Healthy teeth

Three weeks ago we introduced teeth cleaning as part of our after lunch routine. The children really enjoy this and ask to clean their teeth. They are also quick to remind you if they haven't yet brushed theirs.

There is a link on the side bar to a website about keeping teeth healthy for anyone wanting more information.

Rie

A love for the swing

Brayden has shown a real interest in the swing of late. He will often approach me and say, "You push me in the swing Mara". He sure can spend a very sustained amount of time being pushed backwards and forwards.

Not only does he like the teachers pushing him, but also other children pushing. He doesn't mind sharing the swing with a couple of other children - he will often laugh and giggle with them. If I need to help another child outside though, Brayden gets upset that I'm not pushing him anymore (that's how much he loves the swing!!!!). "Come back", he will say.

I think Brayden finds the swing very soothing and relaxing, which doesn't surprise me as some children have been known to fall asleep in the swing.

Tamara

Planning for Christmas

It seems much too early to be planning for Christmas, but plan we must. We would like to get some feedback from parents about dates and times that are most suitable. Please either leave a comment on this blog post (click on comments below this post) or on the sheet on the KIDSPACE noticeboard. Let us know which option you most prefer and approximate numbers of children and adults likely to be attending.

The options are:

Thursday 8th December 4.30 - 6.30 Family party tea at KIDSPACE
Saturday 10th December 2.30 - 4.30 Family afternoon tea party at Onekawa Park
Wednesday 14th December 2 - 3 pm KIDSPACE children's party (parent's invited)

kite(see, find)

Kia ora everyone,

I am very happy to start my final field practicum (September 26 to October 14) at KIDSPACE and thankful to Jesus Christ, my Saviour, who by his loving-kindness offered me help through the centre management, teachers, parents and children. My philosophy of teaching emphasizes on children's right to be loved (unconditionally) by everyone, especially by father and mother in stable marriage blessed by God. I would like to introduce the following karakia before the meal time/group time for bicultural and spiritual enlightening.

E te Atua Lord

Arahi mai Guide us

E te Atua Lord

Tiaki mai Care for us

E te Atua Lord

Aroha mai Love us

Amene So be it.

Thank you

Mohanan

Pasta Making

While I was away on my teaching practicum, Jane mentioned to Monica that Jack loves making pasta at home. This resulted in Monica mentioning that I have made pasta with the children here at KIDSPACE before and that maybe it would be fun if Jane would like to join me and the children in making pasta when I returned.

Last week was the big day with Jane joining us to make pasta. After lunch all the older children sat around the table and watched while Jane and I set up our pasta machines. We then proceeded to make our pasta dough consisting of eggs and flour, with just a pinch of salt. All the children enjoyed taking turns in stirring the eggs into the flour and then kneeding the dough, preparing the dough for the pasta machine.

The tricky bit of making pasta is putting it through the pasta machine, if it is too wet it will stick to the machine. The machine has 10 settings starting from 1 being the largest, widest setting to 10 being the thinest setting. The children turned the dough through each setting of the machine until we got to the desired thinness. Each time this was done the dough gets thinner and longer and then it's ready to cut into pasta !

After our pasta was all cut and ready, I cooked it up for the children for afternoon tea with a tomato and basil sauce. The children loved it.

Ann

Getting involved with baking

It was late afternoon and I asked some of the children if they would like to do some baking. At first it was just Charlotte and Aimee that showed an interest, then later Jay and Taneesha joined in. They then went and washed their hands before helping. From the very start Charlotte said, "I want to do the sugar", I agreed and said she could do that. Taneesha pointed to the eggs and wanted to crack those. Charlotte was being so humourous as we were baking. She was saying, "I'm a horse, nnnneeeeiiiggghhhh," then she started to crack up laughing. Charlotte asked, "What are we making Tamara".
I replied raisin and rolled oat biscuits, she said, "Yum". Charlotte and Taneesha cracked the eggs into the bowl, then Jay, Aimee, Taneesha and Charlotte all took turns at stirring the mixture together. When Jay went away to play with something else, Taneesha, Charlotte and Aimee continued to roll the biscuit dough then Charlotte used a fork to squish them down. Through this experience the children are learning about the concepts of maths such as measuring, pouring, tipping and counting (the eggs). They are learning about turn-taking and communicating with me as to what they want to do as well as to their friends. Andrea shared at the parent-teacher meeting that Taneesha also enjoys helping with baking and cooking at home at the moment, so this was a way to encourage Taneesha's interest.

The children really enjoyed these biscuits for morning tea the next day.

Tamara

Exploring gloop

Gloop, messy play, slime, it's all go at KIDSPACE. The children have really enjoyed engaging in messy play experiences lately. I made up some thick lumpy blue gloop which the children had a great time with.

