Haere mai! Welcome to Mairtown Kindergarten's blog.

Nau Mai Haere mai. Welcome to Mairtown Kindergarten's blog.


21 Princes Street, Kensington, Whangarei, New Zealand

Phone: 09 437 2742

Email: mairtown@nka.org.nz

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Our new door

Kia ora rā kōrua. Greetings to you all. We warmly welcome you to term two.
During the holidays we had our beautiful door installed into our family corner.

We were very excited to observe the children’s (and parents) reaction to this final instalment in our family corner up-grade.

Doorways invite exploration. Over the morning children stepped through, then back and through again.









We have also been interested to observe that even though there is an open space right next to the doorway. The children mostly choose to use the door to enter or leave the family corner.

Our early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki reminds us that ‘assessment should be a two way process and that children may also help to decide what should be included in the process of assessing the programme and the curriculum’. Whilst the up-grade was initiated by our teaching team, the children were very involved in the decision and design of the door (You may remember this documented in an earlier post titled ‘planning for possibilities’). Here is a re-cap of some of the children’s ideas:


It needs a window
The window should be green
It needs a handle. One that you hold on to
It needs wood on the window
We need a grown-up door




Our wheels-a-thon fundraising was also used to purchase the door, connecting a link from the children’s and families hard work to a tangible and so far hugely popular instalment into our play environment.

 “What a wonderful door. Love the arch and circles. This will create interesting play opportunities and experiences (colour, light etc)”
“I love the new family corner; it’s so beautiful and creative and will let the kids imaginations run wild. AWESOME JOB LADIES”
“Wow! How wonderful to have such an inviting and engaging space”
“Great door – not too girly. Could be a door to a house or a spaceship”
“looks fantastic – door will create many play options”
“Loving the new family corner! Great for the kids to see the wonderfully creative door that they fundraised so hard to help purchase”

Ko ō tātou tamariki, tō tātou oranga
Our children, our future
Kim


3 comments:

William Gulliver said...

I love your new door! It's small and cute – definitely perfect for children. I like how the kids are having fun and enjoying their new little door, but the best part is that the kids helped in designing the door. They even helped with the fund raising activities, so you could purchase your new door. It's really amazing.
William Gulliver

Sandra Ludwig said...

“Doorways invite exploration.” - That's an interesting idea. Isn't it surprising how a doorway could inspire such curiosity among children? Some people see it as nothing more than a simple pathway. This is why I admire kids. They appreciate things that we tend to take for granted as adults. It's nice that you're involving the kids in the decision-making process. That way, they feel they matter and their confidence is developed. Good job!

Sandra Ludwig @ TCSidingProfessionals.com

Patrick Armeen said...

That door is a really great new way to revive a building. What a neat idea. I will be using this for our family home as we really need to improve its look. That one looks so inviting and I am sure the children loved it! Keep up all the hard work and we look forward to reading more soon.

Earl Mark @ Eastway Lock

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