Term 3 Week 5

The start of Week 5 felt as though Summer had come early to sunny Southland! We made the most of the hot days with lots of water play in the sandpit. The children had their own water system set up, with water flowing down shoots and pipes in to the sandpit for all to utilise for their various projects! But by Wednesday our sunshine had run out...At least we had our Daffodil Day celebrations to look forward too! And today we gladly welcomed the sun back for our second Daffodil Day celebrations with the TF Group, again with lots of water play!

Happy School Days Kate Crowe off to St Thomas School!

DAFFODIL DAYS....

MTW Group: Wow, everyone did such a great job hunting out something yellow to wear - Tristin arrived at Kindy as a superhero with yellow cape (tea towel) how very creative!! When the children arrived at kindy they were greeted by some special visitors - Dante's Nan's goat and kid! We got to feed them and couldn't believe our eyes seeing the goat on the Nan's back!! We had lots of delicious yellow and daffodil themed delicacies for morning tea with pineapple, cheese, corn, mango, banana and lots of scrumptious baked treats too! A BIG thank you to Sarina for spending the entire day at Kindy face painting and helping with arts and crafts - such an amazing talent to have as part of our Kindergarten fabric, we are very grateful! $42.30

Megan feeding the goat on Wednesday

Sarina working her magic....Face painting ALL day. A BIG THANKS!!

MTW Group supporting Daffodil day!!

TF Group: We had some lovely yellow daffodil children arrive at Kindy this morning! A big thank you to all our families for their donations to the Cancer Society ($32.30 raised today), and for the effort put into their plate for shared morning tea - I'm sure many children didn't need lunch today! The children made the most of the sun and water play in the sandpit. We will be entering the photograph competition run by the Salvation Army with the theme "Celebration of life" so the children got snapping with the camera today....Watch this space!

TF Group enjoying their shared yellow morning tea today for Daffodil Day

Benjamin showing his support for Daffodil Day - looking fierce!!

Happy Fathers Day for Sunday to all our amazing Dads!!

Term 3 Week 4

POLYFEST GRAND FINALE!!!
Wow, the BIG day finally arrived!! On Wednesday the MTW Group made their way to Invercargill and for many this was their first time being on a bus! Everyone was buzzing and anticipation was bubbling over by the time we reached the Civic Theatre! We were greeted by the lovely Polyfest volunteer crew who helped us off the bus and escorted the group to our back-stage changing rooms. After a quick outfit change we now had a group of 39 performers looking proud (some a bit anxious and excited!!) representing Winton Kindergarten and the Central Southland Community! The puipui (skirts), tipare (headbands), black lips and finger lights further added to the sense that all that hard work learning and practicing our five waiata (songs) was about to be showcased for all to see! We could not be any more proud of all our children they did an amazing job...Singing, dancing, and truly performing an outstanding concert for the spectators! We could see by the smiles and body language that everyone felt so overjoyed by their personal accomplishments as well as the group's achievement!! A strong sense of self belief in their abilities as performers is now well established going by Wednesday's efforts. The perspective that "we are individuals within a group; not a group of individuals" was reinforced by the group's support and encouragement for one another throughout this learning journey. Well done to everyone!!! And a BIG THANK YOU to all our amazing volunteers and helpers on the day and in the build up to this event, we could not have achieved any of this without your support!

Birthday girl Miah with Jacqlynn at the Stumpery at Queens Park

On stage at the Civic Theatre with lights for Kapo Kapo nga whetu (twinkle little star)

Well deserved lunch stop and play at the Stumpery

Our amazing performers

Sophie supporting Red Nose Day with her "hedgehog" morning tea

Shared Red Morning Tea for Red Nose Day today

RED NOSE DAY

Today we celebrated Red Nose Day, showing our support for Cure Kids and raising $54 for the cause through the purchase of red noses and donations - a BIG THANK YOU to our TF Group - great effort!! Everyone looked dashing dressed in red, and what a red feast we enjoyed for morning tea with shared kai - delicious!! The children got red noses painted on and we had some great discussions about why we were wearing red, and what the money was going towards...I wonder if families had similar conversations at home as clothes were looked out, red morning tea was prepared, and pocket money spared...Does your child understand the purpose of Red Nose Day...Something to think about and perhaps revisit at home tonight with your child?? 

