October Newsletter

Happy 3rd birthday Luke

Happy 3rd birthday Luke :)

Ainslee

Popular play in the sandpit

Yesterday after lunch, the sandpit was very popular! It's a nice shady area to chill out, and to play with and explore different things. Kian, Donnagh and Jorja were busy making a river. They used spades, shovels and buckets to dig and transport sand. They kept digging until there was a big long hole in the sandpit. Our new friend Mana was holding on to the hose, providing the river sculptors with water. Ashton was sitting close by, enjoying being bare foot, wriggling his toes in the sand. He was intrigued by the water as well, and loved dipping his hands under the running hose and into the small bucket full of water. He even put three hats in the puddle of water, over the space of 5 mins.

Lyrique came along half way through, and took a real interest in helping to construct the river and transport sand around the sand pit.

Tarquin helped a little bit with the river at the beginning, but then continued on a treasure hunt. He was interested in what he could find up on top of the wooden boxes. He moved bits and pieces to get to places he needed to look.

Caelyn, Emily, Libby and Isabella spend lots of time on the swing that was set up in the sandpit. They each look turns at sitting on the seat, while their friends spun them round and round. I really liked the way the girls were talking to one another, voicing their opinions and making a real effort to take turns.

Acacia loved being in barefoot, and walking through the ankle deep water. She had a spade in her hands and a big grin on her face. She continued to extend on the river, even through the water flow slowed down a bit!

Kian enjoyed stomping through the the river in bare feet, pretending he was a bear! He held his hands out and said "raaaahhhhh", like a big scary bear! Kian was doing a great job at keeping an eye on his little brother, and reminding everyone that Ashton is HIS little brother.

Children learn strategies for active exploration, thinking and reasoning - control over bodies, exploring with senses, use of tools and equipment, confidence with moving in space and playing near others (Exploration, Te Whaariki).

"Children develop a perception of themselves as 'explorers' - competent, confident learners who ask questions and make discoveries" (Te Whaariki).

The sandpit was a lovely relaxing place to be after lunch on this warm sunny day, and it was so nice to observe, watch and be engaged in a range of different play mediums.

Ainslee

Welcome to KIDSPACE Mana

Welcome to KIDSPACE Mana!! You have settled in so well over your first few days. You have particulary enjoyed playing in the sandpit, digging with the diggers and trucks and having a go with the hose. After lunch, you joined in for a story at group time, and sat down well and took an interest in the book.

Continue to explore and enjoy your new envrionment Mana, and we look forward to getting to know you more.

Ainslee

Happy 4th Birthday Kian

Happy 4th Birthday Kian! Hope you had a great weekend!

Ainslee

"We're going on a bear hunt"

There has been considerable interest in the book "We're going on a bear hunt", over a long period of time. Last week Xavier, Max, Travis, Rionagh, Paige and I were involved in retelling the story using different aspects of our natural environment. We did this at least four times as the children requested it over and over again. We went through the long wavy grass, a snowstorm, through mud, the dark forest, (we didn't go through the river) but we made up our own one, we went on a wibbly wobbly stoney path, then through the narrow gloomy cave, it's a BEAR!!!!!.

The children ran they found the anticipation exciting, Rionagh would make facials as if to say "ooohhh" and Xavier, Paige and Travis would run as Max the bear chased us. The third and fourth time we told the story Max was the bear then Travis became Max's little baby brother bear.

This experience enabled children to act out what they know about the story and using recall and their memory. They used their imaginations to add parts to the story and negotiated who would be who and took turns. It was great having such a fantastic natural environment to use to act out this story. This was a very social and fun experience for children of all ages to be involved in. This book provides many different describing words for children, extending on their vocabulary, it's fantastic to see children so passionate about books and literacy and using books in different ways to retell the story.

Tamara

Healthy Heart smoothies

Supporting KIDSPACE achieving the Healthy Heart Award- Xavier, Emily, Jorja, Aimee, Lyrique, Jaz, Noah, Acacia, Mollie, Libby, Netana, Isabella,Travis, Max, Caelyn and I celebrated by making fruity smoothies for morning tea kai.

We used juice, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and bananas to make our yummy smoothies. We drank these with our Healthy Heart straws.

Char from Sports Hawkes Bay will award KIDSPACE the Healthy Heart Award sometime over the next couple of weeks.

"Children develop self-help and self-care skills fir eating, drinking and food preparation. Children develop positive attitudes towards eating", Well-Being, Te Whaariki.

Ann/Jessie

Our blossom tree

Our KIDSPACE blossom (putiputi) tree is in its period of flowering and when the wind (hau) blows it is like pink (mahwero) snow (huka). Petals (raupua) cover the grass (karaaihe), concrete (raima), deck, children, sandpit (raukirikiri) and even blow into the artroom and onto activities set up outside.

Come and have a look at our putipuiti next time you are at KIDSPACE.

