Our people, our community

The little things we do for each other have big impact!

"We throw out the love to the people and put love in their heart and then they throw out the love to more people and then we all be friends forever" said JJ.

What insightful words from a 4 year old.  

Everyday children astound us with their capacity to understand the important things in life!  What we do, how we show up for each other matters.  We all have the power to care, love and support those around us and we really can make a positive difference in the lives of others.

In celebration of our community

This blog is in recognition and celebration of those people in our community who showed up for us in a multitude of ways this year.  We want you to know that your actions were appreciated and we feel incredibly blessed to have people like you in our lives.  What an amazing community! 

Fire Pit Friday

Over the winter months this year, we began to offer the experience of cooking over an open fire on Friday mornings. This became a valued part of our kindergarten week with many children asking "Is it Fire Pit Friday?" (on a Monday

 

This is another aspect of our programme that requires support from our community.  We simply could not do this without parents getting on board and helping us out on the day.  It is such a wonderful addition to learning and tamariki really looked forward to this special experience.

"I'm happy cause I love cooking sausages in the fire" said Nina.

"I love firepit Friday, the parents have to help because we want to cook sausages.  I'm happy to cook sausages.  I'm just really happy cause I like sausages and bread" said Kate.

"Parents look after the children when they're doing cooking.  I'm happy about that cause I like cooking" said Siaki,

Pātaka kai

Our food sharing initiative formed a few years ago and has been a wonderful way for our community to come together in support of each other, recognizing the value in sharing abundance, promoting community care and reducing food waste.

This year we were particularly grateful for the forward thinking members of our community who recognized that things may have been tough out there for families living through the cost of living crisis.  Special thanks goes to the generous people from Ruakākā Catholic Church for donating food items to our Pātaka kai to feed and nourish our families.  

Whiringa ā nuku nature programme

Every week we take our 10 oldest tamariki go out into the bush to play and learn in nature.  This would not be possible without the ongoing support of our parents who generously share their time and energy to our learning cause.

In todays society we recognize the ongoing pull towards 'work' and we are so grateful to those parents who go the extra mile to ensure their ongoing support.  We recognize this can be difficult, which only makes us that much more appreciative of the efforts being made to stay connected and involved in their children's education.

As well as parents spending time out in nature with children, we're also noticing that the gifting trees for tamariki to plant has become a regular occurrence within our programme.  How awesome is that, the gift that keeps on giving!  Tamariki love to plant trees and this is a great learning experience.

  

Whānau Hui

Support from community comes in different ways.  Opportunities to create unique and interesting learning experiences for children starts with an idea, planning, then  affirmative action.  When our community comes together to share perspectives, brainstorm ideas and formulate learning goals, amazing things can happen for tamariki.

Our whanau have skills and knowledge that we draw on to make learning authentic and meaningful for children's growth and development.  When parents choose to be involved, amazing things can happen, such as...

Sharing Taonga

Our Matariki celebrations were made extra special this year when one of our kindergarten parents bought in the bones of pilot whale Rangimaria, a taonga of local guardians Patuharekeke.  The sharing of culture and stories significant to our local area was such a treat to experience, and our gratitude and thanks goes to Ari for making this very special event happen!  Another fine example of connection and care that sees us learning and growing together, just amazing!

E kore e mutu ngā mihi ki a koutou, e te iwi o Patuharakeke, mō tō koutou manawanui me tō koutou aroha ke te whakaako i ā tātou tamariki mō te mātauranga o ngā tohorā.

You are the guardians of these precious treasures, and through your efforts in sharing this ancestral wisdom, you have guided the children towards a deeper understanding and love for the environment.  We honour and acknowledge you for your significant work in preserving the spirit and essence of the whales and the natural world for this generation and those yet to come Maui ora!

Tirohanga o te Ao - Observations of Life

An epic year of connection and collaboration happened in a big way through our Tirohanga o te Ao, observations of life programme.  These weekly moments provided tamariki, parents and teachers unique experiences for sustained shared noticing, talking, listening and critical thinking.

It was a special time of reflection, learning and growing together and we were so thankful for the time, energy and commitment given to enable this unique and special experience to unfold in such a beautiful way.

It is with gratitude and aroha that we warmly thank Emily and Mareikura for their continued effort to support us in our endeavours throughout the year.  Such an incredible time of learning!

The impact of your participation in your child's education

Words by children

Being a good role model...if you ever wondered if you were making a difference by helping out or being involved, just take a moment to read through these thoughts and ideas expressed by children of what it means to be part of a community.

What does it mean to be part of a community?

"It means teamwork"

"I like the parents helping, it makes the children happy cause they can't do everything and that's why they need help"

"Helping everybody"

"When we help the people it makes them feel happy and I feel happy cause they help me when I'm helping them" 

"Maybe helping people when they're sad, so they feel happy"

"Maybe being kind to your friends is being mindful, being kind and friendly.  It's so people don't get hurt and people don't get sad. Being kindful, kindful means being kind.  If everyone was kind nobody would be sad"

Such wonderful words from our littlest citizens!

A message of thanks from the team

It takes a village to raise a child

To all those parents who stepped in to offer their care and assistance this year, we say the warmest and biggest thankyou, you are amazing!

Seed Inquiry

“However big or small your garden is, if you allow nature to touch your spirit, gardening will bring returns of peace, satisfaction, and well-being for as long as you continue to wander the garden path.” – Norman Hansen

Lately our kindergarten tamariki have expressed a keen interest in gardening. They have demonstrated a real sense of kaitiaki through their collaborative care and responsibility of our vegetable crops. To extend on this learning we are carrying out a seed inquiry, where the tamariki have had the opportunity to examine a range of different seeds, looking at the differences and similarities, exploring their shape, size and texture.

When examining the radish seeds, 

Peyton noticed that they are “crunchy, hard and little.”

 Oakley commented “it’s really little, it’s rough.”

When we examined the bean seeds, “Kura noticed that ‘it’s soft.” 

JJ stated ‘they are so soft.” 

While Oakley said “it’s a big one.”

 When looking at the beetroot seeds, Scout noticed that “they’re soft, they’re smooth.” 

While Kura added “it’s even softer and little.”

When examining the pea seed, Scout commented “it’s like a dried pea, like the princess and the pea."  

Layla added “they are really hard."

When we examined the carrot seeds, Peyton noticed that “they’re really really small and crunchy.” 

Siaki stated “they’re crunchy, they’re too hard to pick up.”

While Oakley added "the carrot seeds are small, I can’t pick them up.”

  

The tamariki also created miniature glass houses, using muffin trays lined with damp paper towels. They carefully scattered the seeds into each hole and covered them in cling film.

 

They will monitor the seeds each day, documenting their daily findings, to determine which seeds will sprout first and how long each seed takes to grow.

The tamariki are waiting with anticipation to see which ones will begin to grow first.

Scientific concepts are extended within this experience, as the tamariki develop their knowledge and understanding of a plant’s life cycle. 

Sorting/categorizing skills and fine motor skills are also fostered as the tamariki explore with picking up the seeds using the tweezers and sorting them into groups.

“Te rangahau me te matauranga | Making sense of their worlds by generating and refining working theories”

(Te Whariki, 2017).