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.