Tō Mātou Rohe: Stories of Our Place

You need: a long rope or roll of paper · pegs or tape · event cards (blank and pre-made) · coloured pens

1. Stretch the rope along a wall and mark every 10 years from 1790 to 1870.
2. Peg up the pre-made event cards in the right places.
3. In your group, research and add three events from your own context.
4. Colour-code the cards: blue for exchange, red for conflict, green for agreements.
5. Stand back and look for patterns. When did change speed up?

How you'll know: Your events are in the right order and you can explain why one period had more change than another.

Go further: Add a second row showing what was happening in Britain and Australia at the same time.

You need: an old map or drawing (Te Papa Collections Online, the National Library or your local museum) · a current aerial map · tracing paper · pencils

1. Trace the coast and rivers from the old map.
2. Lay your tracing over the current map and mark what has changed.
3. Mark three places connected with contact: a landing place, a trading site, a mission or a pā.
4. Label three changes and give a reason for each.

How you'll know: Each change on your map has a reason you can back with a source.

Go further: Add te reo place names and find out what they mean, with help from mana whenua resources.

You need: object cards: pigs, potatoes, flax, timber, fish, iron axes, nails, fish hooks, blankets, muskets, books · a record sheet · a timer

1. Split into ship crews and hapū trading groups. Each group gets cards and a list of what it needs.
2. Round 1 (1800): trade for 5 minutes. Record every exchange.
3. Round 2 (1815): the teacher announces new values. Muskets are now rare and wanted. Trade again.
4. Round 3 (1830): flax and pigs are in huge demand for Sydney. Trade again.
5. Compare your records: what changed, and who held the power in each round?

How you'll know: You can explain with examples why the value of an object depended on who wanted it and when.

Go further: Find a real record of a trade from the 1820s or 1830s and compare it with your game.

You need: foam sheets or clean polystyrene trays · blunt pencils · water-based printing ink or paint · a small roller or sponge · paper

1. Choose a short whakataukī or write your own sentence in te reo Māori (check the spelling and macrons).
2. Write it backwards on the foam with a blunt pencil, pressing hard. Mirror writing is tricky, so check it in a mirror.
3. Roll ink over the foam and press paper on top.
4. Print ten copies. Time how long it takes.
5. Compare with copying the sentence by hand ten times. What does this tell you about the printing press?

How you'll know: You can explain why printing made it possible for thousands of people to read the same words, and link it to Colenso's press in 1834.

Safety: Use water-based ink and cover desks. Wash hands afterwards. Only the teacher uses any cutting tool.

Go further: Find out how many te reo books were printed by 1840 and how Māori used reading and writing for their own purposes, such as letters between rangatira.

You need: three sources about the same event or place · a source-detective card: who, when, why, what it shows, what it leaves out

1. For each source, record who made it, when and why.
2. Write down what it shows about your question.
3. Note whose voice is missing from it.
4. Rank the sources for how useful they are to your question, and explain the ranking.

How you'll know: Your ranking rests on reasons, not on which source you agree with.

Go further: Find a fourth source that fills a gap, such as an iwi history or a place name.

You need: cause and consequence cards · string or arrows · a large sheet of paper · glue

1. Read the cards: trade for muskets, older conflicts and utu, iwi without muskets at risk, potatoes and pigs feeding war parties, iwi migrations, disease, loss of rangatira.
2. Sort them into causes and consequences.
3. Arrange them into a chain or web and glue them down.
4. On each arrow, write a 'because' sentence and the source that backs it.
5. Circle the link you think mattered most and explain why.

How you'll know: Your chain has more than one cause, each arrow is explained, and you can defend your circled link.

Go further: Add a long-term consequence that still matters today, such as where iwi hold mana whenua.

You need: the reading · a talking object · a quiet space in a circle

1. Read the Rēkohu section of the reading together.
2. Pass the talking object. Each person may say one thing the story made them think about, or pass.
3. Second round: what does it take to keep a promise when it is very hard?
4. Third round: how are Moriori telling their own story today?
5. Write a short reflection in your journal.

How you'll know: You can describe the Covenant accurately and explain one reason it is remembered today.

Go further: Compare Nunuku's Covenant with another example of non-violence, such as Parihaka.

You need: an object, replica or photo (from a museum loan box, or Te Papa Collections Online) · label cards · a sample museum label

1. Choose one object connected to contact in your context: a tool, a book, a painting, a garment.
2. Research who made it, who used it, and how it moved between people.
3. Write a 60-word museum label: what it is, where it is from, and why it matters.
4. Add a credit line for your source.

How you'll know: Your label is accurate, credits its source and shows how the object connects two worlds.

Go further: Write a second label for the same object from another perspective.