Term 4 Week 10

Rata Park Rest Home
On Tuesday we went by bus to Rata Park to meet the residents, sing Christmas Carols, and share our Xmas Tree Brownie baking! Thank you to our helpers on the day. We were introduced to each resident - including an ex Southland Rugby Player, awesome! We met George the horse, the turtles, fish and Fat Cat. Elena Gwynn one of our Kindy Graduates showed the children around her special place with Mum and Dad. Then it was time to say one last "Merry Christmas" and head back to Kindy.

Bex's Baby Shower
On return to Kindy we had a special mat time for Bex on her last day with us. The children gifted Bex a handmade card and present, and then we ate her baby shower cake and treats! Wow, I think we are almost partied out!!!

Kindy Birthdays
On Wednesday we had one last celebration with the MTW Group. We said farewell and Happy School Days to Matthew Cairns, Freddie Reed, Porter Wright, Sarah Crowe and Sophie Eade.

Winton Community Christmas Tree Festival @ the Presbyterian Church
This week the children have contributed to our wood pallet natural Xmas Tree and up-cycled scarecrow Santa to enter into this year's Winton Community Christmas Tree Festival at the church next door. Thanks to our Forest Kindy children for collecting many of the pieces used for our display - bark, sticks, cones, and a birds nest! The festival starts today and runs Saturday and Sunday, with voting for trees via a donation.

A big thank you to everyone who helped out this week as part of our end of year clean up.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014! SEE YOU ALL IN THE NEW YEAR. WISHING EVERYONE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY :)

Term 4 Week 9

What an AMAZING WEEK we have had at Kindy!!.......

Amazing Me Parties
Wow, didn't you all look AMAZING at our Parties this week! What a fabulous assortment of superheroes, princesses, hunters and everything inbetween! Thank you to everyone who got dressed up for the occasion and for bringing along a plate for shared kai. Through the night on Tuesday Santa's Elves snuck into Kindy and weaved their magic....Wow, we came in on Wednesday morning to a festive Winter Wonderland - what a surprise!! In the words of Isaac Ellis as he arrived to see Kindy transformed: "It's not one thing that's special; it's EVERYTHING!!!"

Who is this??!! Santa hanging the lights!?!?!

1 2 3 AMAZING ME!!!!

This way.....

The Elves have weaved their magic through the night at Kindy...!!!

Time to party!!!

Elsa's Ice Palace in the North Mountains

Walking in a Winter Wonderland...

Andreous and Flynn

Kindy Kids Xmas Party
A big thanks to the Parent Group for organising the Kindy Kids Xmas Party last night. It was great to see sooo many Kindy families join in on the end of year celebrations, and of course to see we had a special visit from Santa!

Santa and Callum!

Santa and his Elf friend George

Santa and Lachie

High Fives for Jax

Forest Kindy
On Tuesday we had Mrs Bell's New Entrant Class from Winton School spend the morning with us at Ivy Russell Reserve. It was great to see so many familiar faces and ex-Forest Kindy Kids amongst the group, who were able to buddy up with those who had not been to the Reserve before, and to share some of our rules and culture. Thanks to Chris Cairns and Troy Laffey our Dad Helpers this week. FYI no Forest Kindy next week as we are off to Rata Park Rest Home.

Can you spot Tarzan/Chris??? Thanks for making the swing at the Dragon's Nest!

NEXT WEEK:

Xmas Carols and Baking to Rata Park Rest Home - Tuesday
On Tueday we plan to head down to Rata Park Rest Home with some baked goods and to sing Christmas Carols. We do still need more parent Help for this to go ahead - flick us an email if you can help out please.

Bex's Baby Shower - Tuesday
After our trip to Rata Park we will have a special morning tea with Bex. It will be Bex's last day with us for a while, and we wish her all the best for their expected arrival next February! Everyone is welcome to join us for Bex's Baby Shower - 10:30am approx.

Term 4 Week 8

Whanau Day Wednesday and Friday
Wow, what an amazing turn out of whanau and friends we had this week at both of our Whanau Days. It was so special to meet lots of aunties, uncles, big cousins, grandparents and other important people in our children's life's. Thank you to everyone who made it in, it was great to meet you all.

Celebration of Learning Evening on Thursday Night
Again, thank you to our amazing parents and visitors who came along last night to our Celebration of Learning Evening. We love to showcase your amazing children and what they have been learning over the past couple of terms. Forest Kindy continues to evolve and we are seeing more and more connections between what happens at Ivy Russell Reserve and the integration of this learning back at Kindy in our wider programme. The Rights of the Child really got parents thinking and we finished the night with our greatly anticipated Polyfest 2014 iBook Launch. This will be on display next week for families to view, and orders can be placed if you would like to own your own copy - such an invaluable treasure to look back on, beyond children's Kindy years. Send us an email if you would like to order a copy, $45 approx. plus postage.

Forest Kindy on Tuesday with Mark Oster from Environment Southland
We had such an action-packed day with our awesome visitor Mark. Mark was out earlier in the year, and joined us again on Tuesday. He was just blown away with the Kindy Castle and all the excitement and enthusiasm the group have for our Programme. After morning tea we headed into the heart of the forest to search for a possum, a stoat and a ferret - what a lot of fun! Thanks to Wayne Eade and Petra Laughton our helpers this week.

