Hunter Park Kindergarten

Back from fishing

2012-02-01T15:46:00.001+13:00

Helping In The Garden

2012-01-26T10:04:00.002+13:00

Visitors

2011-11-30T16:12:00.005+13:00

With the government first cutting professional development funding for a year and then restricting funding to literacy and numeracy and finally slashing millions of dollars worth of funding from kindergartens, including funding for provisionally registered teachers it's just lucky we still have our own networks of learning.

Teaching children literacy and numeracy material when they haven't worked through the necessary developmental milestones to make a strong foundation for it tends to be have poor results, and negative long term consequences like a leaky home or the results of other ill informed and poorly thought through policies.

Even when children have had the time taken to build a solid foundation big shifts underneath their learning can cause it to fall over just like an earthquake, the shakier the foundation the more likely this is to happen.

Known as transition drop, shifting to a new environment can be a big knock to a child's confidence and abilities, so we work hard to cushion the shift through transition visits, building links and relationships with the 18 local schools we feed too, keeping links with past children, and making links with new ones.

Recently Jo was invited to present on transition to a class of teachers and trainees at Massey on the work we've been doing here and the learning we did with Monica Cameron when transition development was still funded.

Appleton heard about this and asked to visit us, braving the skyrocketing petrol prices that have been hitting many rural families hard to spend an afternoon sharing ideas on transition and the many other areas currently off the funded list but necessary for quality education. We even shared some literacy and numeracy ideas as they are important pieces when included in the whole puzzle.

It was really lovely to see Hilary, Shona, Viv, Annette and Megan and as well as sharing our ideas and learning we picked their brains as thoroughly as we could in an afternoon as well.

A big thankyou to them for taking the time and expense to come all the way over from Dannevirke to see us.

Ukulele

2011-11-29T13:54:00.004+13:00

We've hired a class set of ukulele for three weeks. Ngaire Shand (who used to teach Nadine) came and gave us our initial instruction and since then we've practised our c and f chords every day with even a sneak peek at G7.

We've been learning some names for our fingers, Thumb, pointer, tallman, ringman and pinkie, names for parts of the ukulele, head, neck, body, frets, strings, tuning keys, and how to play the c and the f chord. I noticed we were getting pretty quick at swapping so sometimes we even have a go at song were we have to swap from one chord to the other.

We've been learning to play fast and slow, loud and soft as well.

Since Ngaire made us up a song we've also been making up our own songs and have noticed the children have been creating their own songs as well. In addition to as our more formal session for everybody we also have less formal opportunities to play for those who are interested, with a few extra instruments and the option to dance as well.

Getting ready for the parade

2011-11-29T09:20:00.000+13:00

Week 5 - Playdough fridge magnets

2011-11-28T15:51:00.003+13:00

Week 4 - Scrafitto painting

2011-11-28T15:37:00.002+13:00

Education Debate, have a listen.

2011-11-07T16:29:00.005+13:00

Here is a link to the education debate that took place on radio on the 7th of November.
Worth listening to, I know I found out about policies being implemented I hadn't heard about. The ECE debate takes place from the 27th minute but since the children now in kindergarten will be at school in three years you should listen to it in full.

The highlight for me was the 3 R's Relationships, Resourcing, Relevance, something I readily agree with. There were also hints about compulsory early childhood, further funding cuts, hints about closure and consolidation of small and rural schools, privatisation of education, parent fees, class sizes (is the funding sufficient), teacher aides, ratios of qualified teachers to children (is funding only 80% trained a backdoor teacher child ratio cut), and food in schools.

Inform yourself, weigh the arguments and reasoning, and be sure to get out and vote for your choice.

Be aware there is a lot of spin with carefully phrased messages that may give an understanding to the listener different to what has actually been said. There is also quite a bit of and questioning as to who is telling the truth.

As a guide in the case of funding you might want to consider more funding total does not necessarily mean more per child. An increase in total child numbers for the country, percentage participation by the population,total hours of participation, inflation, g.s.t., planned increases for more qualified teachers, etc will all affect the actual funding.

To sort this all out you should seek out your own information to check the validity of the various statements. As a start below are some quotes and links to a few articles discussing changes to early childhood education over the past three years with some quotes from Anne Tolley and Sue Moroney that I've noted from 2011, 2010 and 2009.

