Term 1 Week 6

2016 Yearly Report: Presented at our Parent Group Meeting last night @ Hideaway 201

Click her to view: Weekly Newsletter 23 Feb 2017

A warm welcome to our new Kindy friends - Liam (MTW Group) and Frank, George and Izzy who have joined our T/F Group.

Morning Liam!

Hi Izzy

Kia Ora Frank

Welcome George!

And welcome back to our Limehills School Volunteer Army Students - Harry, Jade and Brooke! Each Friday the students visit Winton Kindy, to work alongside the children, fostering friendships, sharing in play and learning experiences, building our tuakana-teina relationships - older children and younger children growing together, and being a valued part of our "Community of learners". We thank Limehills School for this fabulous initiative!

Kia Ora Jade Hamilton

Welcome Brooke Anderson, younger sister of Jamie who was our Volunteer for the last two years

Great to have you with us for a second year Harry Clark!!

Ecological Identity - Renewable Sources of Energy

TOYOTA DREAM CAR COMPETITION LINK

Solar Car Race 2013 link

Over the past few weeks, Elle has been working with the Discovery Time children in the afternoons on a very special project - designing their own unique "dream car". With our Programme focused around Ecological Identity, ideas began to unfold as to how to fuel the car in an environmentally-friendly way. Solar Power was one form investigated in depth by the group, and shared with the wider group during the day and at group times. Christina brought in a solar panel and we tested it out by using the energy from the sun to charge the Kindy iPad and iPod - getting hands on with our learning and science concepts - how did the sun's heat transfer into electricity to power our gadgets!!??!! Then on Wednesday, Cam arrived at Kindy with a huge Solar Panel and robot-Goose!! The children tested out what happened when they stood in front of the Solar Panel and blocked the Sun....Hmmm the Goose would stop flying! And what about when the clouds passed in front of the Sun?? The same outcome - our Goose wouldn't fly! Connections between the Sunlight and the Goose flying began to unfold..."We need the Sun to make it work"...."Sunlight gives the Goose power"..."Sun-Power!!" Ka pai to mahi/fabulous work!


And then some of the children represented their ideas through the Visual Arts! Engineers or inventors in the making!!! We plan to send our concept designs off to the Toyota Dream Car Comp - Watch this space!

LIFE CYCLE OF THE BUTTERFLY
On Tuesday the group watched on as the first of our two butterfly emerged from their chrysalis... But what to call him??? And then on Wednesday, the group watched on as the monarch slowly emerged out of what has been home for the past two weeks, gently stretched its wings, then took to the skies for the first time!
How do Butterflies know how to fly? No one had shown them? Is it magic? Lots of reflection and ponderings over this!



Forest Kindy
On Tuesday we returned to the stream with the beautiful weather. We noticed much change since last year...slime growing in the stream, and something...moving....what could they be??? Fish??? Eels??? Tadpoles??? The group made a conscious decision to leave the special breeding ground untouched (the beginnings of a eco warrior,  and we moved further down stream to find a place to cross to the other side and spend our morning. Awareness of life cycles, the importance of caring for the river ways, and the unhurried child in nature.
Kahn was the first to arrive, and he found some brightly painted stones with special messages on them scattered and hidden around the Reserve...We wonder which creative person or group might be behind this awesome idea...So far we have spotted three stones...We wonder how many more we will come across over the coming weeks...Perhaps we shall make some of our own to be discovered too!

Dragons...Did someone say...Dragon??
Eva Coveney led us to the Dragon's Nest on our way back to the Shelter. On arrival, she noticed something large, round, and beautifully decorated...what could it be???
"It's a Dragon's Egg!!"
"No it's not!"
"Yes it is!"
Debate and imagination ensued! Referring to our "How to work with Dragons" text, the children discovered that in fact, yes, we had just discovered a REAL dragon's egg! Amazement, disbelief, excitement, curiosity...What to do next?? The group decided unanimously, that they would leave the egg where they found it - "The Mum and Dad would feel sad" "They will be so worried if they can't find their egg" "That would be stealing" "We have to help look after the nest and egg".

