Term 2 Week 4

To tatou pūngāwerewere ataahua

(Our beautiful spider)

Last Friday the Kindy tamariki were lucky enough to spot a rare find alongside the Limehills students. A beautiful BIG spider hiding under a piece of wood around our Kindy fire. This find has sparked a lot of interest and curiosity as the tamariki have been provoked to ask questions about our spider. For example; "What type of Spider is it?" "What does it eat" "What does its web look like?" "Is our spider a boy or a girl?" After much discussion we thought it would be a kind idea to create a bigger habitat (a new word we have learnt) for our spider.
A big thank-you to our discovery time and the other children who showed an interest and helped to create a new habitat for our spider (with the addition of flies). Lets hope our spider likes it!!
We have also been exploring the spider in other areas of Kindy throughout the week. These include art, clay, videos (including Charlotte's Web), and the tamariki have even been out searching for other insects including slugs!! It has been awesome to see the children continuing to strengthen their Ecological Identity as they develop their knowledge of nature and what lives in it.
The kaiako can't wait to continue building on this learning with you all next week!!

Pink Ribbon Day

A big thank-you to all of our families who contributed to our Pink Ribbon Day on Monday!! The children had a wonderful time dressing up in pink, getting pink nails and pink face-paint. Sitting at the grand table was also a special occasion (thanks to Christina's creative eye)  as we pretended we were all Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses and Knights under the pink and white netting and pom poms!!
This experience gave our children the opportunity to come together and support their community as we donated and showed our support for women with Breast Cancer. We raised over $90.00 over the two Pink Ribbon Day's, thank you all so much for your generosity.

Nature Discovery

This week our leaders were Holly and Isla alongside their Dads. Thank-you to Bert and Anton for constructing a rope course for the tamariki to balance on!! They loved this new challenge!!
This week the children also explored stories amongst the trees as they searched for the BIG LONELY WOLF. It is great to see and hear the children exploring stories and their imaginations in all areas of the Kindy programme.
Who knew stories lived at Ivy Russell Reserve?


Thank-you for another fabulous week!!

Your Winton Kindy Teaching Team,
Judy, Christina and Elle.

Term 2 Week 3

Shadow drawing - taking time to notice - the unhurried child




Pink Ribbon Day - New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation 

Thank you to our TF Group for getting behind this great cause. Check out some of the pics from our Pink Ribbon Day and Morning Tea. Thank you to the families who joined us at 10am to share in the fun! Everyone looked pink-a-licious, the tamariki, teachers, parents and even our fabulous Limehills School Volunteers! Ka kai to mani/great work. And the fun continues on Monday with our 2nd Pink Ribbon Day. Over the week we have been in korero around what our special gold coins and donations will do. "Buy medicine for the sick people," "Pay for the Doctors to make them better," "Help their families," and personal reflection and stories around Cancer, illness and looking after others.

Term 2 Week 2

Mothers Day Crafts

This week has been filled with mothers day crafts as the children have been kept busy making and creating cards, frames, necklaces, videos and some reflective discussions on why their Mum is special.
These experiences have created great opportunities for the children to reflect on how special their Mum is to them, how their Mum makes them feel and all the wonderful things they get to do with Mum. We have also posted a special message on Facebook with our Thursday afternoon group which I'm sure has put a smile on a few Mums faces. We hope all of our Mums (and Dads who take on Mums job) enjoy their day :)
Here are some pics of what they have been up to.

Bright Sparks Road Show 

We had 'Bright Sparks Day' on Wednesday where everyone was invited to come along in their brightest gear. We were super lucky to have a few visitors from Constable Marty, Constable Brook, Dot (Family Co-ordinator for Kindergarten South), Plunket representatives, and of course Road Safety Southland. Here are the three different stations the children explored and what they taught us:

1.   The Seat Belt sled. This is a device that children will sit on in a booster seat of course. They will be strapped in. The seat gains some speed by being raised up then drops down so they will feel the impact of a sudden stop and how the seatbelt helps them to remain safe in their seat. We will have some of The Steel players join us this year! 2.   The Drive Way Back-Over Kit: This is highly effective resource highlights the danger of children playing in driveways. Life sized cut-outs of children are placed behind a vehicle. Adults sit in the car and attempt to identify where the children are. This resource reinforces that children are highly vulnerable and are at risk of death or serious injury in the family driveway. **It was a shock to all to find out how difficult it was to see the children behind the car!! 3.   Do the Zebra: Using a road crossing mat children will practice safely crossing a ‘road’. This activity will reinforce the concepts of holding hands as well as the process of STOP-LOOK-LISTEN-DECIDE

  

Forest Kindy

The weather 'played ball' for us throughout our first day back to Forest Kindy for Term 2!!

This week the children were sustained in their explorations, re-visiting their favourite spots like the Monster Truck Track and the Creek. During their visit on Tuesday they also had a job to do..... collecting sticks for our Mothers Day crafts back at Kindy!! A big warm welcome to Mason who had his first Forest Kindy experience on Tuesday with Dad! Thanks to all who came along I heard it was a fabulous morning!!

An ecological lens: How to conserve water-use in the sandpit?

We always love our Friday visits from our Limehills School Volunteer Army Students: Harry, Ethan, Brooke & Tim! This Week they have been posed an important question "How can we conserve water in our sandpit?" Water is a taonga (treasure), something to be cared for. The boys really love with Harry, Tim and Ethan arrive and begin to dig and sculpt river beds in the sandpit with us and so this is why our regular Friday visitors have been asked to lead this investigation with the children as they learn about conservation and test different ideas on water use and collection. Here are some thoughts and research they have come up with so far...

An ecological investigation: Avocado Stones

Another ecological investigation has began to take place at Kindy. Our kaiako all love avocados, and with a few avocado stones around, we have become interested in trying to sprout one!! With the knowledge and wisdom of Anna & Jack Howard we have began their research. This investigation did not go  unnoticed, as Rimon's and Conrad's curiosity took over as they came over to see what Jack and Christina were doing. Jack was so excited about sharing his knowledge and skills with avocado stones, he has even started to create a poster to accompany the seed!! 

Now all we have to do is wait........ 

Kia Ora Koutou,
Have a fabulous week, and have a wonderful day on Sunday Mums!! Enjoy!!