Staff Update

After 4 years at KIDSPACE, Monica is leaving us for new challenges at the Parent and Child centre just around the corner from her home.  So, while Monica won't miss the winter bus journey to work each day, we will certainly miss her at KIDSPACE.  You are all welcome to join us for a farewell afternoon tea on Monica's last day, Friday 25 May at 4:45 pm.

I am currently conducting a review of our present staffing and looking at different options for replacing Monica.  If you would like to share your thoughts with me about staffing (or anything else about KIDSPACE), I would be very willing to listen.  I can be contacted in person, by phone or email at any time of the day or evening. Alternatively, the contact details for our two parent reps are on the noticeboard above the sign in sheet. Also, our missing suggestion box has been replaced and is now attached to the end of the parent library shelf.

Recently, we have been very pleased to welcome back two well-loved teachers.  Jude is now doing some regular hours each week plus some day-to-day relieving.  Lepa is filling in for student teachers while they are on their practicum placements in other centres.  We also welcome Melody, a primary trained relieving teacher.
Irene

Educa

Ainslee and Tamara have trialled the Educa system and we have decided to proceed with it.  Over the next week we will be sending you an email inviting you to be part of this system.  This is an optional extra and we will continue to print out learning stories for the children's blue learning journals.  For the time being we will continue with the blog but will assess it in a few months when the Educa system is fully functioning.  You are welcome to check out the Educa website www.educa.co.nz 
Irene


Educa is a web-based portfolio system specifically designed for
New Zealand Early Childhood Educational Centres
It significantly improves communication with parents and whanau.
The idea behind Educa is to provide a secure and interactive environment where teachers and parents/whanau can share learning stories, photos and videos and collaborate on children's learning. It helps to increase parents’ feedback, enabling teachers to better engage with parents’ needs, plus it’s cost effective and extremely easy to use.

5 Best Toys

"The 5 Best Toys of All Time," published, of all places, in the high-tech Wired magazine. Here is the list:

1. Stick
2. Box
3. String
4. Cardboard Tubes
5. Dirt

What would be your top 5? Maybe a ball?

Parent - Teacher Meetings

The notice will be going up next week for whanau to indicate your preferred time if you would like a meeting with two of our teachers.

Meetings will be held on Monday 12 September and Wednesday 14 September from 4.30 pm.

These meetings are always very positive and we really value this time to share information between KIDSPACE and home. It helps us to provide better learning experiences for your child through getting to know your family better. This is a wonderful opportunity to solely focus on your child for 15 minutes with teachers who a vitally interested in your child.

Important Blog Links

On the right hand side of the blog page we have added two important links. The first one takes you to the Child Forum's summary of the Government's ECE Taskforce report, An Agenda for Amazing Children, which was released yesterday.

The taskforce have made 65 recommendations, although it remains to be seen how many of these the government will choose to implement. The report clearly recognises the huge impact of high quality early childhood education. There is some information on the KIDSPACE noticeboard about the report and some copies of this mornings Dominion Post article about the benefits to families and society of high quality ECE.

The other new link is to the Fightflu website, Don't let the 'flu get you! This colourful, easy to follow website has lots of useful information on keeping winter chills and ills away.
Irene

ECE Funding Cuts and YOU

How are you getting on with filling your sheet for the petition about the early childhood education funding cuts? Each sheet only has 10 lines, so yourself and 9 others! There are more sheets pinned to the noticeboard for you to take if you can get more than 10 signatures. You have until the 18 May (so that they can be in Wellington by 20 May). The goal is to get 70,000 signatures nationwide - prior to the rally in Hastings I heard that there were only 22,000 signatures so still quite a way to go!

There is a huge amount of research that clearly shows that quality early childhood education makes an enormous difference for children's success later in life. It has been estimated that $1 of government funding spent on quality early childhood education saves between $11 and $20 spent on health, welfare and justice. One of the indicators of quality early childhood education is qualified teachers, however the government has said that 80% of registered teachers is all that is now required and has pegged the funding back to this level. Would you accept 80% registered teachers in schools? Yet by the time your child gets to school 90% of their brain is already formed.

