Haere Mai to all our new families!!

We have welcomed many new families into our Kindergarten family over the past few weeks so I just wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you all, it is so great to have you and both Judy and I look forward to getting to know your children and their family during their time at Kindergarten. To all our existing families, if you see a new face, please introduce yourself and make them feel welcome :)

We continue to have LOTS of changes in our rolls over the next few weeks, so please bare with us...it IS a big job, I'm sure you have noticed how many Kindy Birthdays we have had recently. They are such a neat way to share this very special time with the big 5 year old to be, and their families.

This week sees the end of our 'All About Me' programme for our morning session. I hope everyone has found this beneficial for your children. We had Jo Lilley and Amby the Ambulance from St John come to the Kindergarten yesterday and Jo was blown away with how many of the children knew their own addresses and phone numbers...Awesome ay!! Remember to keep working on remembering these with your children. You never know when they may need to use them to get help for themselves or someone else.

Also don't forget to return the 'All about Me' evaluation form please.

Have a great holiday everyone!!!

We will see you all back ready for yet another busy term on Monday the 11th of October!! Term 4 already...where has the year gone!!!

Kylie and Judy

We have been busy!!! Take a look....

What a busy past couple of weeks we have had here at Winton Kindergarten!!

We began with Maroon Friday for the morning group and a dress up day in the afternoon group with both days raising funds for the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake appeal. Maroon Friday also worked in conjunction with the Rugby Southland initiative as they are asking all Southlanders to dig out their Maroon every Friday while the Stags hold the Ranfurly shield. Well done to Emma McCallum and Cameron Scully who remembered again today :) .

A big thanks to ALL who contributed to the Earthquake appeal, Winton Kindergarten collectively raised $76.60 - Fantastic!! Mother nature can be so unpredictable at times and I'm sure it has made everyone more aware of what they need to do to get their homes and families more prepared in case mother nature decides we need a bit of a shake up. We have talked lots about 'Turtle Safe' and finding a doorway or table to take cover under. We also have regular earthquake drills too. Talking about this at home will further ensure your children know exactly what to do in case of an emergency.

A big thank-you to the 6 parents who came along to help at the working bee last weekend. Our parent group organises these for us and they will occur once a term to ensure our grounds are presented to a high standard. Many hands make light work as they say so the more people we could get coming along to these would be fantastic. Keep an eye out on the notice board for the next one.

Yesterday the Morning children were invited to see the production of 'Snow White' at Limehills school. The senior school students were the stars of the show and to say our kindergarten children were mesmerised would be an understatement!! What a lot of time and effort put into such an event and were felt very privileged to be able to get a private viewing!! The children were also lucky enough to get to chat with the stars of the show afterwards and check out the set while they got their photo taken up on the stage. I'm sure there were LOTS of stories being told about Snow White over the dinner table last night. I wonder if anyone had Subway for tea.....???

Our Celebration of Learning evening was held last night too. What a great success this was once again. It's great to see so many Mums and Dads interested in what's happening at Winton Kindergarten. Both Judy and I are excited as our work in the 'Special Focus Kindergartens' continues to progress and we really appreciate your input into your children's education. I have posted a couple of the clips that we talked about last night on the BLOG too for anyone who missed them. Also if you haven't already received one, for the people that came along there is a chocolate frog waiting for you in the office :) See Kylie!!

Something Daryl, our Parent Group president thought after listening to Johan and Joyce speak was getting our parents to sponsor our very own stoat trap. How cool would that be, getting regular updates as we found out how many stoats and rats our trap had eradicated. Food for thought!!

We also discussed the differences between 20th century education and 21st century education and my goodness what a difference. Technology use on both schools and kindergartens has increased remarkably in the last 10yrs which is proving to be very beneficial for our children. If you have any questions from the evening, feel free to ask

Again, thanks all for coming, and we can't wait for the next one!!

Like I said we have been busy!!

