Matariki Goal Setting Resource: A Creative Classroom Activity Inspired by Hiwa-i-te-rangi
- Kate Costello
- Jul 7
- 5 min read
Matariki is a powerful time for reflection, renewal and looking ahead. For teachers, kaiako and school leaders, it is also a meaningful opportunity to bring goal setting, wellbeing, creativity and mātauranga Māori into the classroom in a way that feels accessible for students of all ages.
To support this, Coactive Education has created a free Matariki goal-setting resource inspired by Hiwa-i-te-rangi, the Matariki star connected with hopes, dreams and aspirations for the year ahead. Hiwa-i-te-rangi is often described as the wishing star, the star to whom people share their hopes for the coming year during Matariki. Te Papa describes Matariki as a time to think about aspirations, and notes that Hiwa-i-te-rangi is the whetū connected with wishes and dreams for the future. (Te Papa)
This Matariki teaching resource has been designed as a simple, creative and reflective classroom activity. Students begin by thinking about one goal they would like to achieve before the Matariki stars grace our skies again next year. Their goal might be personal, academic, creative, social, spiritual or connected to their whānau, community or identity.
From there, students choose four colours, with each colour representing one of the values that might help them reach their goal: ambition, determination, luck and resilience. They then use those colours to “empower” their illustrated Hiwa-i-te-rangi star, deciding how much of each colour they need to include. The more of a colour they use, the more they are showing how important that value will be on their journey. The resource includes space for students to write “This year I will…” and to name three practical actions they will take to help make their goal happen.
Why use a Matariki goal-setting resource?
Matariki is not just a moment on the calendar. It is a time to remember, gather, celebrate, give thanks and look forward. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, Matariki is increasingly recognised in schools as a time for students to reflect on the past year and set intentions for the year ahead.
This makes it a natural fit for classroom goal setting. Rather than treating goals as a beginning-of-year activity only, Matariki offers a culturally meaningful moment to pause in the middle of the year and ask:
What have I learned?
What am I proud of?
What do I hope for?
What will I need to get there?
Who can help me?
Hiwa-i-te-rangi gives students a beautiful symbolic anchor for this thinking. In Te Iwa o Matariki, each star is connected with a different part of wellbeing, the environment or the year ahead. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa explains that, according to leading Māori astronomer Professor Rangi Mātāmua, the nine visible stars of Matariki each hold significance for wellbeing and the environment from a Māori worldview. (Matariki) Hiwa-i-te-rangi is often associated with hope, growth, prosperity, dreams and aspirations. (Te Papa’s Blog)
A creative Matariki activity for all ages
This Matariki goal-setting activity is designed to work across year levels because it can be adapted to suit the learner.
For younger students, the activity might be a simple drawing, colouring and oral language task. A teacher might ask, “What is one thing you want to get better at?” or “What is something brave you want to try before next Matariki?”
For older students, the same Matariki resource can become a deeper reflective writing, wellbeing or values-based activity. Students might connect their goal to learning habits, leadership, identity, service, sport, creativity, cultural knowledge or personal growth.
Because the resource uses illustration, colour and written reflection, it supports different ways of thinking. Some learners will begin with the image. Some will begin with the goal. Others will connect most strongly with the values: ambition, determination, luck and resilience.
That is the strength of an illustrated teaching resource. It gives students another way in.
The making of the resource
The illustration for this Matariki goal-setting resource was created by Kate Costello, illustrator for Telling Your Stories. In the making-of video, you can see the illustration come to life as Hiwa-i-te-rangi is drawn in a playful, expressive and student-friendly style.
The video is a great companion to the classroom activity because it helps students see that illustrations are not just decorations. They are texts. They carry meaning, feeling, character and story. Watching the making of the resource gives students a chance to notice artistic choices before they begin their own work:
How does the face of Hiwa-i-te-rangi make you feel?
What makes the star look hopeful?
What lines, shapes or details help bring the illustration to life?
How might colour change the meaning of the image?
This is also a useful visual literacy opportunity. Before students begin colouring, teachers can invite them to interpret the illustration and think about how their colour choices will add meaning to the resource.
How to use the Matariki goal-setting activity in your classroom
Begin with a short kōrero about Matariki and Hiwa-i-te-rangi. Explain that Matariki is connected with reflection, remembrance, celebration and looking ahead. Te Papa notes that there are more than 500 stars in the Matariki cluster, although only a handful are visible without a telescope, and that each of the recognised stars has its own characteristics that Māori acknowledge and honour. (Te Papa)
Then introduce Hiwa-i-te-rangi as the star connected with hopes, dreams and aspirations.
From there, invite students to choose one goal they would like to achieve before Matariki returns next year. Encourage them to make it specific enough that they can take action. For example:
This year I will read a chapter book by myself.
This year I will learn my pepeha with confidence.
This year I will ask for help when I get stuck.
This year I will practise my times tables every week.
This year I will be brave enough to share my ideas.
Next, students choose one colour for each value:
Ambition
Determination
Luck
Resilience
They colour in the Hiwa-i-te-rangi illustration using as much of each colour as they think they will need. A student who thinks resilience will be most important might use that colour the most. A student who feels they need determination and bravery might balance those colours across the star.
Finally, students write three practical actions they will take to help reach their goal. The resource gives examples such as being consistent, pushing yourself, being brave, asking for help, staying accountable and taking a risk.
Matariki, storytelling and hope
There are many stories and traditions connected with Matariki, and these can vary across iwi and rohe. A commonly shared story connects the name Matariki with “Ngā mata o te ariki Tāwhirimātea,” the eyes of Tāwhirimātea. In this tradition, Tāwhirimātea, atua of wind and weather, was so grief-stricken and angry after the separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku that he cast his eyes into the sky. This story is one way Matariki is connected with emotion, memory, the natural world and the heavens. (Wikipedia)
In the classroom, stories like this should be shared with care, with attention to local iwi knowledge and the tikanga of your school community. They can open rich conversations about how people use the stars to remember, navigate, forecast, celebrate and imagine the future.
Hiwa-i-te-rangi offers a particularly hopeful entry point for students. It reminds us that hopes and dreams are not passive. A wish becomes more powerful when it is connected to action, support, courage and persistence.
That is what this Matariki goal-setting resource is designed to do. It helps students name a dream, identify the values they will need, and turn their aspiration into something they can begin working towards.
Download the free Matariki teaching resource
This free Matariki goal-setting resource is suitable for primary, intermediate and secondary students, and can be used as part of Matariki classroom celebrations, wellbeing lessons, visual literacy activities, goal-setting sessions, values learning, art activities or reflective writing.
Use it as a one-off Matariki activity, or build it into a wider learning sequence about Te Iwa o Matariki, hopes and dreams, personal growth, storytelling, illustration and student voice.
As the Matariki stars rise again, this is a chance for every learner to ask:
What do I hope for?
What will help me get there?
What colour does my courage need to be?
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