Today I rang and spoke to the acting principal of Tuakau Primary. I had been concerned that some of our past students have been telling me that they are being told that they are not allowed to talk to their kindergarten whanau through the fence which boarders us and school. Many of us look forward to seeing our past friends through the fence to catch up on how they are getting on at school, sharing with them what has been happening at kindergarten and helping our past students to continue the friendships they have made and also giving them the opportunity to see younger siblings. So it was disturbing to hear them tell me that they are being told to move away from the fence and that they are 'big kids' now. It saddens me that some teachers at the primary don't value the relationships that we have with our past students and that they cant see that this is a valuable part of our tamariki transitioning to school. I feel that just because our tamariki have left our kindergarten it doesn't mean that we are no longer interested in their well being and development. Sometimes seeing familiar faces can be really reassuring and our past tamariki know that we value the relationships that we have formed with them and their families.
I reassured our tamariki that I would try and rectify the situation by speaking to the school. Tina was really supportive and agreed that this is part of our tamariki transition and that anything that can support their well being during this process is important. She said that she will bring this to her teaching teams attention.
13.3.17

I was able to reassure Harry today that he is able to speak to us through the fence when he dropped off Gus this morning. He seemed really happy about this out come. Harry's Dad asked what this was about and I quickly shared with him what Harry had mentioned to me. He was really surprised that Harry had been told that he was not allowed to speak to Gus through the fence, I reassured him that the school was very open to rectifying this issue.

As part of our annual duck race we have decided to have a blessing to open the event where we have asked tamariki to join us in singing a waiata. Today Tawera asked his Nanny to come early to our end mat so that she could hear the waiata we would be singing so that they could practice it at home. Megan mentioned all this to me as she was walking out the door, she had missed mat time but wanted to support Tawera. I wasnt sure which waiata we had decided on so said I would get back to her. As I was the mat time teacher I waited till all the children had left then phoned Megan to say that we would be singing Te Aroha, Megan was pleased and agreed that this would be a great opening Waiata and that she would help Tawera practice it at home with his extended whanau. I also think by promptly getting back to Megan it showed her that Tawera's interest in learning this waiata is important to me and that I value the relationship I have built with his extended whanau.
I feel this experience was a great example of whanaungatanga within our kindergarten environment.

Parent Feedback

Some of our Tamariki have been showing an interest in Taniwha since we introduced the song 'I saw a Taniwha'. I had been thinking about how to extended this interest so set up the art table with pictures that Harry and I had googled. This inspired some amazing pictures and encouraged lots of discussions about whether Taniwha are real or not, where they live etc. So then I began to wonder how to extend this further. I came across a post on Mairtowns blog about challenging tamariki to create 3D pictures and I immediately thought that our tamariki could give this a go. I contacted Christine from Mairtown to ask for some advice about how she went about creating these works and shared with her how inspirational her posts are to me. Then I was ready to give it a go, once I mentioned the idea I suddenly had a table full of eager tamariki ready to get started.
This activity was a real challenge and required tamariki to work on their pictures for most of the day as it was a lengthy process. 

I really enjoyed working on this activity with our tamariki, watching their pictures develop, seeing how proud they were of their creations, sharing ideas and techniques with each other and the discussions that formed around what a Taniwha might be and seeing the many different ways they interpreted it. Once I managed to display the art work it was so rewarding to see the tamariki proudly showing their whanau their achievements. Click here to view email from Mairtown

• TRACY SMITHWednesday at 6:15pm

  These 3d pictures are so cool .It is a real task and a challenge for the kids but so so good for them to see the process through to the end even if it takes a day or two, and the excitement Toni has had to show me her picture shows she has really enjoyed the challenge. You teachers are always finding such cool things to extend our childrens learning. Keep up the great work teachers............... you all rock.
  And great job Toni you make me so proud the way you make something from nothing and can use your creativity and imagination to make some amazing things on a daily basis even at home as well as kindy.

  ---

• 
  Cassandra JarvieThursday at 3:06pm

  Thanks for your feedback Tracy, its great to get feedback from a parents perspective.

Toni shared in the thinking room at Nature Discovery that her sister had brought a story home from school about a massage circle, so I suggested that maybe she might like to talk us through what to do and make a massage circle at the Sharda Center. Toni was excited to be retelling this experience and stepped up into a leadership position, directing her friends and leading the techniques she was sharing. It was lovely to share this moment with her mum who was parent helping today.

I said to Toni that it would be great to get a copy of the story so that we could share this experience with the wider group back at kindergarten. Later that day Toni and her mum came back to kindergarten after session with the book they had borrowed at school, I was able to take a copy of it and Toni was able to share this experience with everyone a few days later.

It was really rewarding to be able to extend Toni's interest in this book and her massage experience, encouraging her leadership skills and seeing her embrace the opportunities to extend her learning experience. I was also able to show Toni that I valued her contribution to the groups learning experience and show her that even adults are still learning new skills.