Can you help us? What have we found swimming in the stream??....Look closely!

This interesting object (below) was introduced on Wednesday...What could it be? "A puffer fish" thought Annabelle & Kaydin; "It's a frog!" wondered Natalie; "It's so prickly"... Can anyone from home tell us what it might be?



Caring for others - Out Furry Four-Legged Identity - Rupert! Tks Greta for taking care of Rupert.  Rupert is in the process of losing his summer coat & we've asked the children - Why?  A great conversation to continue on with @ home.  Share your child's theories with us in the comments below!






Again ... what a busy week it has been.  Next week Christina is away & Hayley Rowland will be relieving for us. A BIG congrats to Hayley who has been successful in being appointed to a  teaching position @ Elsie St Kindy in Gore.  Hayley's last day with us will be on Fri.

On Wed we head off to find out 'Blueberries ... grow where?'  An invitation has been emailed out to all our Mon, Tue, Wed families.  Click on the email, have a read, RSVP us back & sign the Permission Form.  And also don't be shy about commenting (click on the Comment link below) ... it's a nice way to acknowledge to us you have been able to access our BLOG & it's also a great way to revisit our week with your child.   Like us all we LOVE to see pics of ourselves!!!

Ka kite ano!!!
The Teaching Team

Term 1 Week 5

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Ecological Identity: Protecting Nature
The Lorax - Dr Seuss

Eva Rook arrived back at Kindy this year with a goal in mind - to plant and protect Truffula Trees! Soon, she had a band of volunteers, digging and positioning Truffula Trees in the sandpit. We began to research the Truffula Trees further, Googling images of these colourful beauties. April White brought in her DVD of The Lorax, and Christina brought along her Dr Suess book. Together, the children and teachers are discovering these lost treasures and building our sense of ecological responsibility. We will continue to revisit and extend our ideas around protecting the natural world.


Stump the Hump
On Tuesday, Ashar and Holly were busy constructing with the wooden blocks. When Judy approached the girls, Holly informed her that it was like Stump the Hump - ah, a boardwalk!! Later that day in Te Wananga Time/Discussion Time, the group shared their thoughts around the girls work - "You have to be careful not to stand on the plants" - "You stay on the boardwalk".



Fishing
Cody arrived back at Kindy this week, eager to share with the group about his fishing adventures at Bluff in the weekend. The fort provided the perfect place to fish from! CJ shared a his family's ecological value: "When you catch two fish, you put one back, 'cos everyone should be able to catch a fish". Thank you boys.


Forest Kindy
This week we reconnected at Ivy Russell Reserve with our new Forest Kindy friends - Vanessa, Kahn, Tyrone, Von, Alice, Reef, and Eva R - and Forest Kindy experts Walter, Eva C, and our leader Greta. After some time away from the Reserve, we had our work cut out for us at the Dragon's Den and Kindy Castle - was in the wind that had knocked our sticks down????...or....Had that Big Bad Wolf been up to his old tricks again!! As the group worked together to make some timely repairs to our tracks, Dragon's Nest and Stick Hut, a sense of ownership fell upon us. After morning tea we sat in the Nest and shared our thoughts around how we might protect this special place. Eva C, our resident bird's nest spotter, presented two nests that had fallen. As we examined the nests, sadness came upon us - one of the nests was made of sticks, mud and leaves, while the other had pieces of blue string entwined. "It's lucky the birds didn't eat it!" said Eva C. The children talked about how and why this rubbish had made its way into the Reserve, and what we were going to do about it! "We have to look after the birds!" "We don't leave rubbish" "We put it in our bags" 

Lucas "The Astrologist" Millar's Research Question: Why can we see the Moon in the Daytime?!?!
Curiosity, intrigue, the unknown, hypothesis - science at Play today at Kindy as we began to gather information regarding why it is that we could see the Moon AND the Sun today?!?


As a teaching team we take pride - on a daily basis - in 'listening' & taking cues from ALL childrens 'wonderings'.  I wonder what we will 'ponder' over next week!!!