Weeks 4/5

What an action packed week we have had here at Winton Kindergarten!!
As you can see in our earlier blogs, we have been to Invercargill to perform on stage for Polyfest! Congratulations to all our wonderful tamariki we are all so proud of you!! Thanks you to all the families who helped out along the way; especially those of you who volunteered to come on the day...And to Tess Chapman, a special thank you to you for staying behind at the Kindergarten to look after the place!

We had a great time at Winton Primary School on Monday. The school children put on a wonderful performance and their kapa haka group were full of mana! For many of our children this was their first experience on stage. Well done!

Tuesday saw the children perform in full costume in front of Rockdale Park Kindergarten via Skype. This was a great opportunity for us to have a trial run for how things may go on the actual day...Lots of staplers and plastic bags were added to the list of necessities!!

Wednesday....POLYFEST DAY! The children arrived eager to show the rest of Southland what wonderful talent we have here at Winton Kindergarten. The day was a huge success and the children were just fabulous!

Thursday/Friday. The children have been making the most of the sunny Southland weather with lots of water play and challenge courses being constructed outside.








With the huge focus around the London 2012 Olympic Games we have decided to hold an Olympic Games Day next FRIDAY THE 17TH OF AUGUST. Come along dressed as your favourite country!

Parent Group Meeting:
Thank you to all those who came along on Wednesday night for the Parent Group Meeting. It's great to have so many parents supporting their children and their Kindergarten...If you didn't manage to make it along on Wednesday, then please feel free to join us next time on WEDNESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER @ KINDY.

Olympic Celebrations

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Polyfest Dress Rehearsal Tuesday the 7th of August

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Polyfest Winton Primary School Performance

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WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES FOR OUR RECENT SUCCESS AT THE 2012 POLYFEST ARTS AWARDS!! 
Winton Kindergarten came away with First Place for Textiles, First Place for Ceramics, and Oliver White won First Place for Individual Sculpture with his telescope creation. Prize giving was held in Invercargill at the Museum on Friday night. Thank you to all the families who came along and supported us. Well done to everyone for all the time and effort you put in! 

Wow, another action packed week here at Winton Kindergarten! Final practices have been taking place in preparation for our Polyfest performance on the 8th of August.

On Monday the 30th of July we had lots of wonderful parent help come along and contribute their time and skills for creating out Tipare (Headbands) and Puipui (Costumes). Thanks to all those who made it, we really appreciate it!

Tuesday and Wednesday saw Dylan and interested peers build their very own Trike! They did a fabulous job with many ups and downs along the way before the final product was revealed and deemed road worthy!

The Olympic Games have been a hot discussion point with many of the children. We have watched a number of sporting events and shared our new-found knowledge of the Olympic Games. Hannah Price and friends created an amazing horse jumping arena in the block corner...I'm sure all of you will have seen the high tower they built for the spectators, (that is still standing a week later)!

Olympic medals have been a huge interest; especially with the Thursday/Friday group. I'm not sure how many medals came out of our production line but it's clear we have plenty of talent here in Southland...I wonder who will be representing Winton at the Olypmics in 20 years time??!!


COMING UP IN WEEK 4:

This coming Monday, the 6th of August, we are heading down to Winton Primary School to watch their performance AND to show off our Polyfest entry. This will be a great way to build confidence in the tamariki and to ensure we are more than ready for the big day! If you would like to help out on Monday or come along and watch, let us know. Also we have The Eye newspaper coming out to talk to us about our recent successes at the Polyfest Arts Awards...Watch this space!

Tuesday the 7th of August at 10am.
We are having a full dress rehearsal at the centre. Girls - please wear a white singlet on Tuesday AND please note that our Tipare (Headbands) won't fit with high ponytails; hair down or in a low ponytails will be fine. We will be having a Skype date with Rockdale Park Kindergarten so they too can watch our dress rehearsal. Parents and whanau are most welcome to come along for our final practice.

Wednesday the 8th of August.
POLYFEST DAY!! Today we will head to Invercargill to the Civic Theatre for our Polyfest performance. Thank you to all those who have put their name down to help out on the day...Your support makes opportunities like these possible! And thank you to the families and friends who have made arrangements to come along and watch our children representing Winton Kindergarten.
By now you will have received lots of information about plans for the day. The tamariki are looking forward to this special cultural event. We are also heading to the Museum to see our Polyfest Arts Exhibition.

PARENT GROUP MEETING:
This will be held on Wednesday the 8th of August at the Middle Pub. All welcome. It is great to have so many new families with us; make sure you come along and share your ideas!

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS:
Please check you have our new email address in your contacts:
wintonk@ska.co.nz

welcome back to term 3

WELCOME BACK TO TERM 3!!!

Welcome back to another exciting term at Winton Kindergarten. We have started off with our new session model; so far we have received lots of positive feedback from families, thanks for that, it has been a busy two weeks as we find our feet! The children are enjoying our rolling morning teas and lunches, and having the space and time to learn at their own pace over the longer session times. Our new model provides us all with the opportunity to be reflective about our philosophies and what we value in early childhood edcuation. 

This term we welcome many new families to our Thursday and Friday sessions. We trust you will all take the time to introduce yourself to our new children and parents. 

On that note we also welcome two new teachers to the whanau. Sally Bailey, our long term reliever, and Christina Vaughan, our permanent full time teacher. Sally lives in Inverargill and has been at a number of other Kindergartens South centres before coming to us at Winton. Some of you may remember Christina from when she was a student here in 2010. 

The term has started off with a focus on the Olympic Games...The tamariki have shared their ideas about what is involved in the Olympic Games. Tarama made a set of Olympic rings with coloured paper, an Olympic torch was produced, and even our own winning medals! Good luck to the Kiwis as they compete against the best in the world...I wonder what new knowledge the children will come back to kindergarten with after the opening ceremony this weekend??!!

Our planning and programming for the term is focused around KINDNESS. Random acts of kindness are now being acknowledged in our 'Proud of Me' box on Wednesday afternoons...PARENTS THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO INCLUDE MOMENTS FROM YOUR CHILD'S WEEK WHERE THEY HAVE SHOWN AN ACT OF KINDNESS OR MADE YOU PROUD! Here we have photos of Twizel pushing her friend Tamara on the swing, and Dylan helping Jack H with his jacket zipper...Thank you for demonstrating kindness towards others. 

POLYFEST IS NOW LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AWAY! On Monday this week we walked to the Library to watch Limehills perform their Polyfest entry. This was a wonderful opportunity for the tamariki to find out what is involved in performing in front of an audience. The costumes they wore were amazing and all of the performers looked so proud to be representing their school and community...PARENTS WE ARE HAVING A PUI PUI MAKING DAY ON MONDAY THE 30TH JULY...MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK...WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU SUPPORTING YOUR CHILDREN IN THIS CULTURAL EVENT! 

With our BIG PERFORMANCE around the corner, anticipation is growing at Winton Kindergarten! Daily practices of waiata (songs) have become a special time of day for the tamariki. Discovery Time has also been focused around our Polyfest performance, with the seven oldest children working together to create the templates for our pui puis; tu meke! Kylie has sent out specific information regarding our plans for Polyfest on the 8th of August, and we hope everyone can support this is some way. 

During the week we had a special visit from Lynley Henderson and some members from the Board of Governors. They were all very impressed with what they saw...Well done! 


Also this week we said farewell one of New Zealand's most loved childrens authors, RIP Margaret Mahy. Monday the 30th of July we plan to have a tribute day, sharing some of our most favourite Margaret Mahy stories. 


Keep up the Polyfest practice at home... :)

Judy, Kylie, Sally, and Christina

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