DAFFODIL DAY

Next week we will show our support for the Cancer Society through the Daffodil Day appeal...As above, talking with you child at home over the week about the meaning behind WHY we are supporting this cause may have many positive flow on effects...such as growing their awareness of the world around them; building a sense of empathy for others; for children to feel  that they are making a valuable contribution to such an important cause and that they too are citizens of the same community...

MTW Group: WEDNESDAY please dress in yellow or anything related to the daffodil theme - be as creative as you like, yellow healthy plate for shared morning tea, and a gold coin donation for the Cancer Society please. 

FT Group: FRIDAY please dress in yellow, perhaps a bit more challenging than the red today - but  you have a week to think about ideas and we can't wait to see what our creative families come up with!! And a yellow healthy plate and gold coin please.

Term 3 Week 3

POLYFEST ART:
Wow, congratulations to all our amazing tamariki and families on our recent success at the 2013 Polyfest Arts Awards Ceremony and Opening Exhibition at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery!! We were awarded 1st Place in our respective section for our entry "Home is where the heart is"!! A big thank you to the MANY FAMILIES who made the effort to come along on the night and celebrate this amazing achievement!! Check out today's copy of The Eye newspaper to see Rachel Reed and Alyssa Batt viewing our art in the Gallery before the Awards Ceremony - Go Winton Kindergarten - we sure do have an amazing bunch of talented artists here!!

POLYFEST PERFORMANCE:
Less than a week before we make our way to the Civic Theatre for our on-stage Polyfest performance!! A big thank you to Rachel Langford, Anita Batt, Maryse Anderson-Kereti and Rachel Crowe for their helping hand on Tuesday morning and Anita and Jenni Cubitt on Wednesday morning threading the puipui (skirts) and making the tipare (headbands) - we are going to look awesome!! A big thank you to everyone who has put their hand up to help out on the day!

Charlie, Albie, Emma and Alyssa sitting in front of "Home is where the heart is"

Our book sharing families contribtions on what is special about their child, family and the Winton Community

Kate Crowe being interviewed on our Polyfest journey

Butterflies with Rachel Reed: On Wednesday Rachel brought in her sewing machine to make butterflies to hang with our lonesome butterfly! The children used dye to paint their butterflies before these were sewed and stuffed with crunched newspaper

Hair Salon: This week our Dramatic Arts area has been transformed into a hair salon, initiated by the MTW Group and continued through to our TF Group also! Thank you Leevonne Diack for the capes to add to the excitement!! We have had some funky hair do's coming out the front doors, and it seems as though the appointments book is fully booked!! 

A warm welcome to Max Heckler and family who have joined the group this week. 

Term 3 Week 2

We are at the end of our second week already! Wow what a busy week here at Winton Kindy! Our greatly anticipated Water Feature FINALLY arrived after months of planning! Pukerau Nurseries have done a fabulous job designing and producing our new feature - check it our next time you are in! The children had a ball on Wednesday watching as the pieces were placed / chainsawed together - and then of course the seal of approval - turning on the tap and getting wet!! A great time to remind all our wonderful families to please pack at least once full set of warm clothes - we do like to get "hands on" with our play and learning!!

Our new water feature gets the seal of approval!!

This week we said a fond farewell to Hamish Russell off to Dipton School and Kelly Rosewarne off to Winton School - Happy 5th Birthday boys!! We welcome Elsie Turrell, Max Laughton and Porter Wright to our TF Group.

Welcome back Turrell family - Hi Elsie!!

Welcome Porter Wright

Welcome Max Laughton to Winton Kindergarten

POLYFEST ART
Congratulations to all our amazing families, our art entry "Home is where the heart is" was selected as a finalist for tonight's Polyfest Awards. A big thanks to everyone who worked alongside their children creating their self portraits for this entry!! The official Opening Ceremony is tonight after the Prize Giving. Great to hear LOTS of families are coming along for this SPECIAL evening! If you are unable to attend do pop into the Art Gallery at the Southland Museum next time you are in town and see all the amazing entries into this year's competition! Our other entries will be on display at the Invercargill Library so do take the time to acknowledge the efforts of our tamariki when you are out and about in town!!

