Developing whanaungatanga/relationships in play

This afternooon a group of children enjoyed using some of the cricket equipment. Initally James found a bat and was instantly on a hunt for a ball, after finding one Hugo joined in and together they took turns hitting the ball. The smiles on both boys' faces after they hit the ball shared the pure excitement they felt. They continued to take turns hitting the ball toward each other for quite some time, the ball wouldn't always be hit on the first go so perseverance was key as they tried and tried again.

Guy, Elliot and Myra had been watching James and Hugo in play for some time, so when they had finished they were quick to have their turn! They had a slightly different approach to their play, a tee was used to hit the ball off. Ke tahi te whakaaro pai -  That's a good idea. Once Guy had his turn hitting off the tee, Elliot had his turn and this continued. Myra wasn't wanting to have a turn with the bat, she was happy to watch - smiling each time the boys hit the ball.

Throughout these experiences the children involved spent valuable time together, building trust that supports the development of their whanaungatanga/relationships. Turn taking was clearly evident in the games played and allowed the children to get to know one another a little better.

PM - Balancing!

We are fortunate to obtain some great resources from WAVE that children can explore the skills they have.

Wintrow holds his Mum's hand to use his balancing skills on the colouful connecting blocks. The snake trail gives Wintrow a moment to practice placcing his foot one in front of the other where concentration is needed to suceed. 

But the children discover there are other ways of making their pathway that is prompted by striving for accuracy to step on the circles and even more excting to see, a small friendship group applying their own challenging walkway!

We get the job done  

Ka oti i a mātou ngā mahi

Kindergarten Black Caps!

We have been  having our very own cricket world cup games at Kindergarten! Well that is what you would think when you hear the  chatter as  they  makes the rules of play! 

James contributed a wonderful way to work out whose turn to bat.

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo!

Catch a Tiger by the toe!

If he squeals, let him go!

Then Mum counts to 10!

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10!

Upon 10 and who the hand is pointing to gets the nod to bat with James!

Wilbur has been instrumental introducing the game and has shown us wonderful skills of running between the wickets and has been practising his over arm bowling (we have had to signal a few wides though!).   The cricket game has encouraged a group of boys to work together in a team environment 

and  even though the batting is the favorite we can be proud of them negotiating turns and taking risks to bat, bowl and be wicket keeper!

Bees at Work!

What was under the blue blanket? We couldn't see, hear or smell anything! Lifting the blanket we were  amazed and looked with wonderment to see a lot of bees!

Gavin (Ruby's Dad) generously came to visit at the end of the morning with one of his hobbies from home.  He replicated a beehive to make it really visible to see the bees at work.

There was lots of movement and Gavin explained there is only one Queen Bee. After lots of searching for the largest bee it was spotted near the bottom and laying its eggs in the vacant comb holes.

Another fact we heard was that the bees drag the dead ones from the comb and drop them down to the bottom. 

But what was most fascinating was seeing the yellow filled combs that was the honey,  the yummy honey!  

We are respectful, we listen, we learn.  

He rōpū manaaki, he rōpū whakarongo, he rōpū ako mātou. 

Learning about new things.

Today the children were lucky enough to have something exciting to explore at kotahitanga, Angus had something that "Lives in water"

Angus explained to the children giving them some clues so that they could problem solve and see if they could guess what it might be. 

"It's slippery, and it hides under water" Angus shared, it wasn't long before the children were putting their hand up to have a turn at sharing their ideas. 

Angus decided to give some more clues, "It lives in rivers to breed and then it goes out to sea" 

Pippa shared "A shark, a baby one" Mason wondered if it was a star fish.

Aria managed her impulsivity, keeping her idea until she was asked to share and quickly shared "A Crayfish" then Archie asked "Is it a baby stingray" 

We were having trouble guessing so we decided to get another clue from Angus. He happily shared "They slide over paddocks, have no legs and have no scales" this really got the children thinking.

Zack shared "A snake" but no it was t a snake, it was long and thin like a snake but not a snake

It wasn't long before Ben excitedly put his hand up and asked "Is it and Eel" 

What fantastic problem solving by the children. We are problem solvers,ngā tamariki kaipororaru whakatika. After working out what was in the bucket Angus' Mum took the bucket round the circle so all the children could take a look at what an eel looks like and we all learnt something new from a question James asked. 

As the bucket went passed James noticed the Eel was not moving much "Is it sleeping?" He questioned. We then found out that yes it was because eels come out at night and sleep through the day!  

What a great way to explore something new through getting given clues and allowing up the children to guess what it might be. 

Jumping in the Pool

What amazing children we have! 

Being creative is valued highly within the kindergarten environment and means that we can undertake things like the song "5 Frogs on a log" in many ways.

Liz has been with the afternoon children this week and was inspired by a log outside.

