Family fun and Poohsticks

On Saturday 8^th of November six months of visioning, planning and preparation came together when we met up with children, families and friends at Mair Park for our Poohsticks fundraising event.

 In case you are feeling a little perplexed about what ‘Poohsticks’ is all about here is a wee explanation:

"The trick is to drop the stick in a 'twitchy' sort of way" Eeyore

Poohsticks is a sport first mentioned in the House at Pooh Corner, a Winnie-the Pooh book by A.A Milne. Poohsticks is traditionally played when each player drops a chosen stick over the up-stream side of a bridge into a river, the winner is the person whose stick emerges first from under the bridge (The enchanted 100 acre wood).

Poohsticks is a bit of a favourite game for children who attend our weekly Nature Programme, so when we were visioning innovative fundraising ideas earlier in the year; this concept became a group favourite.

It was an absolutely fantastic day, we were blessed with glorious weather and thanks to the excellent pre planning skills of one of our Dad’s (thanks Phil!) our Poohsticks race down the river captured the turn of the tide.

Hopeful winners lined the bank of Hatea River to countdown the start and then watch all two hundred and fifty of our Poohsticks be dropped from the Mair Park Bridge.

On the river we had dads Nigel and Dave ready in kayak’s to assist stranded sticks and capture the winning numbers as they crossed the finish line.

It was nearly a photo finish!

On the completion of the race participants were enticed back up to Mair Park to partake in delicious kai options (including Choice Blocks and Latino Coffee) and be entertained by local musicians Ryan Karaka with Lex and Jay and Tauraroa School Jazz band In the Foyer.

Thanks to the generosity of so many local businesses we also had five Poohsticks prizes and thirty three spot prizes to give away! It was so wonderful watching so much joyfulness being spread amongst community.

On behalf of the teaching team, I want to say a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported us in making this such a successful family day. We also want to acknowledge our parent support group: Katie, Emma, Kirsty, Yvette, Karla and Michelle who have worked so hard behind to scenes in preparing for this day, also Sarah who has organised so much of the administration.

What has been most affirming for me is how lucky we are in our kindergarten community to be able to draw on the wealth of knowledge and skills of our attending community. When we all do a little bit, we have a lot to celebrate. The monies raised from this event will be used to re-develop an area of our outside playscape.

‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give’                             

   - Winston Churchill

The beautiful images captured in this blogpost were kindly supplied by two of our families; Thank you Sam Cotterill  - Craig and Colleen Smith.

Noho ora mai

Kim

  

Dragons in the Library!

Almost two months ago now, spurred on by one of our children, Oscar, whose lunch box is covered in dragon stickers from the movie ‘How to train your dragon 2’, we began some art work at Mairtown.

From a teachers perspective this has been a really interesting topic to work with alongside the children. It isn’t a subject I would usually have chosen for art work and observational drawings, but these dragons (namely Toothless, Stormfly and later the twins Belch and Barf) along with the knowledge the children have of them, has really piqued and sustained their interest.

What this reiterates for me is just how wonderful early childhood education is. How we can follow the passions of children then plan and negotiate the next steps together.  And of course when we do follow the interests of the child (not necessarily the teachers) their work will feed back into all the key learning areas – physical, emotional, social, mathematical and literacy.

Many teachers start their planning with a topic (bugs, spring, volcano’s), yet we should start planning with the simple questions - Who is this child right now in front of us, What are their interests and learning intentions, and, How as a teacher can I support and facilitate this?

By looking at some of the drawings of the children’s dragons, the complex shapes, and vibrant colours, it is clear to see how the children’s connections with these fantasy creatures has allowed their imaginations to inform their work.

“Art can bring imagination to life and give life to imagination” Dogra 2010

Many children have drawn several dragons; some children have drawn over 10 each. This alone shows the level of engagement this topic has offered.

Kolbe (2014) can probably answer why this has been so engaging for the children when she states, the key to sustained engagement of children is allowing them to choose for themselves; to choose the objects and materials for their own playful and imaginative purposes – the children will then decide for themselves what learning they will do.

Whilst we were still working on dragons at kindergarten, Glenn who visits us on the library bus asked if we’d like to select some of the children’s art work for an upcoming exhibition that was taking place in the library.  Of course, along with the children’s agreement we choose to exhibit our colourful and stunning dragons!

Regular readers of our blog, and our kindergarten whānau, will know just how much we value and cherish the arts for all it can offer; the arts are certainly recognised as an important and valuable element of our kindergarten programme at Mairtown.

