Fire Station Visit

A follow up to all the talking and practising around fire safety.

Matariki was celebrated at Grasslands Kindergarten with a puppet show about the many Matariki myths and legends whislt the boil up heated through on the stove and the hangi cooked away in the kai cooker. It was a lovely day shared with the kindergarten tamariki, whanau and extended whanau. Rhode Street Junior school joined us as well to celebrate the beginning of the Maori new year.

Quail Egg Pikelets

Our Quails lay consistently on a daily basis sometimes twice a day. We have several tamariki with a passion for quail egg collecting and announce with great excitement when there are new eggs in the cage. The children collect them and store them in the kitchen fridge. Today while cleaning out the fridge i wondered what to do with all the eggs.

I asked the children at mat time if they would like me to make some quail egg pikelets for morning tea so

 that the eggs are used and don't go to waste. Well they didn't last long, the pikelets were devoured!

They must have been delicious!

Abby.

Our Artists Work

“Art - A lively process of engagement with a wide range of materials.

An engagement that is sensual, reflective, creative and deliberate;

and which deepens and extends children’s learning.”

The Language  of Art—Ann Pelo 2007.

Monarch Butterflies

Dancing Worms

Our friend Andries brought some tiger worms in for us to investigate. They were very cool and moved about lots. We called them dancing worms. They look very interesting under a microscope and magnifying glass. We learnt about their bodies and their functions and that they help make compost and the juice is very good for the plants. Thank you Andries.

Toasting Marshmallows

Its that time of year again, the weather is cooling off but we still have some beautiful sunny days, great weather for toasting marshmallows! The children absolutely love this, and its a fantastic authentic learning experience. We even use twigs from the garden as our toasting sticks. Toasting marshmallows in the sandpit also provides a great opportunity to learn about fire safety and teach safe fire use. Our children show great maturity around the fire pit, they are very responsible and knowledgable about fire safety. This activity is well timed as the children currently have a strong interest in fire trucks and we have a trip to Chartwell Fire station planned for later in the month. - Abby.

Bongo Drumming

A small moment in the mornng of bongo drumming! The children are just loving it and are managing the time on the drums with a timer. To include literacy we have a clipboard with paper and pen to write their name down for a turn. The children are demonstrating real patience and turn taking. They are captive audiences for each other too. It has been interesting to observe children's confidence in preforming to others grow!

A fantastic investment!

Bongo Drums

Today we brought a set of New Bongo Drums from a gentleman that hand makes them in Dunedin.

They make a fantastic sound and the children have really enjoyed them all afternoon. Best part is they are guaranteed for life!

More Kapahaka Learning with Riley

We are getting better and better, learning the right way to do it. Can you hear us singing?

Kapahaka Practise

Term One 2012

Goodness time just got away on us last term and our postings were not regular but we did have a great term. We went on the Orbitor Bus around Hamilton at the beginning when we had smaller numbers.

The term focused a great deal around Kai with cooking, pizza day and the Rhode Street School Kai Festival. We made Quail egg and bacon pies as our quails were in massive egg production. Tomato chutney was made to accompany the pies served with a side of watercress. They were very yummy! Thank you to every one who supported our stand it was a great evening and we made a nice profit

We again enjoyed Kapahaka with the Junior Rhode Street Kapahaka Group with some very special in house support from our whanau taking the time to teach us. Check out the videos!

newsletter2012

Quail Eggs

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.