A new Kea Crossing for the children of Grasslands Kindergarten to help keep them safe when crossing the road.

Doesn't it look great!

Butterfly Creek Trip

What an amazing trip! We had fantastic mums, dads and grandparents as helpers and a wonderful comfy bus to travel in. We begun with the crocodiles then moved through to the butterfly house, the fish, the train ride and ended with the farm visit. A very busy fun filled day.

Next Butterfly House

We had a very careful pat of one of the baby crocs but were very careful not to touch his head or his tail he did not like that very much and he had very sharp teeth!

we all enjoyed the fish after this and the train ride was heaps of fun going around twice waving to our friends.

Lunch tasted so good then it was off to the farm to see all the animals. Great experience and hands on.

A fantastic trip with many of the tamariki asleep on the way home!

Grasslands Kindergarten ERO Report

Staff were delighted with the Education Review Ofices Report. Please go and check it out. http://www.ero.govt.nz/Early-Childhood-School-Reports/Early-Childhood-Reports/Grasslands-Kindergarten-19-08-2011

Our New Deck

We had the seating underneath our tree removed to make way for our new deck/platform. We are so excited about this new deck and the opportunities it will bring for for creating new play spaces, such as the water play or hanging the hamock. It also makes it safer for climbing the tree because now we are able to place a saftey mat underneath. Our school day children are very excited too. Eager to have their lunch out there on the next sunny day, we are still waiting for the rain to pass yet.

Rough and Tumble play

The children love this! They call it Bomby Knockers and the aim is to try and knock each other off the pole. If your left on your the winner and you challenge someone else. Its especially ticky because you need to hold your balance at the same time as you try to knock off your opponent. There are rules involved and the children are excellent at following and enforcing them, such as no hitting in the face only on the body. We do this to provide our tamariki with an outlet for their physical play and built up energy. Rough housing play such as this is particularly exciting for boys and provides a great opportunity for children to take and manage risk, build apon their motor skill competence, and boys especially enjoy the play because it enables them to address their need for power and to manage and keep their sudden increase in playful aggression within the limits of fun!

The day the plumbers came to kindergarten

Today we had plumbers come to kindergarten to replace the guttering. We asked them to check for the hippopotamus on the roof eating cake. If he wasn't there then he probably was at his job at the zoo. The children were eager to ask once they got outside to which the plumbers Mike and Chris replied that they had chased him away....he was late for work. A fantastic big boy answer!!!! The children were highly engaged in the work and observed measuring with purpose and the use of authentic tools. They investigated alongside and interrogated the big boys about what they were doing. Chris and Mike you guys rock.

Matariki Celebration

Click to enlarge notice.

We hope to see you there.

Toasting Marshmallows

Some of our Tamariki have been requesting a fire pit (we haven't had one in a while) so this morning in the beautiful sunshine we made a fire pit - for one thing only - Toasting Marshmallows. The children absolutely love it, from finding a tree twig, to working out the right amount of charcoal. Its a very serious job as the expressions on our tamarikis faces will show. We had great weather too, no wind makes it much more enjoyable.

Marshmallows for morning tea! Delicious.

Welcome to Willow and Pepper

Our two new additions to our kindergarten whanau, Willow and Pepper. They are a little shy and have very bad eyesight so will nibble on fingers poked through the cage as they think this is kai!!! A litle more handling and they will be just lovely. They are a great size for the children to handle and are very social affectionate animals.

Kapahaka

Rhode Street Kapahaka Junior Group

Today we had the Junior Rhode Street Kapahaka Group come to Grasslands Kindergarten

Tau ana - Amazing !They sung beautifully and gave us an awesome preformance. We even knew some of the waiata. It was great to see so many of the tamariki who used to come to Grasslands Kindergarten and acknowledge them and their friends. We had a little surprise for them too. We had been practising Tainui te waka and preformed this for them too. Ka pai to mahi tamariki

Ally

Magic Matt the Magician

Today we had Magic Matt visit the kindergarten and give the children an half hour show. He was great value and a barrel of laughs. It was free and he is from Auckland promoting his services. Good fun!

"I do love a good boil up"

We have been reading Mere McGaskills Boil up and decided to make our own. We made a list and wrote a note to our whanau for donations of kai for the boil up. We had a fantastic response and a delicious lunch. Check it out! Ka pai to mahi tamariki preparing all the vegetables.

Guinee Pig Visit

Today we had a visit from Ella and her mum with their new baby guinee pigs - puppies. It was a great experience for the children, thank you Ella and Tiffany. Interesting fact - did you know that the babies are eating grass and pellets day 2 of their lives and they are born with teeth.

Welcome to 2011

Welcome back to 2011.
We hope you all had safe and happy holidays and look forward to hearing your news. A warm welcome to our new families and their whanau and we look forward to meeting you and getting to know you.
We are enjoying a quiet start to the term as our families return. This is a special time for us as we are building relationships with our new children and families and renewing our relationships with existing children and their whanau. As it is quieter it gives our new children time to really settle and get to know the routines and make new friends. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to talk to staff, we are always avaliable.
Thank you
Ally, Abby, Steph, Trina and Jo