Caring for Ourselves

Unit: Whare Tapa Whā Wellbeing – Lesson 3 of 3

Year Level: Year 0-2
Duration: 60 minutes
Class Size: 17 students
Learning Area: Health and Physical Education
Curriculum Alignment: New Zealand Curriculum Refresh (2024)

Lesson Overview

In this final lesson of the Whare Tapa Whā Wellbeing unit, students will explore Taha whānau—the social dimension of wellbeing. This session focuses on understanding the importance of caring for ourselves and our whānau (family and close community). Students will engage in hands-on, age-appropriate activities promoting kindness, empathy, and support within their peer groups and families. Through creating a ‘Kindness Tree’, they will visually express kind actions and affirm their understanding of how social connections contribute to their wellbeing.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

Describe how caring for themselves and others helps their wellbeing (Health and Physical Education, Level 1, Personal and Community Health) .
Identify examples of kind actions that support themselves and their whānau (Health and Physical Education, Level 1, Interpersonal Skills) .
Demonstrate cooperation and kindness towards others in class activities (Key Competency: Relating to others) .
Recognise the role of Taha whānau in maintaining overall wellbeing (aligned with Whare Tapa Whā model) .

Key Competencies Addressed

Relating to others: Engaging in respectful, supportive interactions during activities.
Managing self: Expressing care for self and others responsibly.
Participating and contributing: Collaborating in the creation of the kindness tree.
Thinking: Reflecting on how kindness benefits themselves and others.

Curriculum Links

Health and Physical Education, Level 1: Personal and community health; interpersonal skills; emotional wellbeing .
Values: Respect, Integrity, Community and Participation, and Caring for others .
Principles: Inclusion and cultural diversity to embrace whānau perspectives and Māori worldviews such as Whare Tapa Whā .

Lesson Structure and Timing

Time	Activity	Description
5 mins	Welcome and Whakataukī	Begin with a simple pepeha or whakataukī related to connectedness and kindness to set the cultural context. Briefly revisit Taha whānau concept from previous lessons.
10 mins	Circle Time Discussion	Guided discussion on what it means to care for ourselves and our whānau. Use simple questions, e.g. “How do you show kindness at home or at school?” “Why is it important to care for others?” Support language development with visual prompts.
15 mins	Kindness Tree Activity Setup	Introduce the ‘Kindness Tree’: a large paper tree on the wall or board. Each leaf will represent a kind action or caring behaviour identified by students.
20 mins	Creating Kindness Leaves	Students draw and colour leaves, writing (or dictating) one kind action they have done or seen. For example, ‘helping a friend’, ‘sharing toys’, ‘listening carefully’. Teacher assists writing where needed. Leaves are added to the tree collectively.
5 mins	Sharing and Reflection	Invite students to share their leaf’s kind action if they want to. Reinforce how these actions help our wellbeing and our whānau.
5 mins	Closing and Waiata	Sing a short, familiar waiata (song) that celebrates community and caring, reinforcing cultural context.

Materials Needed

Large paper or poster board with a tree trunk and branches drawn
Blank paper leaf cut-outs (one per student, plus extras)
Crayons, markers, coloured pencils
Visual prompt cards with kind actions (optional)
Copies of simple whakataukī or pepeha focusing on connection and kindness
Audio player for waiata

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Explicit Teaching: Clearly explain the concept of kindness and caring for whānau with modelling and examples.
Scaffolding: Support oral language by offering sentence starters for students to share kind actions (e.g., “I showed kindness by...”).
Collaborative Learning: Children work together to build the kindness tree, fostering a sense of belonging and participation.
Visual Supports: Using the kindness tree and visual leaves helps concretise abstract ideas, which is developmentally appropriate for Years 0-2.
Cultural Responsiveness: Incorporate te reo Māori concepts and waiata to embed Māori perspectives on wellbeing as per the curriculum refresh .
Formative Assessment: Observe students’ contributions and sharing to assess understanding of kindness and connection to wellbeing.

Assessment

Observation: Monitor students’ participation in discussion and activity for understanding of Taha whānau and kindness concepts.
Anecdotal Notes: Record examples of students demonstrating interpersonal skills such as listening, sharing, and empathy.
Artifact: The kindness tree leaves provide tangible evidence of students’ understanding and values related to social wellbeing.
Teacher Questions: Use gentle questioning during sharing to assess depth of understanding (e.g., “Why do you think helping a friend is important?”).

Extension Ideas

Send kindness leaves home for students to add examples of kindness within their whānau.
Integrate Arts by creating a class book of kindness stories.
Connect with other learning areas by linking kind actions to literacy through storytelling or to mathematics by counting leaves.

Whakataukī to Begin the Lesson

“He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.”
(What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.)

This lesson plan embraces the holistic approach of the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh and the Māori model of wellbeing Whare Tapa Whā, specifically Taha whānau, promoting caring relationships and social wellbeing for young learners through engaging, culturally meaningful, and developmentally appropriate practice 【4:15†Te Mataiaho English Single Page.pdf】.

Teaching Instructions