Out and About in the Community

Well the Inaugural Autumn Winton Flower show has come around again and the children have been so busy preparing works of art to enter into the show.

The ocean has been a huge topic of interest since returning back to Kindergarten for the year, so we thought, why not capture this interest and turn it into art. We are very lucky in that the organisers of the show ask us to put on a display each year and it's a great way to get out and about within the local community...And the children just LOVE seeing their art work on display.

We have been discussing the show for a few weeks now with the children curious about what it's all about and eager to be part of it. Molly Maguire in particular has been SUPER excited about the show and even managed to enter her own exhibits into the show from home...And she managed to take home 'First Prize' and a 'Special Mention' award for her floral sand saucer!! What a great effort and I hope all the excitement was worth it Molly!!

It was great to see families getting on board and working alongside their children to enter products made from home. Katrina Waters made her own Ballerina painted egg to come in Third place and Karl Gilbert done so well with his carrots that he won First prize...He was very very chuffed!! What a great effort everyone.

The show is open until tomorrow afternoon and it is well worth a look with children's entries to AMAZING floral art designs.

But can you believe there is no section for Kindergarten children's photography so we were a wee bit sneaky and added them into the 'over' 10 years category only to take out not only first place...but second and third as well!! We certainly have some budding photographers with a great eye for detail here at Winton Kindergarten!!

Thanks to our helpers that came with us this morning...and if you don't manage to make it to the show, the Winton Kindergarten display will be on show in the project room from next week onwards...It's pretty darn cool!! What a bunch of competent and confident learners you are producing, Ka Pai!!

Katrina's 'Painted egg in a cup' - Looking very cool!!

Yep, some definite budding photographers at Winton Kindergarten that is for sure!!

Karl's first prize carrots alongside Winton Kindy's second prize ones, we do make a great team...

That's it for us,

Ka kite ano

Kylie and Judy

Haere Mai ... Welcome Back Everyone !!!

A BIG welcome back to all our families & especially all our NEW families. Check out our 'Sand Artwork' that the children have been creating on the lightbox over the week. It looks AMAZING.

The newsletter has been e-mailed out to everyone ... if you didn't receive a copy, there is a hard copy available (on the wall just above the sign-in desk). Evaluation of Learning (Term 4 2010) are presently being e-mailed out (along with some technie cliches) let us know if you have received them.

You may have noticed a new face amongst our teaching team ... we welcome Leila Zamani who will join us on a Tue, Wed & Thur for the term. Leila completed some of her Teacher training in Southland & is presently preparing for her wedding in March before moving to Gore with her husband Mark. So a BIG warm Winton welcome to Leila.

Keep the 10 February free ... we have our first Kindy Parent Group meeting @ Kindy 7pm. Our format for our meetings, for 2011, will be very SOCIAL & very informal ... that is, we want LOTS of parents to come along, to socialize & to make our Kindy the 'HUB" of Winton. ALL the boring stuff is done by Judy (lucky me) so PLEASE we want as many faces along as we can get.

A Project Kylie & I are working on @ the moment is the revamp of the outdoor area. We have some money allocated to us from Kindergartens South (our Parent Organisation) & Claire Light has kindly offered to put together a Grant. Pukerau Nurseries have been approached to consult with us (they designed the outdoor area @ the new Longford Kindergarten in Gore). So this term it will be gathering lots of ideas.

The Winton Flower Show (16-18 Feb 2011) committee have dropped an entry form in for us. We plan to have a Winton Kindy display (could be a small Project for our Kindy Parent Group) & to enter some children's photography. There are LOTS of categories ... so if you wanted to enter something from home, please do.

A BIG thanks to everyone who signed our 'ECE cuts don't heal' Petition - 1 Feb 2011. We feel very strongly about the HUGE cuts to Early Childhood Education ... also if you have any opportunity to talk to Members of Parliament please do so.

Just a reminder to everyone ... PLEASE make sure the front gate is firmly closed behind you & also the front door. They both have swinging hinges but DON'T automatically close. It's good to check ... just to be on the safe side.

And also a BIG thanks to all our Parents who have put their name down for Parent Help ... the roster is on the sign-in table, grab a day that suits !!!