Daltons Sunflower Competition.

We have joined in a nationwide competition, growing Skyscraper Sunflowers.
Daltons kindly sent us pots, seeds, seed trays, seed raising mix and compost. During the past week many children have been busy helping to plant out our seeds.  We have also bought a mini greenhouse to germinate the seeds in.  Children will help to water and care for these, and I am sure they will watch their progress with great interest.  Taking part in this competition is another way of providing children with hands on experiences in learning about kaitiakitanga - caring for our environment.  The excitement so far has been fabulous and several children already check the pots daily to see if anything has happened.  Come and take a look for yourselves next time you drop off your child, and of course you can check their  progress right here on the blog. Ka kite ano.

An Amazing Opportunity

We are very excited to be presenting a workshop at the Educational Leadership Conference in Hamilton in October 2014.  Read our brief, we are privileged to celebrate our boys.

Lynne Paul & Margie Meleisea - Front Framing Boys For Success!

Keeping boys in the front frame!!!!   Using dispositional learning to support boys to be successful as they navigate the complexity of learning.

Learning Stories provide a vehicle for teachers to unpack the importance of play for boys in an environment that affords them the places, spaces and time to develop an understanding of themselves as successful learners.  The teachers at Nayland Kindergarten encourage boys to move to learn, to struggle with difficulty, to set themselves goals and negotiate the complex web of social relationships.

To afford boys an environment that supports them to be successful learners demands a strong ethos of reflective teamwork and an environment that invites, stimulates and challenges boys to engage and lock onto learning.

This is our story at Nayland Kindergarten about keeping boys in the front frame.... keeping learning real, relevant and responsive.

About Lynne & Margie

Margie and I have worked together for over 8 years at Nayland Kindergarten, we both share a passion for “boys as successful learners”.  During this time we have engaged in a 3 year research project with Core Education and the Ministry of Education which highlighted the role of ICT in children’s creativity through the visual arts.  This amazing opportunity highlighted boys passions for technology as a tool for learning and boys as literate visual artists.  Further research 2 years later with Core Education highlighted boys as being highly successful literate and e-literate learners.  

Together we have presented our research a number of times at Ulearn conferences, at a Wintec Arts Conference and at a Reggio Emilio Conference.

We are excited to be able to celebrate boys as successful learners and we are always out there looking for opportunities to further our learning and to share our passions, interests and spirits with who ever wants to listen.

We are all artists here!

During the term break the teachers took time out to explore encaustic art with Lyn @ LynNZart on Golf Road Nelson.  She also has a gallery of all her beautiful work.  Check out our efforts, we were all feeling very artistic at the end of the 1 hour session and left with our masterpieces in hand.  Our artwork is now up on display for others to see.

I am heading back to pick up a kit, can see this being a new hobby.

The Carving Project

We want to thank Stuart Kere for the beautiful carved panels that now sit proudly in our entrance way.  The teachers/kaiako have been talking to children and families over the past 3 years about  what could be on the panels and we gave our brief to Stuart, who symbolised it with so much aroha/love and thought.  He initially started from the children’s ideas and then he has woven the teachers and whanau ideas through it, so that it is all embracing of us all.  Stuart blessed the panels on the first day back of Term 3, and we had a wonderful turnout of people to be part of the blessing. We want to thank Enviro Schools for part of the funding towards the panels, also the Family Liaison Group and the teachers who contributed towards it as well.
We encourage tamariki and whanau to touch the carved panels and enjoy them as this builds up the mauri (life spirit).  There is a small space at the end of one panel, which Stuart has left for us to add something later.

 

Celebrating Mātāriki.

Mātāriki , Maōri New Year is an important part of Māori culture and we wanted to plan a celebration that tamariki, whanau and ngā kaiako could share together. Children were invited to bring a vegetable from home to contribute to the soup  for  shared kai. During kindergarten session times  we chopped the vegetables for the soup and made star cookies for dessert.
At mat time we practiced songs Mātāriki  so  we could sing it to their families . On the night children came excitedly through the gate, ready to eat together and then share their waiata with their whānau.  How exciting to be able to share not only the kai we had all made together but also the songs we had been learning .
Once it was dark enough we all went for a hikoi to see if we could spot the "Mātāriki Stars".  Sadly it was a cloudy night but everyone was still very excited to be out walking in the dark.  After our walk we returned to kindergarten for dessert and hot chocolate.Ka rawe, it was awesome to have  so many families join us for our celebration.

Get set go!

