Improving pānui skills in te reo Māori#

At Tau 5, mokopuna can read longer texts with increasing fluency and comprehension. They can identify main ideas, explain a text’s purpose, and tell the difference between fact and opinion. They compare ideas across texts, relate content to their own lives, and begin to evaluate how reliable information is.

Kia tika#

At Tau 5, mokopuna can write more complex ideas using common sentence patterns and subject-specific vocabulary. They can edit their texts for clarity, making better word choices, and adjusting their tone and structure depending on who they are writing for and why.

Ideas for whānau activities#

You could:

• ask mokopuna to write a short email, caption, or paragraph in te reo Māori and review it together for meaning and clarity
• talk about how language might change depending on whether they’re writing for friends, whānau, or teachers
• encourage them to edit a piece of writing to make it clearer or more formal
• play a sentence-building game using topic-specific words they’ve been learning at kura.

Kia mārama#

Mokopuna can think carefully about and question the language and ideas in spoken, written, and presented texts.

Ideas for whānau activities#

Pānui tahi

Choose a longer story or chapter book to read together as a whānau. Then take turns reading aloud, encouraging expressive reading with different voices for characters. After reading, act out a scene from the book to deepen comprehension and make it fun!

Read a few paragraphs or a chapter together, then pause and ask:

• What do you think will happen next?
• Why do you think that?
• What is the author trying to say?
• What clues in the text helped you make that guess?

Continue reading and see if the predictions were correct. After reading a section of a book, ask mokopuna to explain to you what happened as if they are the teacher. Encourage them to:

• explain key details
• identify main ideas
• name any tricky words they learned.

Kia arero taiaha#

By the end of Tau 5, mokopuna can confidently take part in conversations and discussions in te reo Māori. They adjust how they speak depending on the setting and listener, use tone and body language to support meaning, and can ask, clarify, and respond with growing ease and accuracy.

Ideas for whānau activities#

You could:

• practise holding short conversations in te reo Māori, swapping roles (formal and informal)
• ask mokopuna to give instructions or tell a story to a younger sibling
• record a conversation and watch it together. What did they do well? What could be clearer?
• encourage them to ask follow-up questions during kōrero at home or at events.

Kia auaha#

By the end of Tau 5, mokopuna can create their own texts like stories, plays, or speeches. They use language to describe, entertain, or persuade, and include images, sound, or action to make their message more engaging.

Ideas for whānau activities#

You could:

• help mokopuna write and perform a short skit, poem, or mihi
• create a poster, meme, or video together using te reo Māori to share an idea or story
• read a pūrākau and ask them to rewrite the ending in their own words
• support them to prepare and deliver a short speech at home or kura.