A new friendship forming

Lately I have noticed that Zoe and Lukah are beginning to form a new friendship. When I arrived on Tuesday morning, the girls were building with the blocks together, and I heard some of the conversations they were having. They were talking very nicely to one another, and showed good listening skills.

After morning tea that day, I saw the girls playing at the play dough table. Zoe has made lots of things with playdough before, and she was showing Lukah all the things you can do with dough.

It's nice to see Zoe and Lukah forming a friendship and enjoying interactions with each other.

Ainslee

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

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.

The Show

This morning, the older girls were enjoying dancing to some music. They had dressed up, put all the drums in a row and were busy dancing to the groove.

After a while they decided they wanted to share this with the rest of the children, so they set about tidying up the place and inviting

everyone to their show.

After a few nervous giggles, they introduced the show to the children (The Little Mermaid song, Under The Sea).

Then they showed their stuff! They danced and danced and danced to all the children's delight. In fact, when the song came to the end, the little children called out, "Again, again."

After a round of Rockin' Robin, everybody got up and joined in to the song She'll Be Comming Round The Mountain.

Kai pai girls for having confidence to show your special skills to everyone.

We all enjoyed it!

Rachel

Mad about cars

Mana is so very keen on cars, he's been incorporating lots of these aspects in his play and throughout the curriculum, making a motorbike with the mats outside (creativity), choosing to do the quad bike puzzle (problem solving, patience) and looking at motorbike books (early literacy) that Monica brought in from home. Whenever he has the opportunity he likes to get his hands on the front of the blue truck or the red car. Mana and Noah race around very fast, although sometimes a little too fast and they need reminding to slow down because of other children. Mana builds ramps with the blocks so that his cars or trucks can do big jumps. Mana is able to build on his interest in different areas of the curriculum, he is using his creative mind to build upon these interests.

Has Mana been on the farm lately and seen the quad bikes?

Tamara

Spending time outside

I aim to give Poesy plenty of time outside as well as inside so she can experience nature, feeling the grass, watching the leaves feeling the wind and seeing that beautiful sunshine, (although I don't know where that Hawkes Bay sun is today). Poesy is very observant and enjoys touching the grass and watching the wind blow the leaves. Poesy is very much loved at KIDSPACE, the young children and older children love to talk to Poesy and give her things to play with. Cleo shows a real interest in Poesy calling out, "bubba, bubba". On this occasion Cleo was very interested in Poesy talking to her and trying to touch the ball - she was very gentle. Someone else was trying to tickle Poesy with the long stemmed plant but she didn't appreciate this, as you can tell by the photo, and let this be known to the children. Poesy is great at communicating her feelings through non-verbal cues and using her voice with other children. Poesy is a very social being and loves having the older children around talking to her.

Poesy is developing a sense of who she is in the wider world of relationships, and the ways in which these are valued; for instance will these children listen to my voice and respect that I don't like this plant on me? I can say that the majority of the children listen to Poesy and notice when she doesn't like something, if not a teacher is close by to gently remind the children.

Tamara

Playing in the sandpit

I was observing Akasha and Ahlyna in the sandpit, they were very busy

tipping, sieving and patting the sand in little containers. There was a little bit of communication between them but most of the time they were playing next to each other. At one point a problem did arise, Ahlyna wanted the sieve that Akasha had and tried to take it away, Akasha was very quick to communicate and say, "no, mine" and looked to me for reassurance this was a good way for the girls to learn how to resolve conflict through communication. Once they sorted the little problem out, they continued playing next to each other enjoying the company of the other, especially as they were the only two in the sandpit. I thought a little video would be a great way to capture them at play. They enjoyed exploring the properties of sand, seeing how it could be moulded and shaped which provides learning for early science while at the same time developing an understanding of nature.

Tamara

Tamara

Tamara

Sharing a quiet story

During my time getting to know Kian, I've noticed that he loves reading books. A number of times now, we have sat on the couch, floor or grass reading stories of Kian's choice. Today Sophia and Harry joined in, and they also enjoy selecting their favourite books and reading through them. You can see by their faces that they are really engaged in the story I'm reading about zoo animals. I really like that way that Kian speaks his mind during the stories, and is confident in sharing his thoughts :)

Technology child

Over the last few weeks Paige has shown an increasing interest in the digital camera, she is very competent in using it too, do you use one at home to Paige?????. When she wants the camera she approaches me and says "cheese" then I know exactly what she wants or she will get a stool and get the camera off the bench herself. Paige sits down for a long time moving the dial across then finding something of interest to take a photo of. Check out the photos and see the concentration on her face.

Through this experience Paige is being involved and showing an interest. She is learning to use the camera first hand through experiencing and exploring it for herself working out how it works and problem solving when it won't take the photo. She is also learning how to look after the camera and she makes sure she has the strap around her neck.


Tamara

Getting into the Christmas spirit

Donnagh,Tyra, Ben,Sarah,Eneri and Taylah worked very hard putting all the decorations onto the tree, we talked about who already had a tree
Taylah piped up "I do", shes had hers up for quite a while now your family were on to it weren't they Taylah. I also added that I was going to buy mine the next day. The children used chairs to reach the higher parts of the tree they nominated me to put the angel on the top, I to needed a chair. This experience was great for interacting and having conversations with each other and sharing of stories. Quite a few times the decorations fell off for Donnagh, Tyra and Eneri, I would hear them say "oh", but they persisted and put them back on . It's not exactly an easy skill but it helps the children develop their fine motor skills and pincer grip.
Children you did such a great job of decorating the tree, you should all be very proud.


Tamara