Term 1 Week 11

                                     Where do Books live?
This week we've introduced storymaking books ... opportunities for our children to pictorially share tales & adventures.  What a pleasure, as teachers,  it is to narrate these stories. And Elle has brought along some OLD books - Grimm's Fairy Tales (we are reading Hansel & Gretel at the mo) & some books on athletics (Have-a-Go Athletics @ St Thomas's on Wednesday).

                                   
And also this week Judy has introduced the children to Boris ... all the way from Italy. Boris has very cleverly hid himself in Judy's storybox.  You may even be able to guess what or who Boris might be? Leave a comment at the bottom of this post ... with your ideas!

                  The Albatross Egg
We continue to be fascinated through our daily encounters with the Albatross Cam. The chick & the nurturedness of it's parents @ the Royal Albatross Colony - Otago Peninsula.    We've watched the parent birds soar & glide into the Colony & into the nest with such grace - their wing span is phenomenal ... between 2.5 - 3.5m span. How priviledged we are to have this colony right @ our back door.

We wondered about offering the children a challenge - could they capture this intrigue by representing their understandings of this magnificient seabird (world's largest seabird in fact) & its colony - and they were indeed up for the challenge.

Forest Kindy - Tue 28 Mar 2017

We welcomed Isla Langford, Holly Mitchell & CJ McDougall this week.

   

  Up where?                                                                                                                                                             Great tree climbing skills.  Aaysuma's Dad - Lil Hari Sapkota - shimmed up the tree to hang our very naturalistic tree swing with the help of Isla's Dad - Anton Langford.  A BIG thanks for  rescheduling your day to join us!  

Our storymaking continues @ Forest Kindy ... Once Upon a Forest!

What are you looking at everyone?

Tadpoles ... where?

And those mysterious painted stones are still 'popping' up around the Forest! Hmmmm ... interesting!

Let's follow these fantails ... where will they take us?   These small insectivorous birds of Australasia led us right to the 'Three Little Pigs' house!  How did they know which direction to go to & how to get there? They continue to be intrigued by us ... as much as we are intrigued by them!

And check out what Kahn McMullen brought along ... some Budgie eggs to share with the Forest Kindy kids.  We've delicately placed them in the Dragons nest ... and we'll check up on them next week. Gosh we might have some DragBudgie birds soon.

 Watch this space!

Have-A-Go Athletics @ St Thomas School

What's athletics?  A combination of running, jumping & throwing ... so our obstacle course @ Kindy has been set up for the last two weeks in both introducing & practising these skill sets. And then Wed morning arrived ... a perfect morning to showcase what we can do!

Toby Langford 'fine tunes' his technique.

Right ... let's give this a go!

Go Ryan !!!

Run where? 

Ready, Set, Goooooo

Check out this 'action packed' technique of Hunter Wilson

Ready, steady,  JUMP Kyle! 

Tks for helping us Libby Jesperson & Ella Colvin 

A BIG thanks to all our Parents who were able to come along on Wednesday!

Stories live where?

Raewyn from the Winton Library joined us on Thursday ... to share some stories.  Gosh what a captivate audience you have Raewyn.  This is a fortnightly routine that has indeed captivated our Thur/Fri group @ Te Wanaga time (1pm).  Tks for coming in Raewyn ... see you in a fortnight!

Have a great weekend everyone ... Ka kite ano! 

Term 1 Week 10

What is Culture?

Kindy Families Cultural Night on Wednesday
A big thank you to all 67 family and friends who came along to Kindy on Wednesday to celebrate and share in our Kindy Culture Night. And a big thanks to our fabulous Kindy Parent Group for organising such a fun evening for us all to enjoy.
Shared kai with a touch of individual family culture - creamed Paua, Pavlova, Cocoa Rice, Coconut Gelatin...mmm delicious.  Meeting others, and making memories of your child's early years... priceless!



The World Around Us



Didgeridoo
This week Elle brought in her Didgeridoo to share with the group as part of ... 'The World Around Us' - & in this case Australia. The technique and lung capacity necessary inspired us all! Learning about a variety of cultures in simplistic yet thought-provoking ways, opens all of our horizons in celebrating cultural diversity - customs & rituals from around our world.

What is a Flag?
With our Flag buntings up for our Cultural Night...we got thinking...What is a Flag? Why do we have Flags? And we have been inspired to design our own Flags, incorporating images of what we identify with - some chose their special family and friends, while others chose their favourite colours and animals.



Irish Dancing- move over Michael Flatley!

Continuing this week of our Irish exploration (St Patricks Day seems to have intrigued many of the children), a group of budding choreographers rehearsed and rehearsed their River Dance routine before presenting it to the whole group! We then all joined in on the fun and learnt some new steps - discovering how hard it is to dance and keep the rhythm and remember the steps AND to smile - all at the same time!



The Albatross Egg!
At Monday 'Morning Meeting', the children noticed something large, round, and white inside the nest...What could it be? Discussion about the Albatross Cam and the Albatross Chick led to the conclusion that we MUST have our own Albatross Egg here at Winton Kindy! But what to do?      Nga tamariki decided that the egg might be lonely, and that they would each take turns guarding the nest and protecting the egg. Some sang to the egg (we are indeed becoming more ecologically aware - ecologial empathy), whilst others took a closer look and noticed fine lines in the shell of the egg.  We turned the Albatross Cam on so that the albatross family could also see us, and see that their egg was being cared for. We now wait in anticipation...What will happen next?


Where Do Stories Live? ... The Story Box @ Te Wananga Time
This term we are completing a Spontaneous Review - on story making following LOTS of children sharing their stories from home.   "Where Do Stories Live?" "In our brain!" suggested Annabelle. "In Storybooks" suggested Hunter... "In our Dreams" suggested CJ.  But where else COULD stories live?Provoking the children's thoughts... Judy has introduced her antic tin box, as a further provocation to the superimposed story cards on the Lightbox last week ... But what's inside?

NOTHING ... or so it seems!

Each Te Wananga Time (1pm daily) this week (and over the next few weeks), we have & will fill the storybox with stories - shared stories from home, from out and about & from kindy -  the children's ideas and imagination are 'captured' & stored in the storybook.   Imagination in itself is such an amazing cognitive process it is the creative ability to form images, ideas, and sensations in the mind & then carefully placed in the storybox ... This prop seems to have captured the children's intrigue!



Athletics Day at St Thomas School on Wednesday the 29th of March
Nga Tamariki have been busy testing out there gross motor skills and physical agility outside this week as we prepare ourselves to partake in the Invitational Athletics Have-A-Go Day at St Thomas School next Wednesday. Having a go, learning new skills, coordination, effort, following instructions, team work, fair play, and most importantly having fun with friends! Our challenge course has changed each day for the children to practice on along with opportunities for the course to be redesigned by the children.  We look forward to seeing what's in store for us at School - Ready, Set, Go!!!

Ka kite ano ... See you all next week!
The Teaching Team