Before and After ...

Haere Mai everyone ... welcome back

What a great way to start the year.

BIG JOB. What a great day we had on Sunday ... digging up all that concrete. A BIG tks to John Robertson for a loan of his Little Yellow Digger and Barry Arnesen (Kylie's hubby) who got to drive it. Now all we need is for Pukerau Nurseries to come along and landscape our Wilderness Area. Tks to everyone who could come along ... the beers and barbeque went down well ... couldn't have done it without you. Check out all the pics on the slideshow, and also take a minute to check out our Landscape Plan ... any more suggestions?

We are also organising a Kindy Girls Night Out ... sorry guys ... Feb 10. Check out the Kindy newsletter. We need a minimum of 20. Also keep the 20 Feb free as it's our AGM.

16 Dec 2011

What a GREAT last week we all have had. The fine weather meant a little bit of water fun for the afternoon children ... a Water Slide. Our Term Planning ... Will I or Won't I? meant just that. But once the wet smiley faces came charging back for another turn ... Won't I? didn't seem to be an issue. Great fun was had by all ... and Tks for a lovely shared lunch to farewell Ginny ... GREAT DAY !!!

And to finish off the year for our Morning children ... Let's Go Bush !!! Our Bush Walk meant we are now beginning to notice different fauna & foliage ...

Kelan noticed some of the ferns had the same leaves but were different colours of green ... some lighter some darker. And we DID find the biggest tree. Next year we will see if we can identify it ... it was HUGE!!! Santa Claus marked the end of our trail & he even left us some treats ... how did he know we were out & about?

Tks for a great day out everyone & a BIG tks to all the Parents who were able to come along not just today but on all our Outdoor excursions.

Have a neat Xmas & a safe summer holiday break. See you all back in 2012. We will be back on

Jan 24 2012!!!

Welcome to Winton Kindy ... Lloyd Esler

What a great morning we have had today ... A visit by Lloyd Esler 'The Bug man' meant we were able to get up close & very personal with some common & some very rare BUGS. What a neat way to involve the children in the 'Wonders of Nature'. If you find any bugs @ home bring them along ... we can digi them & send them through to Lloyd to identify them - another wonderful way to include ICT into our programme. Oh I just about forgot ... we even had another visitor ... of the feathery kind. Whilst Lloyd was talking to us a Wood Pigeon decided to 'pop in' for a drink of water out of the sandpit ... how about that?

And after Lloyd left us we got stuck in & made Damper to have for lunch ... recipe available on request.

Next week is our last week @ Kindy ... we finish Kindy on the 16 Dec & return 24 Jan 2012

Have a great weekend ... slip,slop,slap & wrap !!!

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Will I or Won't I?

Five Little Monkeys swinging in a tree ...

Well actually maybe it's Riley Chapman, Ben Fitchett & Daniel McDonald. Can you hear any birds or smell the pine smell of the conifer boys? What about the afternoon sun ... can you see it in the sky? Risk taking in action ... great to see the boys setting their own challenges, making conscious choices where to place their feet & taking in the vista! And check out those proud faces !!! The other thing to think about is how our new Wilderness Area is also going to support LOTS of outdoor learning opportunities for the children. Have you had an opportunity to check out the Landscape Plan? A get-together for EVERYONE (both afternoon & morning families) will be held on Thur 24 Nov @ 12.30pm to form a working party to formulate ideas shared last term & work alongside Pukerau Nurseries ... it is EXCITING !!!

Our Friday morning Nature Discovery Programme is now into week 3. The outdoor environment provides such a genre of learning experiences. Today Jamal Gerken finds something interesting in the Silver Birch trees & with that we also found UNDER the tree some seedlings ... so we potted them up. The programme is providing opportunities for children to SLOW down & check out the world ... right @ our doorstep. It has been GREAT. A BIG thank-you to Jordyn Johnson's family for sourcing more log stumps ... they enabled Jamal to see things more closely, they have been a real hit for children to 'balance' on as they step from one stump to another & provide more seating around the 'fire-pit'. Tks Ben !!! The weather has set us some challenges over the last 3 weeks & unfortunately our Forest Hill trip had to be cancelled today ... but all is NOT lost we have rescheduled for Fri 25. We CAN'T go without helpers & although the weather was against us today we also didn't have enough helpers to go. The children WERE disappointed. Can you spare 2 or 3 hours next Fri to come along & help. Let Judy, Kylie or Ginny know.

And this week we also have introduced to Discovery Time (morning Kindy kids) our iPad2. Wow we can see some wonderful potential in this amazing learning tool. Children developmentally at this stage are VERY kinesthetic ... so what better way to learn than to TOUCH the touch screen & find out what happens. Kara whiua atu ... Give it a go! We are the FIRST Kindergarten to introduce such an amazing teaching tool in Southland !!! Find out more @ our Celebration of Learning evening on Thur 8 Dec - invitations will be in Parent Pockets shortly ... book your babysitter & be prepared to come along and be inspired !!! Also a BIG tks for making Jacqui Burns (2nd Year Student - Otago University College of Education - Sthld Campus) so WELCOME. Jacqui will be with us for another 2 weeks. We have also welcomed other teaching colleagues, over the last two weeks, who have come along to check out our 'Discovery Time' @ Winton Kindy ... our initiatives are having a real impact on ALL our 22 other Kindergartens in Southland & beyond!

There is a space below to leave a comment ... we LOVE to get your feedback !!!

Welcome to Nature Discovery

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Well what an amazing day!! I think the highlight was when Caleb found his space around the campfire and said "Oh I'm sooo happy!" How cool is that!! And yes, we knew the weather that we were greeted with today would push some boundaries but the children just LOVED it!!

It's time we spent more time with our children outdoors, doing all those things that I'm sure many of you remember doing as children...building huts, fishing, jumping in puddles and yes the list goes on and on.

Unfortunately the introduction of television, PlayStation's and computers have dis empowered many young children's abilities to appreciate all the possibilities the great outdoors can provide.

So every Friday we will be outside, yes even on days like today when we had...rain, hail, snow, wind and the odd ray of sunshine!! So please please please make sure your children have appropriate clothing!! Hats, gloves, scarves, jackets, socks, shoes. There is a great saying that goes, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing". And parents we welcome you to join us, remember you are your child's role model and even when it's cold outside, bring your jacket along and join us...outside.

Check out this very cool smilebox as a tribute for a very cool day!

Kylie & Judy

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