✨ Week 6: Action & Reflection
The culmination of our journey. Students deliver their chosen kaitiaki action, gather evidence of its impact, and reflect on their role as guardians of the water.
Focus Question
What impact did our action have, and what are our next steps as kaitiaki?
Ngā Mahi - Week 6 Activities
1. Action Day: Delivery (45 mins)
Activity: Execute the planned action at the awa. Follow roles, safety briefings, and tikanga.
- Pre-brief: Roles, safety/tikanga, and karakia
- Action: Clean-up, planting, or placing signage
- Evidence Capture: Take 3 photos or gather 3 notes/quotes
- Pack down: Gear check and rubbish removal
2. Processing Evidence (15 mins)
Activity: Return to class to document the work and finalize visuals.
- Add evidence points to the final posters
- Write "What we did" bullets to document the process
- Include one community quote gathered during the action
3. Reflection & Celebration (15 mins)
Activity: Reflect individually on the impact of the action and celebrate the class achievement.
- Use Reflection Prompts individually
- Gallery Walk: View the finalized posters and evidence
- Define: "One next step I can take for our awa"
4. Media Anchor (10 mins)
Activity: Revisit the wider kaupapa of kaitiakitanga before completing reflection and next-step planning.
- Pause and discuss: What long-term kaitiaki responsibility does this clip highlight most clearly?
- Transfer task: Include one long-term commitment in your reflection response.
💡 Differentiation Strategies
- Scaffolding: Assign lighter roles (photographer/signer) for support
- Support: Provide individual sentence stems for the reflection
- Extension: Draft a "Thank You" letter to community partners or sponsors
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will explore awa (river/water) as taonga, developing understanding of kaitiakitanga through water guardianship — connecting indigenous environmental knowledge with scientific and civic action.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain the significance of awa in te ao Māori and their local community.
- ✅ Students can identify actions that reflect kaitiaki responsibilities for local waterways.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide sentence starters and graphic organisers for inquiry tasks. Offer entry-level observation activities and extension challenges involving community advocacy or environmental data analysis.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key te reo Māori terms (awa, kaitiaki, wāhi tapu, tūrangawaewae). Allow visual and diagrammatic responses. Bilingual glossaries strongly recommended.
Inclusion: Connect to students' own waterways and places of belonging. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured field investigation templates and clear step-by-step inquiry protocols.
Curriculum alignment
- Science — Ecosystems: Biotic and abiotic factors in ecosystems can affect distribution and abundance of organisms.
- Social Sciences — Place and Environment: Understand how the environment is shaped by the values, attitudes, and actions of people and communities.