Lesson 2: Living Things Around Us - Ngā Mea Ora

Years 4–6 pitch · Lesson 2

Years 4–6: count a fixed area and compare

Ākonga survey a fixed sampling area, count living things, compare two spots and explain the difference using light, water, shelter or disturbance.

Years 4–6 move: Fixed-area counts across two spots
Evidence it produces: A count comparison with an evidence-based explanation for the difference

Same topic at the other level: Years 0–3 pitch →

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Lesson 2: Living Things Around Us - Ngā Mea Ora

Discovering Plants and Animals in Our Environment

Students explore and identify the living things (plants and animals) in their environment, learning what they need to survive and how they depend on each other.

Whakatūwhera - Cultural Opening

All around us are living things - plants (rākau), birds (manu), insects (ngāngara), and many more. In Te Ao Māori, all living things are connected. They need each other to survive. Today we will discover the living things in our place and learn about them.

"He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata"

What is the most important thing? It is people, people, people - but we are all connected to other living things too.

Ngā Whāinga Ako - Learning Intentions

Students Will Learn

What living things are in their environment
Te Reo words for plants and animals
What living things need to survive
How living things depend on each other

Students Will Demonstrate

A completed Fixed-Area Survey sheet with the sampling area stated and counts recorded for both spots
A comparison in their own words saying which spot held more living things, and by roughly how much
One explanation for the difference that names a condition they actually observed (light, water, shelter, trampling)
One stated limitation — something that could have made their counts wrong
Correct use of at least two kupu (rākau, manu, ngāngara, kākāriki) in their own recording

🎬 Kaiako background — not for tamariki

Breed for release programme at Hamilton Zoo · Hamilton Zoo · 2 min 29 s. A general-audience item about the zoo's breed-for-release programme. It sat on this page under a made-up child-friendly name; it is kept here for your own preparation, not as a class screening. Watch it, take the habitat idea, and teach it in your own words.

Before the lesson: note what the zoo has to supply that the wild habitat was not supplying. That is the same comparison the needs audit below asks ākonga to make about their own place.
With tamariki: do not screen it. Retell one example in about a minute — a species, the need its habitat stopped meeting, and what people did — then run the needs audit on their own record.

Needs Audit: Could This Spot Actually Keep It Alive? (15 mins)

Years 4–6 pitch. Listing what lives in a place is junior work. The Years 4–6 move is to test whether the place actually supplies the five needs, and to say where each one comes from. "Yes, there is water" is not an answer; "the puddle by the fence" is. Run this as Activity 3 below, in place of the needs discussion — it uses the same five needs but tests them against what ākonga actually recorded.

What kaiako does: Draw one row on the board with five columns — wai, kai, hau, rā, wāhi pai. Take one living thing from a group's record from outside and fill the row with the class, insisting on a source in each box rather than a tick. Where nobody observed the source, write a question mark. The question marks are honest and they matter.

What ākonga do: In pairs, take two living things from what their group wrote down outside — one plant and one animal (a manu heard counts). For each, fill the five boxes with where that need comes from in that spot, or a question mark. Then cross out one box and finish this sentence: "If ___ went, ___ would go first, because ___." The reason has to point at something they wrote down, not something they assumed.

Share it (3 mins): Each pair reads its one sentence. The class listens for one thing only — did the reason come from the record, or from a guess? Say which after each one.

How you would know it worked: Each pair has two rows with a named source in at least three boxes, and a removal sentence whose reason traces back to their own record. Five ticks and no sources is not an audit — send that pair back to what they wrote outside. A pair holding four question marks has done it correctly, and has just found out what their record does not tell them.

Differentiation:

Support: Do the plant row together, then let the pair do the animal row alone. Give them the sentence frame written out.
Extension: Ask which of the five needs would be hardest for people to replace in that spot, and why.
Physical needs / access: The audit runs off the written record, so it works from a desk for anyone who could not get outside.

Use it here

📄 Fixed-Area Survey sheet

One per group. The sheet fixes the sampling area, holds the counts for both spots, and ends at the explanation — which is the point. The 'need a way in' box at the bottom is the support pathway; it still finishes at counting and comparison.

Open the Fixed-Area Survey sheet →

Ngā Mahi - Lesson Activities (45-60 minutes)

1. What Are Living Things? (10 mins)

Cultural Protocol: Begin with "Kia ora koutou." Remind students that in Te Ao Māori, all living things have mauri (life force) and deserve respect.

Discussion: Ask students: "What is alive? What is not alive?"

Living Things Include:

Rākau: Plants and trees
Manu: Birds
Ngāngara: Insects
Ika: Fish
Tangata: People

Differentiation:

Support: Use picture cards to sort "alive" vs "not alive"
Extension: Students explain why something is alive (grows, moves, needs food, etc.)
Inclusive: Include examples from different environments and cultures

2. Fixed-Area Survey — He Rūri Wāhi (20-25 mins)

Years 4–6 pitch. A hunt finds things; a survey counts them. Ākonga work a fixed area — one metre square, or one garden bed — and record how many of each living thing they find, not just that they found one. Two spots surveyed the same way then get compared: why does one square hold more life than the other? Light, water, shelter and trampling are all answers a Year 5 can reach from their own data.