I'd also recommend this link to 15 press releases put out over the last two years by the kindergarten's national body, but do look up your own links and check the party websites as well.

sample NZK release-STANDARDS UNDERMINED

“As at 1 July, groups of up to 150 children over two years old (75 under two years old) can occupy the same space at the same time – for example in the playground or while having a meal.” says Clare Wells, Chief Executive New Zealand Kindergartens (NZK)...“Being part of such a large group is not in the best interests of children and detrimental to their health, safety and wellbeing.” said Clare Wells.

Sample NZK release - 25 November, 2010 More funding cuts to kindergartens

Another million dollars will be cut from Government funding to kindergartens next year, on top of the estimated $14 million reduction in funding already announced in the budget, according to the New Zealand Kindergartens (NZK).

...
Services employing newly qualified teachers (provisionally registered teachers - PRTS) receive a grant to help those teachers to become fully registered. Each year, a grant of $4,300 per PRT is paid, supporting their two year induction programme. The programme is an essential part of the process of becoming a teacher. The research shows effective induction is critical to the success of newly qualified teachers in both ECE services and schools.

2011http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1105/S00295/embarrassing-boo-boo-by-tolley-on-ece-cuts.htm

During a speech at the NZ Kindergarten’s Association Conference today, the Minister trumpeted the Napier Kindergarten Association as an example of being able to “do more with less”.

“But just moments later, she was corrected by the general manager of the Napier Association, Helen McNaughton, who was in the audience.

“Helen McNaughton said that in fact kindergartens are considering fee increases to families so they can balance the budget. She pointed out the figures the Minister had quoted were from the 2010 year – before the funding cuts were implemented.

...
“Anne Tolley also claimed that participation had increased at the Napier Kindergarten Association, but again, Helen McNaughton corrected her. She told the conference that the number of children accessing education through her association had actually dropped.

2010 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4072387

Kindergarten teachers say "brutal funding cuts" are threatening to squash their historic service to 26,000 Kiwi families.

On Friday, Education Minister Anne Tolley was challenged at the Kindergarten Association's annual conference over funding changes, which one service said would leave it with half of the money it had before.

Tolley was unapologetic over the cuts. She pressed kindergartens not to hike fees to make up the shortfall, but instead use fewer qualified teachers.

"You have your decisions to make around your budgeting. As minister, I have my decisions to make around my budgeting," Tolley said. "The rising costs were unsustainable."

The Government announced in the May Budget that the top rate of funding for early childhood education (ECE) centres with more than 80 percent qualified staff would be removed.

Kindergartens have 100 percent qualified staff. They estimate they will lose about $14 million as a result of the change.

Tolley said she did not accept kindergartens were at risk.

"You have a philosophical point of view and I respect that. But I can't afford to pay for it."

Kindergarten Association chief executive Claire Wells said research showed high levels of qualified teachers made for better ECE services.

2009 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0907/S00036.htm

...The Ministry of Education has estimated that 19,000 additional places will need to be found for preschoolers by 2011 just to keep participation rates at current levels and to improve the participation of Maori and Pacific children.

...“Since becoming Minister of Education, Anne Tolley has scrapped a plan to improve child – teacher ratios, cut funding for teacher professional development and reduced standards for ECE centres,” Sue Moroney said....

Something to think on.

2011-10-28T18:08:00.003+13:00

With the election approaching it's well worth doing some research so you can make informed decisions when choosing between policies.
Retirement age for instance, should it stay at 65 or go up to 67, how much should we pay for it? Here for example a bit of research may turn up that poorer members of communities could typically live around ten years less than wealthier members. So if poorer contributors on average only get 2 years of super, when wealthier friends get 10 years, who should pay the most?
Many policies are spun on short term benefit but have long term consequences. Such polices will impact on the adult lives of children now in kindergarten. What are the impacts and consequences positive and negative of the recent cuts to kindergarten funding? Here's a video for TED, filmed in Jul 2011, to start you thinking, New Zealand features in a lot of it's statistics and it is an eyeopener and worth waltching.
When filling your child's lunch box it's the ingredients not the packaging or brand association that's important, and we need to read them and know what's healthy to make healthy choices for our children.
Politicians all understand marketing and branding. As voters we make more informed decisions when we read and understand the label on the back to inform our choices.
It's not just the next three years, its their ongoing consequences in the years that come after.

