Kauri - The Giant of the Forest
Written by Michael Sharp©2018
The premiere of this production was held at Flaxmere Primary, December 2018. Over 465 children were involved on stage and the whole kura focussed on the themes of: conservation, climate change, our native forest and wild life in the forest, throughout the term. Deep learning was fostered and the 6 C's : Character Education, Citizenship, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity and Communication were developed throughout the process of creatinbg and performing this piece.
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Here are some honest reflections from some of the students involved. These were year 3 - 4 students:
What did you learn from the production Kauri?
That kauri dieback can be spread from our shoes.
We can help our environment by picking up rubbish around our community.
We can do more recycling in our school and community such as plastic.
Use a bin instead of plastic bags to put our rubbish in.
We should use our worm farm and compost to reduce what we send to the rubbish.
We should use reusable containers instead of plastic bags for our lunch items.
We should use bookbags instead of plastic bags for our homework.
We need to work towards sustaining (saving) our creatures like the kākāpō and the kiwi.
We need to look after our animals, oceans by reducing our plastic use.
We could use computers/ipads rather than paper.
We could do a little better.
We should not walk through the bushes at our school and step on the roots of our plants just like in the forest (build habits)
We should pick up the little pieces of rubbish, not just the big pieces as these are the pieces that are getting into the waterways and oceans.
We should reuse the material from our costumes.
We have:
Become more confident at performing. (Dayton)
Learnt to trust others in what they are doing
Learnt to enjoy myself with performing. (Roman)
Learnt that you can enjoy yourself more when you learn what you are doing and you get more confident. (Anthony)
Learnt that we need to look wider than just ourselves to make a difference (class, school, home, community)
Learnt to work as a team.
Build a platform around the kauri tree (scenery)
Learnt to create movements for dance which works in our space.
Learnt that we need to do something to make things better
Learnt how to help save the kauri tree.
Learnt that we need to clean our shoes when entering and leaving the forests.
Learnt that we need to do something now!
Learnt that we need to care to live.
Learnt how to research.
Learnt how to manage ourselves.
Learnt that if we don’t look after things like the oceans and forests or they will get sick and we won’t have them in the future.
Learnt how to design and make costumes.
Learnt to become patient.
Learnt to take care in our environments.
Learnt about Tane Mahuta and kauri trees.
Learnt to look after our costumes so we can reuse them.
(Mrs Browne - doing what is easy and cheap, doesn’t always align with our message (kākāpō costumes))
Kauri is a story about a young girl, living with her Nan near Waipoua Forest in Northland. She discovers by watching the news and learning from her school mates, who have recently been to see the great kauri named, Tāne Mahuta, that Kauri dieback is destroying Aotearoa's great toanga. By being proactive, she rallies a protest hikoi to march onto the steps of parliament and let the Prime Minister know that, "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING"
Full of catchy songs and a script that can cater for large or small groups, Kauri - The Giant of the Forest could be your next big thing.
Have a listen to the musical tracks by clicking the button.
If you are interested in putting this show on email me at: sharpperformingarts@gmail.com