Dear Parents of Pohutukawa Kindergarten Glendowie.
A very warm welcome to Lorik, Ollie, Ivar, Beau and their Whānau joining our Pohutukawa Kindergarten community this term.
Staff news
- Alyse is on practicum for the next four weeks starting 2nd
- Exciting news! Natasha is expecting her second child in September.
Season change Autumn is upon us! The weather is still beautiful and sunny but as the weather changes please remember to pack extra warm clothing for your child, a jacket when needed and gumboots. We continue to run an indoor/outdoor programme through all months of the year as we feel passionate about learning in our outdoor space and connecting with nature, whatever that brings. Sun hats are no longer required for Term 2.
Te Whāriki (Early Childhood Curriculum) Te Whāriki is our basis for Early Education and what we as a team and Kindergarten refer to in all that we do. Each newsletter we will share one of the 5 ‘strands’ with you. Contribution: Children will experience an environment where learning opportunities are equitable, and each child’s contribution is valued. This is through collaboration with peers and kaiako, to support one another to actively participate in learning with and alongside others.
Developing Independence
At Kindy an important skill that our tamariki develop is a sense of confidence and independence. This looks slightly different for each tamariki but we work toward:
- Independent dressing and undressing
- Giving things a try before asking for help
- Carrying in their own bag and hanging it up with their name tag.
- Taking responsibility for their things, eg putting a jumper away in their bag.
Please support us with this where possible, encouraging your child to be independent.
ERO The Education Review Office will be conducting a quality review this term (17-19May). We hope there will be opportunities for you to communicate and feedback to them. We will keep you updated.
Children’s sign in and out In orange level, whānau can enter kindy wearing a mask to pick up and drop of your tamariki and to sign them in and out.
Reflection on Term 1 Thank-you all so much for supporting us as we had staff away sick or on professional development courses. During the term we focused a lot on the ‘Belonging’ of our tamariki as they came back from holiday and new children started with us. We had some great learning projects going in the afternoons and loved the enthusiasm and participation from our tamariki! We started the term looking at creating a new treaty where our tamariki had some great ideas to share. We really appreciated some whānau input as well. We started our enquiry tree for some of those ‘bigger’ questions our tamariki asked and together researched the answers. Our Volcano week at the end of the term was definitely a highlight! And of course our Easter hunt!
Afternoon programme for term 2 This term we are going to focus on Mathematics! Each week we will have a colour, shape and number we will be focusing on. We have some great ideas starting to come together for this including a baking day, team games, artwork, songs, and lots of other experiences!
Dates/Events – (Term 2 – 2nd May – 8th July)
- Mother’s Day Morning Tea – 6th May 2022. Feel free to come and stay for a little bit when you drop off your child. Enjoy a cup of coffee/tea and some yummy treats!
- Wheels Day – 31st May & 1st June 2022. Bring in your set of wheels!!
- Pyjama Day – 21st June 2022 & 8th July 2022. Come in your pjyamas and can bring a snuggly toy with you.
- Soup Day – 23rd Bring in a root vegetable with you so we can make some yummy soup and fry bread.
- Matariki 24th June 2022 – Public Holiday – Kindy closed.
- Matariki Disco Friday 1st July 6-7.30
Wednesday News Time – News from Home A reminder that children are welcome to bring in news to share with the group when this is relevant to them and their family. They may have just had a holiday, family visit or a special event happen. They may have found something interesting to bring in and show the other children. Photos or prompts of other kinds are a great tool to use for children to remember details of what they wanted to share. You are welcome to email photos to the Kindy email. Through sharing parts of their personal lives children feel valued as an important part of our learning community and develop their verbal language and confidence skills. (Please refrain from bringing ‘toys’)
Playball stars Playball will run on Tuesday afternoons at 230pm as an after kindy opportunity. A free trail is on the 3rd May at 2:30pm for any child to come and have a go. The sign up for the free trail and more information is at kindy. You can look on the website www.playball.co.nz or ask Sarah.
We are really looking forward to Term 2 and what it may bring to all our continuing learning journey’s here at Kindy.
The Pohutukawa Glendowie team.