Batons

2011-10-12T20:07:00.000+13:00

Canada

2011-10-12T12:07:00.000+13:00

Chocolate with Kaycie

2011-10-12T10:53:00.001+13:00

Pocket knives

2011-10-03T18:28:00.001+13:00

Daffodil Day visitors

2011-09-28T15:37:00.003+13:00

sticks

2011-09-27T14:24:00.000+13:00

Silver Fern

2011-09-27T09:58:00.000+13:00

Sedimentation

2011-09-27T09:47:00.000+13:00

Daffodil

2011-09-22T15:48:00.001+12:00

The great Build of Samoa

2011-09-16T15:18:00.004+12:00

Gym Class

2011-09-12T15:30:00.001+12:00

Our special Rugby Cake

2011-09-09T15:18:00.002+12:00

Anna's Choco

2011-08-16T15:42:00.002+12:00

Anna brought in her pony Choco to share rides with her friends.

The day it snowed.

2011-08-16T15:15:00.002+12:00

It doesn't normally snow at the kindergarten though it has come close a few times, as one passing lady with grey hair commented, it hasn't snowed here since my children where young.
Unfortunately our snow had been rained on over night so it was mostly ice, but up the road a bit on Pukeora hill it was several inches deep as it was at many children's homes.
At Kindy we tried to make some snow men, and snow balls but mostly watched it melt and I suspect ate some.

Bones

2011-07-11T15:42:00.000+12:00

Trolley

2011-06-23T16:07:00.001+12:00

Two in One

2011-06-23T15:24:00.001+12:00

Weight Comparison

2011-06-23T14:38:00.002+12:00

Hangi

2011-06-23T14:17:00.001+12:00

More to come

In the skies

2011-06-23T09:30:00.002+12:00

Slingshots

2011-06-05T14:15:00.003+12:00

Boats

2011-06-05T14:14:00.000+12:00

Magic Cabbage

2011-06-02T15:14:00.000+12:00

Lines People

2011-05-27T15:58:00.002+12:00

Duck shooting

2011-05-26T15:10:00.001+12:00

Special visitors

2011-05-24T17:28:00.002+12:00

Nature has shared many special visitors and some beautiful days with us.

E whitu nga kahuku, tui, pungawerewere, me nga pukurau?/ paru-whatitiri?

Light trap delight

2011-05-11T16:28:00.000+12:00

Ngahuru/ Autumn

2011-05-09T16:06:00.003+12:00

Mainly Music Easter 2011

2011-04-20T12:00:00.004+12:00

Felting

2011-04-06T09:22:00.003+12:00

Using the wool they dyed Jo and the children have been keen to experiment with felting. After watching some how too guides on YouTube they had a go. While they patted the felt for ten minutes they also learnt about music, body parts, time, rhythm and counting.

Acorn target

2011-03-23T15:55:00.002+13:00

With three days of wet weather we've been getting out when we can. Rather than getting out lots of gear only to have to put it back again with the next shower, we've been making use of the bounty of nature. In this case falling acorns and leaves. We started aiming at the post then, moved back, then shifted to a leave stuck in the post as with practice our aim improved. We had to learn not to get to close as sometimes acorns miss or bounce back and hit us. Several children are now hitting the leaf from several meters back.

2011-03-21T13:35:00.000+13:00

Our Trip To Pouerere Beach

2011-03-10T09:48:00.002+13:00

Our Dancers

2011-03-09T14:42:00.002+13:00

Catch up time

2011-03-07T16:07:00.001+13:00

Finally getting a chance to catch up with Term 4's stories.

We Can Stomp

2011-03-07T15:46:00.001+13:00

Some of our finds from our beach trip

2011-03-03T15:58:00.004+13:00

Spiny star Papatangaroa

Spider crab

Mud crab, Kairau with eggs.

