Welcome to Term 2. 

 A special welcome to our new families we hope that you enjoy your time with us. 

Learning Stories:

You may have noticed the little laminated signs the teachers have been putting in the children’s pocket letting you know when your child has a new learning story in their portfolio so we thought it was a good time to answer the question…

What is a Learning Story?

Learning stories are a useful and innovative way to describe the progress of a child’s learning. Through these stories teachers can focus on achievement and plan for further learning based on individual strengths and interests. Learning stories are a way of documenting what children learn. The technique grew out of Te Whaariki, The New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum and the work of Dr Margaret Carr.Quite simply, a learning story uses a story telling format rather than a more traditional ‘observational’ report to describe children’s learning. The child becomes the subject of the story and their learning journey is captured through a description of what they are doing, as well as what they may be feeling. The stories focus on what the child can do as opposed to what they can’t and in this way they provide insights into the child’s strengths, interests and learning dispositions.The great thing about learning stories is that they can be written by parents as well as teachers and can provide a wonderful link between home and kindergarten.

(From Jigsaw Magazine Issue 41)

  Current areas of Interest/Learning at Kindergarten: 

“At the moment we have a few focuses that keep cropping up due to different children’s interests. As we have a child who is rugby mad and needed a little drawing out, Kirsty has decided to lead a teacher led focus around team games and sports. This has led to a lot of interesting discussions about what children already know and what more they would like to find out. It has also given us the opportunity to invite a number of guests to kindergarten including Leanne who showed us karate and Ross who talked to us about rugby. We will be holding a sports day down at Shoesmith domain later in the term to try out some of the sports that we have talked about. 

On top of this there is still and interest in windmills which was spurred along by the continuation of the mosaic windmill in which many families have had a role in helping to create it. 

There is a continuing fascination in the Titanic which has carried over from last term. We are still looking at which areas of the Titanic hold the most interest. Our work in this area has been greatly assisted by the ability to use the data projector to show the children things from the internet. We are currently bringing literacy into this topic by writing stories as well as adding a layer of science and numeracy with model making.”

 From Karen’s May Head Teachers Report (full report available to read on notice board by signing in table)

  Committee Meeting

The committee is a great way to meet other parents, gather some skills to put on your CV, and have some input into your child’s education. The next committee meeting will be held at kindergarten next Wednesday 22^nd June at 7 pm. All welcome and no pressure to join; you may even get something yummy to eat and drink!

  A Trip to Zoe’s farm…

We have been invited to Zoe Smiths farm in Kaipara Flats to see her beautiful baby piglets. We will be going on Thursday the 2nd of June, leaving kindergarten (by bus) at 9.30 am and arriving back at around 11.45 am. Children will need to bring a packed morning tea and drink, a coat and gumboots if you have any. We will need a ratio of 1:4 so will need parents to help us out on the trip, younger siblings are welcome.COST of Trip $3.00 

 End of Year Tax Receipts:

If you need one for your tax return please see Sonya and she will print you one off. 

Donations and Fees

Invoices and donation requests will have appeared in your pockets and we appreciate payment as soon as you are able. As we are a public kindergarten we rely on parent donations to meet all of our day to day expenses. The teachers wages are funded by the government, and half of Sonya’s wages are paid for by our association, but everything else (rates, insurance, resources, cleaner, maintenance etc)  has to be paid for out of the subsidy we get from the Ministry of Education for child attendance and donations/fundraising.

  Session Times

Please remember to respect session drop off and pick up times. Our teachers start work at 8 am and need all of the time leading up to session start to set up and make the kindergarten a welcoming stimulating place for the children to come into. Likewise our teachers really need their full 30 minute lunch break in order to rest and refresh for the rest of the day. Dropping off early and collecting late impinges on this “non contact” time that the teachers need. Thank you for your help with this. 

New Resources:

The bag trolleys that were purchased with money from the gala have arrived and are wonderful; we have had a lot of positive feedback. We also have some new puzzles and equipment for the carpentry area as these are two areas of exploration that are under review currently. 

Catering Fundraiser:

Thank you to everyone who donated food and time for the catering fundraiser last week. Vanessa, Fleur and all the wonderful committee did an amazing job (AGAIN!!) and the Rotary Clubs were very pleased with their yummy meal, and we are already booked again for next year. 

Hearing and Vision Testing:

This will be happening at kindy on Tuesday 31^st May from about 9.30am. They will be testing 4 year olds only. If your child was tested last time and passed they will not be re-tested.  

From the team at Mahurangi KindergartenKaren, Kirsty, Kara, Sarah and Sonya

  Term Dates 2011

Term 1: 24 January to 15 April

Term 2: 2 May to 15 July

Term 3: 1 August to 7 October

Term 4: 25 October to 20 December 

Check out what is going on at kindy

.www.mahurangikindergarten.co.nz 

or our association website   www.naka.co.nz

Phone: 09 425 7096

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