the four taha in Tā Mason Durie's Te Whare Tapa Whā model.
- Explain how a change in one part of a wellbeing system can affect other parts.
- Choose a practical support that fits evidence from a wellbeing scenario.
Do Now · What Keeps It Standing?
5 minWhat it is: a quick structure puzzle that introduces interdependence before any wellbeing language appears.
Run it
- Sketch (2 min): draw a simple house or wharenui. Label the parts that stop it from falling.
- Choose (1 min): circle the one part you think matters most.
- Challenge (2 min): compare with a partner. Can a building stay strong if only one part is strong? Write one sentence that begins, “A strong structure needs…”
Activity 1 · Build the Whare
15 minWhat it is: groups turn the official model into a tabletop structure they can move and test.
Whenua · foundation
Connection to land, roots, and a place where a person can stand and belong.
Taha wairua
Spiritual wellbeing, values, meaning, purpose, and connection beyond the individual.
Taha hinengaro
Mental and emotional wellbeing: thinking, feeling, communicating, and making sense of experience.
Taha tinana
Physical wellbeing: how the body is cared for, used, rested, fuelled, and supported.
Taha whānau
Family and social wellbeing: belonging, caring, sharing, and supportive relationships.
Run it
- Read (3 min): each group takes one model card. Read its official description and underline the two ideas your group cannot lose.
- Translate (4 min): rewrite the description in language a Year 5 learner would understand. Keep the Māori term.
- Build (5 min): arrange five folded cards as a foundation and four walls. Add arrows wherever one part can support another.
- Tour (3 min): rotate to another group's whare. Add one arrow they missed and explain it.
Activity 2 · Stress-test the System
15 minWhat it is: groups test the model with low-stakes fictional changes and track effects across the whare.
Scenario A
Aroha has moved towns. She sleeps well and plays sport, but she does not yet feel that she belongs.
Scenario B
Wiremu is rehearsing late for a performance. He feels purposeful and connected, but tired mornings make concentrating harder.
Scenario C
Leilani's friends support her through a difficult week. Their practical help gives her time to rest and think.
Run it
- Remove (3 min): choose the wall or foundation most directly affected in your scenario and move its card away.
- Trace (6 min): follow two arrows. Record two possible flow-on effects; use “may” rather than pretending every person responds the same way.
- Restore (4 min): propose one support that could strengthen the affected part without “fixing” the person.
- Check (2 min): another group tests whether your support matches the evidence.
Activity 3 · Evidence Sort
15 minWhat it is: ākonga reject the idea that an action belongs to only one taha.
Run it
- Sort (6 min): place eight action cards beside the part of the whare they most directly support: shared kai, a quiet walk, sleep, waiata, talking with a trusted person, stretching, time at a special place, and helping someone.
- Connect (5 min): move at least three cards between two parts and explain why both placements make sense.
- Challenge (4 min): choose one card and draw a three-step chain showing how its effect could move through the whare.
Activity 4 · Strengthen One Whare
20 minWhat it is: ākonga use evidence to design one small support, then test whether it is realistic.
Run it
- Select (3 min): choose Scenario A, B, or C. Name the part of the whare that needs support first.
- Design (7 min): propose one action the person could try, one person or place that could help, and one sign that would show whether the support is useful.
- Test (5 min): swap plans. The reviewer checks three things: does it match the evidence, protect the person's mana, and fit real life?
- Refine (3 min): change one part after the review.
- Private transfer (2 min): learners may privately note one support they already value or want to try. This line is not handed in.
Exit · One Connection That Matters
5 min- Name one taha or whenua and describe it accurately.
- Draw one arrow to another part of the whare and explain the connection.
- Give one support that matches a piece of evidence from today's scenarios.
🎯 Curriculum Links | Te Hononga ki te Marautanga
Health and Physical Education · Phase 3. The model-building and scenario work teach systems thinking about stress, boundaries, supportive relationships, and practical wellbeing strategies.
Stress responses are often part of how the brain and body react to challenge, and understanding these responses helps people manage them by reframing thoughts, setting boundaries, and maintaining supportive relationships.
See the unit's verified curriculum map and teaching rationale.
📦 Materials & Resources
- Model cards — one cut set per group.
- Evidence-sort cards — one cut set per group.
- Workbook page 1 — one per ākonga.
- Blank A4 paper, pens, and optional tape for the tabletop build.
📊 Assessment Framework
- LI 1: the build uses whenua and all four taha accurately.
- LI 2: the stress-test traces at least one plausible connection and uses careful language such as “may”.
- LI 3: the support plan matches the scenario, protects mana, and includes a way to notice whether it helps.
Fast check: read the three-part exit response. It exposes a naming gap, a systems gap, or an evidence-to-action gap before Lesson 2.
🚀 Extension & Adaptation
- More support: give learners the five labelled model cards and let them explain with arrows before writing sentences.
- More challenge: add a structural factor to a scenario, such as transport, safe housing, or access to green space. Ask what an individual can change and what needs collective action.
- Alternative model: compare the wharenui structure with another recognised wellbeing model only after learners can explain Te Whare Tapa Whā on its own terms.
🔗 Unit Progression
This lesson establishes the shared model and the evidence-to-support routine used throughout the unit. Lesson 2 deepens the foundation, whenua, before Lessons 3–11 investigate the four taha and their connections. Every workbook page feeds the Personal Whare Action Project in Lesson 12.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Success criteria
- I can name whenua and the four taha without turning them into a checklist of “good” and “bad”.
- I can trace how one change may affect another part of a wellbeing system.
- I can propose a practical, mana-enhancing support from evidence.
Safety and inclusion
- Use composite scenarios. Never require personal disclosure or collect the private-transfer line.
- Do not frame disability, neurodivergence, faith, family form, or distress as a damaged wall. Focus on access to support and the person's own strengths.
- Have the school's pastoral and safeguarding pathways ready before the lesson. Respond to disclosures through school policy, not class discussion.