Reframing nature

Hohou ai ki runga, hohou ai ki raro, hohou te rongo.
Peacefulness above, peacefulness below, I feel at peace.

This activity encourages students to take time to feel peaceful in their surroundings.

Reframing nature activity card (PDF, 1,112K)

Activity – Take time to notice nature

Fly like a bird, creep like an insect and take a different view of the world. How does it feel to be a leaf floating to the ground? What is it like to be a tiny insect in a big world? What do you see, feel, hear when you look up at the sky?

Go outside and explore. Use a nature frame to focus on nature.

See through new eyes by looking:

• above your head and below your feet
• from up above and low down
• inside bushes and under leaves
• under rocks and inside crevices.

Capture your view in drawings, words, photos, poetry, writing so you can use and share it later.

Find a new view or get close up to things that interest you.

Lay your nature frame on the ground somewhere grassy – how many different plants can you see? Do you know what they are? Are there any creatures living in your grass forest?

Curriculum links

English

• Use what you observed to plan and tell a story, for example: a report, personal recount, play, poem, comic strip.
• Write a ‘day in the life of…’ story from the point of view of a plant or creature you found in the school grounds. Consider what they would see, hear, feel.
• Read the Life of Py blog story to spark ideas for your own story.

Science – living world

• Create signs to describe your drawings/photos. Include common, Māori and scientific names of plants and animals.
• Reflect and make sense of your observations. Think, pair and share.
• What do you think about your observations? What can they tell us about the school grounds?
• Examine your classmate’s drawings/photos. Discuss what you could predict about your nature space from the photos taken (eg Which plants are native/food/rongoā/introduced? What animals/birds/insects live in or use these plants? Which trees are deciduous or evergreen?).
• Consider what you would see in your school grounds at different times of day, weeks, months and seasons. Repeat this activity at a different time to see how may differences you can observe.

Mathematics and statistics – geometry and measurement

• Experiment with cropping and resizing your photos before printing them. What size do they need to be to fit in your story or class display?
• Look for symmetry in your drawings/photos (eg a butterfly is a good example of reflective symmetry).

Health and physical education

• Reflect on how this activity made you feel. Record your thoughts in a nature journal.
• Choose an animal or bird you can see. How do they move? Can you move like that?
• With a group of friends create a dance or mime that uses these movements.
• Try a Sparklers take notice activity.

The arts

• Create a collage.
• Print a photo on cardstock and cut it to make a photo puzzle.
• Create artwork inspired by what you found outside. Use the colours, textures, light and shadows in your nature photographs as inspiration.
• What can you see in your nature frame? What colours would you use to paint or draw what you see?

Social science

• Consider how your school grounds have changed over time. Research to find images of your school from previous weeks, months, years.

Digital technology

• Create a pixel drawing of one of your photographs.

Taitapa anotia te taiao

Hohou ai ki runga, hohou ai ki raro, hohou te rongo.

Rere pērā i te manu, ngoki pērā i te ngārara, ka kitea he tirohanga rerekē o te ao. Ka pēhea inā he rau koe e pōteretere ana mai te rangi ki te papa? Ka pēhea inā he ngārara iti koe i roto i te ao whānui nei? Ka rangona koe i te aha inā pā ai rongo ai, titiro ai koe ki te rangi.

Taitapa anotia te taiao (PDF, 1,090K)

Whai Wā ki te Whakaaro mō te Taiao

Puta atu ki waho ka torotoro haere.

Whakamahia he taitapa ka arotahi ki te taiao.

Mātaki mā ngā karu hou:

• ki runga ake o tōu māhunga, ki raro iho i ōu waewae
• ki runga rawa, ki raro iho
• ki waenganui ngāherehere, ki raro rārauwhe
• ki raro toka, ki waenganui whāruarua.

Hopukina āu kitenge mā te tā, te tuhi kupu, te hopu whakaahua, te tito rotarota te tuhi pūrākau rānei, kātahi ka tohaina.

Kimihia he tirohanga rerekē, e āta aro ai ki tētahi momo taiao pai ana ki a koe.

Whakatakotohia tāu taitapa ki tētahi wāhanga muia ana e te otaota. Ēhea ngā momo tipu kei taua wāhi? E mōhio ana koe he aha ēnei? He ngārara e noho ana i tāua wāhanga o tāu taitapa?

Ka Tūhono ki Te Marautanga  

Reo

• Whakamahia āu kitenga ki te tuhi i tētahi pūrākau, hei tauira; he rīpoata, he korero whaiaro, he whakaaro, he rotarota rānei.
• Tuhia pūrākau o āu whakaaro mō ‘te rā o te…..’ . He tipu, he ngārara rānei e noho ana i te rohe o tāu kura.
• Whai whakaaro ki tāna i rongo ai, i kite ai. Pānui i te pūrākau (Life of Py blog story) kia pupu ake he whakaaro anō.

Pūtaiao

• Hangaia he tohu, hei whakamārama i āu pikitia/whakaahua hoki. Whakauruhia ētahi īngoa Māori, me ētahi īngoa pūtaiao mō aua tipu/kararehe.
• Mātirotiro, ka whaiaro ki ētahi o āu kohikohinga. Whakaaro, tāruatia ka toha.
• He aha āu whakaaro mō āu kitenga? He aha ngā korero o roto e pā ana ki te whenua o te kura?
• Āta titiro ki ngā pikitia/whakaahua o tōu hoa. Matapakihia āu matapae mō taua wāhi taiao o roto i ngā whakaahua kua hopukina. (Ko tēhea ngā tipu, taketake ki Aoteroa nei/kai/Rongoa/whakauruhia? He aha ngā kararehe/manu/ngārara e noho ana ki ēnei tūmomo tipu? He aha ngā rākau whakahekeheke / matawhakauri rānei?)
• Whai whakaaro mō ngā mea o te taiao ka kitea i roto i te rohe o tāu kura i ngā wā rerekē o te rā, ngā wiki, ngā marama me ngā wāhanga o te tau. Tukurua atu tēnei ngohe kia kitea ngā rerekētanga i ēnei wāhanga rerekē.

Pangarau

• Whakamātautia te whakarahi ake, te tapatapahi i āu pikitia kātahi ka tāruatia.
• He aha te rahinga e uru ai ki waenganui i te whakaataata ā akomanga?
• Tirohia āu whakaahua mō ngā mea hangarite ana. (He pūrerehua tētahi tauira pai).

Ngā Toi

• Hangaia he toirau.
• Tāruatia he pikitia mā te ‘cardstock’ ka hanga he papahono.
• Hangaia he mahinga toi hāngai ana ki ngā mea i kitea koe i waho. Ngā tae, ngā, aha atu, aha atu.

Tikanga-a-iwi

• Whaiwhakaaro mō ngā rerekētanga o te taiao o tōu kura mai inamata, haere ake nei. Rangahautia ngā pikitia o tawhito. O ngā wiki, ngā marama me ngā tau kua pahure ake.

Hangarau

• Hangaia i tētahi momo toi ki pixel drawing, mai i tētahi o ōu whakaahua.