On Thursday the museum had the pleasure of hosting Gore Main School. GMS chose to do the Full Day Primary Programme and as the group was large (40 year 6s) it was ran by Denise, David and myself. We had lots of fun and the weather was scorching! Luckily everyone was equip with hats and water bottles.

The day started inside with the group split into two (odds and evens). Miss Gray arrived to teach the students as if they were in a late 1800s goldfields classroom. GMS thought that Miss Gray was too strict!! The girls were upset that they only got to do a small amount of PE and were not impressed with their outfits they had to change into! These Southland girls were self-proclaimed tomboys with not a skirt or dress in sight! All the students agreed that there was no room to be themselves seeing as they were banned from jewellery, nail polish, different accents, and using their left hand to write, and having to learn through rote learning styles was boring!!

The rest of the morning consisted of a discovery museum visit and after lunch it was time to go on some walks! Once we were outside the groups were divided again and one went with museum director, David, to learn the history of the township while the others went with educator, Denise, to learn about the Chinese Village. Many screams were heard when a bunch of students chose to go into complete darkness in the isolation cell at the old gaol! Stunning weather complimented these walks.

Finally it was time to go gold panning. The students attentively listened as I explained the most fruitful way to find gold. This resulted in many finding multiple pieces of gold. I was so pleased to hear some students who found more than one piece sharing their gold while others helped their friends spot gold in their pans. Sharing truly is caring. It was also a nice relief to stick our feet into the chilly Arrow River. We really did make the most of being outside the classroom. Soon after GMS had to return to Bannockburn for one last night of camp. I'm sure everyone slept well that night. I know I did!

If you have any great photos from the trip and wouldn't mind sharing them with us please email them to [email protected]

All right learners- let's see what we can remember from our jam packed day!

Who can remember the rest of the poem we recited 'The sun was scorching hot, And all ....'? How many pennies in 6 shillings? Why was there a fire place in one of the gaol cells? Why didn't we put our fingers into our pan while looking for gold? Why were there bars of one of Ah Lum's rooms?

Write your answers below in the comments!

Until next time GMS! Ka kite ano!