Welcome to the Kindergarten Taniwha!

Kia ora to the new Kindergarten Taniwha!  We've spent time in the planning project about Tūrangawaewae( our place to stand ) looking at legends... and we've investigated the idea of the Taniwha of Wellington Harbour as part of the stories important to our area.  Thanks to a kind donation from the Marshall family we have been able to purchase our Taniwha seat and you can see the children making it welcome... making sure he eats and is sunsafe! :)  Thanks to the Marshall family - we are so grateful!

Turtle Safe (April 2011)

Earthquake info

Hi - if you have had any residual after effects from children wanting to make sense of the idea of an earthquake, we've put some hand outs  next to the sign in sheets that might help 'earthquakes and other scary events'.   We've been so impressed with lots of children's conversation about how they managed an earthquake at home...  they've been practicing how to manage them at kindergarten each month! we even did a drill last week! we followed up with a mat time hui discussion and practice this Tuesday.  Quote of the week was a worried 4 year old who told me he couldn't do his earthquake turtle properly - because he was asleep when it happened!  It's a great time for families to think about what happens in a major event... and to ensure we have all your up to date information re: phone numbers and email addresses.
Don't forget to check the Whānau Manaaki facebook page if you are in any doubt about Kindergarten closing in a major weather event... it doesn't happen very often... I've been in this association 20 years and it's only happed 3 times! We also email all the families on the roll for the day concerned.... as we did on Monday- so watch out for that!
Above find a clip we often use on our computers during session, when we are programming a drill soon.... it's quite good for children to access the main ideas......take a peek.

Welcome to Moerangi!

Freeze frame on the programme in action!

Huge thanks to Gilly and Evie for bringing in their great friend Moerangi to Kindergarten to share her memories of Northland and Northland Kindergarten in the 70’s. We’ve talked a lot about history of late and her stories and video clips of Hawea’s

Adventures in Northland were very interesting. We had questions about how it was and we enjoyed sharing the ‘pigeon house ‘ song she remembered singing when she was a kindergarten girl. She talked about the differences in how it was to be a kindergarten aged person then as opposed to now, highlighted for us that the tunnels were a big feature then just as they are now,  and also talked about hangi as a way to celebrate milestones….Thank you for sharing … we were so pleased to welcome you. we are so very interested in finding out about our kindergarten 'place to stand'. 

Earthquake closures

!! Update on Earthquake Kindergarten Closures !!
Kia Ora Koutou
All Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens will be open tomorrow (Tuesday 15th) with the exception of Tai Tamariki Kindergarten that is based at Te Papa. Tai Tamariki Kindergarten will remain closed tomorrow. We will keep parents and whānau of children attending that kindergarten updated on when it will open. Also, Matariki Kindergarten in Upper Hutt will open at 8.30am instead of the 7.30am that it normally opens.
Apart from Tai Tamariki, all kindergartens in Wellington, Petone and Eastbourne, Upper Hutt, Porirua, Kapiti Coast, Levin and Wairarapa will be open tomorrow. Lower Hutt and Wainuiomata Kindergartens will also be open.
Thanks for your patience and understanding over this exceptional time. We will keep you informed via our kindergarten teams and Facebook as well as our website, but let’s hope we have an uneventful night!....

so check the whānau Manaaki facebook for updates!

Working with physics at Kindergarten.

Here's  a note that shows how the current project begun along the lines of planning, exploring and evaluating our ideas might look.... we'll have evidence on a new project planning wall in the  indoor environs.  A great 'hook' to get children involved in this idea is the way balls or other items work when used in a range of physics based scenarios.......