FishnChip Evening

FishnChip Evening At Grasslands Kindergarten

We had a fantastic turn out from our families, extended whanau and children. It was a great evening just to relax and enjoy each others company. We were lucky with the weather and it was awesome to meet members of your family and make connections. Thanks to everyone for their donation and for taking the time to come and have dinner with us. A special thank you to Brendon for the blessing!

Dental Checks at Kindergarten

Today we had the lovely dental nurses come in and give us our fluoride treatment. It was so easy. We sat in the chair, they wiped our teeth dry and then painted on the fluoride. It tasted like bubble gum or so they said it wasn't quite as nice as they said! We couldn't eat our kai for half an hour afterwards, so when it was kai time we tucked in Yummy. The fluoride treatment is part of a dental programme to try and help prevent dental decay. The children all got to take home a toothbrush and toothpaste. Thank you to our lovely dental nurses.

They had lovely things to say about our kindergarten and the children too saying it was one of the best they had been into and had received wonderful support from the staff, children and families...we rock!!!!

Dinosaur Muffins

This morning Kaylee asked if we could make Dinosaur muffins. We discussed what might be in the recipe. Milk, flour, chocolate, sprinkles, a little bit of butter, sugar and dinosaur eggs.
We talked about where we would we get dinosaur eggs from. Not the lake, not the garden, not the museum and not the warehouse. We rung the supermarket and we were very lucky that the supermarket had dinosaur eggs in stock! Jo and several children got very busy making the dinosaur muffins. They were just delicious!

Dinosaurs

The children have had a growing interest in Dinosaurs over the past fortnight. This has been sparked by several children's visits to the Dinosaur exhibit at the Hamilton museum over the term break. At kindergarten we have been hunting for bones, hunting for dinosaur eggs, excuvating fossils, painting and drawing dinosaurs and using them in our dramatic play. We have also just had a request to make dinosaur muffins! We will let you know how they turn out!

Toasting Marshmallows

Today was one of our children's last days at kindergarten, he made a request to toast marshmallows so this afternoon we set up a fire pit in the sandpit to cook them. Its loads of fun plus a great hands on experience when it comes to learning about fire safety.
I think we were all marshmallowed out by the end of the day!

Bird Houses

Today the boys were busy building bird houses at the woodwork table then brought them into paint. At our end mat time we made some bird feeders out of the pine cones in the nature corner and put them in the tree. Hopefully the birds find them before the rain does....we will keep you posted!

The Flying Waka!

The Flying boat named by the children as we strung it up has provided wonderful imaginative play opportunities for them. Rowing through the air, flying like Peter Pan, developing their understanding of balance and movement, Pirate ships and taking turns. Something so simple providing so much fun!!!!!

Welcome back to Term 3

Welcome back to term three. This year is passing by us very quickly! In the holidays I picked up a canoe frame with the intention of extending the children's dramatic play opportunities in the outside environment. Boy did they have a ball today rowing in the bark, I want to hang it as well, the flying boat...watch this space! Ally

Matariki Celebration

Friday the 18th June we began early in the morning setting up our hangi (in a keg) ready to cook some kai to share with our kindergarten community. We had some superb helpers early in the morning and throughout the morning. The kai was delicious and the support from our community amazing. It was a very special shared lunch with hangi, boil up and party food to clebrate the Maori new year. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Ally

Hello Everyone

Hi Everyone

Just a quick note to let you know that I am missing you all but I'm having a lovely time at Miropiko Kindergarten too. I am enjoying working with our friend Jodie who use to work at Grasslands last year. I enjoyed my visit last Wednesday afternoon. You were all so busy! I like your writing board for your words and letters. I am glad you have made Stephanie feel welcome. She told me she loves Grasslands...who can blame her cos Grasslands ROCKS!

Take care my friends

Arohanui

Jo

Rope Climbing: Gross Motor Development

Our Growing Baby Bunnies

Our baby rabbits are growing quickly. They are now 5 weeks old, and are eating lots!! They need to stay with their mother until they are 8 weeks old, because they are still not weaned. The children are really enjoying having then at kindergarten and give them lots of cuddles so they are well handled bunnies.