Events next week:
Forest Kindy - Tuesday 9th December; Winton School is visiting and also Pam Wilson (Kindergartens South - Snr Teacher).  Tue 9 Dec will be our last Forest Kindy Day for 2014. Mrs Bell's New Entrants Class at Winton School are busy organising themselves to come and join us. We look forward to seeing many familiar faces and ex-Forest Kindy children.

Amazing Me Party Next Week: Wednesday 10th December and Thursday 11th December
Wow, less than a week until our Amazing Me Parties to celebrate the end of year and the conclusion of the Amazing Me programme!!! We are busy organising this and can't wait to see all our Amazing Children/Superheroes! Please bring along a healthy plate for shared morning tea, thanks!

Kindy Kids Xmas Party Thursday 11th December
We have our end of year Christmas Party this Thursday....Please RSVP

Term 4 Week 7

Kai Table Blessing
On Monday and Tuesday the group baked treats for our shared kai on Wednesday. A big thank you to Meeke and Karen for coming in and saying a karakia to bless our beautiful new table. Thanks to the families who brought in kai and also those who joined us at 10am for the blessing - what a special occassion for us all.

Movember
Today the group showed their support for The Movember Foundation - Changing the Face of Men's Health by dressing in blue, bringing something blue for shared kai, and a gold coin donation to the Foundation. We raised $34-20 ... good on us!!!

Forest Kindy
This week Judy was super excited to get out to Forest Kindy with the group. 'Today was just MAGICAL'. And we also welcomed for the first time :- Ashlee Keith (Oliver's Mum) & Julia Eade (Sophie's Mum) along as Parent Helpers ...

Casey Laffey's photographic prowess ...

Tks for helping today Ashlee ...

Chillaxing with Mum ... 

Amazing Me DVD 4
This week we watched DVD 4 of the series. This episode discussed the importance of expressing how we feel and acknowledge the importance of understanding what we feel and how to deal with our feelings - again reiterating "Stop, Think and act". Next week we will be watching the final DVD in the Programme. !! The following week we will hold our Amazing Me Parties - time to start thinking about which Super Hero you might like to dress up as....????!!!!  Tks to everyone who brought along a sock to create your very own Sock Puppet family ... check out this very groovy puppet - good on you Thomas Maguire!!!

Santa's Workshop
Monday marks the 1st of December and the countdown to Christmas and the summer holidays. The Elves have been contacted and we hope to come back to "Santa's Workshop" in the Project Room....We wait in anticipation!

CELEBRATION OF LEARNING EVENING - THURSDAY 4 DECEMBER @ 6:30PM
A wonderful opportunity to spend the evening seeing what we have been up to this year and share in your child's learning journey. Thank you to those who have already RSVP for the night, please let us know if you are able to join us - we'd love to see as many families as possible.

Term 4 Week 6

Forest Kindy
A big thanks to Craig Reed and Mike Crowe our Parent Helpers this week. We had a great time at the Troll Bridge where Tingah-Bell and Casey fished for "Troll Snot" and at the Dragons Nest and Kindy Castle where Craig and the group buried children under the fallen leaves to make our own hatching dragons and monsters. Mike was our champion "hider" for hide and seek - becoming part of the forest floor disguised by his camo gear - what a fun morning! To top off our day we collected sticks for our Obelisk that the Discovery Time children had made prototypes for in the past few weeks. We started to build our Obelisk then finished it off back at Kindy. This is to help our Winton Flower Show prize winning - Sweet Peas ... we now wait to see if our design will work - watch this space!

Baking
On Tuesday the Discovery Time group made Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie for our special visitors that would be coming to our Kindy that evening for a Provisionally Registered Teachers -Visual Arts Workshop. On Wednesday we made Red Velvet Cupcakes for the children - delicious! And again more Brownie, this time for the Parent Group Meeting that night. Lots of mathematical and scientific concepts at work - measuring, mixing, and creating!! Along with a wonderful appreciation of 'Giving' ... And yes Sarah Crowe the teachers LOVED our Chocolate Fudge Brownies!

Bravery
On from our attendance at the Armistice Day Service at Anzac Oval last week we revisited our learning this week by discussing with the Discovery Time Group: "What does it mean to be Brave?" The children shared times that they have been brave and put these down on paper.  We also introduced the Dictaphone and recorded each others contributions - we had a lot of fun replaying our voices!!

Amazing Me DVD 3
This week we have watched part 3 of our Amazing Me Programme. This week we have been looking at families, the importance of seeking help and what to do in an emergency. We will be watching DVD 4 next week and DVD 5 in Week 8. Week 9 will plan to have our Amazing Me/Super Heroes Parties on the 10th and 11th of December...More information to follow closer to the time.

Kai Table Blessing - Wednesday 26th Nov
Next Wednesday we have Meeke coming to bless our beautiful Kai table @ 10am. We would love to have as many families come along for shared morning tea as possible. A special day for us.

Movember - Friday 28th Nov
Next Friday we will be hosting a Movember Day. Please come along dressed in blue, a blue Morning Tea for Shared Kai, and a gold coin donation for the Movember Foundation - Changing the Face of Men's Health.