Super Hero Saturday.

SuperHero Saturday.

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it’ s a bunch of  Super heroes. 

Kindergarten was transformed on Saturday morning when it was taken over by a group of super heroes.  It was wonderful to watch the children show their special heroes around kindergarten, and  be able to  have plenty of  time to enjoy playing together.  We were delighted that so many children and their special heroes could make it to kindergarten.  We trust you all enjoyed yourselves and we look forward to sharing more times like this together.  We know the boys were very excited to be planning this morning and equally excited to be sharing their favourite kindergarten spaces and places with their important people. Tino pai koutou mahi - great work everyone.  

Nā ngā kaiako - from the teachers.

Inspiration for Sculpture

With the completion of our newly landscaped garden area, we have decided to create a sculpture to place n the corner of the stoned area.  With this in mind, we went out into our local community to inspire us, and learn more about sculpture.

We found sculptures made of wood, bronze, metal, ceramic and stone.  Through observation and talking to people in the community who knew about the sculptural artworks, we learnt that the sculptures often told a stories of people, places, and time.

Our next step, is for kaiako, tamariki and whanau, to work together and decide on the story of 'our place' and how we will re-create this within our sculpture.

Our Garden Makeover

Over the last several months we have talked with the children and whanau about what we could do in  the grass area, where the grass just won't grow!

A plan was formed, we wanted water and mud, and the teachers wanted the area to be natural and easily maintained.  With the support of local businesses, Fulton Hogan, Hirepool, and Delta, the materials for the makeover were sourced.

On Saturday a group of willing helpers spent the morning rotary hoeing, digging, carting and creating, and our beautiful new area emerged.

Thanks to everyone who helped on this project.  Already the space is being enjoyed and explored by the children.

Lets go swimming

The temperatures in Nelson this year have been extreme and the thought of going swim was very appealing.  To take under 5yr olds swimming has its challenges but anything is possible so we made it happen.
Kori the Penguin and to come to talk to the children about water safety in pools, beaches and boats first and then we made sure we had all the safety issues sorted and we were off to swim at Nayland Pool.  With 10 children and 12 adults we had a blast and it was great to see the developing water confidence.

Dinosaur Land

One child's interest is the inspiration for dinosaur land to be created at kindergarten.   We went in search of all our dinosaurs and discovered we had about 30 which we matched up and this created lots of discussion about meat eaters and plant eaters and who were the most ferocious.
There were many opportunities for tamariki to explore possible areas for dinosaurs to roam and then we discovered a dinosaur grave which caused great excitement.

Using some old netting, shade cloth, plastic tablecloths and nails it all happened.  We sources foliage from the garden and reels from the sandpits.  Our goal is always to reuse, recycle and redesign!!

It has a life of its own...

If you had wondered is the muddy play had run its cycle the answer is no... children are bringing their togs to ensure that it is happens again and again and again.  Children and whanau have found a way to make it happen more often with less muddy muddy clothing to deal with.  Children are taking responsibility for bringing their togs and changes of clothes so that all the MUDDY PLAY can happen.

It is interesting to know that the girls initiated this and were soon followed by the boys.  Our girls rock!

Creatively collaging...

The wonderful collage contributions by our whanau and the teachers enviro school focus on sustainability have meant that children have a wide selection of natural, recycles and reusable items of to select for their artwork masterpieces.

An idea from a child about stick figures has created lots of interest and this week teachers and children designed a puppet show with our puppets using unfinished paintings and many of the resources donated. 

Thinking about our thinking

As teachers we are always looking for opportunities for children to explore their thinking and find way of articulating and creating it through other mediums.  Keeping a loose parts lens intact means that whatever is available and accessible is often an opportunity waiting to happen.

This is also a celebration of children's individuality.

Celebrating children's photography

Children often ask teachers for their cameras rather than the cameras available to them each day, I am wondering if they think there is a difference?

I am constantly amazed by the images they capture.

They are innately drawn to look up and to look down and they are drawn into a look closer - the power of curiosity... teachers need to slow down and look through their lens more often.

Animal Park Adventure

 The end of term adventure was to visit the Animal farm in the Moutere for the morning. Loaded with our kai and lots of whanau we were off! Exploring the environment around us is an important part of our programme. Giving children experiences outside our gate is a key feature of our regular programme and we are often out on small group excursions. It is great to all be out together enjoying the beautiful country side around us.

 Children got to feed some of the animals as well as handle some of the smaller ones. Those goats and lambs sure were hungry. Lots of children had turns feeding them with bottles.

 

Thanks to all our families to  coming with us today and sharing in this fun morning. Maybe you will visit this place again in the holidays? See you in two weeks!

We did it... we added the water!

 The children had asked and asked, "can we have water now?"  We responsed with a big "YES!"
The fun was enormous and so was the mess, but did we care?, goodness NO!, we just kept on getting muddier and muddier and muddier.  

 I think that the question we might have asked ourselves quietly was, "would the girls love it as much", well here is your answer..... YES INDEED!  There were as many boys as girls.

Some of them played for up to an hour, then we got the hose and a big bucket and got ourselves back to semi clean.... we semi rinsed the mud out of the clothes and hung them on the fence, which looked rather funny too.
Many people passing just smiled or called out "now that looks like fun".
It was more than fun it was MIGHTY MESSY FUN WITH FRIENDS.

Following the children's lead..

It has been a struggle to keep the grass play area usable over the years, so the decision was made to dig it up as inspiration to find a solution.  We asked the children who would like to help dig it up and before long the spades, diggers, trucks and gumboots were hard at work.  We still don't really know what to do but the children have turned it into a construction site and an off road biking track, so maybe we just need to pause and follow their lead....