Celebrating Our Excellent ERO report

Today it was time to celebrate!

Our ERO report has just been made public and we are very excited to be put in the "very highly placed bracket to promote positive learning outcomes for children ",which places us in the top 20 percent of ECE centres and schools in NZ.

This is a reflection of our incredible teaching team( past and current) , our highly effective and supportive BOT that includes our fabulous General Manager, Helen, our hard working Home and Kindergarten and our delightful children and families. 

So what better way to celebrate than with a shared lunch and of course our timing celebrating Matariki.

The children spent the morning making pizzas , from food they brought from home and muffins with our friends Janene ( Violet and Logan's Mum) and Elaine from "The Cottage Pantry" across the road. These were shared with our whanau .Kei te hia kai koe? Are you hungry? 

 What an awesome way to celebrate with very special people!

Settling In!

Our afternoon sessions have  been absolutely delightful this term and the most significant happenings is allowing time for our children to settle in.   The children sometimes arrive not sure they want to stay or not and for particular child when he saw the sandpit and a friend in there was no looking back and the smile was there all afternoon.

Chase likes to begin his day at the building frame and he always has an idea in mind. Today he  wanted to climb up so he attached a ladder to help him climb.  

Once he was up he then had a fantastic idea to jump down on the stones and this brought others into the game. "I can do a trick one!" he exclaims leading the way!   Kia kaha ki tāu mahi  - Keep it up!

Chase loved taking the lead by creating challenging jumps and then later he returned to play on his own with the ropes which aroused our curiosity.

He  tied them around the bars of the jungle gym and we commented,  "Chase, you hae tied the rope to the bar!" He didn't reply but he knew we were looking at what he was doing. Sandra said  that Chase was using the ropes previously at Kindergarten and he was doing a lot of tying then too.   So we  will make sure that the ropes and other open ended  equipment is available for the children in the afternoon session.

Using Chase's play as an example shows us that children enjoy beginning their play in their safe place but then they gain the confidence to alter the play.  They even choose to play with and alongside others or on their own but whatever path they take they are continually exploring and discovering things.  

Christchurch Symphony Orchestra Visit

We were very fortunate to have five members of the Christchuch Symphony Orchestra visit the KIndergarten. 

After introducing themselves they individually introduced us to their instruments they played.

We became involved by singing along to the music they play with familiar songs like  "Insy winsy Spider" and "I'm a Little Teapot".   We were invited to use our own instruments to join the orchestra but instead we clapped  our hands and knees to the "Elelphant Walk" song.

He rawe tēnā!  This is great!

Chloe was very confident to play the violin while her audience looked in wonderment and awe, watching her strum the bow across the strings!   

Demain  helped  out  too as  he pressed the keys to make different sounds.  Tino pai nga tamariki.

The orchestra left us handouts of their show in Ashburton during  the holidays and we recommend that it would be really worth seeing.

Budding builders!

Heather brought  the boxes with a great ceative idea.  She wanted to make some shelves to place the natural resources in for the sandpit play. The boys put their carpentry aprons on to help out.

Harry sat in the prime seat and he worked with Heather to nail the boxes together. First two boxes were joined and then they put a third one on top.

Harry was using his habit of striving for accuracy to hammer the nail so the boxes were evenly stacked.

And Heather was so organised that she had the baskets and the resources that had been collected from the beach already to put in. Tino pai Heather. 

Kei te pai nga tama! 

Visit to St John Ambulance Station

This morning Heather, with the help of some parents took a small group of children on a walk to our local ambulance station. This had been organised with Amos' Grandma who volunteers there, in response to an on going interest in 'emergencies'.

Children were introduced to a lot of machinery inside the ambulance, where they had the opportunity to be hands on and try them out together. Eligh's heart rate was monitored while others had their pulse taken before Bettina was strapped only other bed like a real patient. Kia manawanui-be brave.

Throughout this whole experience the whole group took responsible risks by going into an unknown environment - the back of an ambulance and trying something new. Amos even showed everyone how to turn the siren on - āe mārika/how about that!

Celebrating Matariki

We are thrilled to have our families come and share their talents as we celebrate Matariki-Māori New  

Year this month (June). 

