A day of preparation and then celebration

On Monday we shared with the children that it was Tracey's Birthday on Tuesday.  This bought about a flurry of activity as we prepared for the big day.  Our first job was to bake Tracey's birthday cake so Heather bought out the baking things and a group of children took turns to measure, count, stir and create the cake.  We needed to manage our impulsively to wait for turns and work together.  Soon we added the wet ingredients to the dry and then it was ready to go in the oven.  This is when the magic happens and the cakes turns from liquid to solid.  We had to wait and wait but we could smell a most delicious smell wafting through the Kindergarten.

But we weren't finished yet, our next plan was to create  a beautiful birthday hat for Tracey.  So out came the birthday box and together as a team we collected our ideas, collaborated our thoughts and used everybody's individual skills to create a stunning hat.

 Then we hid everything away so it was already for tomorrow.  We were all set for the big surprise!

The next day we were so great at keeping a secret Tracey had no idea about the wonderful celebration we had planned for her.  Heather called us in for kotahitanga and we all sat down in our circle and waited for Tracey.  We had the birthday chair ready to go.  In she came and we were all so excited to give her the hat and cake.  She sat on the chair and we presented her with the beautiful hat, she was so surprised and delighted with it and talked about all the fabulous parts of the hat.  But we weren't finished yet, out came the cake and we all sang to her, she blew out the candles and made a wish.

 Well what a lot of planning and preparation but it was certainly worth all our persistence and hard work.  Tracey was thrilled and we enjoyed sharing and celebrating her special day.