• Computers ‘do not improve’ pupils results
• Schools wasting money on computers for children

A recent study into computers in the OECD countries has found that countries like New Zealand, that have a high usage of computers in schools, are falling behind other countries in the OECD that have moderate to low use of computers in the classroom. Here is a link to the BBC web site on this report.

We deliberately do not have screens at Manu as we believe, strongly, that this is not the best way for young children to learn and, indeed, can be harmful to small children.  Computers are a valuable tool and can be a great source of information.  As teachers, we all use our computers to record children’s learning that has taken place at Kindergarten.

Small children need the opportunity to manipulate 3 dimensional objects, find solutions to concrete problems and have plenty of time available to communicate and form friendships. Research has shown that small children need gesture and interaction with an adult for language acquisition, not a cartoon character reciting nursery rhymes on a flat screen. When children play ‘real’ games they really learn about space and where they fit into it, they build strength and are active.

The physical harm, caused by children in front of screens for long periods of time, is damage to their growing eyes.  Short sightedness is on the rise and one of the reasons for this is that children are doing too much ‘near’ work, whether it is  on screen or the introduction of school type work too early. The young eye needs to be looking from  ‘far’ to ‘near’ in order for them to grow effectively instead of long periods of time with ‘near’ work.

Children from New Plymouth’s Manu Kindergarten demonstrated their soup-making ability and showed their extended family around their favourite play areas on Saturday as the kindergarten celebrated Matariki/Puanga, the Maori New Year.

Despite the awful weather, the kindergarten was packed with grandparents, parents, aunties, uncles and siblings who gathered to enjoy a shared lunch, which included pumpkin soup made by the children. Kindergarten owner and teacher Rhonda Miller says the kindergarten has celebrated Matariki for the last five years and sees it as a special time to gather whanau together for a shared meal.

“Matariki puts the emphasis on sharing, harvesting and preparing for the winter season so it’s a great time for us to connect with and enjoy the company of our families and extended families – and the children absolutely love having all their family visit.”

Saturday’s celebration also marked the launch of the kindergarten’s website, www.manukindergarten.co.nz, which Rhonda says will make communicating with the kindergarten’s families a lot easier.

During the recent Taranaki Arts Festival the children were lucky to be able to experience the Exxopolis, an amazing inflatable structure, at Brooklands Park.  It was like being inside a sculpture with music!

Sometimes we pretended that we were swimming under the water or sliding like a snake into the next area. Other times we would lie down on our backs and look up at the amazing patterns. After this experience we had our afternoon tea at the Brooklands Zoo and checked out the animals and the playground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-IZKGenpXQ

Before Joshua went to school, we took the opportunity to ask his Dad, Todd, if he could run a rugby skills session at the New Plymouth Old Boys Rugby Club.  The session combined well with our focus, this term, on increasing the children’s physical skills and it was something we could do within our community.

We caught the City Council bus from the Kindergarten to the Brooklands Road end of the grounds.  After a quick play in the playground we ran over to where Todd had set up the training field.  Todd showed us how to score a try and how to kick the ball then pick it up and score a try.  What we all loved best was the tackle bag practice.  We also tried changing direction quickly by doing an obstacle course.  We did a Haka before we played our game and after we finished we showed the children how to shake the hands of their opponents.  Joshua and Alice each had a turn at being referee.

During ‘Half Time’, we had some lunch in the clubrooms before playing an exhibition match for the parents who had come to pick up their children.

Over the next few weeks we will be doing more ball skills activities at Kindergarten.  Let’s see how good we can get!