Jenny Dravitski from Sports Tasman is supporting the teachers to up skill their physical knowledge by implementing a programme called Get Set Go.  There are resource books, physical sessions for teachers and children and bins of extra equipment.   Jenny sessions with the morning and afternoon children has been about Balance this term.  How many different ways can we balance our bodies???

Out the gate and onto the reserve

We are often heading out the kindergarten gate to visit children's homes.  This is a great way for children and families to share something about themselves with friends.

 

 It is important to visit teachers homes too, so that children can learn more about us.  It is not uncommon for children to think that the teachers live at kindergarten as we spend long hours there at times.

Sometimes we visit other kindergartens that children may have transitioned from, to maintain the links between teachers, children and families.  

We are very lucky to have The Railway reserve walkway which takes us on many adventures. It has now been enhanced with physical challenges and beautiful plantings.

Bigger paper leads to thinking on a bigger scale

We have been lucky to source some ends of large heavy quality paper from a clothing design company and it has been exciting to watch how the children are exploring their thinking on a much bigger scale.  The provocation was the large piece of paper and the ideas came independently from the children.
The first picture was done with coloured felt pens, it is a city with high rise buildings, a tower, a roading system with signs and buildings and a detailed sky above the city.  It is interesting to note that the painting was created by 4 children, who each brought their own thinking to the canvas.

The second painting is created by 6 children and is the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  This was one child's idea and others asked to help draw the scene.  We headed to the floor so that we could all access our piece of the paper.  The children all had a clear idea of what they were going to paint, and there was negotiation and debate about what was happening as it evolved.  A number of different painting techniques were being used, dabbing, smudging, sponging and wiping.   One of the children had created a very large wolf who was then superimposed on the top of the scene, creating an almost 3D image.  

The finished painting now hangs proudly on the wall awaiting the story to be told.

Polydron fun

Our new magnetic polydrons are proving to be very popular with the children, they are constructing vertically and horizontally.  The strong magnetic properties support children to have success with their building structures as they connect strongly.   What a great buy!

In the beginning.

A story we regularly explore at kindergarten is a Māori legend of how the world was created. In this particular story Ranginui and Papatuanuku were so close that their children had no room to move about and they lived in darkness. They decided to work together to separate their parents.  They were successful and light entered the world.  The children then became guardians /kaitiaki of different areas.  In response to this legend we invited children to help create the Ocean for Tangaroa, a forest for Tane Mahuta and the sky for Ranginui the sky father.  As we worked together we explored what things we would find in each of these areas and children drew them and added these to the scenes.   While working together on the project we also continued to explore the idea of us all being kaitiaki of the world we live in and what that might mean.  Children suggested things like "we look after all the animals " and "we can't leave our rubbish on the ground" .

Setting the stage

A couple of fabulous storytellers at kindergarten decided they wanted to put on a show at mat time.  We talked about needing to practice but the girls assured me that they had it sorted and it would be a surprise.  (Which indeed it was).
I suggested a possible location for the show and they were very excited about their venue and took upon themselves to paint the prop (puppet stand) on the side.  Some very creative and inspirational designs were created, and engaged a growing number of stage crew in the process.

The girls made a fabulous job and the show was a blend of storytelling, dramatic performance and comedy.  They had their audience in hysterics (and teachers too) and kept their audience captivated for 15 minutes.  A job well done girls.  Mat times are much more fun when the children are running them.

Bubbly fun

I have to say that Facebook is a great place to find and share great ideas.  I discovered a fun art experience just using paint and bubble wrap on a roller.  The children used the rollers for a while then decided to take the bubble wrap off and press it onto the paper, which caused bubble explosions.
The resulting artwork was stunning and the colours were very dramatic.

Boys, technology and the arts

When the teachers bring the art spinning wheel out the boys gather around waiting for their turn.  There is a process in place, children have to make their own paper circle, drawing, cutting and getting it ready for placing on the wheel. The wheel is driven by a drill and the battery is attached at the side of the box for ease of recharging.  There is a light switch on the side to turn the wheel on and off.  I think for boys it is mechanical, it has "the noise, "the speed" and it never looses it fascination.  The children can use paint, dye, pens, spray paint.  The possibilities are endless and the learning is collaborative and creative.
As you can see there is lots of concentration and thinking, notice the three brushes moving together and the colour bands that are being created with purpose.

A special taonga gifted from the Sutton whanau.

  Today the kindergarten was gifted a beautiful picture from the Sutton whanau to represent the things we know are special learning at Nayland Primary School. Thank you Skye, Fern, Jo and Martin for the beautiful gift, the story of the painting and the wonderful presentation to us today. The magical world of fairies and unicorns will live in our place for always. Take the time to read all about this painting. The words are placed beside the painting on the wall.