“A NEW STAGE”

 

“A NEW STAGE”

Today the children were very excited to see the new set up at kindergarten, the stage and theatre area was used by many of the children. We had ballet dancers, gangham style, tap dancing, and guitar players!

There was a lot of listening to the music and figuring out how they could move their bodies in the different ways, the children talked about fast and slow music and moving their bodies fast and slow.

Some of the children looked for pictures of different types of cultural dress and dances to laminate and put these on the wall in this area.  

We are going to talk to the children about where they want to go with this next, what they want to add to the space to enhance their knowledge about different types of dance. We are also enquiring about getting some different dancers in for the children to watch.

Investigating Dance

Exploring dance.

 

After exploring Geraldine players and all the wonderful dress up and props they had hiding away, the children have developed their interest in music and dance.

 

 

This week the ballet has been playing on the big screen and many of the children have stopped to replicate the moves of the ballet dancers.

 

Their excitement and play has built from watching and exploring to building stages with the chairs and performing for their friends.

Out the back yesterday a different type of dancing began, with the laptop in hand Althea discovered Gangham style and they had a great amount of fun dancing along.

 

 

Because of this interest we have developed a stage/ theatre at kindergarten over night and are all very excited to see the reaction from the children when they arrive this morning.

 

 

WATCH THIS SPACE.

 

 

Insects Insects Insects

This morning Robyn joined us from the Mobile Bug Unit and shared some of her wonderful insects with us.
The children were split itto two groups of twenty to allow for a more interactive time with her and her insects that she has brought to share with us.
The children were fascinated as each insect was talked about and compared to others, with a lot of factual information shared about insects like New Zealand's very own cave weta, tree weta and metallic green beetle!

I have two antennae that I use to feel and smell things

I have 6 legs and I normally have 4 wings

I have a thorax and an abdomen

I open my mouth side to side when I eat

What am i?

An insect!

Have a chat with your children to find out what they learnt about insects this morning...

Meeting Dude!

We would like to introduce Dude the Turtle!

Heather brought her pet turtle to meet the children.  The children were in awe of Dude swimming around in the trough. There were questions and with respect to our children, they were considered as very thoughtful and considered questions.  For example Levi exclaimed with wonderment, "Is it a real one!" and then after a moment he asked, "Is that shell his home?"  Michael explained, "That shell is his house.  He puts his legs and head in it!"

We watched Dude carefully and added some rocks for him and the children raced to get the toy turtles after Issac said, "He needs a girl turtle!"  We could see Dude's head disappear under his shell when the other turtles came near. So maybe he is happy to be on his own or very shy!

Dude was so popular today with the children and they learn so much discovering about real living animals through touch and seeing them that Heather has decided a return visit next week!

Excitement, laughter and exploration in the sandpit.

There was great excitement in the sandpit this-afternoon, shared laughter and excitement was the order of the day. Billy was in awe of the water flowing while the group busily dug channels. Guy shrieked excitedly and jumped up and down time after time with sheer delight, as the water filled the holes almost as quickly as they were dug. He was keen to fill the pipe and took the task very seriously though, moving it to make the water flow faster. "Look it's coming out of the pipe, hurry here it comes" Billy was amazed at how fast the water covered the roller." oh my goodness, oh my goodness" exclaimed Dylan when the water seemed to be chasing his feet. He repeatedly, moved and dug moved and dug.

 

There was lots of learning happening through problem posing and solving: tilting the pipe, altering the flow of water, digging deeper holes or shallower channels. But just as important was the way the children were working together, enjoying the tactile experience of wet sand and water, taking turns at leading the play, listening to each others ideas, sharing equipment, being expressive and enthusiastic- having fun !.

E hara taku toa, I te toa takitahi ēngari he toa taku tini
My strength is not from myself alone, but from the strength of the group.

We joined the building frames together to create a larger house. With large pieces of frost cloth the children nailed the walls and roof to the house.

This created a new space to work with.  It created lots of interest for all the children.





Logan came in with an idea to attach signs to the house.  He decided to be the foreman - "You not allowed to do any of my foreman jobs..."   and went on to tell his workers, "Get to work you lazy link!"  And then corrected himself and giggled to say, "That wasn't a good word."  Logan supported us to find humour - we all laughed!

"Let's put it that way up, that's the right way up!" Alex stated.  

 Logan and Alex showed their skills to work together/ mahi tahi and drew upon their knowledge of letters and words to position the sign.

Logan continued to lead the play and stated, "We are building a hunting house to protect it from the animals!"
The children began to bring pipes to the house with ideas of plumbing and we encouraged them to come back tomorrow and follow their thinking.

Welcome to Term 4 at Geraldine Kindergarten!

Welcome back to one of the busiest terms of the year and what a year it has been!

We welcome two early childhood students for the first 4-5 weeks of the term - Jemma and Lisa.  Please make yourselves known to them.  As a teaching team we always enjoy having students with us as they bring in new ways of teaching and learning as they study towards becoming fully trained teachers.  We hope they enjoy their time with us.

Jemma

Lisa