Fit & Healthy

Over the past two terms there have been lots of small group excursions heading off to explore different areas of the community and follow up on children's interests. Two excursions over the past week have been organised in response to our physical programme and encouraging children to attempt new challenges. Two Fridays ago a group of ten went on a bike ride along the railway reserve to the playground down near Carpet Court. There we had morning kai and a play on the equipment before biking back to Kindergarten. The children amazed me (not to mention some of the parents) with their stamina especially on the ride home when it was all slightly uphill.

Then just last Wednesday a group of 8 children, 4 parents, 2 younger siblings and 1 family dog joined me for a walk up to the Centre of NZ. I wanted the children to have the opportunity to explore the wider community and enjoy some of Nelson's beautiful natural environment. Again, the children were awesome! We had a picnic first at the Botanics and then we headed up the "mountan", as the children called it. What amazing hikers they were and again, I know that there was one mother in particular that was blown away by the efforts of her son. And the view up there was well worth it. As one child kept saying, "Wow, it's amazing!"

Monarch Butterfly

It has been with much wonderment and excitement that we have all been following the life cycle of the monarch caterpillar. It was last month that we first noticed the little eggs that the butterflies had laid on the leaves of our swan plant. Over the weeks we watched as the tiniest of caterpillars hatched and grew bigger and bigger. They started to run out of food so more swan plant was brought in as well as a huge number of caterpillars. So the process continued and children and teachers alike were totally transfixed by the magical transformation of caterpillar to chrysallis which we managed to capture on video. And just over this past week we have watched so many beautiful butterflies emerge from their fragile cases, flapping their wings to dry them before teachers have removed them to the safety of the garden. Purehua tino atāhua!