Current filter:
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council values the contribution schools make to sustainability, and offer resources to enable you to provide education learning in the environment, about the environment, and for the environment.
To enquire further about any of the resources on this page, please contact our Community Engagement Advisor.
He Taonga te Wai resource is a six-lesson series designed for students in years 5-8.
This resource aims to empower students with knowledge and skills to appreciate and protect water resources in Hawke's Bay. By exploring the significance, management, and conservation of water, our aim is that students will become informed and responsible stewards of this precious taonga (treasure) for generations to come.
The lessons are tailored to focus on the following topics:
Lesson Plan One: Water in Hawke's Bay This lesson focuses on the significance of water in the region of Hawke's Bay.
Lesson Plan Two: Aquifers and Hawke's Bay Students will learn about aquifers and the role of the HB Regional Council in managing water resources.
Lesson Plan Three: Stormwater Students will learn about stormwater management and its impact on the environment.
Lesson Plan Four: People and water This lesson explores the relationship between people and water, including how people use water and its importance for daily life.
Lesson Plan Five: Water use and conservation This lesson emphasises the importance of water conservation and ways to reduce water usage.
Lesson Plan Six: Looking after water The final lesson focuses on the responsibility of looking after water resources for future generations.
Interested in learning more about this resource and accessing the accompanying class slideshow presentations with interactive activities? Please reach out to us at enviro@hbrc.govt.nz and we'll be happy to provide you with the additional materials and support you need to make the most of this educational resource.
The Clearing the Air kit has information about air quality in Hawke’s Bay, why winter air pollution happens, and most importantly, what we can all do at home to help. This online resource includes individual and class activities, and science experiments for Years 4 to 8. The presentation ‘Air Quality in the Bay – the particulate story’ is a valuable resource to show at Intermediate School Science Camps.
You can print off the following posters:
This resource offers a wide variety of teaching and learning activities as well as detailed information about the diversity of flora and fauna that can be found in and around the wetland. Pekapeka Wetland has been undergoing restoration since 1995. The current visitor interpretation area was opened in 2010.
Visiting Pekapeka? Check our downloadable activity sheets below. There are more resources for secondary schools on our page: Biodiversity in the Pekapeka Wetlands
You can be a Stormwater Detective at home or school. Do you know where your stormwater comes from and where it goes to? This resource includes a powerpoint presentation, investigations and activity sheets.
The Regional Council has four kits available to loan to schools and community groups. This resource produced by NIWA, allows simple measurements to be taken and recorded in our many streams and rivers. For more information visit NIWA and to book a kit for your class contact our Community Engagement Coordinator.
In this resource we have included karakia for a range of purposes, both Christian and in the traditional style, to tautoko or support enviroschools in that exploration.
In traditional times, karakia were integral and indispensable parts of the way of doing things. There were different karakia for different tasks and situations e.g. planting a garden, greeting the new day, harvesting natural resources, launching a waka, calming a storm. Karakia invoked spiritual guidance and protection, but was not necessarily “worship” of those spiritual elements. Karakia was one of the ways Māori recognised and gave effect to the whanaungatanga, or web of relationships, between all things.
Christianity’s introduction changed the practice and meaning of karakia. The Bible was translated into te reo Māori and ‘prayer’ was translated as ‘karakia’. Like many translations from the language of one people within the context of their world view to another, it wasn’t entirely accurate. However for many Māori who took up Christianity, in time the words became synonymous and the karakia used most frequently were Christian. Traditional karakia began to be lost.
As Māori have worked to reclaim lost language and culture, traditional karakia and new karakia in the traditional style have appeared again and are being used more frequently in increasingly wider contexts.
The word karakia has come to mean both prayer and traditional karakia.
Increasingly mainstream primary schools and early childhood settings are exploring the use of karakia. These karakia have come from a range of sources, including the Enviroschools Kit.
Karakia tīmatanga (tīmata – to begin) at the beginning of a day or gathering is a way to focus and settle, to be still for a moment and connect with others, and to acknowledge our spiritual element in whatever way is appropriate for the group and occasion.
A traditional karakia, it is said this was originally used at sea in the face of an impending storm. It is now used widely in education to begin the day or a learning session. Its use of figurative language makes it useful as a literacy text, with the opportunity to explore occasions that figurative language is used in English and Māori. It can be recited or sung, with two tunes to choose from! There are multiple websites with information, translations and sound files.