We are doing all we can to absorb these funding cuts without raising fees. We are trimmed to the bone and any further cuts would be critical. If the government gets the idea (or already has the idea) that we, teachers and parents, have accepted the cuts, then we can be sure there will be more to come - or other more insidious moves such as the changes due to take effect from 1 July to increase the maximum permitted license size from 50 to 150 children and from 25 to 75 under 2s (with no requirement that these children be split into smaller groups). Also for under 2s there only has to be one 'person responsible' (registered teacher) for 50 children - the rest could be school leavers on the minimum wage. Does this sound like putting the best interests of the child first - I don't think so!

New Zealand has led the world with early childhood research and our curriculum, Te Whariki. Please don't let us lead the world with these backward fiscal measures.

Irene

Feijoas Fabulous Feigoas

Thank you for the many donations of seasonal fruit and vegetables - these are very much appreciated.

We have made this yummy, quick and easy feijoa loaf for the children's morning tea:
Place 1 cup peeled, chopped feijoas, 1 cup boiling water, 1 cup sugar and 50 gram butter in a pot. Simmer for 5 minutes, cool slightly, then beat in 1 egg, 2 cups self raising flour and 1 level teaspoon baking soda (don't overdo the soda). Pour into loaf tin (or other container) and bake at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes. ENJOY!
You can also use any banana cake recipe and replace with feijoas. We have found that just using the fleshy middle part of the feijoa makes the loaf lovely and moist and less gritty as the slightly gritty texture can put some children off eating it.
Did you know feijoas are a native plant of Brazil and are named after a Portuguese botanist?
Irene

Relay for Life / KIDSPACE 10th Birthday

We have decided NOT to enter a team in the Cancer Society Relay for Life this year and instead focus our energy on our KIDSPACE curriculum and on planning some KIDSPACE 10th birthday celebrations.

Our actual anniversary is Sunday 30th January so we will have some fun and games with the children on Monday 31st January, however we thought we could have an event (or events) a little later on in the year when it is not so busy.

Tell us your ideas for possible events and/or celebrations - we are keen to hear them - blog, email, or write on the poster near the sign in table.


Some other Relay for Life events that you might be interested in supporting: "Lovebirds" movie screening Cinema Gold, Havelock North 11 February, 7.30 - supper, prizes, $25 ticket, Barnes Mossman

Irene

Are You Prepared?

Do you have an emergency plan for your household? Emergency supplies? To coincide with daylight saving starting this Sunday 26/9, the Napier City Council will be carrying out a Siren Test at midday. There is a civil defence link down the right hand side of the KIDSPACE blog. This site has all you need to know to get prepared for a civil defence emergency. Also the Napier City Council site has a lot of information about emergency planning.
At KIDSPACE we have an emergency policy, supplies and evacuation plan (see red clearfile on parent library shelf). We carry out trial evacuation and earthquake drills on alternate months. We are currently working on a comprehensive plan to bring together emergency planning and hazard identification.
Irene

KIDSPACE social netball team

This is our teachers and mums of KIDSPACE social netball team in action. We play on Tuesday nights in our pango KIDSPACE uniform t-shirts. A few of our players are off with injuries but we have a great cheering squad made up of KIDSPACE tamariki, their siblings and whaanau from week to week.

Support us by coming down to watch at Pandora and shout out or just by giving us a pat on the back.

Jessie, photography by Ainslee

May New Zealand Music month

May is New Zealand Music month. We thought we would organise musical instrument players to entertain our tamariki ma, national or international instruments. If you can play an instrument or know of anyone who can please let Jessie know. Just for 15 minutes or so or just to bring in for us to look at, touch and talk about.
Think weird, wonderful and different instruments.
Jessie

KIDSPACE teachers Team Building day

On Saturday 6th March the teachers of KIDSPACE had a team building day in the fabulous upstairs meeting room above Thorps Coffee House. All of our regular team attended even Jess and Ann who are currently at other centres on practicum. We played games, discussed our KIDSPACE shared vision and had a wonderful spread of kai thanks to Eneri's mum and owner of Thorps Coffee House. We really bonded as a team and enjoyed this day with our tamariki always at the heart of our brain storming. Over the coming months we will continue to develop our strategic plan. Initially, we will be working on increasing our confidence and competence in using Te Reo Maaori. We would be interested to hear your ideas for future development.

Jessie

More ideas with kebabs

Noah's mum Gemma's blog comment after our 'Fruit Kebabs' post on the whanau blog was...

"Another idea... doing cooked ham steaks, cheese and cherry tomatoes! Yum!"

