Dear Parents of Pohutukawa Kindergarten Glendowie.
Nau mai, haere mai and a very warm welcome to Flynn who is joining his brother Ted, and Navy who joined Theo last term. We would also like to welcome Olivia, Livvy, Mia, Maeve and their Whānau who are also joining our Pohutukawa Kindergarten community this term.
Staff news
We excitedly welcome back Natasha who will be returning from maternity leave this term (joining us on Monday and Wednesday mornings and slowly picking up more hours).
Session Times
We encourage our parents/whanau and caregivers that if you are not paying extra for an extended long day session, to please arrive on time to pick up your children.
Parking
For safety reasons in the carpark, please be mindful of others and avoid parking in front of Sarah’s van as it can make the carpark space tight for everyone who is using this space to reverse to turn and drive out forwards.
Winter Season
With these cold snaps we have been having and wet weather, 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. We do encourage our tamariki to wear a jacket for outside play and the puffer vests are the best as they still have the movement in their arms to play.
Winter bugs
We have really appreciated all the communication you have provided when your child has been sick and keeping them home for them to get better and help keep our Kaiako and tamariki at Kindy well too. Ngā mihi nui!
Kai times
We have a couple of children with severe peanut and nut allergies. Please be mindful what your child has in their lunch box as we are a nut-free Kindy.
We’d also like to remind you of the Ministry’s food regulations in relation to reducing food-choking in ECE. Each parent has been provided with the Ministry’s booklet. If you would like another, please let us know. Some high-risk food they recommend to exclude are: whole nuts, large seeds, hard or chewy sweets or lollies, crisps, chippies and corn chips. Hard rice crackers, dried fruit, sausages, saveloys and cheerio’s, popcorn and marshmallows.
Reflection on Term 2
Many of the tamariki were excited to discover spiders and bugs. They spent lots of time hunting and observing these small creatures. We had a focus on Mathematics for our afternoon programme in the Puāwai. We are so pleased at how engaged and involved our Puāwai tamariki have been in their participation and in their own learning growth. They have been so keen on finding out what the activities are each day. Likewise, our Huero tamariki have enjoyed activities themed around the Gruffalo in term 2, some taking away art creations and their own stories about these play/learning experiences. We’ve had some great fun days such as our wheels days, pyjama days, and our disco and have more planned for this coming term!
Term 3 planning
The afternoon programme in the Puāwai room will focus on the alphabet. And Huero will continue into term 3 with other stories by the author of the Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson (e.g. Stickman and other titles).
Dates/Events – (Term 3: 17th July – 21th September)
- Soup making – Wednesday 26th July
- Wacky Wednesday – 16th August
- Topsy Turvy – 17th August
- Tongan language week – 4th – 10th of September
- Photo day 8th September
- Mum’s night – 15th September
- Te wiki o te reo Māori: 11th – 17th September
We will share more details close to each event.
Playball stars
Playball will run on Thursday afternoons at 2:30-3:15pm as an after kindy opportunity. You can look on the website www.playball.co.nz or ask Sarah for more information.
We look forward to what Term 3 has in store for us and our tamariki!
The Pohutukawa Glendowie team.