Marbled rock crab, Rērere

Periwinkle, Ngaeti

Mottled brittlestar, Weki huna

Kina, sea urchin

Common shrimp, tarawera

Chitin, Papatua

Sea Centipede, Weri moana

Kahuku

2011-03-01T09:56:00.002+13:00

The swan plant Keagan's granddad gave us has picked up quite a crop of caterpillars over the summer and more are coming on the new plants we brought as well. Some of them have been hatching out from their chrysalis, while we watch.

Cycle challenge

2011-02-28T15:34:00.005+13:00

Quite a few familiar faces at the Mayoral cycle challenge which is great especially with all the interest we've had in bikes.
edit Nope I didn't hear Eden win a prize, she wasn't there, though some of her family was.

Sadly I couldn't get close enough to get a photo (probably why I didn't hear the name right.)

Gecko

2011-02-25T17:38:00.003+13:00

Gecko's are protected and can only be kept if captive bred and then only with a license.

We had a quick look with a few children at a time till everyone had seen and then he was released back to the wild, hopefully as close as we could reasonably get to the boat he was found on.

for three further Gecko posts

How a cicada sings

2011-02-25T17:30:00.001+13:00

Weaving

2011-02-25T16:30:00.001+13:00

Princess bags

2011-02-24T14:41:00.000+13:00

2011-02-15T17:53:00.000+13:00

Sea Art At Hunter Park

2011-02-15T16:59:00.003+13:00

Making Power

2011-02-15T15:37:00.002+13:00

Where do cicadas come from?

2011-02-14T10:02:00.002+13:00

edit here's something from an old post on singing

Close up cicada noise makers

men and Fathers in ECE

2011-02-04T13:01:00.001+13:00

fathers in ece from national radio

Tigers and Dragons

2011-02-01T14:45:00.004+13:00

Hunting outside last week we found tigers (tiger beetles) and dragons (dragonflies). Inside our slugs were having a party.

Sea Conversations

2011-02-01T14:13:00.002+13:00

From discussions with children and parents, it became obvious (as we had anticipated it would) that a lot of families had spent time at the beach. So we put out the sea creatures to see what conversations they would prompt.

First week back

2011-02-01T09:26:00.000+13:00

What did the Teachers do?

2011-01-31T16:18:00.003+13:00

Well we survived the holiday break, as did the kindy frogs, slugs, crickets, fish and locusts who got regularly fed. New windows got put in to ensure they met the standard, and the drains got fixed. Sadly the playground rebuild wasn't able to go ahead as we still need more funds.
Meanwhile lots have been asking what we did in the holidays, so here's some of what I did from Ben's blog.

Car Jump

2011-01-27T15:58:00.002+13:00

Last term we set up this ramp for the cars since they'd been a great interest in rolling things down the hill, plus a number of cars had been brought in. We soon added a jump and due to popularity kept it going over the days to follow, as the children worked to explore and master the skills involved. I noticed a lot of long periods of play by the children exploring the ramp as they perservered with the challenge.

Some of our bug visitors from term 4

2011-01-25T15:44:00.005+13:00

Some of the bugs we found last term, so far this term (term 1 2011) after one day back ,we've found a male and a female cicada kihikihi, a stag beetle, a cabbage white Pepe mā and a monarch butterfly kahuhu.
Ants nga Pōpokorua

baby mantis , rō

Locust kapakapa

millipede

slater

hopper

Dragonfly kapokapowai

Interesting documentary

2010-12-12T13:34:00.001+13:00

From Radio New Zealand National

Running Wild in Fiordland

Fiordland Kindergarten which has launched a new programme to take pupils out into the wide open spaces. Their midweek nature discovery day draws inspiration from the European Forest kindergarten movement.

On Wednesday mornings, the children swap plasticine, paint brushes and modelling clay for dirt, sticks and fresh air. For some children, delivered by their parents to Ivon Wilson Park on the outskirts of Te Anau, it can be a bit traumatic. There are a few sobs and tears, but head teacher Clare Maley-Shaw is not bothered. She knows that as soon as mother or father is out of sight, the child will be swept up by the group.

All brightly clad in yellow raincoats and waterproof leggings, the preschoolers know the few rules by heart. Not one has gone missing since the programme began over a year ago.