Till next week,

Ka kite ano

Kylie and Judy

21st Century Education vs. 20th Century Education

Crazy houses-A follow-up from our Celebration of Learning Evening

An afternoon reminder.....

Hi to all our afternoon families,
Just in case you didn't get your notice, we are holding a dress-up day at Kindergarten on Monday afternoon to raise funds to go towards the canterbury earthquake victims. Children can dress up in their favourite outfits for the day. We ask if it's possible could you bring along a gold coin donation and a shared plate for afternoon tea.
Thanks all,
Kylie

Southland Stags Ranfurly Shield Holders

STAG fever!!

The day had finally arrived....and we weren't going to let a little bit of bad weather keep us away after counting down the sleeps for the last week!!

We all clambered on the bus after singing our own rendition of 'The wheels on the bus' song and putting on our excitement!!

Once in Invercargill we headed towards The Homestead Stadium. Archie whispered in my ear as we got closer, "Does the bus driver know where he's going?" I sure did hope so Archie, and sure enough around the round about we went and we were there!! Phew.

Once off the bus, we all went inside to be greeted by the almighty Ranfurly Shield!! I must say, Cameron, Archie, Eddie and Josh along with many others were in awe!! Cameron took the first opportunity he could to have a feel of the 'Log 'o' wood' in the flesh!! Amaaaaazing.

Russel was our tour guide for the morning and took us all around the Stadium, including the Stag's changing room, and what did we see as soon as we walked through the doors, the Winton Kindergarten Shield that we made!! It also had the smell of liniment lingering in the air. The president's lounge. And as morning tea time loomed we heading up lots of stairs to the supporters lounge, and what a view from the top!!

After our tummies were filled we heading down to the grounds for a bit of a run around and we got to have our photos taken with the Ranfurly Shield, it was very very special. Be sure to check out the big screen on Monday for photos, and if you would like a copy let either Judy or Kylie know and we can email them to you. Also for the parents who were taking photos of the day, feel free to email some in so we can add them to our slide show here at Kindergarten.

Cameron thanked Russell on behalf of the Kindergarten, then we were back on the bus headed for the Invercargill museum to see the Mo Tatou Ngai Tahu exhibit which has been bought down from Te Papa museum in Wellington. Jonty Unahi and his Mum Danielle were able to view a piece of their ancestral heritage too, how cool is that!!

A huge thanks to all our parents helpers, I hope you enjoyed the morning as much as your children did.

Next Friday we will have Maroon Friday...Dress in Maroon to support the almighty Stags in hope of yet another victory!! GO THE STAGS!!

Kylie and Judy.

The wheels on the bus go to 'Forest Hill'

Well, our trip went from being postponed due to rain on the Monday to a glorious sunny day for us to head to the forest on Tuesday!! Yahoo.

Children and parents all loaded onto the bus set for an adventure. Questions were pondered..."I wonder if we see any dinosaurs" asked Malachi. "Nah, probably just bones" thought Sam. "Will it be scary" asked Molly.

Well we were soon about to find out as we turned onto the road to the Forest Hill reserve.

Driving along the bumpy road, the excitement in the air was infectious, especially when Sam turned to Declan and said, "I'm a little bit excited". I don't think you were the only one Sam!!

As we reached our destination the bus came to a halt and the 22 children all clambered off the bus set for an adventure.

Challenges were set as Judy passed around a list of treasures to find on their bush walk...I wonder who could fine the tallest tree, the sun, some big flat leaves, and was there a tree with flaky bark? And who knew there would be some teddy bears partying in the forest??

At the end of our walk we discovered a cave...Watch out for bears, and dinosaurs too for that matter!! By after a bit of a read of the sign we found out it was a Weta Cave. Talking about dinosaurs...Sam was right!! We did indeed find some bones, cool!! A big thanks to all our treasure hunters, you were awesome.

Also a big THANKS to all our parents helpers!! We couldn't go on these excursions without your help.

Cheers,

Kylie and Judy!!