Kōkiri Learn

Week 1 of 5

Where does our money go? Our place, our council and our dollar

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Session 1 · TRACE: Time & Place

A day with the council

  1. 10 minHook: trace your morning. Water from the tap, the footpath, the streetlight, the bus stop, the park, the library book. Who paid for each one?
  2. 15 minLocal and central government: sort cards into council jobs (roads, water, rubbish, parks, libraries, planning) and government jobs (schools, hospitals, police, defence). Find your council on a map of Aotearoa's councils.
  3. 20 minRates detective: use your council's annual report to find out how each $100 of rates is spent. Draw a pie chart. Which slice surprised you?
  4. 5 minExit card: which council service matters most to you, and why?

Session 2 · TRACE: Time & Place

Choosing our decision, and where the dollar came from

  1. 15 minOur live decision: read the summary of what the council is consulting on. What is the question? When do submissions close? What options are on the table and what do they cost?
  2. 15 minFrom pounds to dollars: New Zealand switched from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents on 10 July 1967. Why would a country change its money? What makes a dollar worth something at all?
  3. 15 minCurrency check: compare the price of the same item on an Australian, a Fijian and a New Zealand website using today's exchange rates. Which is cheapest once you convert?
  4. 5 minWrite three questions about the council decision for the inquiry wall.

Getting started

Use the picture card sort and a rates pie chart with the slices already drawn, ready to label.

Stretch

Find out how much of a council's income comes from rates and how much from other sources, such as fees, grants and dividends.

Checkpoint

Every student can name four things the council pays for and explain what rates are, and the class has chosen its live decision.

Activities for this week

Useful this week