The children enjoy a range of activities from climbing trees and sliding down leafy slopes, to exploring for bugs and beetles and eating toasted marshmallows around the campfire. The philosophy, according to Clare, is one of minimum intervention, intended to foster independence and a healthy curiosity and respect for their natural surroundings.

By taking the children out into nature on a regular basis, not just walking through it but ‘being in it’, she aims to give children a lifelong passion for the natural environment.

Clare Maley-Shaw admits it all seems like commonsense, and yet Fiordland Kindergarten is the pioneer of this outdoor programme in New Zealand, and is currently carrying out research on it’s impact on both the children and the teachers.

Raffle results

2010-12-11T12:34:00.002+13:00

Raffle #1
1st prize Canvas by Olive Bremer #199 Jacob Hume
2nd prize Half pig, Judy Vining #207 c/o Emma Kappely
3rd prize* # 84 unsold have redrawn
3rd prize Xmas lamb –finalising delivery will announce shortly
4th prize firewood –Penny Baines # 412
5th prize Grocery hamper – Rachel Wright #471

Raffle # 2
1st prize Half Pig Nadine Harrison #45 (We only had two lots of tickets returned unsold, it was too late to get them in the supermarket sale so this morning David and Nadine decided to buy most of them between them and guess what, when we drew it this afternoon Nadine was a winner!)
2nd prize Ezy Roller, Annabelle Greer #293
3rd prize Mystery merry Hamper, Lynette Chapman –Napier #154
4th prize Grocery Hamper, Jasmin Zimerman #113
5th prize Sue Lowe, Cake, #301

Prizes drawn using online random number generator
http://www.mathgoodies.com/calculators/random_no_custom.html
By David Berry
Supervised by Adrianne Coles
And Tracey Bird
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the raffle in donations and in selling tickets, special thanks to those who donated the major prizes.
Also thanks to our top three ticket sellers Tristan walker, Eden Simmons and Maanuka Winiana who will get a small gift for their great efforts.

David Berry

Belinda Dancing

2010-12-09T14:08:00.003+13:00

Sacm Warning

2010-12-03T20:37:00.003+13:00

I recently got a cold call at home from a pushy and convincing lady who wanted me to open windows event viewer
now before I did anything I just pretended to and noted down the actions, then googled them.
sure enough a quick search of "computer phone scam"
revealed this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/phone-scam-india-call-centres

"The scam always starts the same way: the phone rings at someone's home, and the caller – usually with an Indian accent – asks for the householder, quoting their name and address before saying "I'm calling for Microsoft. We've had a report from your internet service provider of serious virus problems from your computer."
Dire forecasts are made that if the problem is not solved, the computer will become unusable.
The puzzled owner is then directed to their computer, and asked to open a program called "Windows Event Viewer". Its contents are, to the average user, worrying: they look like a long list of errors, some labelled "critical". "Yes, that's it," says the caller. "Now let me guide you through the steps to fixing it...
The company has noticed the problem. "Microsoft does not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer," it says on its website.
"If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Tech Support, hang up. We do not make these kinds of calls.

Basically never trust cold calls or emails like this, if in doubt tell them you'll take it in to your computer technician to get checked.

and like the free laptops scam, just do a quick Google search of key words along with the word scam first, and or go to the official website (not one they tell you to go to.)

Grandparents and special friends day

2010-12-02T16:06:00.004+13:00

Thank you to every one who came along to catch up and share songs and kai with us at teh kindergarten.

And thank you to our great team who helped clean up afterwards.

I thought I'd share this video I watched recently

2010-12-02T16:03:00.003+13:00

It has powerful implications for things like national standards and how we teach.

Astronomy lecture series well worth a view

2010-11-23T16:18:00.003+13:00

I've been privileged to attend the astronomy lecture series touring from Napier down to CHB the last few Fridays. It concludes this Friday the 26th of November 2010 and is well worth attending even if you missed the first two on galaxies and the solar system.

Roll up to the Waipukurau club at 7pm, entrance $10.

Hopefully if well supported they'll be back with more.

Cat visitor

2010-11-23T10:45:00.002+13:00

A really lovely cat has been visiting us last week, very friendly and playful.

