iPAD fever!!

Well our new iPAD has certainly been getting a work out during the last couple of weeks as the children become a lot more familiar with the device and how it works.

A big thanks to the Chapman family for recently lending the Kindergarten their iPAD from home so we could check out some 'apps' and find some more that could be suitable for use at Kindergarten. If you are familiar with iPAD, iPHONE or apps and know of some that would be useful here, please let us know so we can have a look.

A recent download...'Bugs & Buttons' has proved very popular and gives children many opportunities to develop early mathematics and early literacy skills.

Children have to pick-up creepy crawlies (using the pincer grip - a skill needed to hold a pencil) and sort them into different containers (maths skills).

They have to catch bugs which is great for hand-eye co-ordination and eye-tracking (early reading) and many many more!! If you can download apps at home this one is highly recommended and was in the top three best children's apps for 2011.

It's great to see technology so alive within the Kindergarten and it really embraces Winton Kindergarten as a hub for 21st century learners!!

A big thanks to the Lion Foundation for providing us with the grant that enabled us to purchase the iPAD for the Kindergarten...They do rock!!

We're going on a Dinosaur hunt, are you afraid?

There has been a lot of interest in dinosaurs over the last few weeks so we thought as an exciting adventure we would go on a dinosaur hunt to out local Forest Hill. We took a bus from kindergarten to Forest Hill, this was some of the children's first ride on a bus ka pai for being so brave. After some afternoon tea and a run around we were all set to set out on our walk through the forest. As we crept through the forest we had to keep our eyes wide open to see if there was any sign of dinosaurs. Shrieks of excitement could be heard throughout the forest "Look a bone, a dinosaur bone" which we found hidden beneath ferns and moss. "What kind of dinosaur has that bone come from?" was a frequently used question. The questions the children asked tied in nicely with our term planning of curiosity. The turnout of parents on this trip was fabulous thanks for coming.

Blue what ... oh Blueberries !!!

What a great day out ... No strawberry picking @ the Strawberry Farm soooo we decided to go Blueberry picking instead. On the bus & away to over to Otautau to meet Paul - Mgr of Blueberry South. As we stopped for morning tea ... we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere ... and we were. Well actually ... we were in the middle of a peat bog !!! Paul could tell us there are 142,000 blueberry bushes on the site ... all at various ages & stages.
Morning tea over then we were off!!! Each with our own ice-cream pottle to fill. Some children weren't sure what picking fruit actually meant & most weren't sure what a blueberry actually looked like. Until we started looking around & under the bushes ... a subtle tug and then a taste test. YUMMY. We spent the morning checking out the spongy terrain, picking & eating & enjoying being out and about. It really has provided a wonderful hands-on opportunity for children to develop an awareness of where some of our produce is actually produced. Now ... what we will we do with ALL those blueberries? Kylie & I have some ideas!!! Check out the slideshow for more pics ...

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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