Welcome to Term 2 at Concord Kindergarten

Our term is already off to another action packed start - with a particularly strong interest in dramatic play......using puppets, masks, dress-ups and other props and resourses. Yes, Goldilocks is at it again - visiting the house of the 3 Bears and causing mayhem while they are out for a walk (you know how the story goes..............) Thanks to Jude's crocheting skills there are now 5 Little Monkeys causing trouble for Mr Crocodile and as you can see the children are developing some great skills using finger puppets as well as extending and experimenting with language and literacy. This learning was enhanced even further on Friday when one of our Mums sang for us. We were all spell bound by her beautiful voice as she shared songs and waiata with us all. Of course the recent royal events stirred interest in weddings for us all but even more importantly we had a wedding of our own during the term break. Congratulations from us all to Gerry and Rob. We wish you every happiness.

Kia Ora

Hello again, friends, families, children & followers of our blog. Time flies and it is only a little over a week till the end of term. Here are a few more pictures of our fun, learning programme and some of the busy happenings taking place here. Kia Kaha.

Language Extension and Bush Walks

With books in hand about 25 children from Concord School visited us to read to small groups and individual children - what a great way to enhance literacy learning, language and communication skills, and promote relationships with older children and their school. We hope this will become a regular event.

In preparation for our trip to Woodside Glen, children are practising how to walk together in small groups holding onto the rope. The track up into the bush is steep and we want to be well prepared to keep everyone safe. This is part of our bi-cultural learning journey and children will be able to experience our native flora and fauna... hearing and identifying birds and learn about the history and landmarks of our local area - the Taieri, Maungatua and Saddle Hill.

Lookout for next weeks update on our excursion!

Happy Learning Times :)

Hi everyone. It is amazing how the term is rolling on by. We have had lots of fun learning times with St Patrick's Day, visitors, safe care & interactions with animals/ living things & lots of fun with the hire of these fantastic foam shapes from Sport Otago, just to name a few of the exciting happenings. Wishing all our families & friends a safe and happy long weekend too. Enjoy these pictures & do post your feedback as we would love to hear from you :)

A snapshot of the last 2 weeks.....

Welcome back. It is already halfway through March and the learning fun continues as we further explore painting. Hand/finger painting is a frequent activity so this time we try using our feet - a new sensory experience for our children which also involves mixing colours, balancing (have you tried standing on a slippery surface?) co-operation and communication. Our ongoing project making mosaic pavers has reached the final stage as we begin to grout our creations. This must be the messiest part of the process so aprons, masks and gloves are used for protection. Thursday 10 March, was 'Grandparents and Specials Friends Day' and we were delighted to welcome a number of visitors. Our children took great delight in showing them around and sharing in our programme and their were even 'a few tears' when it was time for them to go.

Thanks for visiting our blog.

Ka kite for now - from us all at Concord Kindergarten.

People Places and Things

Kia Ora everyone. Just a little note to say that our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by the Christchurch Earthquake. We wish all our families well and we hope your friends, families or loved ones are all safe in that region. Just for your information, we have conducted our own earthquake drill at kindergarten this week too. It has been a wonderful busy learning time at kindergarten. We have been actively involved and exploring about our environment especially butterflies, canaries, nature and even special visitors.We have enjoyed lots of music activities, drama, literacy and numeracy too. Active Movement promoting balance, turn-taking , hand eye co-ordination & using our muscles , big & small continues to be an exciting focus in our programme too.We hope you enjoy a wee snippet of kindergarten life as told in pictures. Kia Kaha.

Fly, fly...butterfly

On Thursday our numbers trebled with the arrival of Concord School children, staff and helpers for morning tea and to spend some time with us as part of their 'Big Day Out!' After feeling a little apprehensive as to how it would go, we were delighted with the outcome as children mingled together, chatted, showed each other around, shared activities and learning experiences and all in all had a fun time. In fact some of our children with older siblings visiting were reluctant to say 'Goodbye.' We hope to foster this relationship further with senior school children visiting us on a regular basis to share further learning. There is great excitement this week as the first 3 butterflies (kahuku)hatch from their cocoons/chrysalis....what a fascinating experience for us all as they emerge, stretch and slowly pump up their wings eventually building enough strength to make those first tentative attempts to fly. Eventually they are off, fluttering over the bushes to explore their new world. What a fabulous learning opportunity - witnessing the complete life cycle of the monarch.. .....egg > caterpillar > cocoon > butterfly!

Wind Beneath Our Wings

Hi again everyone. Wow! We are well into week 2 of our new term. What a fantastic time we have been having at kindergarten. This week's blog is dedicated to all the wonderful creatures great and small like butterflies, canaries and super heroes. We now two canaries at kindergarten. Thanks to Shiloh's family for our new beautiful feathered friend. We have had more caterpillars turning into cocoons this past week so now we are eagerly awaiting the monarch butterflies to emerge. Congratulations to everyone at Concord Kindergarten as we are featured in SPORT OTAGO - Activate magazine (Summer 2011). News and pictures about our Gold Award are in page 5. The online article can also be accessed at http://www.sportotago.co.nz/

Watch this space for more exciting happenings...

From The Teaching Team- Helen, Jude, Donna & Gerry

Happy New Year Everyone!

Welcome back to another full year of learning fun and a special welcome to Jude McLeod who is relieving with us for 2011 and also to new families who have joined us. Already in residence before the children arrived were 6 monarch butterfly caterpillars and we are all fascinated by their development as they munch their way through our swan plants growing bigger each day .................already 3 are in their cocoons. Watch this space for more progress on their development. Children are currently revisiting their play and learning through video camera and TV adding a further dimension to our use of technology. There is something special about seeing yourself on 'the big screen.' You can see the delight on their faces!

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 :)

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:)