With that in mind I’m going to share how our work on dragons has now – over two months later, come to an interlude - perhaps only temporarily! Last week some parents and a small group of the children, who had been working on these splendid dragons, joined me as we took a visit into the town library to see their works of art on display. Any trip is exciting for the children, but the underlying theme of this excursion was the empowerment the children received as they spotted and recognised how their work was professionally displayed, how it was valued and respected by others within our community and how members of the public openly talked about the talents and skills of these children. The children definitely recognise themselves as successful artists; just imagine listening to this little snippet of a conversation I overheard as two children contemplated at their work.

Emma: 'There are the dragons, there are the dragons, look, look' (in a very excited voice!)

Peter: 'I see them, there's mine, there's yours, yep, all there'

Wyatt: ‘You know, I want to be an artist’

Payton: ‘I am, I am already an artist’

Our artists at the Library in Whangarei

Viewing our works of art professionally displayed.

Not only is it empowering for the children to have a sense of who they are, their skills and their talents, it is really re-affirming for me as their teacher to know that these children recognise that they are being nurtured and valued in a community that cherishes them for who they are – as competent and successful learners.

“Drawing acts as bridge between the inner world of imagination and reason and the outer world of communication and sharing of ideas (Hope, 2008; p11). Drawing helps to generate and develop ideas, it clarifies ideas, observations and relationships; it represents and analyses concepts and it develops understanding and communicates with others. These perspectives explain why drawing is useful in developing children’s communication in the early stages of life.” (Joyce, 2012, p.9)

Hei konā mai, Christine

Sharing portfolios

It didn’t take long for me to discover that at Mairtown Kindergarten assessment is a huge focus, especially writing quality assessment that is meaningful and makes individual learning visible.   Assessment is placed in children’s portfolio's as a record of their learning and is readily available for reading and sharing.

“Assessment is the most powerful policy tool in education….and will probably continue to be the single most significant influence on the quality and shape of student’s educational experience and hence their learning.” (Broadfoot, 1996. Pp21-22)

I find it a real privilege to obverse children proudly share their portfolios.   What I have noticed is how sociable these gatherings are, and how they can also bring together children who may not usually spend a lot of time in each other’s company.  During these sharing moments it’s lovely to see children interacting and making connections with one another while discussing similarities and reflecting on memories.  Best of all while children are engaging in social interactions they are developing awareness and knowledge of social competence.

“In our lives we need to interact with others.  These interactions include people with connections to us such as family, friends, teachers, peers and also people without such a direct connection to us who we come across in everyday life.  The ability to interact with others and to be competent in doing so has been ranked as one of the most important skills that we can have.  Social competence is about being able to manage and contribute to the social interactions we have.” (T. Fagan, 2011)

As a team we strive to ensure our children’s portfolios are filled with pages that are meaningful and captures who they are, what they love, whilst also being a representation of their ways of being, knowing and doing (Te Whatu Pokeka, 2009).

Te Whāriki (1996) states that assessment observations and records should provide useful information for children and adults.  Feedback to children on their learning and development should enhance their sense of themselves as capable people and competent learners.

Here are some of the children’s comments while sharing their portfolios;

Hezekiah:  “My favourite page is about jumping, ‘cause I’m jumping so high.”

Reese:  “These are my favourite pages I just love climbing on the black thing.  I got my fourth birthday tray, that’s when I got my sticker.”

Matteo:  “I was a pirate; my sister gave them to my mum she cut them to be a pirate for the party.”

Tyler C.  “My favourite is fire day…..mmmmm…marshmallows.”

Sharlotte:  “That’s my Nana on my first day, look me in my tiger suit and me upside down.”

Roman:  “My favourite page is this one, swinging, spinning and my birthday.”

Kayden: “That’s my favourite (the wheels-a-thon) cause my Poppa is in it.”

Isaac:  “Look at my panda house”

Payton:  “There’s me Princess Payton on the castle.  That’s me doing a back flip.”

Dallas:  “I like Fire Thursday and bread.  That’s me and my sister Cara.  I was looking at some centipedes.  That’s my dragon Stormfly.”

Khaia:  “This is my favourite (pointing to her fourth birthday page), I love chocolate cake.  I had a spider on my t-shirt.”

Oscar:  “I was painting a dragon, another dragon, that’s toothless he has lines in his eyes and green eyes, I got a dragon for my birthday.”

The individual portfolios are a special record of children’s interest and learning while attending kindergarten and are a wonderful document to reflect back on when older. From personal experience I know my children still love to read their treasured portfolios at home, recalling different stories and remembering happy memories from times gone by.  My daughter commented to me that she would like to keep her portfolio forever and my wish is that she will be able to share it one day with her own children and grandchildren.

“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.  Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage.”  Henry David Thoreau

Ngā mihi

Susie