Term 4 Week 9

Family Xmas Party
We had a FANTASTIC Family Christmas Party on Monday evening.  Thankfully, the weather was kind to us so we could enjoy singing Christmas carols outside with our musical guests; Wayne Harper and Doug Sellers. Charlie McPherson even made a special appearance on stage with his granddad, Wayne, strumming along on his guitar.  What rock stars!! No Xmas party is complete without a feast, and what a festive feast it was.  Thank you to our families who joined us on the evening and bought along yummy kai to share.  A massive thank you to Jodie White and Donna Thurston for coordinating the food and kitchen duties on the night too!
We hope you enjoyed finishing off the evening with our Celebration of Learning presentation 'Where do Stories Live?'  Christina presented some beautiful examples of our kindy tamariki demonstrating the imaginative ways in which they share their 'stories' through a variety of mediums...'the languages of story telling.'

The children's Xmas Cake baking was a hit!! Yum!!

Santa Claus visits kindy!! 
Santa came to visit us, not only once, but twice!! Santa was awesome enough to visit both kindy groups to wish them a very Merry Christmas.  Our handmade Xmas gifts were received by each child as they came up to greet Santa, and make a special Xmas wish.  The idea of the Xmas presents, the Christmas Tree pinecone decorations, were to encourage tamariki to create an eco decoration to gift to their friends, and share with their whanau - the gift of giving!  Thank you to Sophie Mitchell's and Archie Birdson's whanau for the pinecones!  The tamariki loved sharing this amazing Santa visit experience with their whanau and eating a delicious morning tea.
  

Xmas Cookie Decorating!
Anna Howard you are amazing!!  Anna generously bought in baked Xmas cookies to decorate with nga tamariki.  Of course this was a massive hit!  Check out some of the festive designs thoughtfully created by nga tamariki.  Yum!!

It's harvesting time!!
This week we noticed two of courgettes were ready to be harvested!  As we counted the flowers on the courgette plant we learnt that for each flower there was, there would be a courgette growing.  We have 4 more to grow, wahoo!!  To think this plant grew from a tiny seed has amazed our tamariki!  Winton Kindy tamariki make the best gardeners!!




What a week of celebrations!! Kindy birthday celebrations that is!!
5 was the number of the week!!  With having 15 tamariki heading off to school next year, and some whom have just started, we have been singing HAPPY SCHOOL DAYS to our special friends.  We wish our school tamariki all the best in their next step in their learning journey. Come back to visit us!!

 

We've had a magical year with you all!!  Have a safe and happy Christmas and New Years.  We shall see you all in the new year, 2018!!

Best wishes, from the teaching team.

Term 4 Week 8

We Wish you a Merry Christmas...

This week the Albatross Nest has had a festive makeover by nga tamariki - introducing our Christmas Nest! Adorned with a naturalist perspective - beautiful oyster shells, and fairy lights - a very magical space indeed. Follow the path and make a Christmas Wish in front of our neat nest. Here's a question the children have posed ... Why is there a star or angel @ the top of the tree?  Can anyone do some research for us & let us know!

 

Eco-Warriors in Action!

This week we have had our second last Forest Kindy day of the year...a year filled with ecological discoveries, ecological questioning, and ecological empowerment! Caring for the natural world around us, begins at home - flows into Kindy - and, onto our "Nurtured By Nature' Programme at our local Ivy Russell Reserve. The new year will bring opportunities for many more Eco-Warriors to join the gang each Tuesday, as we make the most of our unhurried time in nature - connecting and reflecting. We hope all our families enjoy plenty of time out enjoying nature over the summer break, and we look forward to hearing about your eco-adventures and sharing in your new-found knowledge of the natural world around us!

Leaving treats for the Wolf

Our Wish for Rain came true - if only for a little while!

Checking to see if Steve is hiding under the bridge has become a ritual each week!

Tracking and identifying prints in the dried mud

Coming upon the Wolf's Bed in the heart of the forest!

I wonder if you are wishing for MORE rain Henry?

Enjoying the fruits of our labour ...

