Oh Christmas Tree!

 

The Mairtown Kindergarten year is coming closer to its end, and that always means very special events are just around the corner – Christmas and the Summer holidays!!

This is a time of anticipation and planning for our special year’s end traditions. One of these is decorating a Christmas Tree for the Christmas Tree festival at St John’s (Golden) Church. For some years now our tamariki have created beautiful decorations with a sustainability theme to adorn our Mairtown Kindergarten tree. To create our decorations, we use a variety of recycled, reused, and natural resources, a diverse range of materials which inspire creativity and promote sustainability. We begin by reviewing our collection of previous years decorations. What do we want to retain and reuse for this year? What can we deconstruct in order to create repurposed fresh decorations? What has lived its life and needs to be retired to refuse now?

Then it is time to put our thinking caps on, and have a search in our favourite environments, our kindergarten, the beach and the ngahere - what resources and gifts of Papatūānuku, Tangaroa and Tanemahuta could we celebrate and add to our collection this year? 

The ultimate goal of environmental education is to develop good habits both in and beyond the classroom, so that as children grow, they do not think of themselves as making a special effort or taking an extra step beyond their normal activities to be “green.” Instead, the discipline of sustainable practice is integrated deeply into their sense of care for the physical environment as a life practice.

Jensen (2023)

A great example of the beauty and imagination tamariki express in this way, is the creation of our Christmas ‘peg-doll’ fairies.

This process began with finding our old fairies from previous years and deconstructing them. We were left with a wonderful collection of trimmed fabric pieces and a selection of reusable trimmings, along with a collection of clean wooden pegs ready to be reimagined as beautiful 2023 fairies. We added leaves and leaves and lichen found in our ngahere, donated fabrics, lace, and trimmings, giving our tamariki lots of choices in creating their own special fairy design.

Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found                                 (James Russell Lowell)

The process of creating a peg-doll fairy requires lots of patience; from waiting for your turn to come, to then focusing on each step  - choosing materials, visualising how these materials could be combined to construct a fairy who expresses your unique design, and carefully engaging with the tools and techniques in order to make your vision a reality. Over two days, tamariki who chose to participate selected the resources which were special to each of them and used them to turn our container of bare pegs into a new collection of  beautiful Christmas fairies.

 We also put our new clay stamps to good use in creating a new range of ornaments, the pressed clay patterns then being further adorned with individual designs, and the clay then dried and sealed with a blend of  PVA glue and gold paint to finish them off.

Our stunning tree is now proudly in place and waiting for visitors at the Christmas Tree Festival. I hope you will have the opportunity to go and take a look with your whānau. It is a lovely way to learn a little more about the organisations within our community, and maybe the trees on display will inspire a few ideas for your own decorations at home too!        

                                                             

   Meri Kirihimete, Anne Bawden, December, 2023

When we are creative, we can develop meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, and interpretations. Creativity is risking what is for what could be. Childspace. 

Matariki at Mairtown Kindergarten 2023

At Mairtown Kindergarten we love to celebrate Matariki (the Māori New Year) because it is unique to our country and culture. During Matariki we celebrate our unique place in the world. We give respect to the whenua on which we live, and admiration to our mother earth Papatūānuku. 

Matariki signals growth. It’s a time of change. It’s a time to prepare, and a time of action. During Matariki we acknowledge what we have and what we have to give. Matariki celebrates the diversity of life. It’s a celebration of culture, language, spirit, and people.

We began by sharing pūrākau through our book of the week starting with ‘In the beginning’ by Peter Gossage This pukapuka tells of the earth mother Papatūānuku and sky father, Ranginui being separated. This event led to the creation of life. The constellation of Matariki was also created as a result of the separation, so during this time we shared the pūrākau about Tāwhirimātea. Enraged by the separation of his parents Papatūānuku and Ranginui, he clawed out his eyes and tossed them into the sky where they landed on the chest of his father, becoming ‘The Stars of Matariki – Nga Whetu o Matariki’ . 'The Sandman, Marcus Winter on YouTube introduces this pūrakau, which was also shared with tamariki.

Our own sandbox and light table was then set up within our environment allowing tamariki to retell the story and create their own Matariki stories. 

During this time tamariki were able to gain knowledge and understanding. We also bought several new pukapuka from Teacher Talk, to support this new learning for tamariki and kaiako. These included; The Astromancer, Matariki - Kristen Parkinson, Matariki - The Star of the Year, How My Koro Became a Star, Tāwhirimātea- A Song for Matariki, Puanga me Matariki (Puanga and Matariki), Twinkle Twinkle Matariki, Flit the Fantail and the Matariki Map, and Te Kāhui o Matariki - The Matariki Cluster.

