Ngā Kiri Kāpia by J. Wiremu Kane is a historical fiction text that weaves personal kindness with national history to explore the lives of gum-digging families in Te Tai Tokerau in the early 1900s. Through the experiences of Heeni and Mikaere, the story follows two cousins who bring kaimoana to a family of young gum diggers working in difficult swamp conditions after their father is injured. The narrative reveals the hardship of gum digging while also highlighting generosity, friendship, and manaakitanga as the children share food and time with Petar and Leander’s whānau. The glowing piece of kāpia becomes a symbol of connection, respect, and understanding between families from different backgrounds. Gentle, evocative, and emotionally rich, the text supports students to understand history through lived experience and voice.

The text is ideal for integrated learning across literacy and social sciences, supporting inquiry into kindness, community, and everyday life in historical Aotearoa New Zealand.

This pack contains response activities complete with activity explainer videos for supporting teaching and learning reading strategies including:

• Skim and Scan activities
• Summarise activities
• Questioning activities
• Inference activities
• Making Connections activities
• Visualising activities