Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Christmas greetings

Well it's the festive season again.We hope you all have a restful and safe holiday break. A busy closure to the learning year with the working bee, committee bbq and finally the Christmas lunch.
Thanks to you all for your hard work and committment (during the year) to this awesome learning community.
Ho!Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas everyone :)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

What a Whale of a Time

Thanks to everyone who came along to make our trip to Kettle Park such a success. We enjoyed the bus trip and explored new developments in our beautiful city by driving past our soon to be completed new stadium too.Active movement was the highlight with the dinosaur slide, whale, swings and wide open spaces too. Here are some photos of our fun end of term outing. Cheers and thanks to all our parents/whanau who came along today:)

Monday, December 6, 2010

December treasures

Hi everyone. Wow where do we start? We have been so busy at kindergarten with active movement, gardening, mosaics, favourite toy day, learning more about the diverse cultures in our community as well as more exciting activities before the end of term.
Some important dates to remember will be
* Our trip to Kettle Park (Dinosaur Park) via Dunedin Stadium on Friday 10th Dec 2010
*BBQ for all families and whanau, visit from Santa & Christmas Raffle Draw 14th Dec 2010
*End of year Picnic for all children 16th Dec 2010
*Last Day of term 17th Dec 2010
We look forward to see you all at the above events :)

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Mosaics and Christmas Countdown

Mosaics (1) This week children are creating their own designs for pavers for our outdoor area. The process will continue over a few weeks so all children will have the oportunity to be involved. As you can see by the photos they will be part of the complete process - from carting them in from the car right through to deciding where they will be laid in the ground......so watch our blog for progress.
Friday 3 December - Time to put up our christmas tree and decorate it ......
Sunday 5 December - The Santa Parade - we know many of our families will be there!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Fun happenings

Lots of further opportunities to explore active movement when Amanda from Sports Otago visited to present the gold award accreditation. All that hard effort finally paid off!
Some children have loved the sensory experience of Nevaeh's gelli baff.
During the week we have taken the chance to explore our wider world when Maja and Sophia's papa/dad taked with us about Germany. Rajneesh (Rachel's mum) brought some very tasty Fijian/Indian cuisine for us all to try. There was even dessert and many went back for seconds! Thank you Sascha and Rajneesh and families for bringing something of your cultural identity into our learning community.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Kia Ora and Hello

Hi yet another week has gone by. Time flies... our programme has included incorporating Kaupapa Maori with Senior Teacher Lee & Kaumatua Huata. We learnt some fun interesting facts and songs and our very own mihi too.
We have enjoyed more growing, planting and care of fruit and vege plants including tomato, strawberry and sunflower seedlings too. See you here on Thursday 11.30am as we receive our GOLD accreditation from Sport Otago. Bring a plate of yummy , healthy food to share. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure :)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Warm weather = water + sand + sunhats + outdoor learning fun!

Our sandpit is a popular place for outdoor learning and this moves to another dimension with the addition of water to make rivers, lakes, waterfalls (and of course pools to splash and jump in)In the childrens words water makes the texture of sand change from 'dry'.......to 'sticky'.........to 'sloppy'.......to 'liquid.' 'Why does it disappear into the sand instead of staying on top of it?' Not only are spades used for digging, they can also be to 'stood' in a row to be counted and identified by colour and size (maths concepts are everywhere)
When we need repairs and maintenance done at kindergarten, if at all possible we involve our children as well. This week they have learnt about repairing punctures in their bikes and how to keep the bolt in the gate working properly by cleaning out the bolt hole....ka pai - well done. And isn't great to see so many wearing sunhats. Remember - No hats = no outdoor play!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Fruits, Vegetables, Gardening and Gold Award

Hi Everyone :). What an exciting fortnight it has been! Firstly, we received the Gold Accreditation Award for our Active Movement Activities from Sport Otago. The official presentation by Amanda Taylor will take place at our Celebration Lucheon. We have also been successful with obtaining over $1000 funding from HEHA (Healthy Eating Healthy Action) for enhancing our outdoors with vegetable/fruit gardens, equipment & resources. This will benefit our kindergarten & our wider community :). Come along on 25th November at 11.30 am for our Celebration Lunch. Please bring a plate of Healthy Food to share. Here's to Gold :). Please feel free to post a comment as we love your feedback. Thanks :).