Protest in Napier part 3

2010-11-13T20:45:00.004+13:00

The third part of the videos I made for parents who couldn't get to the protest against ECE cuts in Napier. Rick Barker concludes the rally.
Say no to cuts, say no to back door increases in teacher child ratios causing cuts to quality.
(These are my views and not necessarily those of our association.)

More speeches from the Napier Protest.

2010-11-13T19:51:00.003+13:00

As I tried to explain to Chris afterward, most people can cook, but when they try to cook nutritionally great, tasty meals, for large numbers of strangers, in a restricted time frame, catering to special dietary requirements, fussy eaters and more without training disasters happen.
Then there is evaluating what and how you did as you plan for your future meals.
Teachers are ordinary everyday people, but they have specialist training.
Parents and families know their own kids and are an important part of their health care and education, but you need training to cater to large numbers and specialist needs, to detect subtle problems, and act on them.

Yes I know when my child has chicken pox but I still take them to the doctor.

Chris argued that some aren't getting anything, better they get something than nothing. While I agree we should aim for 100% participation, I don't agree cuts are the way to achieve that goal, regardless of how you manipulate the statistics and argue cuts are increases.
Yes Chris gruel will keep you alive but please sir we want some more.

Chris said it is about choices, well time and again the national government has found money for pet projects like national standards (even though it is widely regarded as faulty and redundant as duplicating existing assessments.) I know my children's school assessments have always been clear , picked up what has needed to be done, and as a parent I've always worked closely with my children's teachers to develop support programs for my children at parent teacher interviews. If it's choices I would rather have no cuts to ECE than money wasted on implementing the dubious National standards.

Anyway part 2, remember to watch part 1

The views expressed in all three of these posts are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of our association.

Napier Protest

2010-11-13T18:29:00.005+13:00

With many families already having commitments to the CHB show not every one who wanted to be in Napier this Saturday could make it, regardless there was a huge turn out in from families across our association and others with a message for the government about the massive cuts that began affecting kindergartens and others from the 1st of November 2010.
Here's some video of the day for everyone who couldn't make it. (Speeches are edited down to key points, sorry about the jumpiness of my filming. It also needs a backing track, so please put some music on while watching. )
please also excuse the spelling error, I meant to say "hear" not here.
I also meant to say reduce the quality of teacher child ratios.

college musicians

2010-11-12T16:05:00.002+13:00

Nicola organised the college's junior musicians to come and play for us.

Car Cleaning

2010-11-11T15:50:00.002+13:00

It takes trust to park your car at kindergarten, several parents joking asked if they could but no one took us up on our offer of acceptance, Adrianne did however....hmmm

So what happens when you park your car at kindergarten next to a bucket of warm soapy water and clothes, unlocked!

Boat and siren more gas pressure

2010-11-11T08:50:00.002+13:00

Warning take off headphones, hands on ears when you see the notice, the second half of this video is very loud, air pressure makes sounds.

Adrianne also brought a putt putt boat, the water vapourises to steam which as a gas tries to expand to fill a larger volume, but being contained instead becomes pressurised until it can pushes out the water, providing the locomotive force for the boat.

Sound is pressure waves in the air, sometimes sound waves are so loud we can feel them through our skin.

Why not google air pressure and see if you can find some youtube videos with more ideas about air pressure.

Compressure and pressure

2010-11-10T16:49:00.004+13:00

Adrianne brought a rocket car for us at the show. I brought along my pump and we put it together. The compressed air forces the water (or air depending on what we put in) out the back.

Art Auction 2010

2010-11-03T14:42:00.003+13:00

Welcome Nadine

2010-11-01T16:01:00.000+13:00

Expert Planer Makers

2010-10-28T15:45:00.002+13:00

Rainbow

2010-10-28T15:14:00.001+13:00

Zappo

2010-10-27T15:57:00.002+13:00

Zappo came to see us here's some of the many highlights of the show.

