Term 3 Week 9

Our last week of the term...roll on term 4 and summer!!

This week was a full on week in preparation for the term break. We have had 7 Kindy Birthdays, saying Happy School Days to Charlie Templeton, Jodie Connell, William Reid, Ruby Diack, Jessica Hawkes-Fennelly, Reilly Fieten, and Elyssa King! We also celebrated Sally's birthday on Tuesday!!

Lionel's photo of the Wednesday birthday crew: Jessica, Jodie, Reilly, William, Elyssa and Ruby

NATURE DISCOVERY
The sun was out for our last day at our new Nature Discovery Programme on Tuesday. Thanks to William's Mum Bettina for coming along as Parent Help. We found some bones in the bush and are yet to discovery what animal these may be from; looked inside a tree that was filled with sap; collected kowhai seeds; weaved flax with Bettina; looked for huhu grubbs for Henry the Tuatara; discussed our "Leader" and "Back stop" roles; and made the most of the sunny day!

WINTON KINDERGARTEN PHOTO COMPETITION!

Lionel takes a group shot of us on Wednesday morning!!

On Wednesday we had a visit from Lionel Benjamin, Deputy Principal at Aurora College, Professional Photographer, AND judge of the Winton Salvation Army Photography Competition! Lionel took photos of us on the day as a big group and of the birthday children, as well as talked to the teachers, parents and children about how awesome our entries were and that he was simply "blown away" by the standard of work entered!!

We discussed our special award that he had gifted us of a family photo shoot and canvas for one lucky family as part of our success at the Winton Salvation Army Photography Competition. Lionel would like for ALL our families that are interested, over the holidays, to take ONE photo (family effort although we LOVE our children’s photography skills), PRINTED 5x7 minimum size. The THEME for this is “I wonder?” – interpret this in any way you like!! These photos must be in to Christina by the end of the first week of term 4 – FRIDAY 18^TH OCTOBER 12:45PM, along with a short DESCRIPTION of how your photo links to the theme of “I wonder?” Lionel will then judge the photos and present his winning entry with the family photo shoot prize. GET SNAPPING!! :)
 
WALK TO ST THOMAS SCHOOL TF GROUP
On Thursday we were invited along to St Thomas School by the Room 1 class to view their art works and watch their dress rehearsal of Noah's Ark. Thank you for all our Parent Helpers for coming along - a lot of fun!!

Room 1 performing for us on Thursday

GEORGIA
We said a fond farewell to Georgia this week as she finished her final days of her last posting ever!! Congratulations on your achievements and we all thank you for your hard work and wonderful learning experiences that you have created for the children. Bring on December for Graduation!

The teaching team at the Mad Hatters Tea Party earlier in the year...Farewell Georgia, you're amazing!!

END OF TERM TIDY UP
A big thank you to everyone who pitched in this week with jobs around the Kindergarten...Many hands do make like work and ensures our Kindergarten continues to provide quality early childhood education for your children...this would not be possible without your help - thanks!!

TERM 4 STARTS: MONDAY 14TH OCTOBER

Term 3 Week 8

WINTON SPRING FLOWER SHOW

This morning we took the TF Group along to see their amazing entries at the show! A big thank you to all our amazing parent helpers who came along. Our entries ranges from clay works to natural crafts, our children are really so talented that we put in as many as we could!! Well done tamariki what an awesome effort....SOOOOO many placings and certificates! If you get the chance to head along today or tomorrow it would be well worth the trip - $5 entry for adults, children free @ the Memorial Hall (big purple building opposite the church).

Families and children viewing the flower show

Mackenzie with her entry in the Flower Show

Casey looking very proud of his winning efforts at the Flower Show!!

WINTON SALVATION ARMY PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION:

On Saturday night  we headed along to the Prize Giving and Exhibition of the photography competition. The judges just raved about our entries and all our amazing children! They were sooo impressed by our efforts that they awarded us a special prize - a new Canon SX 500 IS camera, photo shoot, and visit from Lionel Benjamin (professional photographer and judge) next week! Thank you to the families who joined us on the night, such an affirmation for our talented Winton Kindy kids!!

