Lesson 1: We Belong Here
Adds to the arc: Children identify signs of group belonging and contribute to a shared class picture using a mode they choose.
Artefact: class belonging picture + private learner record. Curriculum anchor: statement 50752.
Years 0–3 | Social Sciences · Phase 1
Learning Together: Introduction to Learning Systems
A practical first look at how belonging, relationships, roles and routines help a learning community work—and how children can improve the system they use.
He tirohanga whānui | Unit overview
Young learners already participate in systems: greetings, group learning, help pathways, material routines and care for shared places. This unit makes those systems visible through play, observation, drawing, movement and co-design. Each lesson produces one usable class artefact, and the capstone tests the four artefacts together rather than rewarding a polished performance.
Duration
Five lessons of about 45 minutes. Activities can be split into shorter blocks for new-entrant classes.
Learning area
Social Sciences, Phase 1, with oral-language, hauora and visual communication practices embedded.
Evidence
Observation, gesture, arrangement, speech, drawing, AAC, role-play and scribed explanation all count.
Materials
Every learner-facing record and planning structure is embedded in the lesson pages; no missing download is required.
Te ara ako | Place in the library
This is the Phase 1 Social Sciences concept-builder for classroom culture, not a first-week orientation pack. Use it when children know some familiar people, places and routines and are ready to ask how those parts work together, whose needs they serve, and how the class can improve them.
Before | Starting school
Starter Pack: Years 0–3 (New Entrants) supports first-days safety, location and predictable routines. This unit then turns familiar routines into evidence children can examine rather than repeating the orientation.
Next | Wider places and responsibility
Kaitiakitanga — Caring for Our Place extends the pathway from one classroom system to wider relationships with place, local inquiry and collective action.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning intentions
- Recognise ways people show belonging to groups without assuming every group works the same way.
- Show relationship-building through observable actions that preserve choice and dignity.
- Connect familiar needs with roles, places and routines that help a school organise shared work.
- Test and improve a class system using evidence from the people expected to use it.
Paearu Angitu | Success criteria
- I can identify one sign that people belong to a class or another group.
- I can demonstrate an action that helps another person learn and ask before helping.
- I can match a familiar need with a role or routine and show a safe first action.
- I can connect two parts of our class system and suggest a change after we test it.
Design boundary | What this unit refuses
Early-years community work can drift into compulsory sharing, behaviour compliance or decorative te reo Māori. This sequence does not require children to disclose family structure, whakapapa, culture, language, disability or private support needs. It does not equate respect with eye contact, stillness, quietness or speed. Māori concepts change the activity design—through relationship, agency, reciprocity and responsibility—while local whānau and mana whenua remain the authority for local tikanga.
Te raupapa ako | Lesson sequence
The sequence moves from the child’s experience of belonging to an increasingly connected model of the classroom. Teach in order if the artefacts will be used in the capstone.
Lesson 2: How We Help One Another Learn
Adds to the arc: The class turns relationship values into three observable agreements and practises asking before helping.
Artefact: three-action class learning agreement + help-choice record. Curriculum anchor: statement 50759.
Lesson 3: People and Routines That Help Our School Work
Adds to the arc: Children connect a need, a safe first action, a local role or place, and what happens next.
Artefact: locally verified help chain. Curriculum anchor: statement 28224.
Lesson 4: Care for Our Place, Care for Our Learning
Adds to the arc: Children audit one shared place, design a fair care routine, trial it and improve one step.
Artefact: notice–act–check–reset routine. Curriculum anchor: statement 28224.
Lesson 5: Our Class System in Action
Adds to the arc: Children connect the four artefacts, test them through realistic scenarios and revise the system for a new learner.
Artefact: accessible class-system guide + teacher observation evidence. Curriculum anchor: statement 50759.
Kaiako planning snapshot
| Lesson | Prepare locally | Embedded resources | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Belonging | Permission-safe pictures of familiar groups; participation choices. | Board plan and copy-ready belonging record. | Forced identity disclosure or treating speech as the only contribution. |
| 2 · Relationships | Puppets/figures and optional communication cards. | Three agreement headings and learner help-choice record. | Defining respect as stillness, eye contact or compliance. |
| 3 · Roles and routines | Current school role cards, map and verified help procedures. | Four-part help-chain planner. | Invented routes, private contact details or children walking unsupervised. |
| 4 · Care system | One bounded place; local hazard and tikanga boundaries. | Four-lens audit and care-routine planner. | Turning kaitiakitanga into generic tidying or transferring adult duties. |
| 5 · Capstone | The four prior artefacts and a purposeful, permission-safe audience if used. | Scenario set, capstone record and assessment progression. | Rewarding confident presentation instead of systems understanding. |
Whakaurunga | Inclusion and access
New entrants
Use real objects, two-choice cards, one-step routines and repeated short sessions. Let children watch before joining.
Communication
Accept AAC, gesture, eye gaze, home language, drawing, arrangement and a confirmed scribed response. Do not infer understanding from speaking volume.
Sensory and movement access
Offer seated photo sequences, quiet observation positions, predictable transitions and non-performance roles.
Extension
Change one condition, identify who is affected, and redesign the system while preserving belonging, access and care.
Aromatawai | Assessment across the unit
Use an evidence note with three columns: what the child noticed, how they communicated it, and what connection or change they made. Do not convert the mode of communication into a lower conceptual judgement.
- Entry evidence: recognises a familiar group, role, place or routine.
- On the way: connects a need or purpose with an action, role or routine.
- Secure in this context: shows how two parts affect one another and improves a system after testing.
- Transfer evidence: applies the reasoning in a different context while checking that its routines are not identical.
Te Whare Ako | Pedagogical foundations
The sequence uses three linked teaching approaches from Te Whare Ako. These links are for kaiako planning; children do not need the theory vocabulary.
- Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: learner and whānau knowledge can shape participation and local adaptation instead of being treated as an optional cultural add-on.
- Cooperative Learning: shared purposes, varied contributions and explicit group routines are designed rather than left to confident children to manage.
- Social Constructivism: children make their current understanding visible, test it with others and revise a shared model.
🎯 Curriculum Links | Te Hononga ki te Marautanga
Hononga marautanga | Curriculum alignment
Te Mātaiaho (2025) · Social Sciences · Phase 1 · statement id 28224Group roles (e.g. school principal), rules, and routines are important for organisation and to help people work well together.
The unit teaches this statement as a connected problem, not a definition. Children observe roles and routines, build pathways, trial a care system, diagnose missing links and revise the class system after another user tests it. Lessons 1, 2 and 5 also explicitly teach how belonging and relationships affect whether the organisation works for everyone.
Localise before teaching
- Replace generic school roles, places and pathways with current local practice; verify urgent-help and safeguarding procedures.
- Ask local whānau and mana whenua how whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, ako, kaitiakitanga and kotahitanga should be expressed in your context.
- Check image, recording and display permissions. Every lesson works without photographing or publicly presenting children.
- Revisit the class artefacts after the unit. A learning system that cannot change in response to children is only a poster.