An overview of our busy term.

There was a technical hitch with our blog this term but we are now back online and thought it would be good to summarise our busy term.

Our mudpit continues to be an engaging space for kaiako and tamariki to explore relationships and the wonderful properties of mud!  It would be fair to say that by the end of this fun day they were wallowing in it and it was a bit hard to tell who was who.  The laughter happening drew an interested crowd.

We continue to explore the history of Nayland Kindergarten as the kindergarten has its 50th year celebration next March and we have set up a Facebook page to find some of the children and families who attended from 1967 to now.  If you are one of those then hop online and look us up.

Our wonderful reliever Alison is heading off overseas with a suitcase full of knitted vests for children who are less fortunate and need warm clothing to keep them warm.  She talked to the children about her passion for helping children all around the world and showed them where she was travelling to.

We headed into town to visit one of our families art exhibitions and the children had an opportunity to create their own collaborative art piece.

Art takes on many forms and body art influenced by kapahaka and maori legends has been a huge interest this term.  The facial mokos and body tattooing with arm bands, leg bands and full body tattooing has seen a lot of our boys especially engaging in highly detailed artwork.

The children are very interested in planning and brainstorming their own learning, so the teachers have modelled some ideas and the children have taken them to the next level.  The diagram below shows the brain and all the thinking ideas coming out of it.   These plans are highly valued by teachers and children and are revisited with the children throughout the term to see how their plans are going.

Planning is made visible as children set goals for themselves on the monkey bars, climbing wall and swings using photos and numbers alongside to show progress so that children can monitor how their learning journeys are going.  This is collaborative learning as children choose to have their photo and learning displayed for others to see which takes courage and highlights that they see themselves as part of a learning community.

There has been a enormous interest in literacy this term with story writing, list writing for trips, recipes, book making, invitations, cards, artwork displays and storytelling and much more.  In response to one child's interest for a writing area the teachers created a space which has been well used throughout the term.  Of course literacy happens everywhere and the outside photo boards support children to find the names, words and photos they need for whatever purpose.

The teachers write the words the children ask for with the name of the letter and the phonological sounds.   Many children are writing now without asking for the words to be written and they are forming their own sentences and stories.

This has been enhanced with the use of My Story a storytelling app on the iPads where children have recorded their stories and their learning to share on story park and also at group times.

We have been talking about having a hop scotch out on the concrete for a term or two now which has now evolved into a map of NZ.  Being able to hop from place to place links whanau and grows our knowledge about this wonderful place we live in.

I shared my thinking with the children and they immediately took my idea and drew the two islands with amazing accuracy and detail.  Independently they added in the mountain ranges, the rivers and they talked about the North Island resembling the stingray.  We have been watching many of the legends about Aotearoa this term and this has taken on a life of its own as children act out the legends in their play. 

It is exciting to see children driving their own learning and setting up the environment to follow their own interests and passions.  Each day we see children setting up their own obstacle/running courses outside and being self motivated to design and test their ideas.

The teachers, children and families are always on the outlook for reusable, recyclable items that can be remodelled and reused in different ways.  Our sustainable thinking has guided us to seek out and value the materials at the local recycle centre and the many donations from families as our 'play materials'.  Our 'once upon a time thinking' of having to buy new materials and resources no longer exists and our 'loose parts' mindset cares for the environment and enhances children's play. 

We carried out a waste audit with Roger our Enviro Schools facilitator to explore the contents of our rubbish bins. We talked to the children about the type of rubbish and the amount of waste we were putting back into our beautiful Aotearoa and what part we can play in looking after Papatuanuku.

So many wonderful opportunities come our way and the NZ Army band was just one of them.  What a fabulous musical experience with every instrument and a range of singers to entertain us. 

As part of our enviro schools silver level we continue to explore opportunities to recycle and articulate water for use in our play.  The new mudpit area has captured its own water with all the rain and  has provided some opportunities for these discussions using the new barrels and water pump.  

This term has also been about getting our worm farm back up and running as during the summer months our worms disappeared.  It is now time to think about the bedding we put in for the worms and the position of the worm farm in the environment.   We have also bought a new compost bin to manage smaller amounts of compost at a time and one that children can help us to manage too.

