Term 3 Week 3

SNOW!!! Wow, what a surprise for us this morning waking up to a Winter Wonderland!! The small group that we had at Kindy today made the most of things, heading out and exploring with ALL the senses!! We hope everyone else managed to wrap up and keep warm!!

Oliver Keith and Judy in the snow today

Hiding in the Punga House to watch the birds fly in and eat the bread crumbs we put out

Ferguson, Flynn, and Andreous making the most of the snow!

CONGRATULATIONS TEAM NEW ZEALAND! The children have had LOTS of discussions over the past couple weeks about the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games! We talked about the different sports, sportsmanship, working towards a goal, and of course all the celebrations! This week we have been researching on the Internet and watching highlights from the Games and the amazing closing ceremony.

POLYFEST ART AWARDS NIGHT
Thank you to those who have put their name down to come along next Friday night...If you are keen to come along and support our amazing children and their amazing efforts - please email RSVP so we can confirm numbers if you have not yet written your name on the Kindy list. This is an outstanding achievement and the organisers would love to see as many of us there as possible - an evening for the whole family.

MTW GROUP: POLYFEST PERFORMANCE - TUESDAY AUGUST 26TH 12:15pm @ STADIUM SOUTHLAND
We are getting closer to our big performance day! We are practicing our waiata each morning and sorting out our costumes in preparation. A notice will be out next week and also the permission and parent help sheet. This is an awesome day where all our efforts and hours of practice come to fruition - such a special way to affirm our amazing and talented children! We do need lots of helpers AND supporters on the day. Please mark this date on your calendars and sign up at Kindy on Monday - many thanks! Also, do let other family and friends know to come along to the Stadium and watch/cheer for our awesome Kindy Kids.


This week we farewelled Tom Collie off to Limehills School, and also Oliver Davis and Shila Pennall. We also thanked Jan Cowan and Rachel Stalker our relieving teachers. We have Tania Radka joining us from Monday.

We welcomed Benjamin Hose and Kamryn Sinclair to our Forest Kindy this week...Thanks to Prue Collie and Kris Russell our Parent Help this week.

The Forest Kindy Crew: Caitlyn, Paige, Tom, Kamryn, Leo, Miah, Eden, Natalie, Elora and Benjamin!

Welcome to Forest Kindy Kamryn Sinclair

Benjamin Hose makes the most of his first day at Ivy Russell Reserve

Term 3 Week 2

Happy School Days to Leah Langford this week and welcome to Gevena Witcomb to our TF Group. We have had a fabulous week with Jan and her guitar! Jan will be with us until Wednesday next week, with Judy back on Thursday. No newsletter this week.

Geneva making the most of the sun today

POLYFEST PRIZE GIVING AND OPENING NIGHT 15th August 6pm Invercargill Museum
WOW, as we let slip at the end of last week, we have received notice that our presence is eagerly requested to attend this year's Polyfest Prize Giving and Opening Night at the Invercargill Museum and Art Gallery. We do need to RSVP by next Friday for the event so please put your name and number attending onto our list at Kindy next week so we can let the organisers know! They have asked that as many of our families attend as possible! This is a fabulous night and so special for our children to be acknowledged for their efforts - ka pai to mahi / great work!!

We will miss that smile Leah Langford!

Tim McCallum and Tom Collie busy in their work!

FOREST KINDY
We got back to the Reserve this week with lots of new children starting. A big thanks to Tim McCallum and Rachel Langford our wonderful Parent Helpers. Tim reconnected with his youth - spending a large part of the morning constructing and reconstructing rakau huts with the group to then have their morning tea in. With all the wind, we are very curious to find out how well these will hold up before next Tuesday!

Term 3 Week 1

Welcome back to Term 3 - where is the year going!! We have LOTS on over the coming weeks and look forward to another fabulous term at Winton Kindy...

POLYFEST ART
We have some exciting news to share with you all...The Polyfest Art 2014 (our door and ladder art pieces) has just been judged yesterday; with Sally receiving a special phone call last night...without giving too much away (as an official email has yet to be circulated from the Polyfest committee) we are delighted to be informed that they request AS MANY WINTON KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN AS POSSIBLE to the Polyfest Prize Giving and Opening Ceremony of the Art Exhibition on Friday the 15th August at the Invercargill Museum and Art Gallery....WOW, WE NOW WAIT IN ANTICIPATION, FABULOUS WORK!!!!

