Shared Kai

Today we enjoyed shared kai with our wonderful kindergarten whānau. Both morining and afternoon families came together during session times to meet and celebrate our core principles of whanaungatanga/relationships and wānanga/ productive partnerships.

It was so lovely to see siblings join us, especially those who used to attend Kindergarten. The whole day was very relaxed and reflected how comfortable our families are in our Kindergarten environment.

He aha te mea nui o te ao? 
He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!

What is the most important thing in the world? 
It is people! It is people! It is people!

The cake is finished!

Today Heather (our secret cake decorator) brought in her cake decorating tools. The children were very eager to ice the Christmas cake that they had helped Gael bake last week. Heather explained about the special icing they were using and the tamariki helped to roll it out and carefully lay it over the cake. Normally a special smoothing tool is used to smooth wrinkles out but Heather accidentally left it at home. So problem solving had to be used and it turned out that smoothing the icing with hands works just as well. We are problem solvers, ngā tamariki kaipororaru whakatika.

The tamariki used their skills learned from the play dough table and other real baking experiences to press out the letters and shapes. The children chose what colours they wanted for the lettering and decorations. They rolled the icing into long shapes to twist and make Christmas trees and candy canes. 

 We have high expectations for our children's learning and know they can accomplish projects from the start  through to completion. These activities promote manaakitanga/ care and respect amonsgt the tamariki as they learn to make decisions together and build empathy for their peers by waiting for turns.

We will share this wonderful cake at our shared kai on Thursday. 

We started the Christmas cake today!!

We are very lucky to have Gael in this week and today, she has started her famous Christmas cake. This recipe requires mixing the day before baking. So the tamariki helped Gael with the ingredients. 

Kia ora mo tou awhina, thank you for helping.

Working interdependently, the children took turns to add what was needed into the bowl. Using the cake mixer was exciting and great way to explore food technology too. Now we are looking forward to baking the cake tomorrow. Tino pai rawa atu, excellent!

Waihi Logde visit

There was great excitment as the children came into kindergrten this morning, they were off to Waihi Lodge to sing Christmas songs to the residents. But there was a bit of a problem because it was raining and they would get wet. Ashleigh had plan. She had rung up and ordered a bus. When it arrived, we got on it with some of our whanau who had come along to help. 

The residents were waiting for us and we bagan by sharing some of our favourite chirstmas songs that we have been practicing most days at kindergarten. We felt a real sense of pride when the elderly clapped as we finished each song, ka rawe/how neat! 

Geraldine Kindergarten is a special part of the local community and we feel privileged to be able to bring joy to the elderly at this special time of year.

The Christmas tree was waiting this morning

There were some excited children when they arrived at Kindergarten when they saw the tree. What was in the box? The children discovered some treasures and quickly found a spot to hang them.The children were keen to share with each other the toanga/treasures they had discovered. This lead to discussion about what the children had on their trees at home and what they could make at Kindergarten, this supports children's developing whanaungatanga/relationships as they make connections between home and kindergarten. Some children shared that they had stars on the trees at home and others had angels. It will be interesting to see what they could add tomorrow.

 

Christmas Crafts

This morning we were lucky enough to have Rebecca, George's Mum join us for the morning.

She brought with her some christmas tree templates that the children thoroughly enjoyed decorating with all sorts of special decorations.

Lots of children joined Rebecca at the table and joined in to decorate their very own christmas tree. Some children stayed at the table for long periods of time, persevering as they created and perfected the art of decorating while using lots of different typres of art equipment. Glitter was a favourite that was used by all to add some 'sparkle' to their christmas tree!

We love having family members or even members of the community come into kindergarten and share their special skills or toanga/treasures with us. 

Kia ora mo to awhi - Thank you for your help Rebecca

Visiting Geraldine Primary School

This morning Louise met a small group of children at school for their first school visit! These children are part of a small group who will be turning 5 over the christmas period and beginning their time at school in term 1.

On arrival to their class room the children joined others on the mat for a welcome and a story with their new teacher. There were some familiar faces who joined them in the class room, some friends who have recently finished kindergarten and started their time at school! Ka rawe - how lovely. This visit is put in place to support children with their transition to school. Seeing, feeling and experiences a small part of the school day will help them get a feel for what their time at school will be like (in conjunction with other visits with mum or dad). These visits reinforces and strengthens whanaungatana/relationships, a value that is important to us here at Geraldine kindergarten.

Its dance time!

This afternoon Charlotte shared with us that she wanted to dance to the frozen song.

The music began to play and Ashleigh introduced some ribbons that she could use as she danced to the music. It wasn't long before Tyla took note of Charlotte's play and naturally became involved. 

The music continued to play and other children watched and then became involved as they felt comfortable to do so. He rawe tēnā - This is great! Some joined in using the ribbons and others were happy to use their bodies and move to the music.

It was interesting watching and talking with the small group about the movements they were making as the music play. As the music began to play, slow in pace the children moved their bodies slowly. But as the song got faster so did the dancing and movement of the ribbons the children held in their hands.