THAT IS JUST A SNAPSHOT OF OUR TERM BUT NEXT TERM WE WILL ENDEAVOUR TO KEEP OUR HAPPENINGS MORE TIMELY.

Exploring Art

We had been creating boxes displaying New Zealand nocturnal creatures both natives and predators, and inspired by the Brook Sanctuary's conservation efforts to protect native species. The boxes were created to be a part of a community project for the upcoming "Light Nelson", an outdoor light installation exhibition.

With the boxesit was time to deliver them to Office Max, and see how they looked in the room they had setup with UV light.  Our boxes with their glowing fluro paint looked fantastic!

Making the most of the opportunity to explore our wider community, we then went to visit the Refinery Artspace.  There were many different art mediums being exhibited for us to view; wooden and bronze sculptures, paintings, drawings, and even a taxidermy rabbit.  Surrounded with all this artwork, we then spent time sketching or photographing, the art which inspired us.   

Out and About in our Neighbourhood

At kindergarten we are always keen to head out the gate and explore our local community. With Ava's suggestion of a walk to Isel Park and a visit the cafe she had been to with Mum, and Hunter's suggestion of a visit to the library, we set off on a sunny Friday morning.

Ava lead the way, and it was a beautiful walk through Isel Park.

After morning tea, we explored the Cafe garden and play area.

Then we headed back to kindergarten, with a visit to Stoke Library along the way.  This was an opportunity to find some books to take back to kindergarten with us, and enjoy some stories, before walking the rest of the way back to kindergarten.

Kid Power Workshops.

We recently took part in the Kid Power programme.  We held a Parent Education night at kindergarten and then three sessions with the tamariki.  Kate Canton (Kid Power) did a great job of reinforcing  to the children the important messages of how to keep yourself safe from mental and physical harm .  Children learned how to use Body, Voice and Brain Power and what to do if they feel unsafe.  After the third session Kate was impressed with what the children had to say when recalling the information she shared.  Thanks so much to our family Liaison group for funding this programme and to COGS for subsidising the cost.

Fancy Nancy is a popular story we love to share at Kindergarten, so it seemed like a fun idea to have a "Fancy Nancy" party so we would all have the opportunity to dress up and share "fancy" food.

The girls were busy, getting ready for the big day.... jewellery to make,

                 clothes to sew,

          and food to prepare.

This all came culminated in a wonderful morning of celebration.  It was great to have family dress-up and come and join us for morning tea.

Off to Damin's house.

At Nayland Kindergarten we value the way that many whanau open up their homes for us to come enjoy and explore. These visits support children to make connections between home and kindergarten, the opportunity to practice respecting and caring for others treasures and a way to deepen the friendships that are happening at kindergarten.  Of course there is the added addition of parents having the opportunity to get to know other parents and caregivers too, which helps build a sense of community and whakawhanaungatanga.
This week Damin and his whanau invited us to their place.  Thanks so much Mikayla and Damin for the invitation.  We all had a great time exploring your whare and sharing yummy food and wonderful toys too.

"Lets bike to the park"

There had been lots of bike ridingg happening at kindergarten, so when Hadrian suggested "Let's bike to the Park", I thought what a great idea!

When the day arrived, with great excitement everyone got ready; backpacks, shoes and helmet.  Then off we set, past Broadgreen Intermediate, turning down and onto the Railway Reserve, we peddled for several blocks until we reached the Park.  After all that exercise we were hungry and thirsty, so sat together and had our morning kai.

Then it was time to explore! There was a fun dirt track that wound around the park, and up and down the hills.  Everyone did a great job of going in the same direction, and waiting at the top of the hill for their turn to go down.  There was so much energy amongst the group, the boys just kept on riding..... although some tried running it too!  

The morning flew by, and all too soon it was time to head back to kindergarten.

At kindergarten we love the opportunity to head out and explore our wider community, and supporting the children"s interests and passions.  On the bike ride back, there was talk of where  we could ride to next, with the BMX track was a popular choice... we will have to see what we can organise!