Abby.

Surprise!......Baby Rabbits

What a surprise i received last Thursday night when Honey Bunny started having babies and we didn't even realise she was pregnant! She had 7 in total over Thursday night and Friday. Unfortunately 3 have died but the remaining 4 are thriving now that mum has worked out how to breast feed. She is a very good Mother rabbit. The vet has told me she is doing everything she is suppose to be doing. The babies are similar to her in color with one darker bunny. We are still not sure what dad looks like tho. Haha.

These photos below are from this morning at 6 days old. The above photos were taken moments after their birth. Abby.

Baby Quails

About 6 weeks ago our quails had their second lot of babies. They had 6 but unfortunately only 3 have survived. They are very cute and are growing quickly. The children have enjoyed watching and learning about the life cycle of these birds as they have laid eggs, hatched, died and survived. The Children have gained a great deal of knowledge from this experience.

Abby.

Tomato Pasta Sauce

Before Jodie left she planted some tomatoes around the back. We have been collecting the ripe ones for a few days now and decided to make pasta sauce with them. Yummy! Thanks Jodie!

Kelly Tarltons Visit 11th March 2010

Fire Truck Song

Today Abby brought in her book. The Fire Truck. This is a favorite of the children's. They engage in enthusiastic singing as you can hear!

I thought it a good idea to post up for everyone to learn, previously we have only accessed this through the internet (initially shared by a reliever) Enjoy Ally.

Thinking Outside the Square

This puzzle promotes 3dimensional thinking and planning. It is complex and challenging but for these boys with practice it has become a breeze. Well done Guys you are thinking about your thinking, communicating with clarity and working interdependently. WOW!!!! Ally

Pool Party - This Wednesday!

Fish n Chip Evening Notice

Practise makes Perfect!

Well as promised i received a pink hula hoop for Christmas. Thank you Troy. Unfortunately i did not have the opportunity to practise, so i have returned to kindergarten with no new hula hooping skills BUT.... a lot of our tamariki have been practising hard over the holidays, they are becoming very skilled, Sharrayah can even switch her bracelet from wrist to wrist as she hula's. Great work Ladies!!

Abby.

Just cruising............
First week back and we have had low numbers with a maximum of 10 children each day. It has been a lovely time for those 10 children to re-establish themselves and their relationships with teachers and each other. We are looking forward to seeing the rest of our tamariki as they return from their holidays. Welcome to our new whanau that have joined us this week. We are looking forward to getting to know you all as the term progresses. Please feel free to ask for any information you might need. We welcome Amanda to our teaching team. She has joined us in the afternoon session. Please make her feel welcome and introduce yourselves to her. Thank you. Ally

Early Morning Sunrise

The view from the deck at home at 6am. Took the photo and was so impressed I wanted to share. This is looking over to Maungatautari. Ally

Another wonderful holiday camping at Opotiki on our brother in laws property at Waiotahi Estate.

This year we had more friends with us and we learnt lots about gathering kaimoana. We set flounder nets, long lines, gathered pipis, made fritters, kayaked and set the surf casters every day. It was great fun and a very special time for all of our blended family to be together which hasn't happened in a long time. New years was lovely with a bonfire on the beach and a hangi at 1am!!!! As before we took the truck which meant we had the quads, bikes mattresses ( as i don't do air beds anymore) and it was a great space to entertain in as well. A fantastic holiday!

Hi everyone
Well what a great holiday I had with my kids and partner, Steve. We spent time in Raglan and up in Leigh. I snorkelled for the first time ever (at Goat Island Marine Reserve) and discovered a whole new amazing world. I swam with Blue Mao Mao, huge Snapper and even a sting ray. I have also had my first ever go at biscuiting which was fun and a little scary as I'm not a deep water person really! We witnessed a grass fire and had fire appliances down the drive in Leigh which was exciting. We kayaked, swam and fished in Raglan.

We also added to our family. We now have a wee girl Jack Russell puppy called Indi. She is very cute, has very needle sharp teeth and a delightful energetic character.

Jo