Ngā pukapuka hei ahuru mōwai
Books to foster belonging
Kotahi te kākano, he nui ngā hua o te rākau.
A tree comes from one seed but bears many fruit.
Books on this page
Ā mātou kōrero, Our stories
This series focuses on wellbeing, resilience, diversity, and inclusion and is for use with children in early learning settings and at Level 1 of The New Zealand Curriculum.
It most strongly connects to the Te Whāriki principles of Ngā hononga│Relationships, Whakamana│Empowerment and Kotahitanga│Holistic development, and the strands of Mana atua│Wellbeing and Mana whenua│Belonging.
There are four titles in the series: Aya and the Butterfly (in both English and Arabic editions), Open Day at the Mosque, Welcome Home, and Ko Wai Au – Who Am I?
Kaiako support material for each of the stories with links to Te Whāriki and relevant resources on this Te Whāriki Online website are also available.
The Ministry of Education has produced the series in collaboration with the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand and Dr. Maysoon Salama in the wake of the terrible events in Christchurch in March 2019. The books are designed to be read to tamariki, by kaiako or whānau, and are for an audience of both Muslim and non-Muslim children. The stories are secular in nature, but promote universal values and concepts. The series aims to help bring healing, understanding, and resilience for the Muslim community and provide non-Muslim Kiwis with a way to “learn about others, so that they are no longer others”.
Arohanui
Arohanui is a dual language picture book in English and te reo Māori. It is aligned with Te Whāriki and allows for rich curriculum experiences.
This book offers many opportunities for learning across your whāriki. However, it is most connected to the principle of Empowerment | Whakamana and the strands of Belonging | Mana whenua and Contribution │ Mana tangata.
Arohanui supports the curriculum principle of empowerment by helping children to recognise, appreciate, and identify with different perspectives. It is set in the familiar world of an early learning service, so it will connect to children’s own experiences of inclusion and exclusion. It also provides children with a starting point for taking action to create a culture of belonging and inclusion.
Arohanui in te reo Māori
Listen to the story being read in te reo Māori
Arohanui in English
Listen to the story being read in English
Kaiako support materials
The kaiako support materials for Arohanui provide a range of ideas you could incorporate in your talk and in what you plan around the story. Your learning community will have its own ways of thinking and talking about values and its own ways of making them real.
- Download Arohanui kaiako support material in te reo Māori (140KB PDF)
- Download Arohanui kaiako support material in English (142KB PDF)
He taonga tonu te tamariki, For each and every child
This dual language book in te reo Māori and English outlines how our children should expect to live in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It gives life to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC), 1989.
Read this as a whole story or use parts of it as a prompt for conversations in everyday practice.
