Keeping Ourselves Safe...

Haere Mai everyone ...

& a BIG welcome to Term 3.

We started Term 3 with a visit from the Education Review Office and shared all our ICT (Information & Communication Technology) initiatives ... they were impressed. We are away up to Dunedin tonight to also share all our initiatives @ the Otago University College of Education Research Hui ... it is exciting.

For our morning children we have watched DVD1 (of 5) titled 'Amazing Me' this week. Within it we discussed personal hygenie - washing ourselves, dressing ourselves, washing hands after toileting etc ... along with identifying parts of our body. And with Maori Language week this week we even learnt the Maori words of head, shoulders, knees & toes. If you wanted to watch any of the iDVDs just ask Judy or Kylie ... it is a neat opportunity to share with you exactly what the children have been learning.

We farewelled Yvonne Wilkinson this week ... Yvonne leaves us to take up a new teaching position in Edendale. We wish her well. And we welcome Christina Vaughan a Postgrad student from Otago University College of Education. Christina joins us every Monday ... so don't hesitate to approach Christina & introduce yourself.

Did everyone get the Term Evaluations both morning & afternoon plus our newsletter ... if not let Kylie or Judy know. There are also hard copies available to read (on the wall above the sign-in desk). Term 2 morning & afternoon slideshows are now available ... if you would like a copy just ask Judy or Kylie.

We are also REALLY short of pants ... has anyone got any spare pants we could put on our spare clothes trolley??? Sweeping & Parent Help rosters are looking a bit empty ... can you help. And just a reminder our Parent Group meeting is on Wed 4 August ... come along & have some insight to 'What Happens @ Kindy'. Love to have some NEW faces. If you need a babysitter just yell out ... we have some responsible high school girls who could be available.

Have a GREAT weekend ... GO the ALL BLACKS & go the STAGS.

Experimenting time...

Can you explain why the colours shift when the dishwashing liquid gets added to the mix??
Takahe group have been doing some experimenting over the last week and shared this experiment with some of the children in Kiwi group. Perhaps you would like to try it out at home, it is very cool!!

A day at the movies

Tha last day of afternoon kindergarten gave us a great excuse for a treat day...Movies and Popcorn were on the agenda, much to the delight of the children!!

The couches, cushions and beanbags were all pulled around to give us a great (and comfortable) view of the big screen. Most of the children found themselves a space and on went the movie 'Ant Bully' starring Tom Hanks.

With the aroma of popcorn in the air, relaxed children, teachers and parents it proved to be a great end to term 2. See you all again on Monday the 19th of July.

Cheers,

Kylie and Judy

Cameron's Project

Check out Cameron's hard work. He was busy at the art table today exploring with the shapes and asked if when he was finished could he put photos of his project on the 'BLOG'!! How could we refuse....So here they are, taken by Cameron Scully himself. Awesome work Cameron!!!

The Seven Stars of Matariki ...

This morning we have read the story 'Seven Stars of Matariki'. Matariki represents the Maori New Year. This star formation is only seen in the night sky in June ... check it out. We have asked the children to have a look in the sky before they go to bed. Let us know if you get to see the 'Seven beautiful women' (transformed into stars) in the night sky.

Rainbow discoveries....

We have been so busy this week finding more and more information about rainbows and how they are formed....Thanks to Acacia, Zak, Charlie and Jack Hume for their rainbow facts, photos and resources!! They were much appreciated and created much discussion amongst the children.

We have discussed how a rainbow is formed and discovered that it is the white light that gets 'bent' causing it to 'refract' and share it's beautiful colours with us. Hence the reason why we don't nessecarily need both sun and rain at the same time...Very interesting!!

We have also discussed the acronym ROY G BIV...a neat way of remembering which way the colours are distributed throughout the rainbow...Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet and we have been amazed at how quickly the children have picked this up...in particular, Dylan and Cameron.

We are continuing to find rainbows inside the kindergarten...A big thanks to Shianne for spotting not one but TWO different rainbows in the fish tank this week!

Check out the project room this week as the children continue to work on a large mosiac rainbow that will eventually be displayed in the Takahe mat area...It is starting to take shape and I must say it does look very very cool!!

Keep sending through those rainbow facts...they are great discussion starters with the children.

And a reminder to everyone that next week is the last week of Term 2 and we will be back for more adventures on the 19th of July!!

Have a great weekend everyone...

Kylie and Judy

Kaitrin McMullan - Storyteller.

Here is a wee snippet of the story teller that came to visit Kindergarten today.

She was absolutely amazing as I'm sure the children would agree.

Enjoy....

She shared both traditional tales such as "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (with a bit of a twist I must add) as well as some of her original tales. All the children, teachers and parents sat mesmerised as Kaitrin spun her story telling magic.

We hope the children enjoyed it as much as the adults did :)

Cheers,

Kylie