Flax weaving resource

2010-10-27T12:38:00.001+13:00

Interested in weaving flax, here's a great website on harakeke, selecting, preparing, dying and weaving basics.
http://www.alibrown.co.nz/instructions.html
you can find out about different types of flax and how suitable your's is for weaving here

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/plants/harakeke/all_cultivars.asp

and also here

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/plants/weaving/

Desmond Morris on his new book "Child"

2010-10-21T16:11:00.001+13:00

Interview with Desmond about his book looking at 2-5 years olds on Radio NZ Thursday 21.10.10

Highlights of our trip to Ngati Whai festival

2010-10-21T15:32:00.004+13:00

Here's a few video highlights of our trip Wednesday to the Ngati Whai festival, aroha nui to our hosts and the organisers. Do to the weather we couldn't walk as we'd planned but Brun's Buses came to our rescue so a big thankyou to them, they really have looked after us over the years.

Watch and see if you recognise any past pupils, I do. Thanks for the big hug Kaitlyn Jo and Hope lovely to catch up, hi to Aiden and Harriet, and everyone else as well.

Art Auction

2010-09-22T14:16:00.022+12:00

edit Olive Bremer's boy with rabbit, will also be up for auction.

I'm sorry this took so long but here are some of the wonderful artworks that will be up for sale at our art auction. Unfortunately there simply wasn't enough time to showcase all of them and their lot numbers on our blog, maybe next time. In the meanwhile do come along for a great night or place your bids before hand if you can't make it. Building Change, Acrylic on Canvas, by David Berry celebrates our old playground and anticipates the new

This horse by Franca, is one of those pictures that can be more than one thing to the viewer.

Emma explores geometric shapes with oil pastel.

Caleb's monster reminiscent of Lily's magpie.

Anna T-towel is one of many hand painted towels.

Tom's bold signature, sets off his bold colour choice.

Billee and Tejayee painted this motorbike on one of the large canvases. Dad on the motorbike, Tejayee on the back, in the rain with the lambs, Billee asleep,

Triangulation by David Berry, in oil pastel on paper.

A quadripartite by David Berry.

Some Daffodil shots

2010-09-17T12:59:00.003+12:00

Some shots from our daffodil trip more to come.

Waipawa Kindergarten like to watch what's happening at Hunter Park Kindergarten

2010-09-16T12:36:00.004+12:00

Sharon, Matt and the children of Waipawa Kindergarten love to watch what other children are up to at Hunter Park. We have one child who has friends at Hunter Park, so she will often ask me to put "the other kindy" on the computer. We just loved watching the Campfire...our children would love to give that a go. We also enjoyed watching Abi and Charlotte painting using most of their body parts...we could give that a go too. We watched the posting using the Brain Box circuit sets. Matt and Sharon have decided that we must buy some. Thanks Hunter Park for having an open blog allowing us to take a peek into your world of learning. Regards, Sharon

Visit to Cefyn Gauden's studio

2010-09-10T15:46:00.004+12:00

To support our look at the virtues of creativity, beauty and perception we travelled to Cefyn Gauden's art studio were we learnt about his pictures, watched him paint, had a go and listened to him play and explain about the drums.

Then we went to Sara and Mike's for amazing arty cupcakes.

Thankyou to everyone who helped on the trip.

Camp fire cookout

2010-09-09T09:22:00.003+12:00

We had a lovely time with music, science, stories and sausages but what happened to Adrianne's sandwich?

Siren back on.

2010-08-31T16:26:00.004+12:00

With the changes at the fire station the siren above the kindergarten has had to be turned back on. Owen came up to show the children what it would sound like when it goes off. We've also been talking about it so hopefully no one will get scared when they hear it, but we'll be ready if they do.

Please do play the video with your child and talk to to them about the siren to help them know what it sounds like and what it does. It will go louder and longer.

Persevere and you get there.

2010-08-30T14:03:00.003+12:00

Becky works on her skills in balance, strengthens her upper body ready for handwriting, gets a practical lesson in how a pulley works and reinforces her disposition to persist and perservere even when it is hard and you don't suceed straight away.

Our Plane

2010-08-17T21:21:00.000+12:00

I Love My Books

2010-08-17T20:09:00.002+12:00

More adventures

2010-08-13T17:58:00.003+12:00

Lots happening this week, so here's some more movies, a little experiment to see how many children to hoist a teacher with our new 8:1 pulley set up, some of the bird life around the kindergarten (Tui, piwaiwaka, silver eye), a snowball fight, some builders and their discussions at smoko, and a roading gang discussing the difference between a police car and a taxi.

