Developing our Class Treaty

The first few weeks of this term were predominantly spent developing how we would like our classroom to function. 

There were many discussions and brainstorming sessions around:

– our school values,

– our cultures,

– the environment,

– what our class should feel like, look like and sound like, 

– the importance of a treaty, and

– how we like to learn.

Through these discussions with our peers, we made connections to each other, put our ideas together and developed a draft of our class treaty.

Miss Mackintosh typed up our draft in English and Te Reo Māori. We discussed the principles of our English treaty and we all signed both treaties. After the signing of the two versions, Miss Mackintosh got some children to translate the te reo version on Google. This lead to confusion and frustration amoungst us. We realised that the two copies were not the same. 

We shared their thoughts and feelings about the two copies being different, and discussed how Te Tiriti o Waitangi has two versions that are slightly different. Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed in 1840 and has had a significant impact on New Zealanders since. We discussed the importance of having a treaty that we all agree to. The English version was chosen as our treaty.

We all understand this treaty and have shown our support for it by creating our own patterned, hand-print art piece.