Whakataka te hau ki te uru
Cease the winds from the West
Whakataka te hau ki te tonga
Cease the winds from the South
Kia mākinakina ki uta, kia mātaratara ki tai
Let the gentle breezes blow over the land
E hī ake ana te atākura
Let the red tipped dawn come
He tio, he huka, he hauhū
With a sharpened air, a touch of frost
Tīhei mauriora!
A promise of a glorious day!
Audio Soundbite
When introducing this karakia to children, we ask them what is distinctive about the westerly – it is often very strong and with some local variation is our prevailing wind, and the southerly – it is rather cold. (There are wonderful opportunities to veer off into weather and compass directions.) We talk about sea and land breezes – “ki uta” means on to the land, and “ki tai” means towards the sea or offshore.
Depending on the age of children, we investigate how land and sea breezes are created by temperature changes of land and sea between day and night. Children share experiences of watching the sun come up from the horizon at dawn and what it feels like at that time of the morning, especially in autumn or winter – a fantastic camp activity. This discussion allows children to connect with the metaphor in the karakia.
Metaphorically we are trampling or dissipating any negative forces that might impact on our focus or learning for the day, instead inviting gentle forces to support and encourage us. We are inviting the discovery and learning that a new day brings, with the feeling of anticipation, excitement and feeling alive that you get at dawn on a cold morning.
Tukua te wairua kia rere ki ngā taumata
Allow your spirit to soar to its potential
Hai ārahi i a tātau mahi
To guide us in our work
Me tā tātau whai i ngā tikanga a rātau mā
And in our pursuit of the tikanga of our ancestors
Kia mau kia ita
Take hold and preserve it
Kia kore ai e ngaro
Ensure it is never lost
Kia pupuri
Hold fast
Kia whakamaua
Secure it
Kia tina! TINA! Hui e! TAIKI E!
Draw together! Affirm!
He honore, he korōria ki te Atua
Honour and glory to God
Maungārongo ki te whenua
Let there be peace and tranquillity on Earth
Whakaaro pai ki ngā tāngata katoa
Goodwill to all people
Amine
In the traditional style, this karakia is used in closing a day, hui or perhaps a distinct learning session where people will then go back to their usual activities. The translation below is my attempt to provide an explanation that children of all ages can identify with easily - it is not a literal translation. The parts in bold everyone says together (with gusto!).
Hikitia hikitia te rongomaiwhiti o tēnei wānanga
Tukua kia ea, tukua kia ōi
Ko Ranginui ki runga
Ko Papatūānuku ki raro
Tūturu whakamaua kia tina (tina)
Hui e, tāiki e!
Lift the sacredness and focus of this learning session
Let it go so that we can return to the everyday world
Where Ranginui is above us and Papatūānuku is below us.
This is a Christian prayer commonly used to end a gathering or, in a number of schools, the learning day.
Kia tau, ki a tātau katoa
Te atawhai o to tātau ariki a Ihu Karaiti
Me te aroha o te Atua
Me te whiwhinga-tahitanga ki te Wairua Tapu
Ake ake ake
Amine
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
And the love of God
And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us
Now and forever
Nau mai e ngā hua
O te wao, o te ngākina, o te wai tai, o te wai māori
Nā Tāne, nā Rongo, nā Tangaroa, nā Maru
Ko Ranginui e tū iho nei
Ko Papatūānuku e takoto ake nei
Tūturu whakamaua kia tina, tina!
Hui e! Tāiki e!
Welcome the gifts of food from the sacred forests, from the cultivated gardens, from the sea, from
the fresh waters
From Tāne, from Rongo, from Tangaroa, from Maru
I acknowledge Ranginui who is above me and Papatūānuku who lies beneath me
Let this be my commitment to all!
Draw together! Affirm!
Whakapaingia ēnei kai
Hei oranga mo o mātau tinana
Mo o mātau wairua hoki
Amine
Bless this food
For the health of our bodies
And our spirits
Amen
+64 6 835 9200
159 Dalton Street. Napier 4110
Private Bag 6006, Napier 4142
Disclaimers, Copyright & Privacy
Disclaimers and Copyright
While every endeavour has been taken by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council to ensure that the information on this website is
accurate and up to date, Hawke's Bay Regional Council shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of information on this website. Information contained has been assembled in good faith.
Some of the information available in this site is from the New Zealand Public domain and supplied by relevant
government agencies. Hawke's Bay Regional Council cannot accept any liability for its accuracy or content.
Portions of the information and material on this site, including data, pages, documents, online
graphics and images are protected by copyright, unless specifically notified to the contrary. Externally sourced
information or material is copyright to the respective provider.
© Hawke's Bay Regional Council - www.hbrc.govt.nz / +64 6 835 9200 / info@hbrc.govt.nz
