Past projects

An Overview of New Zealand for the Elementary Classroom: Artifacts from a Music Teacher's Journey

Prepared by Dundee Michael McNair as part of the Fulbright-Hays Seminars 2002.

Grade: Kindergarten - Grade 5

While these lessons are designed specifically for the elementary classroom settings of kindergarten through fifth grade music, it is assumed that they could easily be adapted for implementation through the high school level.

Executive summary

This project is intended to introduce the music, games, and traditions of New Zealand (the Māori in particular) into the elementary music classroom. However, since it is relatively impossible to truly understand a culture's music without studying and understanding the people, the land, and their history, the lessons in this project include more than just music. Ideally, the project will be utilized as an integrated curriculum unit, incorporating the music teacher, art teacher, physical education teacher, the regular classroom teacher, and others.

Through the use of pictures taken on and artifacts brought back from the Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program in New Zealand, online resources, and other sources, the students will explore a cross-section of New Zealand's rich culture and history.

Topics to be covered include:

• Māori words and phrases
• Māori music
• Non-Māori music of New Zealand (especially that taught or performed in the schools)
• Māori stick games
• Poi
• Māori traditions
• Kauri wood
• Geography of New Zealand
• The history of New Zealand - including the migration of the Māori and the Pākehā
• Sports of New Zealand - in particular Rugby and extreme sports
• A visual trip through New Zealand with the use of pictures taken on the Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad
• Schools in New Zealand

Through these lessons, it is hoped that students will develop an interest in and understanding of New Zealand, which will lead to a greater understanding of the world and their place in it. It is also hoped that the students will become more cognizant.

Table of contents

• Summary
• Grade Level
• Key Questions and Queries
• Lesson I: What are the people like in New Zealand? Where did they come from?
• Lesson II:What is the music of New Zealand like?
• Lesson III: What does the country of New Zealand look like? Where is it? What is the land like?
• Lesson IV: What languages are spoken in New Zealand? What are some non-English words I can learn?
• Lesson V: What are some Māori games and traditions?
• Lesson VI: What sports are popular in New Zealand? How do you play them?
• Lesson VII: What are schools like in New Zealand? What do they look like?
• Lesson VIII: What are these things you brought back with you from the trip? What do they mean? What makes them special?
• References

An Overview of New Zealand for the Elementary Classroom: Artifacts from a Music Teacher's Journey

mcnaird.pdf (146kB)