Jessie

Paper weaving

To further extend upon the children's interest in weaving, I introduced a paper weaving activity to the children this wet afternoon. This is a fun activity that supports children's learning of basic mathematical skills such as, interpretation of different materials, organising, creation of patterns, to thinking logically, and making comparisons. The activity also support's children's fine motor skills such as the pincer grip, together with eye and hand co-ordination. Exploration. Ann

Snail moving on a window

Giant Snails

Max's interest in bugs

Max is still showing increasing interest in bugs and hunting for them with his friends. On Monday he brought in a snail that he found on the KIDSPACE drive way. His mum and I suggested he find a home for the snail. He thought for a little bit. I said, "I've just brought in some recycling boxes you could use one of those for your snail". Max said, "yeah" and quickly rushed down to the art room to find one. He showed me the box he chose, I questioned whether the snail would need some food while it was in the box. Max said, "yeah, they eat grass, I'll get it some grass". Max got a nice big handful of fresh grass for his snail. Max then proceeded to tell me he needed to put water in his box for the snail. I wondered how much.... Max put quite a bit in there, I asked "would it drown?". Max said "No they like to drink the water". Later Max and I researched on the internet. He had a few questions to ask. We went onto the website www.answers.com.

Max asked questions such as,

-What do snails eat?

-What snails slither on?

-Do snails slither on peoples arms

-Where do snails hide?

We watched some video clips on YouTube, where the snails were slithering up the window and

the one we found most exciting was a snail called the African snail; they are HUGE. Max and I both learnt something new, we didn't know snails that big existed. DID YOU SEE THE PHOTO!!!

Through this experience Max was actively exploring his world and caring for the little snail he had found, ensuring his well-being was being looked after. Max was being a scientist and actively driving his own learning through research on the Internet and we looked in books too.

Tamara

Happy Birthday Libby

Technology at KIDSPACE

Look at these children and teachers experiencing an environment where they discover and develop different ways to be creative and expressive through communication, using ICT such as laptops and the laminator. Rie helps Taneesha and Paige to laminate their kai place mats, Max and Tamara look for answers on the laptop, Lyrique and Acacia view photos of themselves and add verbal messages to Jess' learning story, and Noah and Caelyn download photos on the laptop with Ann.

"Children develop familiarity with an appropriate selection of the stories and literature valued by cultures in their community", Communication.

-Kaua e rangiruatia te haapai o te hoe;

e kore too taatou waka e uu ki uta.

-Don't paddle out of unison; our canoe will never reach the shore. (Technology, The New Zealand Curriculum).

Jessie

Developing mathematic skills

Jorja and Caelyn play a matching shapes game.

"In Mathematics and statistics, students explore relationships in quantities, space, and data and learn to express these relationships in ways that help them to make sense of the world around them", Learning Areas, The New Zealand Curriculum.

-Kei hopu toou ringa ki te aka taaepa,

engari ka mau ki te aka matua.

-Cling to the main vine, not the loose one. (The New Zealand Curriculum)

Jorja and Caelyn explore the use of patterns and relationships in quantities, space and time. Mathematics uses symbols to help find and communicate patterns and relationships.

Jessie

Jump Rope for Heart Day

On Jump Rope for Heart Day at KIDSPACE we wore red, skipped, hopped, visited Bardowie, danced, hula hooped, jumped, played bean bag games, created heart shaped and coloured art and had face paint. For the Heart Foundation we raised $13.50 thank you to all whaanau and teachers we got involved on this healthy heart day.

Jessie

Learning our names in playdough

Extending upon the children's interest at the moment of writing their own names, I set up an activity at the playdough table, where I wrote out the children's names on pieces of paper. The idea of this activity is for the children to roll out the playdough and trace over the letters of their name with the playdough. Netana, Jorja, and Donnagh really enjoyed this activity where they were learning basic literacy skills in relation to the letter shapes within the spelling of their own names. Communication.

Ann

Live to tell the tale

Live to tell the tale

Napier Civil Defence Open Day

Saturday 16 October 10am - 2pm

War Memorial Conference Centre, Marine Parade

Get Ready Get Thru
How to get through in an emergency

HB Magpies, Giveaways, Prizes

Our friends at Bardowie

On Tuesday Monica and Ann with children Caelyn, Emily, Max, Isabella, Lyrique, Noah, Libby and Jorja paid a visit to Bardowie Rest home along Kennedy Road.

As per visit the residents were thrilled to see us and took their seats waiting for us to perform.

All the children sang beautifully and remembered all the words to our 'We are the Kids of KIDSPACE' song.

Max took over as master of ceremonies, taking responsibility for the order in which we sang our chosen line up, and he also made a fantastic job of presenting two pots of broad beans to Peter, one of the Bardowie residents.

Peter then demonstrated his talent at yodeling before showing us his wonderful vegetable garden that he tends to.

A fun time was had by all and very soon we will be practicing our Christmas line up to perform once again.

The children are developing an awareness of connections between events and experiences within and beyond the early childhood setting.

Monica

Happy Birthday Rochelle

Painting with Fly Swats

For a new painting experience I brought out fly swats for the children to paint with. Luke was one of the first children to have a go, he chose his fly swat, dipped it into the paint and then went splat onto the paper he really enjoyed this part and did it over and over again. Luke is gaining control of his motor skills through his confidence in experimenting with materials that enable him to play around with ideas and to explore actively with all the senses. Exploration

Ann

Weaving with Wood

To extend upon Irene's natural weaving with the children, a couple of weeks ago, I introduced Jorja, Caelyn, Emily and Mania to weaving at the wood carpentry table. I demonstrated how we can use wool and material wrapped around nails, to create three-dimensional woven pictures. The girls were eager to have a go, and enjoyed creating their own three-dimensional woven pictures.

The girls are learning basic mathmatics and numeracy, in which they are able to order, group and compare different objects and materials, through the patterns within their weaving.

Ann