Celebrating Maori culture

As part of our committment to our Bi-cultural strategic plan which we formulated at the beginning of the year we have continued to take up and make opportunities to extend the children's knowledge of Te Reo and Tikanga Maori as well as our own (the teachers).
The kindergarten celebrated the coming of the Maori New Year - Matariki with waiata (song), reintroduced a haka that we had learnt last year, provided art activities with a Maori focus and we were fortunate to be able to visit Long Bay College to watch a performance by their Kapa Haka Group. The children who went (20 of the 6 hour group) were enthralled by the performance which they all felt was not long enough and they would have liked to see more.

The end of the week saw us all head off to the Auckland Museum to see the Maori Cultural Performance and the Maori Galleries. Travelling over the harbour bridge on the bus was great fun for the children but the real highlight was the performance and being able to meet the performers after the show. We were also able to sing our special Pungawerewere song which we had learnt the previous week for them. What a marvellous way to end the term.

Term two

This has been an extremely busy term with lots happening for the children. The weather has not been so pleasant so favourite activities such as carpentry have not been so readily available and we have had to think outside the square to provide other activities. For a while we moved the train set outside and set it up in a variety of ways which proved very popular.
We continued to support the children's interest in sword making and set up a special sword making box which was well used. the children made a huge variety of swords, some extremely long and more like jousting lances so we also held tournaments for those interested.
Some of the girls were extremely interested in the kind of head wear that women wore during the mediaeval times and made some fantastic hats which proved quite challenging to keep on.

The children's skills in screen printing continued to grow and those that are very competent became the teachers for those who were just learning which was fantastic to see.
A mini project of making clay bead continued on and off throughout the term and we have finally had some threaded onto string alternating with colourful plastic beads. The goal is to use these to make a curtain to hang over the windows by the art sink.
At the end of the term there was a flurry of making going on with children cutting materials to make clothes for themselves or their pets/dolls.

KindergartenBreakfast slide show

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Breakfast at Kindergarten

Tuesday 31st May. Having breakfast at kindergarten in your pyjamas is a wonderful way to end the month and the children had a fantastic time. They had a choice of cornflakes, weetbix, canned peaches to begin with accompanied by either water, milo or juice. This was followed by toast,white and brown and a variety of spreads ranging from four different jams, vegemite and honey. We quickly discovered that the milo drink was a great hit with the children. It was lovely to see the children so keen to take part in something different and thankfully we had some very helpful parents who took on some of the tasks that are associated with an event such as this showing off some exellent waiting skills, kitchen hand skills and photography. Perhaps these are from previous lives. Thank you one and all.
The children spent the rest of their day at kindergarten in their pyjamas which did not stop them from being involved in all those activities that they love such as playing in the sand, swinging, painting etc.
The teachers also entered into the spirit of things displaying some rather natty night attire but they did not wear them when they went out to lunch.

Term 2 2011

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

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.

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.