Daffodil Day - 27th August 2010

Wowee!! What a fabulous group of families we have at Winton Kindergarten. The children looked absolutely awesome in their Yellow gears, and then there was that amazing morning tea!! It continues to blow Judy and I away with the imagination and inspiration that our Mums, Dads and children have when it comes to the food bought in for morning tea on these special days...A BIG thanks to everyone!!!

Children were just buzzing today and Matthew Gill, our chief photographer managed to capture lots of photos of everyone in their Yellow. Take a minute on Monday to check out all the pics on the big screen if you missed seeing them today. They are very cool.

We had daffodil painting, daffodils made with clay and we sat down at mat-time and made our very own daffodils to take home, they are the best type of flower...no water necessary.

Gifted to the children today also were their very own daffodil bulb to take home and nurture. Who knows, next year you may even have your very own daffodil to care for.

Another big thanks for the gold coin donation, a total of $31 was raised for the Cancer Society...Cheers!!

Have a great weekend everybody!! Let's hope the sun keeps shining it's little heart out.

Kylie and Judy.

P.S. For all our afternoon families...we look forward to seeing you all here at 1:15 on Monday afternoon with their gumboots, jackets and something for afternoon tea. The bus will be leaving at 1:30pm SHARP. Parents if you could toilet your child on arrival, we would really appreciate it to ensure we head off and make the most of the trip. Thanks all, Kylie

It's Bath Time....

As part of our All about me programme that we are running for the morning group this term, we have been talking lots about getting ourselves dressed and making sure we keep our bodies nice and clean. The children have really taken this on board and share with us with pride when they have managed to get dressed 'all by myself!!'

To extend this further, Judy invited Aimee and Riley (Dylan Diack's Mum and baby brother) into the Kindergarten to share Riley's bath time with us. The children were in awe....and Riley just loved all the attention from the children!! Something tells me Riley quite likes his bath time. He very patiently waited while Mum gave him a wash, and then many of the Kindergarten children lined up for a turn to help wash Riley too. What a cool dude he is, not even a grizzle!!

Many of the chidlren shared that they hadn't seen a baby being bathed before and Bryant wanted to know if Riley liked to dive under the water like he did in his bath at home? Maybe in a few more years Bryant.

A big thank you again to Aimee and Riley and also to Dylan for sharing Mum and that super cool baby brother of yours.

This week our morning group All About Me video has focused on how cool everybodies family is, and also how very different they can be. The sock family have also made an appearance, what a big family they are. We would love if you and your child could bring along some photos of your family to add to our Kindergarten family tree and also on 'old' sock from home so we can make some of our own sock characters too. Thanks muchly!!

Kylie and Judy

"GO THE STAGS!!!"

We have gone Rugby mad at Kindergarten!!! (Thanks to our good friend Cameron Scully)

Cameron has shared LOTS of information about the Southland Stags and the All Blacks recently and many of the children, as well as the teachers and parents have been listening intently to what the Stags have achieved during their last match!!

We think they deserve a big pat on the back for managing to keep that sought after Ranfurly Shield in the Deep South for so long...Let's hope they continue on their winning streak.

Christina, our resident 3rd year student designed a Winton Kindergarten shield alongside the children on Monday and everyone eagerly signed their name, wishing the Stags luck for future games. Even Sting managed to get his name on it!!

The following day Cameron, Hakan, Ryan and Sophie all worked together to create another shield. The perseverance that was displayed throughout the day as they worked to get the job done was fabulous, and I'm sure you would agree the end result was something to be proud of!!

Isn't it great to see the Southland spirit alive already within our Kindergarten Whanau....

Judy has been in contact with Rugby Southland with the hope we may get a chance to see the Ranfurly Shield 'in the wood'. Keep an eye out for more details regarding an excursion in the coming weeks, we will be calling out for helpers.

Also a big welcome to our new families who have joined us recently, it's great to have you join our Kindergarten community. We have fare welled Rylan Cooper, Hunter McGregor and Lucy White and wish them luck at school. Happy School Days to Sarah Beck tomorrow!!

We still have LOTS of spaces on our parent help rosters. A big thank you to everyone who has already put their name on the roster. If you have not yet done so, the roster is located above the sign in desk. It's not a big job and you are not expected to stay for the whole session. It's also a great opportunity to see what your child gets up to when they are here. Thanks guys!!

One more thing, the morning children are learning their phone numbers and addresses at Kindergarten. It would be great if you could work with your child at home as well. It is so important for your child to know this, especially in an emergency or if they get lost and it reinforces what we watched last week as part of our All about Me programme.

That's us for now,

Kylie and Judy!!

Let's find out how this camera works....

Many of the children in our afternoon session have begun to take in interest in the digital cameras and how they work. Recently we have been getting many requests from children to use the camera, and I must say some are getting very savvy with using the functions. Sam, Matthew M, Malachi and Karl have taken a very strong interest and today along with Olivia and Maggie they found a brand new feature!!

On Monday Charlie bought in some tadpoles that he found in an old water tank at his house (thanks Charlie!!). They have been making themselves at home in our perspex tank outside this week. Karl was using the camera on Wednesday, taking photos of a variety of things outside and I asked if he could take some photos of the Tadpoles, "Sure", he said and away he clicked.

Great skills Karl!! However, the children have shown a great deal of intrigue with the tadploes wriggly tales so I suggested we take a movie. "What's a movie", Malachi asked. So I proceeded to show him how the camera can also capture the picture while it's moving.

When the movie began, Malachi and Matthew (who had come to see what all the fuss was about) became more interested in the movie itself, rather than the Tadpoles, check it out....

There were hooked, I asked if they would like to take their own movie...."YEAH", Malachi agreed, and we had also attracted the attention of Olivia, Maggie and Josh!! The next step was to think about what they would like their movie to be about...dancing, singing, talking etc???

Here's what they came up with....

Sam wasn't too keen to be in the movie so I asked if he would like to capture the movie children and he quickly agreed, here it is (not too bad for his first time too I must say!!),

Technology is sooo amazing and continues to astound me as it has such a powerful effect on children's learning. What they were able to accomplish in a matter of minutes was fabulous and being able to share it will you all on here can only be described as brilliant!! I hope you have enjoyed your children's time in the limelight. I look forward to more movie making in the future, you never know we could have the future Peter Jackson or Steven Speilberg right here at Winton Kindergarten.....

That's us for now,

Kylie and Judy