The bean house has been nurtured and cared for over the past term, and it is now the Bean House's turn to reward our efforts - Mmm delicious Magic Beans for us to pick and eat straight from the pod - what a treat! And we wait in anticipation as our flowering Courgettes continue to grow before our very eyes!

Mmmm...what's cooking?!?

This week our bakers have been busy preparing for our upcoming End of the Year Family Night on Monday 11th December, baking a beautiful "surprise" to hand out on the evening. We'd love to have you join us in celebrating our children and the end of the year - RSVP by the end of the day Friday 8th please.We look forward to sharing in the end of the year with all our Kindy families. With about 15 children finishing their time at Kindy and heading off to School, the Parent Group are eager to have more merry volunteers jump on board to help with organising events for the Kindy Community such as these - please let us know if this sounds like you! A big thanks to our many helpers and contributors from throughout 2017...many hands DO make light work - thanks again! :)
 We also shared a wonderful interactive Xmas song - Pukeko in a Pongo Tree

Where do stories live?

This week we have shared a very 'oldie but a goodie' Xmas story with the children called                'The Snowman' ... it's a story without words.  It has indeed intrigued ALL of the children.  Click to view:    The Snowman

Kindy Xmas Family night

We have put the finishing touches onto our 'surprise' today.  We will share the surprise with everyone on Monday night!!!

Limehills School SVA

And today we farewelled our Limehills School Volunteer Army (SVA) ... to Harry (who heads off to Central Southland College) next year & Ethan & Brooke & others who have joined us each Friday ...  it continues to be the highlight of the children's week ... nga mihi o the Kirihimete!

Merry Xmas my friends!!!

Term 4 Week 7

It's that time of the year ...
The Gift of giving ... $3 Wooden Stars from New World - proceeds to Starship!

Let our eco xmas decoration making begin ...

In a very ecological way!

Shahn ... You are Amazing.
 Now THAT's a reindeer!

That tongue says it all Tamiah ... An amazing reindeer Xmas decoration!!!

Tks for all your kind cone donations.
Right ... let's get busy! 

And this week we have also begun our Xmas Carol rendition ... Jodi White (on behalf of our Parent Group) is in the process of organising our Xmas Family night (contact Jodie  027 769 1480  if you able to help in anyway). Our Xmas night celebrations will include sharing our Project 'Where do Stories Live?',  some local minstrels, Xmas carols & a festive feast! More details to follow!

1 2 3 AMAZING ME

We finish our Keeping Ourselves Safe programme this week by watching video 5 - Exploration. This week we've shared some ideas around TRUST.  What does that mean to  3/4 year olds?  We've also being outdoors & active (healthy) ... running, jumping, hopping &  enjoying water play & exploration (hydrodynamics) in the sand pit (especially over these hot days). The DVD is now available to share @ home (a great way to appreciate what your child has been involved in over the last 5 weeks) see Christina, Antonia, Linda or Judy if you would live to borrow the DVD for viewing.  Check out our display ... there are some insightful conversations & pics shared.

And not forgetting Vicky Chen's 'Amazing Me' representation of  ...What makes Winton Special to me?

Forest Kindy   

 What eco challenges did you get up to this week Forest Kindy kids!  This week our leaders were Bevan Shaw & Sophie Mitchell.  A tks to Jaimee Mitchell for being our official photographer!

Caring for our waterways!

Signage & plant identification seem to intrigue the group this week.

And later on in the day the children shared some very ecological ideals in Discovery Time in their Ecological Reflection Journals ... love the use of 'guardians of Ivy Russell Reserve!   You are indeed my friends!

Bee investigation ... 

Tks to Conrad Saunders who brought in a LIVE bee last week & today the team from the Limehills School Volunteer Army joined us to share all that they know about Bees & their importance! Here's a great question ... How do Bees know how to get back to their hive?

We shared this YouTube link with the group, which personifies so beautifully how important these Anthophila are.  Click on this link to view:  Honey Bees collecting nectar

Someone seems very intrigued ...

Have a great weekend ... remember to BEE sunsafe.  See you all next week!!!
The Teaching Team