POLYFEST PERFORMANCE
Wow, less than TWO WEEKS until the big on-stage performance at the Civic Theatre on Wednesday 21st August. This week the children were so so busy in the Project Room and at Discovery Time cutting and painting the pui puis! If you are able to spare some time on Tuesday Morning we now need to thread the pui pui with the children, awesome!! Our waiata is coming along, great to hear the children singing them throughout their day at Kindy and at home for their family!

Pui pui making in Discovery Time...Alyssa, Ruby, Jodie and Kate busy in their work!!

Tom Collie arrived at Kindy and noticed we needed a helping hand in the Project Room...Thanks Tom!!

Term 3 Week 1

Welcome back to Term 3 at Winton Kindergarten! We hope everyone enjoyed their time away and come back feeling refreshed for the new term! We have a short 9 week term with LOTS happening!! This week we said Happy School Days to Max Coveney - best wishes for your adventures at Lochiel School and thank you so much for our new fish!! We also welcome new faces to the Kindergarten whanau... Oliver Keith, Milly Watkinson, Isaac Ellis, Sophie Eade and Stella Sutton.

Welcome Isaac Ellis and family

Welcome to Kindy Sophie Eade!

Welcome Stella Sutton! 

Kia Ora Oliver Keith!!

Welcome to Winton Kindergarten Milly Watkinson!

Wow doesn't our Kindy look AMAZING!! Lots of hard work went in over the term break with the Kindy being painted. Our new areas of play, including the dramatic play and music area, literacy area with blackboards, and of course our fancy new lounge suite all make Kindy feel like a new place for the tamariki to play and learn! A BIG thanks to Malcolm Walker, Jenni Cubitt and Rachel Reed for coming in during the break to lend a helping hand getting Kindy ready for the start of Term. We also have new Birthday chairs, sculpted with chainsaw for our tamariki by Bobby Dowling - thanks they look fabulous! We celebrated the new term and our new-look Kindy with cake on Monday and Thursday for Morning Tea - what better way to start things off!! And a Big thank you to our TF Group children and parents for coming along and helping to spread the load of bark chips that arrived today...Many hands make light work!

The Bark Chip Mountain!!

Term Planning: That's what friends are for...
This year we have focused on dispositions around friendship. Over Term 2 we introduced the phrase: "You can't say you can't play" and this was later adapted to continue with: "But you can say you can play!" Awesome! This term we are introducing "Can I play?" At Monday Morning Meeting we had a BIG group discussion around our question and it was unanimously agreed that the response should be "Yes!!!". We talked about inclusion and ways of allowing others to join in on the play and learning...Lots of great ideas and theories! Over the next couple of days we overheard children trying out "Can I play?" and lots of peer discussions around this. Our Problem Solver / Mediators roles have become integral to the successful implementation of our rule/question - a big thanks to William Reid and Sophie Spedding this week! By Wednesday we could see how valuable this one phrase had become, with it already being extended to include "Do you want to play?" - inviting others into our play as well as children asking to join in. Wonderful!

Benjamin and Quilan being kind friends to an injured Freddie

Polyfest:
Polyfest Art: Our Art was taken to the Teachers College on the last day of term for judging...This week we are VERY pleased to have received an email stating that some of our entries have been selected as finalists. We are ALL invited to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery next Friday the 9th of August from 6pm for the Opening Ceremony of the Exhibition and Prize Giving!!! Wow - Winton Kindergarten will be on display in the Museum what an amazing achievement!! PLEASE mark this date on your calendars and come along with the family to share in the special occasion - what a wonderful affirmation of the children's effort and creativity!

Polyfest Lei, representing "I am part of the Community; the Community is part of me" is now complete...Well done to everyone for lending a helping hand, making flowers, weaving the wreath, collecting natural materials and coming in to help the children - this really was a whole community effort!! Keep an eye out around Winton for where our lei will be on display for the wider community to see our work! And check out the Local Newsletter out today where Winton Kindergarten feature!!

Our Lei during production!

Polyfest Performance: Wednesday 21st August. We can confirm our Polyfest stage performance at the Civic Theatre will be on Wednesday 21st August at 10:15am...More details to follow. We will need LOTS of volunteers on the day, as well as for costume making in the build up to the event. For many of the children this will be their first time on stage - what a milestone! Please do come along and support us and tell family and friends to come down to the Civic and see Winton Kindergarten on stage!

One of our new Birthday Chairs!!

Looking through the new arch way - thanks Rachel Reed!