Throughout term three we have been learning all about fire safety and following the “Get Out and Stay Out” fire safety programme. We are very proud of all the knowledge our tamariki have gained and the quick responses they have had to our fire drills.

In addition across the curriculum there has been puzzles, creative art works, and a lot of rich dramatic play within the kindergarten. As our resident young fire fighters have put out fires, practiced sliding down the pole and saved soft toys from high within the trees. Through their play they discovered that to perform successful rescues safely, it requires team work. Working together to solve problems as to how to reach high places. Especially important, if there was a real fire no matter what they must, Get Out and Stay Out!

In consolidation of our fire safety learning we arranged a visit to the New Plymouth Fire Station. This was a special visit for our tamariki and especially special for Harrison as his dad Sam works as a firefighter. During our visit the Fire Officers had a call out, this allowed us to experience just how fast the Fire Officers respond as they dressed and jumped into the fire trucks and with the siren on, two engines left the station.

The sun came out and it was beautiful winters day for our adventure to Cameron and Oliver’s. All it took was a short walk to the other side of Manu Crescent and we were there. We went to meet Queenie and Juliet the sheep first and gave them some sheep pellets to eat. Then everyone was off to explore at their own pace. There were a lot of things to do; climbing ladders, balancing on ropes, sliding down grassy hills, climbing up to a tree house, picking kiwi fruit, finding walnuts, looking for chicken eggs, playing football, swinging and even climbing on a jungle gym and bouncing on a trampoline.

What a wonderful way to explore our community and build relationships. Thank you Cameron, Oliver, Sophie, Anne and John for allowing us to come to your wonderful place.

What a fabulous day we had exploring Brooklands Park amongst the beautiful autumn leaves. This was a change to usual forest Friday adventures in the community orchard Shepherds Bush. We started our day by catching a city council bus to Kaimata Street park entrance. Just inside the park we came across a giant pine tree in which we tried to measure by everyone holding hands around the trunk of the tree. Wow! it took sixteen tamariki to measure around. We headed down the track and across the bridge to where the giant ginkgo tree is. Then back to the path to the bowl to have fun playing in the piles of autumn leaves. After this we headed to the conifer tree grove to collect pine cones and found many interesting discoveries of fungi to explore. We had our ropes and the plan was to use these in a secluded part of the park where we had used these previously. Time was running out and we made a decision to use an alternative spot that was closer to our meeting place. All tamariki were very keen to have a go demonstrating great balance and confidence. Tino pai rawa atu! This was a great way to finish off our Forest Friday autumn adventure in Brooklands Park.

What a beautiful day we had for our annual visit to Vogeltown School to participate in a “Tryathlon”. The emphasis is on ‘Try’ encouraging all tamariki to take part. Our tamariki pair up with a senior member of the school to complete the coarse. This is a wonderful tuakana/teina relationship. We are very fortunate to have this strong link with Vogeltown School. As this enables our tamariki to become familiar with the school and creates smoother transitions for those children who will attend. It also allows older siblings to be involved. Excursions of this nature assist in building connections within the wider community and further enhances a sense of belonging.

Americarna has become embedded in the culture of Taranaki. This annual event has grown over the years. Having an American family with us this year made our celebrations even more special. A special thank you to Amber for arranging Mr Ian Lind to bring his beautiful car to kindergarten for the children to explore. Big thank you to you Ian Lind for making this possible. Another big thank you to Summerset Mountain View retirement village for inviting us down to watch more Americarna cars and generously buying ice blocks for our tamariki to enjoy. Many of our whānau spent time on the weekend exploring the large parade of cars together.

One of the strong relationships we have fostered within our community has been with Gordon the librarian on the library bus. Gordon arrives and parks outside the kindergarten every Thursday fortnight. This is a relationship that has been ongoing for several years now. We have seen the old original bus replaced by the smaller compact bus and share this service with local residents. Gordon happily sources books requested by kaiako and tamariki supporting current interests. Our tamariki enjoy this literacy language rich environment which fosters their love for stories and books.

Gordon is also a voluntary fire station officer in his spare time and has become a great resource with fire education. He has taken time to speak with tamariki about fire safety after fire drill practice and supplied us with a fire safety DVD and education resource materials for both whānau and tamariki.

Longer and warmer days have been welcomed. Our kindergarten gardens have burst into life and we have been busy planting many seeds. Growing seeds is an excellent way to learn about the life cycles of plants and how to nurture and grow these. Especially exciting is growing herbs and vegetables so we can enjoy cooking and eating these at kindergarten.

Borage and pansy flowers have provided inspiration to bake beautiful shortbread decorated with these lovely spring flowers. We have also revisited growing wheat and enjoyed creating many different flavoured wheat grass smoothies.

Summer is just around the corner and we are looking forward to the bounty of fruit, vegetables and sunflowers.

Blog Spring

We all know how important it is to preserve our environment. The protection and preservation of native trees, insects and birds has been our focus for National Conservation Week this year. Kaiako Maree donated kōwhai seedlings for our whānau. These were readily received. The seedlings were a great means in developing more meaningful relationships and connections within our Manu community.

Our tamariki potted their seedlings and decorated their pots, incorporating literacy, creativity and empowerment of ownership of their seedlings. Wall displays featured native trees and bird resources, creating visual information for all to reference.

A spontaneous excursion was taken with tamariki walking around the neighbourhood to observe kōwhai trees in flower. This provided place based learning to explore and visualise, different sizes of trees as well as observe native kererū and tūī birds feeding off the nectar of the flowers. Later in the week when we went on Forest Friday several tamariki were pointing out kōwhai trees, tūī and kererū. This was evidence of learning being consolidated. And one morning Olive arrived at Manu excited as she had counted twelve kōwhai trees as her mum drove around the Crescent. This time the kōwhai were assisting in promoting numeracy learning opportunities.

A group of tamariki drew plans of bird houses and bug hotels and set about construction at the carpentry table. When their wonderful creations were completed these were proudly hung in the playground. Eagerly our tamariki have observed the birds and insect life. The seedlings, bug hotels and bird houses will be enjoyed for years to come.

Blog Conservation Week