Joshua and Noah pushed their hands straight through it, and seemed to love that it stuck to their hands. "Raaaaaaaa', they yelled, while holding up their hands pretending to be monsters. Gloop provides children with many different learning experiences, and one of those is creative expression, like the boys are showing.

Rionagh and Taneesha also enjoyed sliding their hands through the lumpy gloop. Rionagh was copying the boys and raising her hands like she was a monster. Taneesha simply enjoyed the feel of the gloop on her hands, and liked pointing it out to me, when it tickled her.

Ainslee

Living Legends Planting Day

Be a Legend! Planting Day Saturday 24 September at Ahuriri Estuary
As well as being a wonderful opportunity to learn about conservation from the experts,the day will be a fun one; you may even get to meet a Rugby Legend!

We are looking at registering a KIDSPACE group for this event, so if you are interested in joining us, please add your name and approximate number of adults and children, to the comments section of this blog post or to the Paper 4 Trees notice on the noticeboard.
Irene

Dancing with a feather

Birthday celebrations

Happy 3rd Birthday Thadeus

Thadeus spent the day at home on his Birthday, but when he and his parents Chris and Nat came to pick up Ahlyna, they had brought a yummy to cake to share. We celebrated outside on the deck by singing Happy Birthday, then Thadeus blew out the candles. Then he was off home to celebrate with his whaanau. Thank you for sharing a part of your day with us Thadeus.

Tamara

August Newsletter

Our very loooonnnng train track

Mana, Donnagh, ,Cian and Jack had been very busy boys. I had been inside and observing the boys at play. They were connecting up all the train tracks, starting from the beds, going right along the wall, behind the couch then around and in front of the couch. The boys spent a very sustained period of time working together, and taking turns to connect the tracks together. At times other children would try and pull the track apart Mana and Jack in particular, were very good at using their words, pleading them to stop and saying, "Your breaking our track". Jack and Cian then spent time putting all the train carriages together, making a long line then putting the trains through the bridge. Through this experience the boys are learning to communicate their ideas together, taking on others peoples point of view and having lots of fun while they learn and play.

Tamara

Glove painting

Rugby World Cup - Teams Flags

On Friday I introduced to the children, the flags of the 20 teams that are playing in the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Hannah, Libby, and Cian showed an interest as soon as I had the laminator out. The children helped me to put the flags in laminating pockets. A few moments later, Donnagh, Luke, Joshua, and Ruby joined us. Donnagh was eager to find the Irsh flag. He held it up proud! Luke took responsibility for feeding the pockets into the laminator. As we feed each flag in, the children asked which country it was for, and this gave me an opportunity to give the children knowledge about other countries and how they are involved in the RWC. Cian liked the flag of Wales as it had a dragon on it and the children thought the flag of Argentina was funny because it has a sun on it! We talked about the New Zealand flag of course, and Ruby noticed that the NZ flag and Australia flag were similar. Good comparison!

We have proudly displayed the 20 flags in the foyer of KIDSPACE. Many learning opportunites had by the children.

Ainslee

Afternoon Tea for Kerry

Last Friday, we shared a lovely afternoon tea for Kerry. The children helped make gingerbread biscuits with Rochelle, and they then got the chance to individualise their own by decorating them.

Kerry was then presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers and a card made by the children.

Although Kerry will no longer be working her regular hours, she will still relieve from time to time, so we will still get to see her.

A Road to Build

Last week the sandpit was a very busy curriculum area, with lots of busy workers.
On Friday, I happened to notice Jack, Donnagh, and Luke very involved in their work, and upon approaching, I was told they were building a road. I watched as they negotiated who would dig where, and who had charge of the tap, that was left running for their use. Jack then decided to add a river, instructing Donnagh and Luke to keep digging whilst he would fill his river with water.

The construction workers remained engaged in their road bulding for a very sustained period, even returning after lunch to continue.

Jack, Donnagh, and Luke are developing strategies and skills for initiating, maintaining, and enjoying a relationship with other children - including taking turns, problem solving, negotiating, taking another's point of view, supporting others, and understanding other people's attitudes and feelings - in a variety of contexts.

Puppet show with a conservation message

Yesterday we went to a puppet show. This is Charlie, Emilie and Isabella's recollection of one of the stories.

"There was a frog and kiwi's and the boy and the girl and the boy and the tree and the volcano and birds. They told us a story about the rat and the possum trying to get the bird's eggs to eat. We had to sing a song to tell the mama birds to go back home to their nest and scare away the possum and the rat".

The puppet show was called The Enchanted Forest and had a conservation message about looking after our forests and the creatures that live there. The puppeteers used some awesome puppets and upbeat songs to get the message across. It was an interactive performance with the children joining in with songs and actions.

With Conservation Week coming up this was a great way to introduce the children to concepts such as this.

Conservation Week runs from 11 - 18 September and we will be revisiting our learning from the show via songs and conversations with the children.

Rie