What's in a word?

2010-08-11T20:19:00.009+12:00

A past parent recently asked me, "what really is the point of teaching children Te Reo Maori, they'll never use it in the real world, they'd be better learning something like French or Mandarin."

It's a good question to which there are many answers.

One answer is words, think for a minute how you would say "nuclear missile" to an ancient celt? "Spear that strikes mountains as lightning strikes trees?"

When you learn a language you don't just learn sounds that come out of your mouth but concepts and ways of thinking, new ways of seeing the world that other languages may simply not have the words to express. Remember hypotenuse? Perhaps that's why New Zealanders are seen as so creative, because we combine within ourselves ideas and words the rest of the world simply doesn't have access to.

A big part of learning to be an effective teacher is learning the language of teaching, most jobs have it their own special jargon and ways of thinking, that's one reason why a person straight off the street can't expect to be a fully effective teacher without training any more than I could become a world class chef overnight, even though I cook.

But what about jargon, what about your everyday words, the words you use every day! When did you learn most of the words and concepts you've spent the rest of your life relying on, the words of society, friendship, courage, contribution, exploration, communication, belonging and wellbeing?

In Early childhood of course. That's why it's so important to have a rich vocabulary around your children, but it must be in context. Children of this age are concrete thinkers, they learn best when they physically experience the concepts that go with the words. That's why I often prefer the label conceptary education to describe us that simply Early Childhood Education.

It's also why we have to ensure in our quest to keep kids safe we ensure they still get the full and rich experiences they deserve and not wrap them in bubble wrap. Kids need quality and quantity, experiences should be repeated so they can return to them and grow their understanding as they explore. Check out these snippets of some of the exploration this term.

Hear the words in the videos. "now it's my turn", "come back", think how you now use those words, think about what they're learning as they say the words that will set them up for life.

Learning to Screen Print

2010-07-30T15:12:00.004+12:00

Welcome to Term 3

2010-07-29T15:26:00.003+12:00

This term we will be focusing on the virtues of Perception, Beauty and Creativity. We've already been researching various philosophies to find out what beauty is.

On the subject of philosophy we've just spent the last week relooking at our own philosophy statement responding to a challenge from our education manager.

Things we might include in our kindergarten's philosophy statement include why we were set up, what we want to achieve and what values are really important to our service and community. If anyone has and thoughts on what we should include in our philosophy statement, do let us know.

This term we farewelled last terms reliever Michelle off to a permanent appointment at Ellen Stevenson, and welcome Becky back who will be relieving till a permanent teacher is appointed.

I was lucky enough to have a principle roll in Oliver over the holidays, thankyou to everyone for your wonderful feedback on how well this went.

Sonya our student from Auckland University will be with us till the 20th of August when Elsa from EIT will be joining us till the end of the term as our new student teacher. Sonya's been introducing lots of ideas on recycling and papermaking.

This week we've been celebrating te wiki o te reo Māori, more news on this to come.

Last week we had a workshop with the wonderful Tanya Batt on storytelling and movement, a big thankyou to our hosts Waipawa kindergarten.

Over the term break we enjoyed our conference with many interesting speakers including a presentation we did on blogging and e-Profiles. We will also be presenting to our school and ECE colleagues at the Transition /ENET group on the 12th of August.

I've also been asked to help out with the high school science fair so I won't be here next Wednesday.

We have lots of new faces who've been settling well, welcome to all our new friends and families.

We also had many visitors, Bridget a student from St Josephs researching our history for a school project, new enrolments and children coming in for transition visits, do pop up.

Speaking of visitors we'll be welcoming the team from ERO near the end of the term and Zappo will be returning to present his show in the last week.

This term there's a couple of minor trips we'll look at. We've been invited by Cefyn to visit his art studio at Pukeora, we'll try to link in with school to view their performance for the Ngati Whai festival, and we expect to head out to the daffodils.

Our fundraiser for the term will be an Art Auction, probably on Thursday the 23rd of September.
Hopefully I'll have the final figures for the Hangi fundraiser next term. The final plans are nearly ready!

Kia ora koutou from Sonya.

2010-06-29T15:52:00.002+12:00