We  discovered that Brent (Riley's Dad) could weave and we asked him where did he learn how he learnt such special art work.  He replied that he had played around with the flax and taught himself!

When he began to manipulate the flax Jackson joined him. We  noticed Brent sitting back to let Jackson have a go and quietly gave him verbal instructions when needed.  "True eloquence consists of saying all that should be said, and that only"  F de la Rochefoucauld. 

        

The children commented on the weaved whāriki, "Its a rectangle with lots of squares!"  

Kia ora Brent. We enjoyed and treasure the time you were able to have with us.  We celebrate  interdependence between children, and their families,  and the community and continually  support this in the Kindergarten.

Working Together, Sharing Ideas, Changing Plan

A large group of children started their play in the sandpit this morning digging holes,  they excitedly shared their plans as they dug "I'm going to dig 5 holes" Riley announced.

As children dug their holes they had an idea to join their holes together and make a river - so everyone dug to each side of their hole. It was made clear that there was to be sand left in the middle, this was so it could be the island.

 

It wasn't long before the children asked for water in the sandpit, obviously wanting to add to the complexity of their play. Water was purposefully poured into the highest point of the river, it began to flow around and got halfway around the river before it stopped. So together everyone problem solved, and the final decision was to make the sand level the whole way around which was a team effort to make it as flat as possible. Very quickly water started flowing around the river - success! Tino pai rawa atu - Absolutely awesome.

Soon after the river was full of water more children gathered to join in on the play all sharing their ideas and knowledge to influence the play.

- Whales were found in the river and it was soon renamed 'the ocean' after some research was done

- After some time the focus changed to gold panning, where children shook buckets "Look can you see the gold at the bottom of it" Riley said to Heather

As you can see lots of ideas were being shared by all, one child suggesting an idea or plan for play and then another idea being shared. The children showed willingness to take on others ideas and then change their play as a new plan was made.

Developing Whanaungatanga/Relationships

Recently the teaching team have been having a lot of conversations about the children who attend our afternoon session and their developing whanaungatanga/relationships. 

Today Caleb arrived at Kindergarten and settled into play in the sandpit with Mitchell. Initally they began working alongside each other before Mitchell asked if we could have some water to make a beach. So together Mitchell and Caleb carried a trough out of the shed, using all of their strength, so that they could put some water in it. Caleb excitedly stood up on the stump to turn the hose on while Mitchell held the hose "I'm ready" said Mitchell. Together the boys worked to fill up the trough, before they were able to use the water to make a beach - just like Mitchell had planned to do. Caleb told Mitchell he was going to get a pipe, and once he placed it in position they worked together to tip it on the right angle so that the water could go into their beach. Kau mahi kaha koe - you have worked hard. 

After play in the sandpit together the boys excitedly moved around the Kindergarten environment talking to each other about the 'rules' of their play. They started by chasing each other around the track - untill their cheeks were red, experimenting with building equipment at the whare, pulling trolleys around the track after each other and going down the slide together! 

Each child brings their own set of skills and knowledge from home through experiences with older or younger siblings, cousins, next door neighbours or from meeting others in the community. These experiences are vital in supporting children in their interactions to help build relationships, experimenting with and adding to their kete of knowledge and skills.

Simple Numeracy

This afternoon the children began taking responsible risks and climbing up the ramp across the box and over the other ramp. As they climbed they began counting the number of rails on each plank they discovered that there was 8. Ashleigh decided as an intentional teaching strategy and to support the childrens simple numeracy that she would write the numbers from one to eight in each gap.

As children continued with this activity they were really involved in taking turns, being respectful and not pushing each other as they waited for their friend to jump off the plank. It is fantastic to see our afternoon children showing manaakitanga/ care and respect for each other as this something we highly value here at kindergarten. 

 Kia kaha ki tāu mahi, Keep it up! 

Geraldine High School Musicians Come to Visit

Today we were very lucky to experience the musical skills of some talented high school students and their teacher.

They captivated our attention with their knowledge , articulating with clarity and at a level of understanding that kept us interested. 

