Celebrating Matariki at Kindergarten

Over the last week we have been reading about Matariki and the significance of celebrating the start of the Maori New Year with a feast. Today at Torbay Kindergarten we decided to celebrate with a roast lunch. This was a feast of lamb, chicken, potatos, kumera and peas, finishing with some mandarins from Georgia's tree. What a spread. This was a wonderful meal to enjoy together on a wet and windy day.

Beach Explorers at Torbay Kindergarten

What better place to start with children than in their own community learning to respect their Turangawaewae through hands on experience.
Our beach trips are based in "child time" with the children being actively encouraged to lead and direct the journey through their interests and curiosity.
Through this experience children not only learn inquiry skills but also self regulated courage, resilience and strategies for independence.
"If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered (as passionate conservationists) then let us allow them to love the Earth before we ask them to save it." (David Sobel, Beyond Ecophobia)

S.O.S

Newsletter for April 2014

April 2014

Dates to remember:

Committee meeting: 15^th April 2014

Beach Explorers trip: 15^h April 2014.

Last day of term: 16^th and 17^th April 2014.

Term 2 2014: 5^th and 8^th May 2014.

 

Teachers’ Update

We are coming to the end of a very exciting and eventful term! We have been enjoying observing the children’s emerging interests and working alongside them to extend their learning. The children’s interest in sea life has continued after our wonderful trip to Kelly Tarltons. The children have extended this interest into dramatic pirate play and treasure map making. The older group of children have  also been busy in the sandpit exploring water pressure and flow using pipes and funnels,  creating volcanic eruptions, geysers, lava flows and bubbling mud pools.

This term we have had Sina a student from the University of Auckland completing her seven week teaching practicum with us. We look forward to her continuing her practicum with us into term two.

 

Ride a thon

The 2014 Ride a thon was a huge success for Torbay Kindergarten. It looks like we have made over $3,500 through your fundraising efforts! Thankyou to everyone for your support preparing for the big event and for attending on the day. An extra thankyou goes out to the committee for their wonderful organisation and to the parents and families who helped man the stalls on the day.

 Thankyou to Russel Thomas for sponsoring our Ride a thon. It means that our funds raised from this event are all profit.

The annual Ride a thon takes a lot of organising. We understand we ask a lot of you both in advance and on the day but this is our only fundraiser until quiz night in the third term. Your support is hugely appreciated and the money we have raised will go towards a verandah upgrade.

 

Verandah Upgrade

Using the money we raised from the Ride a thon and previous funsraising, we are looking at completing an upgrade of our very old and run down verandah area. In the winter months the verandah area is an unpleasant area for the children and teachers to work under. It is cold, blustery, has poor lighting and the rain on the clearlight roofing is so loud that normal conversation is near impossible. Upgrading the verandah will involve replacing the plastic roll down screens, the roofing system and installing heat and lighting. We cannot wait for this upgrade to get underway. We will keep you updated on the progress.

 

Committee Meeting

There will be a committee meeting on Tuesday the 15^th of April, 7.30 at the Kindergarten. All welcome.

 

Blog

 Don’t forget to check out our kindergarten blog at: torbaykindergarten.blogspot.co.nz We have recently updated the blog with  photos of our trip to Kelly Tarltons and the Ride a thon.

 

Beach Explorers Club

Next Tuesday, 15^th of April, a group of ten children and five adults will be venturing down to Waiake Beach. This will be a trial run for our ‘Beach Explorers Club’ with the intention of empowering our children in self initiated exploration of the local environment. If all goes well on this trial we will continue the trips for the older group of children on a fortnighty basis.

 

Teaching and Learning Wall

We are in the process of updating our Teaching and Learning Wall. As ideas and philosophies evolve within our practice, we like to keep you informed. Please take the time to read the content of the wall and see what teaching and learning at Torbay Kindergarten looks like.

 

Aspirations Sheets

Thankyou to all of you who have returned you child’s aspiration sheet. The information that you provide helps with the assessment of your child’s learning and with future goal setting. We really appreciate you showing an interest and  getting involved in your child’s learning so thanks again J Could you please return your completed sheets to Angela in the office. If you need another sheet, call in at the office and pick one up.

 

Bicultural Partnership Wall

Have you checked out our Bicultural Partnership Wall? This wall gives our children and families the opportunity to reflect on what is unique about living in New Zealand. If you haven’t already contributed to the wall, maybe you would like to. This is a wonderful opportunity for us all to take time to think about who we are in the New Zealand/Aotearoa context.

 Parking

This is an on-going issue outside kindergarten. If you have a high sided vehicle, please park on the road. We have had a few near misses when people are trying to back out of the car parks; they are unable to see the traffic coming down the hill.

We have also reserved the right to park behind the teachers cars for families that have special needs. Please do not park there unless you have seen a teacher about this.

Committee Meeting

Just a reminder that the committee will be held tomorrow night, Tuesday 15th April, 7.30pm at Torbay Kindergarten.

All are welcome!

Ride a thon

Thanks to all who attended the Ride a Thon. It was an awesome day. The sun shone, the bikes, trikes and scooters looked fantastic and everyone had an awesome time. An extra big thank you to all of our fantastic helpers. Without you it wouldn't have been the wonderful success that it was.

Kelly Tarltons - Wednesday 12th March 2014

With the children's interest in sea creatures becoming a primary focus at kindergarten it seemed like a really good time for a trip to Kelly Tarltons to see the creatures up close.
We used the lead up to talk about what lives in the ocean and we started to draw and paint seahorses, paua, starfish, fish and other sea creatures.
The children took a question sheet to Kelly Tarltons with pictures of things they might see and these helped them to find out some really interesting facts.
We saw sharks, fish, penguins, starfish, crayfish, eels, seahorses, stingrays and more.
The stingray feeding and the penguins seemed to be a highlight for all.
We all enjoyed seeing the penguins swimming under water, they looked like they were flying, and trying to spot the baby penguin with its mum and dad.
Since we have been back at kindergarten we have been looking more in-depth into the facts we learnt and adding to our artistic impressions of the sea creatures.
An interest that surprised the teachers was in the creation of Kelly Tarltons and the facts we learnt about Kelly himself.
This trip has sparked conversation about conservation and learning to protect our environment.
The learning opportunities in this trip support our growing interest in sustainability, and looking after the world
around us.
12th March - 2014