Like term one term two seems to be galloping along. The weather has been a little unsettled but learning continues and we use all opportunities to facilitate opportunities for the children to be involved in extending their own interests as well as hooking into those of other children.
The royal wedding provided some interesting discussions and was a fun time for us all and Mothers Day was celebrated with the children being busily involved in making cards, decorating picture frames and at the end of the week baking cupcakes for their Mums. A very busy time for children and teachers alike.
We continue to focus on our virtues programme and for the first part of the term we have chosen the virtues of responsibility and respect as we feel these should be visible in all parts of our kindergarten programme
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A New Year - 2011
Wow. Where did term one of 2011 go. For us here at kindergarten it has been spent getting to know the children and their families who have started their journey with us and this time spent in developing positive relationships is so important for us all.
The children have had a really busy term with lots of interests happening and the teachers have been extrenely busy acknowleding all these and providing resources etc to extend their ideas.
We also had a very focused look at Waitangi Day and used this as a springboard to looking at other areas of interest around the ways of the Maori people. We provided opportunties for the children to carry out weaving for headbands, materials for the making of piupius, face paint for designing mokos, paper taiahas and also encouraged screen printing using Maori patterns. This was a fabulous five week focus with lots of discussion, u tube viewing, and of course waiata.
We celebrated the end of a very long term with a fun day on the last Wednesday which we called Wacky Wednesday and indeed it was. There were plants in the toilet, dolls sitting in a tyre in the family area, play dough in an upside down table, eating tables under the swings, shoes hanging off the painting rack and on the ceiling and best of all we were able to have water balloon fights. The children and of course the teachers dressed up in some wacky outfits and everyone had a great day. Sorry Aabout the photo. Forgot to rotate but you'll all agree it is a lovely picture.
The children have had a really busy term with lots of interests happening and the teachers have been extrenely busy acknowleding all these and providing resources etc to extend their ideas.
We also had a very focused look at Waitangi Day and used this as a springboard to looking at other areas of interest around the ways of the Maori people. We provided opportunties for the children to carry out weaving for headbands, materials for the making of piupius, face paint for designing mokos, paper taiahas and also encouraged screen printing using Maori patterns. This was a fabulous five week focus with lots of discussion, u tube viewing, and of course waiata.
We celebrated the end of a very long term with a fun day on the last Wednesday which we called Wacky Wednesday and indeed it was. There were plants in the toilet, dolls sitting in a tyre in the family area, play dough in an upside down table, eating tables under the swings, shoes hanging off the painting rack and on the ceiling and best of all we were able to have water balloon fights. The children and of course the teachers dressed up in some wacky outfits and everyone had a great day. Sorry Aabout the photo. Forgot to rotate but you'll all agree it is a lovely picture.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Changes at kindergarten and childrens interests
Here it is the beginning of term four and changes are happening. During the term break Chrissy left us to be part of the team diversifying at Rangitoto Kindergarten so now Leanne and I are the two full time teachers left. All part of the diversification procedure. We have working with us two teachers who are what is commonly known as .775 teachers. That is they work 31 hours a week most of which is contact time with the children and some professional time each day.
The change certainly means that we all have to rethink some of our practises especially around the end of session happenings but that will work itself out no doubt.
We have also changed our data base system which is proving a little challenging but our very capable administrator is coping well and will soon be on top of it all.
However these changes do not affect the children and so life continues to roll along for them all. By the time Dale arrived back from her overseas trip the term was two weeks underway and the children were already showing a variety of interests - insects, gardening, and sword making to name a few. The fine weather has provided the opportunity to undertake a great deal of outdoor sports events and the carpentry table has been well used with some new tools and equipment being provided.
With all this sunshine we have encouraged the children to embrace being safe in the sun. Hats must be worn outside and suncream applied after lunch. It certainly promises to be a very warm summer if this weather continues.
The change certainly means that we all have to rethink some of our practises especially around the end of session happenings but that will work itself out no doubt.
We have also changed our data base system which is proving a little challenging but our very capable administrator is coping well and will soon be on top of it all.
However these changes do not affect the children and so life continues to roll along for them all. By the time Dale arrived back from her overseas trip the term was two weeks underway and the children were already showing a variety of interests - insects, gardening, and sword making to name a few. The fine weather has provided the opportunity to undertake a great deal of outdoor sports events and the carpentry table has been well used with some new tools and equipment being provided.