We found out all sorts of interesting facts about the violins, trumpet and trombone that we got to listen to.

As a way of saying thank you ,Lance took responsibility for sharing with our visitors some grapefruit juice that we had juiced earlier in the morning .

Tena rawa tau koe . Thank you Hayden, Daniel , Emma and Mrs Van Ginkel

Taking Responsibility

Over the past few weeks the children in morning session have been taking responsibility for cutting up the fruit and wringing out the clothes that they use at Kotahitanga.

kotahitanga is a time where the children come together to share fruit and discuss and plan forward what they are going to do for the rest of the kindergarten day. 

Today as I was preparing the boards and knives the children were all eager to help prepare the fruit, peeling mandarins, and cutting up the apples and feijoa's. He rawe tēnā, this is great! There was a lot of perservering with dificulty and taking turns as the children worked interdependently to achieve a common goal. 

Rainy day fun.

Over the past few rainy days the children have been engaged in many different activites, messy play,  creating at the carpentry and inside different groups returned  to exploring their performing skills. 

Alycia reignited the ballet idea and many of the children joined in,

"Can we please have the ballet on?"   Said Alycia

"Sure" I quickly replied and we promptly found the laptop and conected it to the projector.

The children chose which ballet clip they wanted to explore, Drew expressed "Can it be one with boys in it" Ke tahi te whakaaro pai, thats a good idea, and that is exactly what we did. The children enjoyed dancing along, talking and exploring the costumes the dancers were wearing. 

Later in the day I discovered a group of boys lined up in a row, working interdependently talking about what they were going to sing and what instruments they were going to use. As I watched they asked if we wanted to watch their rock band and promptly they lined up some chairs for others to sit and watch them perform. 

What a great day of performing and exploring our ideas around music and dance. 

Taking Responsible Risks

A wet day is not a barrier at kindergarten for opportunities to take responsible risks and still enjoy challenging play with our gross motor skills.

 The large foam shapes encourage us to work interdependently , needing to negotiate with one another to ensure that everyone is safe within the boundaries the children set.

 As teachers we encourage the children to take responsibility with our support ,for exploring how we take responsible risks with the foam shapes ,ensuring we are respecting the diversity of confidence  of our peers. Ngā tamariki rawe! Great kids care. Ka pai! 

  

Celebrating our kaitiaki

Wow .. today we celebrated the number of children receiving kaitiaki badges and we noticed that our number is increasing . Riley articulated with clarity what a kaitiaki means to him earlier in the session .

" When you see something in the wrong place you can put it back where it goes and you be nice to all your friends" 

Amos shared " You need to be kind to people too . " Ke tahi te whakaaro pai , that's a good idea Amos and Riley! 

" Yes " agreed Jake " you don't hit anyone" Tumeke, awesome!

" I put a picture back on the wall that fell off . I am a kaitiaki " Chloe accurately recognised. 

Abigail and Lance noticed that Harvey had spent a long time placing the cones across the path , a space they wanted to go through. Together they did some thoughtful problem solving and with real manaakitanga / care they moved the cones so they could get through and carefully placed them back.

Showing care and respect for one another and our environment is really important to us all at kindergarten. 

Real Camping

An exciting plan is developing! Today, Louise was out the back with a group of children, seated around the fire pit when some discussions arose about fires.

  Riley and Eligh talked about roasting marshmallows and a plan started forming about doing this at kindergarten. They drew upon their previous knowledge and experiences to tell Louise what was needed for this event. A list of things the children felt was important to have was recorded: lighters, matches, potatoes, ham, salmon, wood, paper, stones and seats. Safety issues were thought about "Careful not to let anyone fall in the fire," said Riley. "We're going to light it for real."

Ruby suggested "Fire hats" 

Riley shows he is thinking about his thinking and communicating with clarity. Louis asked what shape the fire should be. "It should be round," he replied. "Cos if it was square, people would have to go round and it needs to be secure and safe while it burns."

As a group, it was decided that they would have Real Camping on Friday. Riley stopped and thought "I have to make sure I'm here that day!" The anticipation for Friday is building. Lets see what happens and share in the fun! Ka mau te wehi!. Awesome!