With the return to kindergarten after the summer break we had eleven new tamariki start with us. This was extremely challenging as we were a team member down and had a reliever. On the first day we had five new children start and of these five three children presented with extremely challenging behavior.

Of these three tamariki two were twins with very delayed speech and a twin language and the other had attended a CMKA Kindergarten previously. By Wednesday I was beginning to feel concerned that these three tamariki were impacting on the rest of the groups learning and was trying to think of ways that I could better support these tamariki and bring back our serine and calm environment to benefit all learners.

I decided to contact Carters previous Kindergarten and ask them for some back ground knowledge on his learning and whanau situation. They emailed me information that helped me form a better understanding of where Carter was coming from, what interested him and how I could support him in making a smoother transition into our Kindergarten. Since discovering that he enjoys imaginary play and that his family situation had changed quite radically since shifting to Tuakau I was able to adapt my teaching practice to be come more in tune with Carters needs and that of his family. I have noticed that Carter is now feeling more comfortable in our kindergarten environment and has begun approaching small groups of children to play. He has also become more open to suggestions from teachers and we have noticed an improvement to his behavior.

I also spoke to the twins Mum giving her positive feed back about how they were engaging in play and had begun seeking out interactions with others. I also asked her what techniques she uses with the boys when they present challenging behavior at home. She said that she puts them in their room for time out. After discussing this with Donna we agreed that Braxton and Titan both need clear boundaries that are consistently given buy the teaching team. We have made huge progress with the boys over the last three weeks by encouraging them to partake in our kindergarten routines, as they have become more familiar with these routines we have noticed that they now understand what is expected of them and are beginning to be more open to our expectations. I have also had numerous conversations with the boys Mum and Grandmother about how well they are doing and adjusting to kindergarten life.