The children responded with wonderment and awe to sit beside each other and play out the familiar song. 

The group waited until they heard their name before jumping in the pool! They made room for each other! They smiled as their audience displayed their delight and joy to see them manage their impulsivity to play their part! 

Toia te waka – mahia te mahi Be actively involved!

Playing Card Games

This morning children spent quite some time playing a new game, Spot it!

Two cards are played and each card only has one picture that matches a picture on another card. 

Have a go, to see if you can find the matching pictures on the card below!

When we first started playing it took a while, but as the children continued to play they got better and better at finding the matching image or word - they really had to persevere! Other children began to show some curiosity, and it didn't take long for them to become involved.

 

The children were encouraged to say the name of the image they had found was the same on each card, so that their friends could see it as well. This meant that they had to practice managing their impulsivity, by not picking up the cards until we could all see - this was quite hard as it was so exciting each time we found a match!

It wasn't long before the group requested that we play snap, a game that had been played last week. The children took responsibility for handing out the cards so that each person had a pile before beginning the game. Little teacher support was needed as the group took turns and supported each other with the 'rules' of the game. Kua mahi kaha koe - You have worked hard! Snap continued to be played for along period of time with some children choosing to leave and others joining. 

The teachers will ensure that cards games are availabe for children to play each day if they choose. We will have a variety of games available that the children may like to learn about, or even share their knowledge and expertise from playing card games at home.

Exlporing musical instruments.

Today the afternoon children had a chance at exploring some of our musical instruments. As they worked alongside each other they explored how different instruments worked, trying out how they thought it might work then asking me "what does this do?" Happily I showed the children how we used different musical instruments. 

We had fun, exploring new instruments, some we tapped with our hands, and others we shook. The children managed their impulsivity as they waited for the next instrument to have a go, sharing different ideas and exploring how they could use them to make different noises. 

We showed Ako as we taught and learnt fro. each other different ways the instruments may work. This is great he rawe tēnā!

Developing Relationships in the Afternoon!

Forming and developing  relationships is an important part of  kindergarten life. It  is always a pleasure to observe  the afternoon  children taking risks as they become courageous in initiating  conversations and playing alongside others.  Fun, laughter and  repetition helps to consolidate  these developing  these  relationships.  Coming down the slide James turned to his friend and said, "Gain!"  Simple words like this encourages the game to continue.  Teachers support this as they stand back observing and knowing when to step in. Te Whaariki  (Early Childhood  Curriculum) states   that  children develop strategies and skills for initiating, maintaining  and enjoying  a relationship with other children. (Contribution Goal 3).

Rainy day fun!

Inside this week the children have experienced lots of different activities to keep them engaged, using curiosity, problem solving and managing our impulsivity. 

All week we have been lucky enough to have a trough full of sand inside kindergarten which was bought in on Monday when it was to wet to play in the outside sandpit.  The children have been building race tracks with small road cones and jumps out of sand. Working together they practiced racing their cars around the track, trying not to crash. It wasn't long before one of the children decided they would try out a ramp, jumping the cars off the ramp into a strategically placed box. There was a lot of trial and error involved with how fast the car needed to be pushed off the ramp, what angle and direction it needed to fly was also explored. This is very creative ,he tino auaha tēnei.

Another activity that involved us managing our impulsivity and Mahi Tahi, working together was some baking. We had so much fruit in our fruit bowl, we decided to make a banana cake and some fruit smoothies to share together. The children accurately measured out the flour, milk and other ingredients for the banana cake, taking turns to mix the cake together, finally it was time to cook, and boy did it make kindergarten smell yummy! The next day we iced the cake and began making the smoothies, the children helped put the ingredients into the blender until we had made enough for everyone to share. Finally it was time to drink some fruit smoothy and share some banana cake. 

These activities provide children with opportunities to try new things and using knowledge they may already have from home to share with us here at kindergarten. Ka nui ake to matauranga, Your knowledge increases.

The Bees at Work!

Today there was  a buzzing in the ivy above our heads. We looked and were amazed with the bees at work.  They liked the sunny areas of the plant and flew in and out of the small flowers on the ivy. 

Tayla, Jorja, and Addisyn spotted  them while playing in the sandpit. We became concerned if they decided to come close to the children but when having a conversation with the children they said,

"You just stand still if a bee comes near you.  I love honey!"

"Bees are precious, we need bees!"

"If the bees die we won't have any honey or food!"

Liz continued to discuss the  pollinating and good for all plants and Regan asked for her to tell him  again as he wanted to share it with his Mum.

Aria said,  "Bees go on a daisy and suck up all the  honey then they they got to make honey!"  and  "We'd have to eat grass or leaves if we didn't have bees."

Communicating with clarity/Mārama and sharing their theories to help us make the decision to trim  up the ivy to ensure the bees were able to keep working while we played nearby. 

Tino pai tamariki!