Swim Magic Comes to Nayland

20th September 2012

I knew that the team from Swim Magic had arrived at Kindergarten when I saw the children pointing excitedly at the gate. After all, it's not every day that a giant blue penguin comes through our gates! Our thanks to Shirlene and Kori, the penguin, for coming in and sharing with us the important lessons about safety around water through talking to the tamariki, asking questions, sharing a story and learning some new songs...all timely messages as the summer season fast approaches. Let's stay safe this summer!

A vist to the Stoke Library.

Maria, who has been a student teacher with us for the past five weeks wanted to take a small group to the Stoke Library. So we planned a trip and of course we were all pleased to see that the rain had stopped so we could walk .The children were delighted to see a familiar place and that huge hand was of course of interest. Sarah , one of the librarians met us and welcomed us to her place. We sat on the mat and sung a welcome song and then Sarah read us three stories.We were able to browse though the book shelves and bring some back to kindergarten to share . I think one of the highlights for many of the children was being able to have a stamp on their hands. A practice that Nelson Libraries have been offering children for a very long time, but one that never fails to delight. Thanks Meg and Kris for coming along to help and thanks to Maria for organising the trip.We all had a wonderful morning out exploring another part of our local community.

Bird Pudding

The trees are looking bare and the weather is wet and cold, it was time to think about making bird pudding for the hungry birds.

I asked who would like to help me and I soon had lots of willing helpers. 

The children chopped our left over fruit and mixed the bird seed and peanut butter in the bowl.

We started mixing with the spoons and before long we were exploring it with our hands,  then the yummy fruit and peanut butter smells began to fill the air.  Yum this looked good enough to eat.

We added some silverbeet at the last minute, as those cheeky birds had been eating all our plants in the garden, so we added some greens.

We moulded the mixture into balls and then found some recycled netting to make up the holders to hang them in the trees.

We will watch with interest now to see if the birds come to eat our delicious bird pudding.

We are wondering what sort of birds will eat our tasty bird pudding?  

Apple Muffins and Gingerbread Men

Thanks to our Sponsors

Oh What A Find!!

While searching for some historical information on the Stoke/Nayland area I came upon this amazing article.  Check out Nayland Kindergarten when it was first built, and I was super impressed to see a camera being used in 1967, I am wondering though if it had film or not?  Maybe someone attending the kindergarten at that time could tell us.  Looking forward to some feedback.

 

 

A Visit to Kaz's Farm 1st June 2012

This scrapbook personalized with Smilebox

Up close and personal with a .....Mako Shark!! Louie's Granddad Wally and Nana Barbara brought another visitor to kindergarten .As soon as they came through the gate excitement mounted as children remembered the Marlin from a week or two back.We called the children to mat time and they sat there rather spell bound, taking in it's size and especially the TEETH.Wally was a fabulous teacher and led the children in a discussion about what sharks eat, where they live and where they sleep.We were all given the chance to go up close to the shark and touch the teeth! Thrilling for some, daunting for others. Once again Wally and Barbara thanks so much for sharing your passion with us. The children have continued to talk about the mako, have a go at drawing it, and also I have noticed quite a few games about sharks and sea life in general.We do look forward to whatever "taonga - treasure" you bring next time.

A marching we will go....

Hi ho the dairy oh, a marching we will go.  Having families share their skills and interests is a huge part of our programme, so when Archie's Mum and sister Amelia and her friend came to share their marching skills we all joined in.  

We were very impressed with their marching routines and the huge amount of dance moves they had to learn to move in time to the music.

The children marched for  30 minutes afterwards, really enjoying the strong beat of the music and marching in a line with others.  The sense of enjoyment and the sense togetherness was very evident. 

We marched out the door, around the playground and back into the kindergarten, following behind Amelia as she led the way.

Emily marches as well, so joining in to show her kindergarten friends and teachers her marching skills was a very important thing to do.   There is alot of skill needed to marched, especially listening and moving in time, so Emily showed us how it was done. 
Thanks Emily you were superb.


A big thanks to Sonya, Amelia, and her friend, Archie and Emily for sharing your time and your marching skills.  We will continue to march to the music and hopefully when your marching group recruits this year you may have some more followers.

Biking Adventures

What a huge fish!

There was huge excitement last Wednesday when the grandfather of one of our Kindergarten children brought in a true to scale model of a striped marlin. For many of us it was one of those real "wow" moments as he carried it in and set it up on the especially made trestles. It was huge! The children listened attentively as he shared lots of interesting information about the marlin (e.g. the significance of the colours, what they eat, what they use their sword for, the importance of the different fins, the tail etc) and then invited questions from the children. They also had the opportunity to go up and look more closely at the fish and to touch it. Before they went off for lunch our guest asked the children if they would like him to bring in another fish for them to see. "Yes," they replied. "What sort of fish would you like to see?" he asked. "A shark!" was the unanimous reply. "One with really big sharp teeth?" he asked. "Yes!" they all called out excitedly. So that is the plan and I can't wait to see the children's reactions when that big mako shark comes in for a visit!

The next day several children joined me at the art table when I invited them to come and draw a picture of the marlin. I had a photo there as a discussion focus and I was impressed with the recall the children had of some of the facts that had been shared with them the previous day. My laptop also provided more pictures and information about the striped marlin and a very cool YouTube clip of marlin fishing off the Californian coast which got the children very excited and invited even more discussion. And the drawings that the children created were fantastic. Ka rawe, tamariki! Thank you , Wally!

A lunch to remember

We had been talking about making healthy choices for our lunch boxes with the children throughout the week, (just as we always do) but the highlight was bringing their empty lunch box on Friday, with the anticipation of choosing food that families had kindly donated.  We had gone on an excursion to the local supermarket as well to buy a few extra supplies and to find other foods of interest.

We had a fabulous morning with children and families exploring our options.

Thanks to our amazing children, families and whanau for making this happen.

Rippa Rugby - Bring It ON!!

A child's view of autumn

A child's voice - "It was beautiful when I took a picture".
Our outdoor playground is a maze of colours as our autumn leaves fall, what an inviting place to play and discover.
Looking through the lens of the camera activates children's eyes to the beauty and detail around them.

Children see what we fail to see sometimes. 

Places and spaces that were not visible before are now more visible and detailed.

Wheels & Breakfast

Many thanks to all those who helped out with our Wheels and Breakfast morning last week of term. Whether you came along on the walk/ride with us or stayed back and helped prepare the wonderful breakfast, your efforts were much appreciated.

Over the term bike riding has been a huge focal point for many of the children with several smaller biking excursions taking place. On the last Wednesday of term all the children were invited to bring their bikes or scooters for a ride along the railway reserve. And for those that did not have either there was the option of walking and some fun games out on the Broadgreen playing fields. Then once we all met up on the field, bikers and walkers, it was back to Kindergarten for a scrummy, healthy breakfast of toast and fresh fruit, also joined by our school friends from Room 12. As part of the process of renewing our Healthy Heart award, we  regularly talk to children about "everyday foods", "occasional" or "treat foods", and the importance of having breakfast. Sharing breakfast was another great opportunity for children to experience healthy food choices in action.

At Nayland we believe in children being physically active, with lots of opportunity for new challenges. Bike riding has certainly provided lots of active exploration, new challenges and learning for many children. And to make it more accessible to more of our children we have purchased three new bike helmets and two new running bikes are on order, thanks to the generous anonymous donation from someone in our local community. Let's get biking again next term!

Beach Excursion Day