📚Unit Plans → 🌱Y0–3 Starter Pack → 4Kaitiakitanga
Years 0–3 (Phase 1 Primary) Hauora / Health & PE

Lesson 4: Kaitiakitanga — Taking Care of Our Classroom & Playground

Phase 1 Primary (Years 0–3). Young tamariki practise caring for classroom materials, recycling, and playground equipment (Kaitiakitanga), writing Booklet Page 4.

Lesson at a Glance | He Tirohanga Whakamua

Pack-Up Song Warm-upSinging our classroom pack-up song and learning where toys sleep10 min
Kaitiaki Helpers TrainingLearning 4 helper jobs: Book Helper, Pencil Helper, Bin Helper, Mat Helper15 min
Classroom Tidy SprintPractising a 2-minute timed tidy sprint with cheerful music15 min
Booklet ActivityComplete Page 4: My Kaitiaki Helper Badge & Recycling Sort10 min
Kaitiaki PromiseStamp your Kaitiaki badge and promise to keep our room beautiful5 min

Ngā Whāinga Ako | Learning Intentions

Tamariki will know

  • What a Kaitiaki is: A guardian who takes care of our environment, classroom, and toys.
  • How to sort materials into proper tubs, bins, and recycling stations.
  • How to take pride in a clean, organised classroom home (Tūrangawaewae).

Tamariki will demonstrate

  • By completing Page 4 of their Starting School Adventure Booklet.
  • By performing their assigned classroom Kaitiaki helper job.

Kaitiakitanga & Classroom Care (10 min)

Guardians of Our Classroom:

"In Aotearoa, a Kaitiaki looks after the land, rivers, and forests. In our room, WE are all Kaitiaki looking after our books, crayons, and playground!"

Action: Children practise holding a picture book with two gentle hands and placing it neatly face-up in the bin!

Kaitiaki Helper Stations (15 min)

1. Pukapuka Guardian

Smooth down bent book pages, stack books neatly, and ensure cushion covers are clean.

2. Para / Recycling Guardian

Sort paper scraps into the green paper recycling bin and general rubbish into the waste bin.

3. Pene Guardian (Pencils)

Match lids to felt pens, stand pencils point-up in the pots, and put the broken ones in the sharpening tin rather than the bin.

4. Whāriki Guardian (Mat)

Clear the mat of stray toys before mat time and check every child has a spot to sit — including anyone new.

Kaiako: rotate the four jobs weekly and put the roster where tamariki can see it. A job nobody can find is a job nobody does.

Classroom Tidy Sprint (15 min)

Now they use the jobs. Deliberately scatter the room a little first — a few blocks out, some paper on the floor, pencils loose — so there is something real to fix.

1. The two-minute sprint

Play the pack-up song. Everyone works their own kaitiaki job for two minutes. Stop the music, sit down, look around together: what changed?

2. Run it three times

Swap jobs between rounds so every child does at least two. By round three they should beat the song — that beat is the whole point, and it is what makes the routine stick for the rest of the year.

Finish by naming what you saw one child do, specifically: "I saw Mere put the lids back on every pen." Specific beats general at this age.

🎨 Tamariki Adventure Booklet — Page 4: My Kaitiaki Badge

Tamariki open Page 4 of their Starting School Adventure Booklet:

Page 4 Activities:

1. My Kaitiaki Badge: Draw the job you are looking after this week, then colour the badge in and cut it out.

2. Recycling Sort: Draw each thing into the right column — paper and card, food scraps, things we reuse.

Exit Verification | Ka Mutu Hoki (5 min)

Exit Circle Check:

"My Page 4 displays my official Kaitiaki Badge signed with my handprint stamp!"

Teacher Planning & NZ Curriculum Alignment

NZ Curriculum Phase 1 Alignment (Years 0–3 Social Sciences / Health & PE):

  • Environmental Guardianship (Kaitiakitanga): Develop responsibility for personal belongings, shared materials, and natural surroundings.
  • Contribution & Citizenship: Participate actively in daily classroom cleanup routines.

Vocabulary: Kaitiakitanga, kaitiaki, guardian, recycling, pack-up, responsibility.