Term 2 Week 8

Matariki on Monday
On Monday we had our second Matariki celebration ...We look forward to receiving updates on how the children's beans are coming along for those who wanted to plant one...I wonder how tall they will be after the holidays - send us some pics!

Polyfest Art
Wow, a big thanks to Sarina for her efforts on Wednesday...the door is coming along and we are thinking about what we should name it, remembering the theme is "Step into Culture" - feel free to comment with your ideas! Thank you to the families who have returned their Oreti River stone foot prints to go on our "Familiar Footsteps" ladder....SOOOO creative!!! And our Forest kindy children had a great time collecting flax to weave the rope to tie the two ladders together - what a real team effort!!

Elora and Izzy working on the door with Sarina

Rachel Langford and Sally preparing the flax

Morning tea in the harakeke cave

Leah and Sally testing the strength of the flax rope

Sally sharing with the Forest kindy kids how special flax is to us and its many uses

Caitlyn, Kamryn, Izzy, Libby, and Tingah-Bell lend their creative skills

We welcome new faces to Kindy this week: Liam Hartley, Andreous Mercer and Manaia Te Heuheu. Happy 4th Birthday to Addison Campbell and George Howard..thank you for sharing a special morning tea with the TF Group today!

Ionah and Addison get hands on with their learning; covering the dragon/taniwha in paper

Mmmmm banana milkshakes this week...thanks for cutting the bananas Sasha!

Term 2 Week 7

Matariki/Maori New Year Celebrations - Today and Monday 23rd June

The children came in to Kindy this morning to find we were immersed in darkness,, except for a few twinkly stars around the place - wow, what was happening today!?! We have had a fabulous day celebrating the Maori New Year, including articulating "New Beginnings" with the potting of beans to take home and nurture - please share with us some pics as your bean grows!

Matariki/Pleiades/Seven Sisters Constellation

This constellation is visible each year only in late May early June, best viewed pre-dawn to be found close to the Southern Cross.  It represents the Māori New Year and signifies the end of the harvest season culminating in sharing, learning, feasting/hākari and festivity.  It also coincides with the celebration of Winter Solstice (in the Southern Hemisphere), representing the shortest day in the year.

Jake Harland with his Matariki Stars

Ethan Warren having his face painted this morning as part of our celebrations

Oreti River Trip
On Tuesday we had a wonderful time down at the Oreti sliding down the gravel pit, throwing stones (and a gumboot) in the river, and collecting taonga/treasures for our Polyfest Art - we can't wait to see everyones footprint next week, due in by Wednesday 25th please. A big thank you to our many many helpers on the day, making this trip possible - the children had sooo much fun and were just buzzing all day!

Porter Wright and Oliver Davis... gravel pits, water, and BIG BIG machines = boy heaven!!

Craig Reed with Joshua Short and Freddie and Walter 

Kate Pulley and her Grandad sorting and selecting stones for the footprint

Kamryn Sinclair and Co. seeing how far they can throw the stones

Oliver Keith with Mum Ashlee, and Kamryn having the best day!

Polyfest Art
The Door project is coming along well, with the Discovery Time children adding their touch making koru patterns for the Oreti, using the stones from the Oreti - sooo meaningful!

The koru patterns made by the Discovery Time children on Tuesday afternoon

They also decided to relocate the paua to the sky instead of the sun - great decision making skills!

Term 2 Week 6

Polyfest Art : Step into Culture
This week we have made a start on our Polyfest Art entries. The theme this year is Step into Culture.  The Forest Kindy children collected natural resources at the Reserve for use on our door project, as well as locating and taking pictures of the Takitimu Mountains which represent our Mihi/our place. The TF Group painted a beautiful landscape with the Oreti River, farm land, Takitimu Mountains and the Sun on to the door. We then set to work sourcing and selecting which materials to use where. We have a range of autumn leaves for the farm lands, glistening paua for the sun, sheep wool for the snowy mountain peaks, and will use stones collected from Tuesday's trip to make koru kowhaiwhai patterns for our Oreti river - wow we have been busy!! Today Ferguson, Ethan, James, and Maddison walked down to Mitre10 to research which type of glue would work best for all the different materials we need to attach to our door. Check out our progress next week!

Locating the Takitimu Mountains from the "Hundred Acre Woods" @ Forest Kindy on Tuesday

We had a great discussion about "our mountains"

The blank canvas was waiting ready @ Kindy for our creative children to arrive this week

Alice, James and Luke add their contributions to the Project

Rupert admiring the children's efforts - and nibbling our leaves!!

Polyfest Performance
On Monday we will hand out this year's waiata - no doubt you will have heard your child singing or humming the tunes around home. Our Performace day is Tuesday the 26th of August at Stadium Southland...the build up is only just beginning!!

This week we said Happy School Days to Emma Cubitt. What better way to spend your last kindy day than at Forest Kindy with Dad, followed by a special birthday Mat Time, and a delicious cake! We welcome Angus Collie to the TF Group this week also.

Our resident Mud Expert Emma gets Dad Craig in on the action!!

Drew, Leah, Joshua and Alex on their horse

Dad time this week, thanks Paul and Craig. Izzy gets a warm welcome to join in searching for huhu grubbs!

Term 2 Week 5

Pink Ribbon Breakfast Take 2:

We had a very pinkalicious day on Wednesday, hosting our second Pink Ribbon Breakfast with the MTW Group. A big thank you to everyone for getting behind the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, we have raised $383 so far - fabulous!! Also to everyone for getting in the pink/royal theme and showcasing their finest pinkest attire for the day! Last week the children made crowns as we planned to celebrate Queen's Birthday along with the Pink Ribbon Breakfast. There was great anticipation over the week, with the Forest Kindy children confirming that the dragons had passed the letter on to the Royals that we would like to request their company on the day. As the children sat down to their royal pink feast, the shadow of a dragon passed over and to our surprise the Queen of the Kingdom Far Far Away had come to join us! The Queen even brought biscuits to share with everyone, and we all sang "Happy Birthday". There was time for the Queen to share with us about her holiday to Scotland, staying at some of the country's finest castles, as well as answering the children's questions. Everyone gave her a birthday hug and off she had to go back to the Dragon's Nest to wait for her next flight back to Scotland to see the King! Wow, what an amazing day we had, finally getting to meet the Queen that we had heard sooo much about over the past two terms! We look forward to her next visit.

Looking groovy Joshua!

Kourtney, Libby, Sophie and Holly looking pretty in pink!

A special mat time to talk about where our donations go before having our Pink Ribbon Feast

Alice, Sophie, Izzy, Kamryn, Caitlyn and friends enjoy some pink milk and pink cake

The Queen arrived and surprised us all during our  Feast

Everyone said "Happy Birthday" and gave the Queen a Birthday hug

Joshua gives the Queen a big squeeze!

Rocking the pink socks Porter!!

Tara having a magical day 

We welcome Liam Butler, Jake Harland, Luke Mitchell and Flynn Roskam to the TF Group this week. We fare welled Sienna Breen, off to Winton School, Happy School Days!