Our First School Trip

Today we went to the Petone Settlers Museum.   We went on a bus.  We sang The Wheels on the Bus as we drove along.

 We met Jen and Jolie who work at The Dowse.  Jen asked us to sit down on "New Zealand" when we got inside the museum.   We found a really big map to sit on. Some of us sat on the North Island, and some of us sat on the South Island.

Jen and Jolie showed us special pictures that are painted on the walls at the Petone Settlers Museum. The pictures tell the story of the early settlers who sailed on ships to New Zealand from far away places like England.

Next Jen gave us some maps and we went exploring through the museum. 







We found lots of things to look at.  

Jen and Jolie told us a special story about how Wellington Harbour changed forever.    The story is a Maori Myth.  







A myth is a magical story that we share to explain how something might have happened.  

Once upon a time Wellington Harbour was a lake.  Two Taniwha named Ngake, and Whataitai lived in the lake.  One day Ngake, the little Taniwha, crashed through the side of the lake.  He crashed through the rocks and made a big hole in the earth.  He wanted to find somewhere bigger to swim and play.  


We helped act out the story by doing some actions.   








After we finished listening to the story we went outside to see the hole in the side of Wellington Harbour.  Jen helped us to point to the hole and we imagined Ngake and Whataitai crashing through the rocks and swimming far far away out into Cook Strait.

We made Taniwha sculptures together on the beach.  We used shells and sticks and seaweed.  We dug holes and made little islands for the taniwha to swim around.  

What a fantastic first school trip we had today!  Thanks to all the Mums and Dads and Nanas that came along and joined in.