With all this sunshine we have encouraged the children to embrace being safe in the sun. Hats must be worn outside and suncream applied after lunch. It certainly promises to be a very warm summer if this weather continues.
Friday, April 23, 2010
yeah. Permanent fourth teacher
It is with great pleasure that we announce that we now are a diversified kindergarten with a fourth permanent teacher. Karen has been appointed as our .775 teacher and it is great to know that this is a permanent placing. The team is working very competently together, taking up opportunities to be involved in professional development with each other and discovering commonalities of their teaching practises which impact on the learning environment of the kindergarten.
Term One 2010
Staring back for a new year was fantastic. Eveyone, children, teachers and parents/whanau were pleased to be back and the children just got straight into the swing of things. there were many opportunities for us to extend their learning through the interest in Butterlies and their life cycle, Frogs and Tadpoles and Sea Life. Later in the term there was a flurry of returning interest in swords and armour related to Knights and also paper planes, which provides many challenges for the teachers as well as the children. Some of the children were also very interested in sending little cars hurtling up and down pipes and exploring the forces of gravity.
Friday, November 27, 2009
December 2009
Term Three - And so the change begins. We, the teachers settled into the term with some trepidation but all went quite smoothly. We had good systems in place ensuring that everyone was aware of the routines and had set up a picture book so that the children could see who was attending each day. Over the term we managed to the stage where each child was attending at least three afternoons per week which was great.
The children, on the other hand just settled back into kindergarten life as if there were no changes. Apart from the few who wondered why they were no longer attending each day there were no major hiccups. The six hour group quickly became accustomed to having lunch at the kindergarten and spending extra time with us. Little friendships were formed between children who didn't notice each other in the larger four hour group.
We were fortunate that it was only a short time before a fourth teacher was appointed to the teaching team. This was a 6 month appointment to be readvertised as a permanent position after consultation.
Puppet Galore: - All the changes did not dampen the children's enthusiasm for learning and during this term there was a enormous focus on puppets. The entire kindergarten community became infected by the joy and excitment of constructing puppets of all kinds - glove, box, finger, paper bag. You name it the children made them. At times it was a challenge to keep up with providing resources but that was part of the fun for us as teachers. thinking: - Where is this going? How can we extend it? What will happen if we!!!. Another challenge was that of ensuring that the interest was wide enough to enable some of the younger children, just on three years to be involved. Many of these children learned to use the glue guns during this interest and are now dab hands at them.
This interest continued for the whole of term three and at times re-emerged during the following term.
The children, on the other hand just settled back into kindergarten life as if there were no changes. Apart from the few who wondered why they were no longer attending each day there were no major hiccups. The six hour group quickly became accustomed to having lunch at the kindergarten and spending extra time with us. Little friendships were formed between children who didn't notice each other in the larger four hour group.
We were fortunate that it was only a short time before a fourth teacher was appointed to the teaching team. This was a 6 month appointment to be readvertised as a permanent position after consultation.
Puppet Galore: - All the changes did not dampen the children's enthusiasm for learning and during this term there was a enormous focus on puppets. The entire kindergarten community became infected by the joy and excitment of constructing puppets of all kinds - glove, box, finger, paper bag. You name it the children made them. At times it was a challenge to keep up with providing resources but that was part of the fun for us as teachers. thinking: - Where is this going? How can we extend it? What will happen if we!!!. Another challenge was that of ensuring that the interest was wide enough to enable some of the younger children, just on three years to be involved. Many of these children learned to use the glue guns during this interest and are now dab hands at them.
This interest continued for the whole of term three and at times re-emerged during the following term.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Changes to our kindergarten
Here we are now in our third week of being a 'Diversified Kindergarten'. For us this means not being a traditional sessional kindergarten but having a roll of 40 children per day with 20 staying for 6 hours and another 20 for 4 hours. A challenge for us was how to continue to provide the children with a real sense of belonging when there was not longer a continuity of attendence. With this in mind we set up a photo poster board showing the children who were attending for that day for the children to consult. This has been a huge success with the chldren gathering around to check it out when they arrive and at other times during the day. It has been interesting to watch the children who stay for the six hour day discover and make friendship with children they usually do not play with during the four hour morning. For us this is one of the positive outcomes of change.
No doubt other challenges will arise as we work our way through this first term of change but for now we continue to acknowledge that things will happen and we will think, heavens, didn't think of that.
No doubt other challenges will arise as we work our way through this first term of change but for now we continue to acknowledge that things will happen and we will think, heavens, didn't think of that.
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