So we did and what a hit these where with the children. Kian reaches for more cheese and Taylah, Tyra, Eneri, Elijah, Laker and Charlie all dig in, and Noah co-ordinates his kebab with his cup.

Thanks for this suggestion Gemma.

Jessie

Help us name our white bird (manu)

We need help from whanau to name our (white) bird. 

Our grey (Perky look-a-like) bird's name is Bo, as in Botanical Gardens from which they came. 

Please discuss ideas with your children and let the teachers know or better still add as a comment on our whanau blog! Then we can vote and decide. Kia ora!

Swine 'flu - What can you do?

The three main MoH recommendations for stopping the spread of germs are:

Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly and help your children to do the same:

• Wet your hands with water and apply soap.
• Rub hands to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
• Continue for 20 seconds.
• Rinse hands well under running water.
• Dry your hands.
• If possible use a towel to turn off the tap.

Avoiding contact with sick people and reducing time spent in crowed settings

Covering coughs and sneezes

Signs and symptoms of the new Influenza A (H1N1) virus are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu and can include: 

• fever
• cough
• sore throat
• runny or stuffy nose
• body aches
• headache
• chills
• fatigue.

Some people also experience diarrhoea and vomiting.

Influenza H1N1 Update

Parents should be assured that at KIDSPACE we have in place a Pandemic Plan and have reviewed our Pandemic kit developed during the Bird 'flu scare. We are also keeping up with developments daily. We have taken extra precautions to minimise virus transference.
Now that we have cases of community infected Swine Flu in New Zealand (whilst they may be at this stage centered outside Hawkes Bay) we would urge all parents to follow the MoH guidelines and keep their children at home if they are showing signs of flu like illness. This way we can minimise the impact of the H1N1 virus at KIDSPACE and in the wider community. While the virus is currently classed as mild to medium, it is the lack of immunity that increases its potential to cause harm.

We appreciate that keeping your child home can cause issues for parents, however, we do ask that you follow the MoH guidelines and keep your child home if they are ill. If you are unwell yourself, please stay away from KIDSPACE, ie. do not come in to drop off your child. We really appreciate you co-operation in this matter.

If you would like further advice, or you or your child are showing signs of sickness, phone the MoH free phone 0800 611 116. This KIDSPACE blog now has a link to the Ministry of Health Influenza Update (see LINKS in right hand column). There is also information in our notice board beside the sign in sheet.

Dinner Time Ideas.....Or Lack of!!!!

Is deciding what to eat for dinner a bit of a nightmare in your house????
It sure is in mine!

By the time I have worked all day and get home to a house full of people who all want my attention at once, it can often be just another chore to try and decide what to cook for dinner.
I wondered whether we could start a 'meal sharing' board/post? It would be great to have recipes and ideas that are used by other families. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this idea. Thanks (Sarah)

PLAY DOUGH RECIPE

Here is a great recipe for play dough that is quick and easy to make.

1-cup boiling water
2-tablespoons of cream of tartar
1/2-cup salt
1-tablespoon oil

Mix everything together and then add 1-cup flour.
Mix and knead.
Colour with powder paint or dye. You can also add glitter or essence to make it smell nice.
Keep it in an air tight container.

Please feel free to add any ideas or recipes that you may have.

KIDSPACE Birthday

KIDSPACE is now 8 years old! The last couple of years we have combined a centre birthday celebration with International Children's Day. This is on Sunday 1 March 2009. Suggestions have been either a Friday night sausage sizzle type of family celebration at KIDSPACE or Sunday at a park - Anderson Park (last year was great!), Botanical Gardens (lots of room to run and play, avaries, trees to climb), Marine parade playground (play equipment, safe, fenced), Pakawhai Park. Other suggestions are to dress up in international costumes?; have James as games master again? We need to decide by the end of this week.

Kiwi Camping

At Waitangi weekend I discovered a slice of kiwi paradise! Glenn Falls are just 40mins drive from Napier (turn right off the Napier - Taupo road onto Waitara Rd just before the Mohaka River. It is such a family friendly place to camp or just picnic for the day. There's a little sandy beach and shallow, slower moving water on the camp side then for the 'big' kids there's a rock on the other side of the river to dive into a deep, clear swimming hole. The only facilities are a toilet block but camping is free. (Irene)
How did you celebrate Waitangi Day and the long weekend?
Perhaps you might like to share some other magic places within easy reach of Napier?