Christmas Party Fun!

Our year for the children ended with lots of fun at Wainoni Park, despite the weather! We walked in a group to the park and some helpful parents took the food and tables ahead so they were there ready for us. Everyone enjoying playing with the wonderful equipment and Sean Murgatroyd, the children's librarian formerly at Albany and now at Northcote Library, paid us a final visit. Sadly we said goodbye and Sean gave the children a gift - an air powered rocket which has already spent some time over the fence back at Kindergarten. After talking to Sean it was time to eat and have a picnic with our friends on the field. Luckily the rain waited until after everyone had eaten and was over in time for the show by 'Starfish'. The children enjoyed singing and dancing along. Then it was time to pack up and walk back to Kindergarten.
Thank you everyone for your support this year, have a wonderful holiday and we wish those children moving onto school all the very best for the future. We will miss you.
Margaret and Chris

Haka Challenge 2008!

What a fantastic day we had! We had morning tea when we arrived at Birkdale Intermediate before joining the nearly 2000 school children waiting to do the massed Haka. Some of the children performed for us and then it was time to practice a few times before the real thing. It was very moving and powerful for everyone to be part of something so big and so loud and we felt our children did really well as they joined in both the practices and the big event. We are very proud of them all! There are also some photos at - www. georgefm.co.nz/photos72157609235812687.html

2008 Haka Challenge

We joined The Great Harbour Sport Haka Challenge 2008 after some of our boys expressed an interest in learning to do the Haka. When we registered our interest in joining the challenge, Harbour Sport sent us a DVD and information on the Haka they had chosen, which was Ka Mate. We played the DVD through our data projector and the children practised every day to make sure they knew all the words and moves. Then, to help us and make sure we were doing everything the right way we had All Black Rudi Wulf come along to one of our practices and do the Haka with us. Weren't we lucky! Thank you Rudi for giving us some of your very busy time!

Bubble Fun

We have been having lots of bubble fun at Kindergarten lately using different implements including bubble wands and even fly swats. We have found that even when we use a heart, flower or other shaped wand, the bubbles still come out circle shaped - how interesting! We have had competitions to see whose bubbles go the farthest - over the fence, over the roof and over the trees. Some people even managed to catch their bubbles on their hands too.

To finish our third term, we had a fantastic puppet show put on by Erin Devlin from the Kiwi Puppet Company, (have a look at Erin's website - kiwipuppet.co.nz) and our children really enjoyed her interactive show.

Snow Planet 22/8/08

After one of the children asked at mat time one morning if we could go to Snow Planet as a group, we called them and found out that we could, and everyone decided that we should go for a visit.
When we arrived at Snow Planet in the bus we had a picnic outside before we went in to make sure we had lots of energy for the fun ahead of us.
We all wore lots of warm clothes and hats and gloves when we went in to the snow and we had boots and toboggans. What a lot of fun we all had sliding down the slope on the toboggans, and we went on our own, with our friends and even with our grown ups. Some of the grown ups had turns on their own toboggan, including the teachers. Some people made snowballs to throw and some made snow angels in the snow.
After we had had lots of fun in the snow it was time for lunch. We went into the cafe and everyone had some yummy hot chips to warm up and a drink before we got back in the bus and returned to Kindergarten.
What a great day out we had!

Owl and Pussycat

We took our morning children to the Pumphouse Theatre in Takapuna to experience a live show - 'The Owl and the Pussycat' presented by Tim Bray Productions. The children had a picnic before going into the show outside the theatre. The production was excellent and the children were transfixed throughout. We were so impressed we booked seats for their next show just before the October holidays for a return visit! On the way back to the bus we encountered some friendly swans, but didn't let them get too close! A great time was had by all despite the awful weather.

First Post

Today we have formed our blog and will be sharing the wonderful work our children are creating on this page. We think they are pretty fantastic and we are sure once you see what is happening with our children you will agree!

Our Kindergarten

Here is the outside play area of our Kindergarten. As you can see it is winter here and our large tree (Claret Ash) has lost all its leaves. The children have really enjoyed raking up the leaves and putting them into the compost bin for the worms to eat.