Look what appeared at Kindergarten this afternoon...!

Wow...how exciting is this, and what a surprise!

We had a rather large delivery of some wonderful tree stumps.

This video shows the first of the trees being lifted by crane into place. This stump comes from a Kahikatea tree, and is placed lying down (as in the photograph below).

This stump will be great for physical activity such as balancing, climbing, jumping off, crawling along......the list goes on.

Hvar and his mum were driving past and arrived just in time to see some of the work taking place.

The second tree stump is from a Totara tree, and is far more gnarly. This was cut into two, giving us in total three stumps laying close to one another.

We hope our new tree stumps will be extremely versatile, whilst also encouraging problem solving, risk-taking and lateral thinking.

They also feel wonderful to touch, creating opportunities for sensory exploration and an appreciation of the natural world.
















Making some smaller stumps from a limb of the Kahikatea tree.








What will everyone think when they arrive at Kindergarten in the morning? We can't wait to see.

Christine

The joys of refound treasure!

Today was a special day - a much awaited day - the day we opened our treasure bags. Last term we sent the treasure bags home and asked that children, families/Whanau  search and explore together, for materials that we could use at Kindergarten. Our new treasure!

     "I'm feeling so excited in my tummy" (Finn)

The bags have been arriving over the last week, and there has been much anticipation, excitement and expectation as we have watched the bags gather in number. Everybody has showed wonderful patience waiting for today – the big reveal day – with no peeking!

For the grand opening we split into two smaller groups. A big thank you to Bryant and Anna who were our photographers and documenters for the event.

We ask the children to empty their bags one at a time, allowing us all time to explore the treasure in detail. Some of our new treasure is recognisable and others items are far more curious. As the bags are emptied out we invite the children to talk about their treasure; what might it be; where does it come from; what was it originally used for?

"The round things are film canisters" (Max)

"It all came from my bedroom" (Ryan)

"These are from when I went to rock and roll" (Brearna)

Sharing is an important part of the experience

  

“To a young child, the world is full of materials to touch, discover, and explore. To find, collect, sort, and use materials is to embark on a special kind of adventure. For adults, gathering materials means rediscovering the richness and beauty in natural, unexpected, and recyclable objects that are all around us, but not often noticed” (Weismann Topal & Gandini, 1999).

"All the bags are for sharing" (Dihansa)

Sorting and discovering new materials

"we can put it into the order of stuff" (Brearna)

This is a story that will have to be continued……. Today was a day of sharing, of discovery, of excitement and anticipation, of the unexpected and unknown, of a richness of vocabulary…..we will continue to document the sorting and organising process.

Christine

Paulynne's Somoan dancing.

At Mairtown we value the links between home and our Kindergarten environment. Imagine how excited we were when we discovered that for Paulynne’s farewell group time, she would perform a Samoan dance for us.

Paulynne dressed in a traditional titi fulumoa which is a belt of chicken feathers, and a matching sei fulumoa, a beautiful feathered head piece. Paulynne did an amazing job of dancing in front of her friends and family, and was so graceful – we are really proud of you Paulynne.

Elena, Paulynne’s mum made the wonderful titi fulumoa and sei fulumoa herself and has kindly gifted them to us at Mairtown. Thank you so much Elena, this is a very special gift and we are honoured to accept them.

Happy 5^th Birthday Paulynne. From all of us at Mairtown, we wish you lots of happiness and joy as you start school.

Christine

'By the Rivers of Babylon' with Glenn

We were once again  lucky enough to have Glenn visit us with his guitar today. Towards the end of last term we introduced the children to a new song, ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’, famously sung  by Boney M of course! Music and singing is wonderful for enhancing speech, vocabulary and language skills as children’s repertoire of songs and tunes develops and increases.

“Music-making is an enriching and liberating experience. It is a means of communicating with the self and others in a way that transcend words” (Wright, 2003, p.84).

Here are the lyrics for anyone wanting to join in or sing along….

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.

When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Requiring of us a song
Now how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land.

Let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart
be acceptable in thy sight here tonight.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Christine

Good enough to eat!

For our afternoon children it was the last session of the term today. To celebrate ‘happy holidays’ we had a small picnic on the grass mound at Kindergarten – and enjoyed some lovely refreshing ice-blocks. These were a real treat and everybody was eager to join in.

Gathering together for some shared kai not only builds social competence but is also great for promoting conversation and language development. Today there was a great deal of discussion to had be on who had eaten their ice-block the quickest, what the flavour was (lemonade for anyone wondering!) and what to do with the lolly sticks when we had finished.

For group time, the cupcake song was requested once again. This has quickly become one of the children’s favourite songs to sing since we were gifted some gorgeous new knitted cupcakes made by Aimee’s grandmother. They are so beautifully made they look good enough to eat.

 

Aimee is so proud to play and sing the cupcake song at group time. Links between home, Whanau and Kindergarten help in establishing a sense of belonging for all.

Christine

Hikoi to Mairpark

This morning we all went on a hikoi and picnic to Mairpark. We had loads of support from Whanau which is fantastic, as we really can’t manage trips without your help (thank you!). We left Kindergarten at 9.30am with our trolley loaded with clipboards, paper, pens and magnifying lenses, and returned tired but happy just after midday.

One of the aims of this trip today was to familiarise ourselves, our children and families with what will become our new learning environment from mid-term 2. At this stage we are planning to take small groups of 12 of our eldest children, once a week into Mairpark for nature education.


                                              

                                                                                                               Excitement

 Today gave us all a wonderful opportunity to investigate the natural environment around us. Learning as a group outdoors is fun, in this environment learning happens naturally.

 "Exposure to natural environments improves children's cognitive development by improving their awareness, reasoning and observational skills" (Pyle 2002)                                              

              

  

 Promoting Close Observation

    Exploring

Wonder

 "Early experiences with the natural world have been positively linked with the development of imagination and the sense of wonder" (Cobb 1977, Louv 1991). "Wonder is an important motivator for life long learning" (Wilson 1997).

                      

Researching, Finding

Discovering



Mairpark provides us with a range of trees and plants to investigate, space for exploration and adventure, rotting wood for discovering mini-beasts and trunks to climb on to extend physical skills and confidence.

Christine

New dolls!

Today Christine rolled the dolls’ house round to the front of Kindergarten for the children to play with outside. But oh dear – we noticed many of our dolls have been too well loved and are looking a tad sorry for themselves!

What resourceful children we have at Mairtown, as many decided to make their own dolls for the house. We had a look for what we may need and decided upon lolly sticks, fabric, pipe cleaners, ribbon, wool, pens and a hot glue gun. Our tamariki demonstrated great persistence as they went through the fiddly process of making clothes for the dolls, and wonderful patience as they waited for their turn with the hot glue gun. Everyone’s creations were so unique; the children were able to show their own personalities through the dolls they choose to make- ka pai everyone.

 Emma demonstrates great concentration as she makes her doll.

 Heidi communicates her thoughts as she cuts some fabric to make her doll.

 Abbey has plans to make a princess doll.

 Grace was happy to share her ideas on making dolls with her friends.

 Dihansa wanted long arms for her doll and showed great persistence and a 'can-do attitude' in solving her problem.

Kate constructed her doll with great confidence and resourcefulness.


Some of the finished dolls:

Afterwards the dolls were placed in the house. There was plenty of opportunity to have fun with the new dolls whilst also playing collaboratively along side others.

Mahi Toi (creative art) such as this is great for developing fine motor skills. It encourages children to plan their work, whilst extending imagination and creativity.

Christine