We also discovered a new story 'Island of Mystery - Te Wā O Matariki' a special episode on YouTube that was shared with tamariki and whānau.  

Matariki is a time for reflection and strengthening connections between people and Papatūānuku/ our environment. To support this, we then introduced our next book of the week ‘Papatūānuku Has a Tummy Ache!’ by A.J. Copping. This book aims to empower young people to, “make a change for sustainability.” Over the following weeks we introduced activities that link to Papatūānuku, demonstrating kaitiakitanga principles.

Kaitiakitanga is about roles and responsibilities. It refers to the ability to contribute, give, nurture, and care for the collective as well as the places and things associated with it. It is about the roles that people can take to contribute, make change, and take responsibility in their worlds. The root of the word kaitiakitanga, -tiaki-, means to nurture, to care, to conserve, and to save. Kai- refers to the people or agents that perform the verb, and -tanga refers to the practice of something – in this case, tiaki. Sometimes kaitiakitanga is used in reference to sustainability and looking after the environment, and it can also be about caring for and conserving te reo, tikanga Māori, and other people.

https://theeducationhub.org.nz/enhancing-mana-through-kaitiakitanga-for-childrens-wellbeing-in-early-childhood-education/

Throughout this time, tamariki began taking care of our environment, harvesting our carrots from our māra kai. These were then placed in our pātaka kai for whānau and our community to enjoy. Leftover carrots were also used to create a delicious carrot soup made by tamariki, for tamariki and kaiako at the kindergarten, during one of our Thursday fire days.

Ehara tāte tangata kai, he kai tītongi kakī. E kore e rite ki tāna ake, tino kai, tino mākona.

Food obtained by another only tickles the throat. The best and most satisfying food is obtained by one’s own labours.

Our worm farm was also re-established throughout this time, and it was lovely having the support from one of our whānau members, Emily who shared her time and knowledge with us - thank you Emily! Tamariki have now taken on the role of feeding our worms, transporting our food scraps to the worm farm after mealtimes.

We explored all the Matariki stars, Waitī, Waitā, Waipuna-ā-rangi, Tupu-ā-nuku, Tupu-ā-rangi, Ururangi, Pōhutukawa, Hiwai-te-rangi and Matariki, learning what each of them represents; using our lovely resource 'The stars of Matariki', adapted by Anne Bawden from the magnetic story by Teacher Talk.  The images from this pukapuka were then used for inspiration for some of the artwork that was created over this time. During this time we also introduced the 'Matariki 9' star song by 'Miss Nicky Says' on YouTube. Music is a fabulous and engaging medium, which supports the learning of new knowledge.

On Thursday the 29th June we hosted our annual ‘Harvest Day’. Whānau were invited to bring a gift from their garden or a home-made treat along with a whakatauki or thought to nourish the receiver’s heart. We had such a lovely response, and it was evident that lots of joy and love was shared, given, and received throughout this day.

“The act of giving expands one’s entire life experience because nothing is more fulfilling than one’s capacity to give.” (P. Rashad).

As part of our kindergarten Matariki celebrations, our wishing tree was displayed and we welcomed and encouraged whānau to revisit and/or share their current whānau aspirations for their tamaiti. At Mairtown Kindergarten we respect and support the aspirations held by parents and whānau for their tamaiti.

Hiwa i te rangi is a whetū in the Matariki cluster, connected with wishes, desires, aspirations and dreams for the upcoming year. She is connected to looking forward – holding on to a prosperous vision of our future, planning to succeed our hopes for future growth. This means Matariki is a time to plan for the future. During this time, we also worked alongside tamariki so they could share their own individual goals.

Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei

Seek the treasure that you value most dearly, if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.

This whakataukī refers to the importance of setting goals and pursuing your destiny. The whakataukī speaks of perseverance and endurance, refusing to let obstacles get in your way while striving to reach your goals.

After a long weekend on Tuesday 18th July we hosted our annual Mairtown Kindergarten celebration, the last event of our Matariki festival events. Together we planned what kai we would make and decided on hot soup, mince stew, Leigh's boil up and Teresa's seafood chowder -  and fried bread like we had last year! We invited whānau for lunch at the kindergarten and at 1pm whānau began to arrive. After a quick opening and mihi mo te kai, whānau and their tamariki chose their lunch, before sitting to share delicious kai and korero together.

‘Ngā kai a Matariki nāna i ao ake nei'

'Food that is scooped up by Matariki'

 This annual feast is certainly a ritual which is very much looked forward to and treasured by the whole community of Mairtown Kindergarten, warming our hearts as we come together.

A big thank you to Teresa and Leigh for providing kai for our Matariki gathering. 

What a fabulous season of learning, manaaki and kotahitanga we have shared!

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou

Emma