Christina, Tristin, Mackenzie, Jessica, Lionel, Albie, Charlie and Cohen receiving our award at the photography competition

 SCIENCE IN A VAN:
On Monday we had Science in a Van - Alan and Emily joined us in the afternoon to share with us about "Mixtures" "Reactions" and "Separation"! The children loved the bubbles and magic - totally engaged! Sally and the Discovery Time group then made their own mixtures after the inspiring Science show the day before!

Alan from Science in a van with the huge bubbles he was making!

Discovery Time - making our own "mixture" Albie, Charlie, Jodie and Reilly

 NATURE DISCOVERY:
This week we had a great time going on a "Treasure Hunt" organised by this week's Parent helpers. The children found a number of items - including Watties Tomato Sauce - I wonder what we would need this for?? Oh sausages for morning tea what a treat! Adam was a wealth of knowledge and taught us about different plants and bugs. He showed us the South Island Kowhai Tree and we collected the pods to get seeds to make into gifts next week. A big thanks to McDermotts for transporting us back to Kindy.

Parent Helper this week Robin and Jessica

Parent Helper Adam making head bands with Samelliah

LAST DAY FOR TERM NEXT FRIDAY THE 27TH SEPTEMBER

A big thanks to all those who have put their name down for End of Term duties. These can be completed from Monday please. 

GEORGIA'S LAST WEEK AT KINDY

We are sad to say that our wonderful student teacher Georgia finishes her final posting next week. Georgia joined us last year as a 2nd yr student studying through the Southland Campus of the University of Otago. We invite all families to join us for morning tea on Wednesday to say farewell. Georgia's last day will be Friday. We thank her for all her hard work and look forward to attending her graduation at the end of the year.

TF GROUP: Walk to St Thomas School Thursday 26th

On Thursday please remember to pack warm clothes, jacket, hat, and sensible walking shoes as we have been invited by St Thomas School to watch their dress rehearsal of their end of term production. We are still looking for more parent Helpers so please let Christina know by Thursday (email or leave a message on answering machine) if you can help out. Thanks.

We also need Morning Tea Parent Help for Thursday and Friday - if you are yet to take your turn this term, this would be a great opportunity to lend a hand. Thank you.

GO TEAM NEW ZEALAND - ONE RACE AWAY FROM WINNING THE AMERICA'S CUP!!

Term 3 Week 7

Nature Programme
This week we had our second day at Ivy Russell Reserve. A BIG thank you to our two parent helpers this week Craig Reed and Laarni Vasallo. The children had a wonderful day exploring more of the Reserve - finding many new treasurers deep within the forest, including a slide pit - awesome fun! As part of Conservation Week, we collected rubbish around the Reserve and swept the shelter - further instilling ownership of this special place within the Group. Last week we made bird feeders, and this week it was time to coat these in peanut butter, lard, and cornflakes (great idea Ruby!). Craig made a rope from knotting flax together and we used it as a jump rope! After a big day of fresh air, the good people at McDerrotts arrive with the "truck-bus" to give us all a ride back to Kindy - fabulous!

Ruby tries out the slide pit!

All aboard! Time to head back to Kindy!!

Winton Salvation Army 2013 Photographic Competition

The Winton Kindergarten children are very excited to be taking part in this year’s photography competition. As part of our Programme, we have introduced a digital camera for the children to utilize. Our strong ICT (Information and Communication Technology) focus at the Kindergarten is integral to our commitment for nurturing “21^st Century Learners”.

Trophies and prizes up for grabs at the Prize Giving tomorrow night!

