Farewell luncheon to Gael

I have to say a huge thank you to all the families of the kindergarten for the wonderful luncheon that you all turned out for today. I was absolutely blown away by today and especially the recipe book that I will treasure and I know it will become one of my favourites.

Pizza making

There was great excitment beause yesterday the children had made cheese and today it was time to make the pizza using that cheese. Ashleigh had a recipe for a pizza base using yeast and it was quite a procees for it to raise and be kneaded twice. Omnce it was ready the children spread some sauce on and then added, pine apple, ham and cheese. There was a de

licous fragrance comimg from the kitchen as they cooked. And the best thing was they tasted just as yummy.

Cheese Making at Kindergarten

On Friday a small group of us were lucky enough to be able to visit Talbot Forest Cheese - as part of Nohonga Tahitanga. What an exciting time we had at the cheese factory learning about how cheese was made - to make 1kg of cheese we need 10litres of milk! A lot of mathematical terms were explored as we looked at and touched different types of cheese - weight - predicting - shape - size - colour - comparisons - number. We were even lucky to be able to taste Havarti and Rakapuka Red and compare the flavours and testures of each cheese - YUM YUM! This morning Tash and Sandy came in with their hands full, ready to help us make some cheese. Tash has been out to the vat early this morning in the freezing cold to get us 6 litres of the freshest milk! We enjoyed folowing the recipe and learning about the different chemicals that were needed to be measured into the milk to help it form into mozerella cheese!! Owwwww it was so exciting when the timer went off and we were able to see how fast the milk had thickened up and turned into a big clump of cheese. Thank you for your time - Tash and Sandy :) Sorry we are unable to upload photos this afternoon - will try again tomorrow for you!

Pyjama Brunch at Geraldine Kindergarten

Kiaorana! Lilley arrived back from her holiday in Rarotonga! "We didn't have to race this morning to get changed for Kindy!" One parent commented. The children arrived with vigour and excitement and they even bought their toothbrush and paste for after the brunch. They were so excited to be in their Pyjamas and the day was so warm and slightly windy at times they made the best of the opportunity to be outside in trolly's, sandpit, and the carpentry area making wind mills! Inside the menu was set and a huge thank you to the parents who arrived (in their pj's too!) to help out - the porridge was made, toast and pancakes were cooked, jams, honey, yoghurt, and fresh fruit were placed on tables for the children to choose and sit down mahi tahi. The children told Gael they liked the pancakes! The pancakes that Helen cooked because they were BIG!

What's in the box?

It's always exciting getting parcels from the courier, and guessing what might be in there. Yesterday the children in the afternoon session enjoyed opening a brown cardboard box. It was fun taking the layers of paper off and finding what was packed inside.

Haere mai kite titiro/come to look.

He aha o whakaro ? What do you think.....?

A cow/kau

More maths at Kindergarten.

One of the many maths predictions at kotahitanga time today was- "there will be 100 boys". We had already counted the girls, 17. Let's start counting together how many boys there are here today............ 17 ! An equal number, ka mau te wehi, that's amazing. We used the number board to count a second time, that way we also become more familiar with what numbers look like.

Food Glorious Food

This-morning Holly's mum (Tash) came in and worked with the children cutting up fruit and using the dehydrator. Apples, pineapple, banana and tamarillos, were peeled and sliced. Innes said "that apple looks like a boat." He pai koe ki te whakaaro pēna/ that’s good thinking. Michael " Hey no, it's a triangle" (looking at the pineapple)Emily and Innes explained to Claire- you dip the apple,(in the cold water) then shake it and put it on the tray." The dehydrator is buzzing away in the kitchen, tomorrow morning we will be able to see how the fruit has changed. We have been interested in other things changing state too, water being heated and making vapour, water freezing into ice. Ka pai o mahi tamariki ma- good group work children.