Te Waka Ako have been inquiring into the Te Tiriti o te Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) since we started back at school. This began with looking at the history of New Zealand, how it first became Zelandia after it split from Gondwanaland. Then we looked at the animals and plant life that remained on Zealandia and how it became almost predator free as it became New Zealand. We learned all about how it was thought the first Māori (indigenous polynesians) arrived in New Zealand and the impact that had on the plant and birdlife, as there was an abundance of flightless birds for them to hunt. We then looked at the arrival of the first Europeans and the impact that had on not only the plant and birdlife, but also the Māori people who had settled for around 500 years in this paradise. We looked into why a treaty was needed and how it was formed and then signed. We asked lots of questions: Was it fair? Was it honoured? Was it translated correctly?
We then looked into why a treaty is important and what sort of rights and responsibilities we students and teachers have in Te Waka Ako. We then brainstormed these, classified them under common headings and then narrowed them down into ten of the ones we determined to be the most important.
Once we had our ten rules for our treaty we decided to present it in a different format to last year (a scroll). We thought a quill would look nice with everyone signing the inkpot and adding their fingerprint.
We asked all of the teachers and students teachers in Te Waka Ako to sign. We even asked Mrs Peterson and (the Fabulous ) Julie! Here is our finished treaty.
Any parents that would like to sign our treaty are most welcome!
Our Treaty says........
Hello Te Waka Ako, we are Tui, a class of year 5,6 and 7 at Kaingaroa School in the Far North. We are very impressed with your classroom treaty. We like the idea of an ink pot and signing it by stamping your finger print, and also the feathers out the top. We would have loved to have seen your statements, so next time can you insert a clearer picture? We look forward to seeing and commenting on more of your posts.
ReplyDeleteHi Ayla thanks for reading our Blog. I love the Far North, having gone camping there many times. A good point you make about the words on the Treaty. We could definitely add a document that shows what we chose. I will edit the post.
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