POLYFEST PERFORMANCE
August 26th 2014 12:15pm @ Stadium Southland - mark this on your calendars now, as always we will need LOTS of supporters. Our Kapahaka group (MTW GROUP) have been practicing hard - keep up the great work, ka pai to mahi. Our 2014 leaders are Eden Pilkington, Natalie Russell, Elora Magannig and Benjamin Hose. This week in the Project Room and at Discovery Time we have been working on our tipare/headbands for our costumes, the red and black triangles represent our nga maunga/the Takitimu Mountains.

Thank you for all your help this week making our tipare Casey Laffey

NEW STUDENT TEACHER
We welcome Rachel Cooper to Winton Kindergarten this week. Rachel joins us from Teachers College each Monday before her final posting in November...Thank you to the children for introducing themselves this week and showing Rachel around our special place.

Rachel playing a game of Kei A Wai? with the group as part of Maori language week

This week we farewelled Megan Bailey, off to Winton School - Happy School Days Megan. We also welcomed Conner Philp to our TF Group.

Welcome to Winton Kindergarten Conner Philp

Term 2 Week 8

Matariki on Monday
On Monday we had our second Matariki celebration ...We look forward to receiving updates on how the children's beans are coming along for those who wanted to plant one...I wonder how tall they will be after the holidays - send us some pics!

Polyfest Art
Wow, a big thanks to Sarina for her efforts on Wednesday...the door is coming along and we are thinking about what we should name it, remembering the theme is "Step into Culture" - feel free to comment with your ideas! Thank you to the families who have returned their Oreti River stone foot prints to go on our "Familiar Footsteps" ladder....SOOOO creative!!! And our Forest kindy children had a great time collecting flax to weave the rope to tie the two ladders together - what a real team effort!!

Elora and Izzy working on the door with Sarina

Rachel Langford and Sally preparing the flax

Morning tea in the harakeke cave

Leah and Sally testing the strength of the flax rope

Sally sharing with the Forest kindy kids how special flax is to us and its many uses

Caitlyn, Kamryn, Izzy, Libby, and Tingah-Bell lend their creative skills

We welcome new faces to Kindy this week: Liam Hartley, Andreous Mercer and Manaia Te Heuheu. Happy 4th Birthday to Addison Campbell and George Howard..thank you for sharing a special morning tea with the TF Group today!

Ionah and Addison get hands on with their learning; covering the dragon/taniwha in paper

Mmmmm banana milkshakes this week...thanks for cutting the bananas Sasha!

Term 2 Week 7

Matariki/Maori New Year Celebrations - Today and Monday 23rd June

The children came in to Kindy this morning to find we were immersed in darkness,, except for a few twinkly stars around the place - wow, what was happening today!?! We have had a fabulous day celebrating the Maori New Year, including articulating "New Beginnings" with the potting of beans to take home and nurture - please share with us some pics as your bean grows!

Matariki/Pleiades/Seven Sisters Constellation

This constellation is visible each year only in late May early June, best viewed pre-dawn to be found close to the Southern Cross.  It represents the Māori New Year and signifies the end of the harvest season culminating in sharing, learning, feasting/hākari and festivity.  It also coincides with the celebration of Winter Solstice (in the Southern Hemisphere), representing the shortest day in the year.

Jake Harland with his Matariki Stars

Ethan Warren having his face painted this morning as part of our celebrations

Oreti River Trip
On Tuesday we had a wonderful time down at the Oreti sliding down the gravel pit, throwing stones (and a gumboot) in the river, and collecting taonga/treasures for our Polyfest Art - we can't wait to see everyones footprint next week, due in by Wednesday 25th please. A big thank you to our many many helpers on the day, making this trip possible - the children had sooo much fun and were just buzzing all day!

Porter Wright and Oliver Davis... gravel pits, water, and BIG BIG machines = boy heaven!!

Craig Reed with Joshua Short and Freddie and Walter 

Kate Pulley and her Grandad sorting and selecting stones for the footprint

Kamryn Sinclair and Co. seeing how far they can throw the stones

Oliver Keith with Mum Ashlee, and Kamryn having the best day!

