Childrens sand painting

After watching  Ksenyiya  Simonova creating her pictures yesterday with sand we decided that we would introduce it today. Some children were really keen to try this form of art. They had a chance to watch it on the big screen as they created people, cars, volcanoes, hedgehogs and just played. This offered a different tactile experience with many of the children returning to it.

Sand painting

The children were absolutely absorb when I decided to put up a you tube  clip of sand painting that was completed by Kseniya Simonova who won the Ukraine has talent. Caylin commented that 'She's really clever.'

Making apple turnovers.

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There were many capable apple slicers and choppers lining up to help prepare the apples for the pot. Then it was time to cut out the pastry, the smell of stewed apple and cinnamon tickled the taste buds. Emily, Amber, Summer, Lucy, Anna, Michael, Joe and Innes shaped the pastry around the apple, pinched it together and sprinkled sugar on top. Mmmmmm delicious, we enjoyed eating the apple turnovers at lunchtime. Cutting, counting, sprinkling, slicing, turn taking, smelling, tasting, talking, pinching, and enjoying working together-what a lot of learning happens when we bake.

The Geraldine Museum

Our Friday Nohonga tahitanga trip was to our local Museum There was a lot to see and some of the displays were fascinating. Babies being in an old cart by a goat, traction engines in a flood and then there was some fun turning the handles of the butter churns. the children were intrigued by the old telephone exchange where you had to turn an dial for the numbers. Alex recalled that 'You had to put the cables in where you do the numbers

Sharing a story through song and movement

A favourite group experience at the moment is using a funky style song to tell the story of "The Gingerbread Man" and using the parachute in creative and innovative ways to bring life to the story through movement.
Engaging so many senses makes this literacy and music activity  a powerful learning experience and so much fun that we all want to be part of it. Can you see Amber capturing it all on video on the ipad?
Pai rawa atu te kupu ra /that song is awesome!

It needs more steam.

The sandpit is often one of the busiest places at kindergarten, and it is a great place for working theories to develop. We see lots of group play and discussion often centres around volcanoes, rivers, water ways, lakes, treasure and gravity.Yesterday Innes, Michael, and Logan used a pipe and filled it with water from small buckets....... slowly. "It needs more steam" said Innes. Is steam useful, I pondered? We talked about what was needed to make steam, "water" said Michael, some trains have steam "yes" said Logan "they do, they have coal and fire too." Is steam made by pressure?

 

Perhaps we could visit the vintage machinery museum and find out more about how useful steam has been over the years. What it was used for, and we can talk about what it is used for now.

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Its Milking Time!

This afternoon a local man Neil dropped off a new resource for the children.

Wow how exciting to see our brand new red dairy shed!

Everyone enjoyed being able to share their own knowledge and understanding around the rotary milking shed and exactly how it worked.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough cows to fill up shed so a giraffe and pig were lucky enough to be involved in the experiences. Our children are able to think flexibly and explore creative ideas, both individually and as a group, allowing for purposeful contributions by all.

Jed even decided that he needed to make a woolshed alongside the milking shed and joined in on the creative ideas being generated by the gorup of children.

Thank-you Neil for your wonderful creation, we cannot wait for the sheep yards to arrive!