Hand out the Fixed-Area Survey sheet before you go outside (one per group). It is the lesson's evidence — the counts go on it, not into memory.

Run it in four steps:

Set the area (2 mins). Every group uses the same size area — 1 m² marked with string or four pegs, or one garden bed. Write it on the sheet. If the areas differ, the comparison in step 4 means nothing, and that is worth saying out loud.
Count Spot A (8 mins). Count every living thing inside the area — plant (rākau), leaf litter, manu heard or seen, ngāngara. If ākonga cannot name something, they still count it and write what it looked like. Tally marks, not ticks.
Count Spot B (8 mins). Same size area, clearly different conditions — sunny vs shaded, tracked vs untracked, watered vs dry. Same counting rules.
Compare and explain (5 mins, back inside or on the spot). Which spot held more? Tick the conditions that differed and circle the one the group thinks matters most. Then finish the sentence on the sheet: "Spot ___ had more living things, and I think that is because ___." The reason must name something they observed, not something they assumed.

Safety: Observe, do not disturb. Look with eyes, not hands. Nothing is moved, picked or collected — the area has to be countable again next time.

Differentiation:

Support: Use the "Need a way in?" box on the sheet — find and draw one plant, one leaf, one manu and one ngāngara in Spot A first, then count how many of each are in the fixed area. The task still finishes at counting and comparison; it is a way in, not a lower ceiling.
Extension: Survey a third spot, or repeat Spot A at a different time of day and account for the difference.
Physical needs / access: A 1 m² area on a path edge, a planter, or a photographed quadrat all work. The area must be fixed and the counts real; where it is does not matter.

Kaiako check before you go back inside: every sheet has (a) a stated area size, (b) numbers in both columns, (c) at least one ticked condition. A sheet with ticks but no numbers has done the hunt, not the survey — send it back out.

3. What Do Living Things Need? (10 mins)

Years 4–6 pitch. Move from listing needs to competition: when two species need the same thing in the same place, what happens? Ask ākonga to find one example in their own survey data — two plants crowding, or a spot where nothing grew.

Discussion: Back in classroom, discuss what living things need to survive.

Basic Needs:

Wai: Water
Kai: Food
Hau: Air
Rā: Sun (for plants)
Wāhi pai: A good place to live

Connection Activity:

Ask: "What happens if a plant doesn't get water? What happens if a bird doesn't have food? How do we help living things get what they need?"

Differentiation:

Support: Use visual cards showing needs. Match needs to living things.
Extension: Students explain how different living things get their needs met.
Inclusive: Connect to students' own needs and how we care for each other.

4. Nature Art Creation (10-15 mins)

Creative Project: Students create art showing the living things they found.

Art Options:

Drawing: Draw favourite living thing found
Collage: Use leaves, petals (if safe and allowed)
Painting: Paint a nature scene
Modelling: Create with clay or playdough

Te Reo Labels:

Encourage students to label their art with Te Reo words they learned.

Differentiation:

Support: Provide templates or stencils. Use stickers.
Extension: Write sentences describing their art using Te Reo words.
Creative: Allow various materials and styles.

Aromatawai - Assessment & Next Steps

Formative Assessment

Survey evidence: Is the sampling area stated, and are there counts in both columns? (No numbers = no survey.)
Comparison: Can they say which spot held more, using their own figures rather than an impression?
Explanation: Does their reason name a condition they observed and ticked — not one they assumed?
Limitation: Have they named one thing that could have made the counts wrong?
Te Reo: Are the kupu (rākau, manu, ngāngara) used in the recording, not just recited?
Where to look next: ākonga with ticks but no counts → re-run one spot with a partner counting aloud. Ākonga with counts but no reason → give them only the ticked-conditions row and ask "which one of these changed between your two spots?"

Homework & Extension

Home Hunt: Find living things at home - plants, pets, birds
Whānau Share: Show family your nature art and teach them Te Reo words
Observation: Watch a plant or animal - what does it do?
Practice: Practise saying "rākau" (plant), "manu" (bird), "ngāngara" (insect)

Whakaaro - Reflection

Today we learned that our place is full of living things - plants, birds, insects, and more. All living things need water, food, air, and a good place to live. When we understand what living things need, we can help care for them. Next time, we will learn what kaitiakitanga asks of people, and we will practise caring for our own place.

"He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata"

🪶 Mātauranga Māori — handoff required (gloss removed, not replaced). This whakataukī was printed here with the gloss "We are all connected to the living things around us". That is not what it says — the whakataukī answers its own question with he tangata, people. The wrong gloss has been removed; no replacement translation has been written in, because supplying one is not a writer's call. Authority item A-P12-2: kaiako Māori to supply the translation and rule whether this whakataukī belongs in a lesson about living things at all.

Curriculum alignment

Curriculum alignment: Not yet verified for this lesson. A statement is attached only once it has been checked against the published curriculum text — this lesson does not claim one it cannot support.