Thanks from Mangorei School

We received a lovely surprise in the mail today: two 'boostergrams' from students in Room 8 at Mangorei School, New Plymouth.

Mangorei School senior students are working with us on a specially tailored programme designed to help identify and research significant Taranaki people. The lesson involved an investigative hunt through the museum, linking special museum objects to important Taranaki identities, and researching those identities in the Taranaki Research Centre.

Thanks for your feedback, Room 8 - we're so glad you had a fantastic and exciting time learning and researching at Puke Ariki.

Teacher feedback

We love getting feedback from teachers after their visit to Puke Ariki. We appreciate the comments we get about our programmes - what you liked, what was memorable, what could work differently, and how your students reacted.

 Teacher feedback: students were excited, involved and [the programme] stimulated their curiosity

We'd also love to feature student work inspired by your visit to us. Please email us any photos or examples of work that you'd like to share.

Here's some of our 2012 teacher feedback. Do you have anything you'd like to add from your visit?

• Excellent simple understanding for my age group. Children very engaged. Simple easy descriptions for children to use.
• Quality 'wow' factor to begin our unit. 
• All really. Lovely clear presentation. Important information clearly given, revisited.
• [Student reaction:] wonderment and awe.
• Engaged. The value of this session will be realised throughout the term. Great lead in.
• Well prepared, actively involved the students, gave students concepts about the creatures, size, life / eating adaptation.

First lesson of 2012 at Puke Ariki

We welcomed students from Marfell Community School on Monday. They were our first two classes of the 2012 year - and what a fun, thought provoking start to the year it was!

Puke Ariki educator Erin developed a specially tailored programme focusing on 'Mind, Body and Soul', a topic that two Marfell classes were studying in the classroom.

Check out the photos from this visit on the Puke Ariki Facebook page ('like' us for updates, news, and happenings at Puke Ariki).

Thanks for visiting us, Marfell - we hope to see you again soon!

Do you have a class or school wide focus and would like to visit Puke Ariki as part of your unit? Contact us to discuss.

Tools and Traps - all year

One of our most requested programmes in 2011 was Tools and Traps. Tools and Traps is a fantastic hands-on lesson, where students experiment with a variety of stone and wooden tools to explore how natural resources were used to cook, catch and gather food. It's a highly interactive lesson, and students are given opportunites to be creative, solve problems, and think 'outside the square'.

Students work out how to move a heavy stone into a flax kete, only using sticks (and their brains!)

Due to the popularity of Tools and Traps, we've added it to our 2012 programmes, and it's available all year. Contact us to make a booking.

Notebook - Term 1, 2012

The Notebook update for Term 1, 2012 was emailed to Taranaki schools this week, as well as to teachers on our e-database. Notebook provides Taranaki teachers and principals with a quick update of Puke Ariki education programmes and news, and highlights particular activities or initatives of interest in the coming term.

You can read the latest copy on the Puke Ariki website, as well as back issues from 2011.

Toy Creation - Term 3

Check out these cute little creatures, currently residing in the education office. They're part of the fabulously fun and entertaining programme Toy Creation, offered at Puke Ariki in Term 3.

These wooden push-up toys are part of the hands-on activities for students in Toy Creation.

Toy Creation focuses on the art of making toys. Students will examine how toys were traditionally made, how they work, and explore the concepts of balance, movement and different energies. With lots of traditional wooden toys to touch, play and work with, this programme promises to be as much fun for the teachers as the students!

We're taking bookings for Toy Creation and our other Term 3 programmes now - contact us for more information or book your class online.

Our collection of wooden toys is getting a lot of feedback from our colleagues. What was your favourite childhood toy? Let us know - you may see it included in Toy Creation...

Anne Frank: a History for Today

A special touring exhibition opens at Puke Ariki in February. Anne Frank: A History of Today tells the life story of Anne Frank family, juxtaposed against world events before, during and after the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Anne Frank

Anne Frank: a History for Today has toured galleries and museums throughout New Zealand since 2010, and we're thrilled that it will be exhibiting at Puke Ariki.

The educational programme for Anne Frank is a self-guided lesson. Excellent pre and post visit supporting material, as well as an exhibition guide, is available online. While this lesson is self-guided (teacher-led rather than by a Puke Ariki educator), we do request you book with us to avoid clashes with other groups.  

Have you visited this exhibition elsewhere in New Zealand? What did you think?