The children LOVE to take snaps around the Kindergarten – in fact we had 705 photos to sort through in just the past week! The children helped to select just 7 of these photos to enter into this year’s competition, keeping in mind the theme “Celebration of life”. We entered a number of sections including Life @ Play, Life @ Work, and Life @ Home. Leading up to the competition Ruby, Kenny, Cohen and Dante went along to the Winton Pharmacy to develop our photos. While we were there the ink and the photo paper needed changing – what an eye opening experience for the children as we got to see the inside of the printer, and watch as the ink and paper were swapped! We hope you enjoy our photos as much as the children have enjoyed capturing these precious moments in their Kindy days.
Promoting our children as “Citizens of the community” is an important part of our Kindergarten’s philosophy. Taking part in this competition is one way we hope to raise our profile within the wider Winton Community, and to acknowledge the efforts of our amazing children!On Wednesday, we received a phone call from the Competition Organisers to let us know that it would be, “A very good idea if, our amazing photographers and subjects (our awesome children!) could come along to the Salvation Army Hall at 7pm this Saturday night for the prize giving!” Although the photographers remain anonymous as we have sooo many amazing photographers at Kindy, subjects in the seven photos entered, include the following children: Dante Wharf, Cohen Davis, Logan Wallace, William Reid, Tristin Davis, Albie Reed, Jessica Irwin, Joshua Short, Jasmin Johnstone, and Charlie Templeton. There are lots of great prizes and even a "Peoples choice" award where we can vote for our favourite pics on the night SO the more Kindy families at attending the better! See you tomorrow!

Winton Spring Flower Show

Milly, Stella and Lily work on their Spring Flower Show Natural Art Entries!

TF Group: We have been very busy in the Project room the past two days working on our Individual Project - Natural Art entries for this year's Flower Show. We will be entering our works next Thursday the 19th, and then taking a walk down to the Memorial Hall on Friday for the Show - lots of parent helpers on the day will be needed for ratios for our walk, a notice will go out on Thursday - see Christina if you are able to lend a hand, thanks!

Canteen Bandannas

We have Bandannas for sale for the next week, please bring your $4 and chose from the variety available to show your support for the cause, thank you!

We welcome Jaxon Bates to our MTW Group, and Fletcher Scott and Oliver Davis to our TF Group this week.

Welcome Jaxon Bates to the MTW Group

Welcome to Winton Kindy Fletcher Scott - I can be whoever I want to be at Winton Kindy!

Porter welcomes new face Oliver Davis to the TF Group!

 Thinking of others:
This morning the TF Group baked a cake for our Kindy cleaner to celebrate his birthday today and made him a purple crown - how kind!

The TF Group baking the Birthday Cake this morning

Term 3 Week 6

Nurtured By Nature
This week we started our Nurtured By Nature Programme at Ivy Russell Reserve. We are so pleased to get this AMAZING nature discovery initiative up and running at Winton Kindergarten alongside a number of other Kindergartens within our Association who have taken up the opportunity! Our programme is being run at the Ivy Russell Reserve each Tuesday from 8:30-12:30pm for the 10 older children, and as children head off to school, new spots will become available. A BIG thank you to Cath Thompson and Leevonne Diack who gladly put their hand up to be our first Parent Helpers on Tuesday. We had a wonderful time exploring our new "place" and discovering hidden treasures. We shared some of our guiding principles and practices with the children, including our "cooyee" call. I was "lost" in the bush and the group had to listen for my "cooyee" call to hear the direction to go to find me - they thought this was great! We explored the heart of the forest, delving deep inside the trees and shrubs. Henry Thompson found a piece of bark that he thought was shaped like a dinosaur - a special memento from his first Nurtured By Nature adventure! We also collected Gum Tree Bark for Rupert's Hutch - a busy day in the bush! We look forward to our second outing next Tuesday.

The Originals! Back row: Tristin, Jessica, Annabelle, Albie. Front row: William, Henry, Ruby, Kenny, & Cedric

Families arriving @ Ivy Russell Reserve...Reading about Ivy and the significance of this special place in our community

Henry, Kenny, Annabelle, William and Tristin emerging from the bush after finding our "lost" teacher!

Heading back to Kindy with Gum Tree Bark for Rupert's hutch. Tristin, Jessica, Ruby and Annabelle

This week we said Happy School Days to Alyssa Batt off to Winton School.

We also welcome some new faces to Kindy: Noewen Tejada, Casey Laffey, and Tingah-Bell Falologo.

Izzy welcomes Tingah-Bell Faalologo to the Winton Kindy whanau

Jodie welcomes Casey Laffey to the group

We welcome Noewen Tejada to the TF Group...Cup of tea time!

Georgia McMaster our 3rd year student started her final posting with us this week. Georgia will be with us for four weeks - such an asset to our teaching team!

Hay for Rupert: If any of our wonderful families have some hay to spare we are getting low in supplies for Rupert's Hutch...See Sally if you are able to help out. Thanks.