Pātaka Art and Museum Keep in Touch Day

In August, 14 Year 1-4 students attended a KIT Day at Pātaka Museum. We had an exciting time learning about the history of Porirua and how the Māori and Europeans used land and animals in different ways. We watched how to catch an eel using the nets the Māori used, which are made of natural materials. We then located different animals and birds using their outline on the beautiful artwork around the room, visually showing the area's history.

After that we learned about the art of Andy Goldsworthy, who always uses natural materials like leaves and shells. We each made a mandela (a circular piece of art). See the lovely examples of this in the photos below.

After lunch, we played some sign games. Everyone joined in and had a fun time coming up with a sign to match the handshape on the dice, trying to figure out what was in the feely bag, finding their animal pair by using animal actions, then learning the animal sign, and what was the same or different about a few students who were chosen by one of us as they had some attribute that was the same, e.g. they both wore glasses or black track pants or a different attribute.

Some students got the opportunity to show their leadership skills. It was beautiful to see students making new friends and participating actively, which some of them may not get the chance to do normally.

We'd like to go back to Pataka again, maybe every year, as they run such a great programme!