A Family Lunch

As part of our matariki celebration we invited family into kindergarten to have a shared lunch. Part of matariki is about being together, not just the children who attend kindergarten here but also people who are special to them. This included parents, grandparents, siblings and even aunts and uncles - wow what a celebration! Throughtout the morning children were all very excited, asking when their special guests were coming - this tells us just how elated they were to share their special place, kindergarten with their guests.

Families each brought a plate of food and we joined together outside in the beautiful winter sun to enjoy our kai together. This was a great time to catch up with people we know but for families to also meet each other or get to know each other a little bit better. 

Our Matariki Stars

As part of our matariki celebrations (the Māori new year) children have decorated stars that have been written on with their own personal goals. This is a wonderful time of year for us to set goals for learning as we look forward on the year ahead of us. 

As you can see from the photos attached there are a range of goals that chilldren have shared with us. There are a lot of ideas that were shared by the children, some reflecting their thoughts at the time and others really thinking about the question they were asked and sharing their wonderings about the world we live in! That’s good thinking, he pai koe ki te whakaaro pena.

Rope Play Encourages Problem Solving

Today some rope play was set up outside to see how the chiildren would utilise it. At first, time was spent trying to figure out how to move their bodies through the ropes and up onto the climbing equipment. It was a bit different to the usual climbing activities normally on offer but the tamariki persisted and wound themselves through, over and under the big web of ropes.

However the real problem solving began when it was time to tidy up and put the ropes away for the day. It was really tricky trying to find the ends until Emma figured out the one rope had blue tape and one rope had black tape. The orange rope was a bit easier to work out but Emma and her friends persisted to find the ends of the two similar yellow ropes. Persistence paid off as they found the ends and then worked out how to follow the rope and untangle it as they went. We plan to try this again and see what happens next!

Team work and communicating with clarity was the key. We are problem solvers. Ngā tamariki kaipororaru whakatika.

Exploring creativity in a different way

Today the children were keen to explore creating cat faces.  So we gathered together to share our ideas on how we could make this happen.  After some discussion and problem solving we came to a collaborative agreement that using the face paint would be a great way to achieve this idea.

So with great enthusiasm we organised what we would need and headed into the new room to explore creative ideas around cat faces.

It was great to see the children confidently taking a risk and taking on the challenge of painting their own faces.  Such concentration was needed to watch in the mirror while applying the paint and co-ordination to ensure the paint went where it was wanted.  

Wow what creative work, the cat faces were just the beginning soon we had tigers, zebras and lions!  What fabulous striving for accuracy and thinking flexibly to explore different ways to express ourselves through creativity.  The next step the children took required courage and trust as they began to paint each other's faces and mine!  But what an amazing job they did.

I can't wait to see what we will be exploring tomorrow.

Tino pai to mahi tamariki ma!

Matariki soup

Matariki time is here, time for us to celebrate with food, family and friends.  Today was a very cold frosty morning the perfect day to began preparing some delishous winter soup for us to share with our Kindergarten whanau.  The tamariki were busy chopping, grating and slicing up all the lovely winter veges.  There was much sharing of ideas on how to use the grater as the children supported each other and shared their past knowledge to successfully grate the veges.  The preparation and sharing of Kai brings people together and this was clearly evident today as the tamariki chatted as they chopped up the veges.  Communicating with clarity and precision about how they help with food at home and which are their favourite veges.  

The peelers were a bit of a challenge but again by working together and sharing ideas the tamariki successfully peeled the potatoes and added them to the pot.  After some great perseverance and persistence the soup was ready to be cooked.  It bubbled away for the rest of the day and tomorrow it will be ready for sharing and eating yum yum!

Mahi tahi/ working together.

All through kindergarten this week we have noticed small groups of children showing lots of manaakitanga/care and respect towards each other's ideas. Their creativity and  imaginations have been busy creating compost stations, castles for the King and Queen out of the blocks and then extending this by writing signs for their creations. 

Other children were busy working with some of the younger children to explore the iPads, showing them how to play the new games on the iPads and then giving them a go to explore these themselves. We work together for maximum impact, Ka mahi ngātahi mo te tukinga nui tonu.

Others were busy in the carpentry area, clearly articulating their ideas and listening to others as they created a rocket ship. 

Manaakitanga is something we value highly here at kindergarten and we are excited to see this in all areas of our pay. 

Making puppets

This afternoon the children were lucky enough to share their ideas about matariki and explore some new ideas with the staff from Te Ana Māori Rock Art Centre.

We began with looking at their amazing puppets and exploring our knowledge around different birds and then we were  excited to get creative as we began creating out own tiki puppets. We had to persevere as we coloured in the face and the stars (which were hands) and then we even got to stick the eyes onto our puppets. 

We showed fantastic manaakitanga/ care and respect as we listened to our visitors and then we confidently shared the knowledge we had. Some of the girls were excited to share the 'Maui catches the sun' story with our visitors and then they even sung the matariki stars song when they were asked if they knew the names of the stars!  Tu meke, fantastic.