Polyfest Art
The Door project is coming along well, with the Discovery Time children adding their touch making koru patterns for the Oreti, using the stones from the Oreti - sooo meaningful!

The koru patterns made by the Discovery Time children on Tuesday afternoon

They also decided to relocate the paua to the sky instead of the sun - great decision making skills!

Term 2 Week 6

Polyfest Art : Step into Culture
This week we have made a start on our Polyfest Art entries. The theme this year is Step into Culture.  The Forest Kindy children collected natural resources at the Reserve for use on our door project, as well as locating and taking pictures of the Takitimu Mountains which represent our Mihi/our place. The TF Group painted a beautiful landscape with the Oreti River, farm land, Takitimu Mountains and the Sun on to the door. We then set to work sourcing and selecting which materials to use where. We have a range of autumn leaves for the farm lands, glistening paua for the sun, sheep wool for the snowy mountain peaks, and will use stones collected from Tuesday's trip to make koru kowhaiwhai patterns for our Oreti river - wow we have been busy!! Today Ferguson, Ethan, James, and Maddison walked down to Mitre10 to research which type of glue would work best for all the different materials we need to attach to our door. Check out our progress next week!

Locating the Takitimu Mountains from the "Hundred Acre Woods" @ Forest Kindy on Tuesday

We had a great discussion about "our mountains"

The blank canvas was waiting ready @ Kindy for our creative children to arrive this week

Alice, James and Luke add their contributions to the Project

Rupert admiring the children's efforts - and nibbling our leaves!!

Polyfest Performance
On Monday we will hand out this year's waiata - no doubt you will have heard your child singing or humming the tunes around home. Our Performace day is Tuesday the 26th of August at Stadium Southland...the build up is only just beginning!!

This week we said Happy School Days to Emma Cubitt. What better way to spend your last kindy day than at Forest Kindy with Dad, followed by a special birthday Mat Time, and a delicious cake! We welcome Angus Collie to the TF Group this week also.

Our resident Mud Expert Emma gets Dad Craig in on the action!!

Drew, Leah, Joshua and Alex on their horse

Dad time this week, thanks Paul and Craig. Izzy gets a warm welcome to join in searching for huhu grubbs!

Term 2 Week 5

Pink Ribbon Breakfast Take 2:

We had a very pinkalicious day on Wednesday, hosting our second Pink Ribbon Breakfast with the MTW Group. A big thank you to everyone for getting behind the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, we have raised $383 so far - fabulous!! Also to everyone for getting in the pink/royal theme and showcasing their finest pinkest attire for the day! Last week the children made crowns as we planned to celebrate Queen's Birthday along with the Pink Ribbon Breakfast. There was great anticipation over the week, with the Forest Kindy children confirming that the dragons had passed the letter on to the Royals that we would like to request their company on the day. As the children sat down to their royal pink feast, the shadow of a dragon passed over and to our surprise the Queen of the Kingdom Far Far Away had come to join us! The Queen even brought biscuits to share with everyone, and we all sang "Happy Birthday". There was time for the Queen to share with us about her holiday to Scotland, staying at some of the country's finest castles, as well as answering the children's questions. Everyone gave her a birthday hug and off she had to go back to the Dragon's Nest to wait for her next flight back to Scotland to see the King! Wow, what an amazing day we had, finally getting to meet the Queen that we had heard sooo much about over the past two terms! We look forward to her next visit.

Looking groovy Joshua!

Kourtney, Libby, Sophie and Holly looking pretty in pink!

A special mat time to talk about where our donations go before having our Pink Ribbon Feast

Alice, Sophie, Izzy, Kamryn, Caitlyn and friends enjoy some pink milk and pink cake

The Queen arrived and surprised us all during our  Feast

Everyone said "Happy Birthday" and gave the Queen a Birthday hug

Joshua gives the Queen a big squeeze!

Rocking the pink socks Porter!!

Tara having a magical day 

We welcome Liam Butler, Jake Harland, Luke Mitchell and Flynn Roskam to the TF Group this week. We fare welled Sienna Breen, off to Winton School, Happy School Days!