Our Garden Rules

Curriculum Link

Health and Physical Education – Level 1
Strand: Relationships with Other People
Achievement Objective:
Students will identify and demonstrate ways of interacting with others, and explain why these interactions are important for building positive relationships both in familiar and unfamiliar settings.

Year Level

Years 0–3

Lesson Duration

30 minutes

Learning Intention

We are learning to understand our rights and responsibilities when we share a garden.

Success Criteria

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

• Identify at least one right they have in the class garden.
• Identify at least one responsibility they have in the class garden.
• Contribute to creating a class chart about garden rights and responsibilities.

---

Materials Needed

• Large sheet of paper or whiteboard for the class chart
• Marker pens
• Garden-themed puppets or soft toys (e.g., worm, bee, ladybird)
• A visual of the class or school garden (photo or sketch)
• Pre-cut paper leaves or flower shapes (1 per student)
• Blu-tack or tape

---

Lesson Flow

⏱ 0–5 mins – Engage: Garden Story Puppet Show

Purpose: To quickly grab attention and introduce the idea of gardens needing care through a familiar, playful context.

• Begin with a 2-minute puppet interaction using garden-themed soft toys or puppets.

E.g., “Kōwhai the Bee wants to plant some flax, but Wormy worries she might squash the seedlings!”

• Use this to introduce problems and actions that show both rights (e.g., “I can enjoy the garden”) and responsibilities (e.g., “I must walk gently near the plants”).
• Sit in a circle to encourage inclusion and participation.

Teacher Notes: Keep the tone warm and funny. Let students laugh but listen. Draw them into the problem-solving.

---

⏱ 5–15 mins – Explore: Class Discussion About Our Garden

Purpose: To link real-life experiences with the concepts of rights & responsibilities.

• Show the class a photo or sketch of your own school/class garden.
• Ask questions like:
  • “What do we do in our garden that we like?”
  • “What would make the garden a safe and fun place for everyone?”
  • “What might happen if we all tried to dig in the same spot at once?”
• Introduce the concepts in student-friendly terms:
  • Rights – What I’m allowed to do (e.g., “I can pick ripe strawberries”).
  • Responsibilities – What I should do to help others and the garden (e.g., “I must not pick green strawberries”).
• Record their ideas on the whiteboard or chart paper in two columns:
  Our Rights | Our Responsibilities

---

⏱ 15–23 mins – Create: Leaf & Flower Chart Activity

Purpose: To encourage individual thinking and visual representation of ideas.

• Give each student a paper leaf or flower shape. Let them choose which they like best.
• Ask each student to draw or write one right (on one side) and one responsibility (on the other side) related to the class garden.
• Prompt for ideas if needed:
  • “A right might be 'I can dig in the soil.'”
  • “A responsibility might be 'I clean the tools after I dig.'”
• Offer support to emerging writers by scribing their thoughts.
• Once completed, invite students one-by-one to stick their leaf/flower on a “Garden of Kaitiakitanga” wall/chart.

---

⏱ 23–28 mins – Reflect: Shared Chart Read Through

Purpose: To consolidate learning and affirm ideas.

• Gather students around the completed Rights & Responsibilities chart.
• Read through 5–6 of the students’ individual contributions.
• Ask:
  • “What might happen if we forgot our responsibilities?”
  • “Which one do you think is the most important for our garden?”
• Celebrate and congratulate their contributions.

---

⏱ 28–30 mins – Close: Karakia Whakamutunga / Garden Promise

Purpose: To end with a gentle, collective moment of commitment.

• Teach or recite a short garden-themed class promise or chant.
  Example:

“We care for the plants, the bugs, the land,
We work together, hand in hand.
With rights and jobs we all can see,
Our garden grows with you and me.”

• Alternatively, close with a whānau-friendly karakia to reinforce the value of kaitiakitanga.

---

Extension / Follow-up

• Art Integration: In the next lesson, students could paint or collage the "Garden of Kaitiakitanga" mural.
• Writing Link: Have students write short garden safety reminders or a class poem using key rights/responsibilities.
• Cross-Curricular Link (Science): Inquire into what gardens need to survive and thrive – linking wellbeing to caring for living things.

---

Teacher Reflection Questions

• Did students show understanding of the difference between rights and responsibilities?
• Was every voice heard in the discussion, including quieter tamariki?
• How can we revisit this chart and make it a living part of our garden practices?

---

Te Ao Māori Integration

• Kaitiakitanga (guardianship): Frame this discussion around manaakitanga (care) and being kaitiaki (guardians) of the garden.
• Use reo such as “He tika māku...” (It is right for me to...) and “Ko tāku haepapa...” (My responsibility is...).
• Reinforce the interconnectedness of people and whenua (land), as is central to the concept of hauora.

---

Notes

This lesson design supports the New Zealand Curriculum’s ongoing commitment to culturally responsive, locally grounded learning. It nurtures empathy, cooperation, and environmental awareness in fun, age-appropriate ways – all through the living context of a shared garden.