Today I supported Hannah with her interest in the Atua, she is very familiar with them as I speak about them with any opportunity I get, referring to them both at kindergarten and Nature Discovery. I could see that she has a developing interest in them but just needed some help with remembering their names. I made sure that I modeled correct pronunciation and linked each Atua to their guardianship. By doing this I was able to support Hannah's learning and desire to deepen her understanding. Through Hannah's interest I was also able to support the other children who joined the activity, encouraging them to share knowledge with one another.

Once I posted her story on story park it was really great to see this morning that her mum had posted a lovely comment about Hannah and this emerging interest. I was able to reply and say that I had noticed similar attributes in Hannah and how she is developing some wonderful nurturing skills and is showing a new awareness of other peoples feelings. Her mum said how much she enjoyed reading about how Hannah has been encouraged to learn about Maori methodology and culture and our commitment to biculturalisum.

I will continue to support Hannah's emerging interest in the Atua and support her developing skills in her artistic creations by helping her to look for detail in her art work by offering ideas and questions about looking deeper at her chosen subjects.




click to view story

Supporting Gus
Today Gus started Nature Discovery, I know Vaughn (his Dad) and Harry (his brother) had been really looking forward to him starting and Vaughn was parent help today. Gus has only recently become more involved in group play and holding conversations with teachers, he is at times reluctant to join in and be involved with group activities. I was feeling a little apprehension for Gus today and hoped that the build up wouldn't back fire, especially when Vaughn told me Harry had shared with Gus in great depth about what would happen at Nature Discovery. As leaving time approach Gus had a melt down, he didn't want to wear the wet weather gear and no amount of convincing worked. I knew this was a delegate situation, I didn't want Gus to loose his confidence and really wanted him to have a great day, I really did believe that he would be able to over come these emotions with the support of myself and Emma. I decided to take the stress out of the situation and told Gus that I would pack his wet weather gear and he could put it on once we arrived at camp. This calmed Gus and with tears we were able to get him in the van and sitting with Harry.

I tried really hard to reassure Gus and his Dad that everything would be okay and that hopefully things would improve once we arrived, I could see that Vaughn was really questioning if he should go and he also voiced this to me. Vaughn also said that he wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to help today. I thought this would also make Gus feel uneasy.

I think by reassuring everyone and supporting Gus, trying to be really in tune to how he was feeling I was able to relieve some of his stress, help him work through his sad feelings because I could see the bigger picture and I really wanted him to succeed and be part of Nature Discovery. Gus ended up having a great day, We all supported him, Harry did a great job and the other children really stepped up too. I feel that there were many positive aspects that came from his negative start and it made me realize the big impact on a child's learning that I can have. Vaughn was really appreciative of the effort I went to in supporting Gus and he said that the story and Storypark post that I did was a great way of Gus being able to share this experience with his extended whanau, one of the poppas even requested a couple of the photos.

click here to see story

22 June 2016

Parenting Place- John Cowan

This evidence meets the following criteria:  1-Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and wellbeing of all akonga Why does this evidence this criterion? This evening empowered parents to use newly learned tools on how to raise happy, confident and resilient children, through out the evening there were useful tips that I will be able to adapt into my teaching practice. I will also be able to share this knowledge with families who didn’t attend this evening when they are asking for guidance. I was able to have conversations to the wider community about childrens learning at kindergarten. How has this impacted on your practice?

19.2.2016

Creating an imovie

Which criteria does this evidence?          Why does this evidence this criterion? How has does this show that your practice has changed/improved? I have begun to experiment in making a multimedia presentation using my ipad. I have tried using imovie and have developed a short film on Toni painting a butterfly, it incorporated movie, photos and a voice recording of Toni describing her picture. This movie was shared with Toni’s Mum once completed and I received some great feedback as to how I managed to capture time laps photos into a slide show type layout. I now need to work out how to share this with Toni’s family by making a copy. This is what I will be working on next.

14 January 2016

Child Matters Workshop

This evidence meets the following criteria: 1-     Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and wellbeing of all akonga 2-     Demonstrate commitment to promoting the wellbeing of all akonga. 4-     Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice Why does this evidence this criterion? I engaged in ethical, respectful positive and collaborative, professional relationships with teaching colleagues and other professionals, including agencies in the wider community. It provided me with a learning opportunity to advance personal professional and skills. How has this impacted on your practice? It ensures that I have the knowledge to comply with the relevant regulatory and statutory requirements so that I can confidently take reasonable steps in providing and maintaining the safety of all akonga.

13 January 2016

PMI Workshop

This evidence meets the following criteria:       1-Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and wellbeing of all akonga.       4-Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice.                                                                                                                                                         Why does this evidence this criterion? I engaged in ethical, respectful positive and collaborative, professional relationships with teaching colleagues and other professionals. I participated responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community. How has this impacted on your practice? It gave me the opportunity to engage in dialogue with other professionals, listen to their views and sharing my own. By doing this it has made me more confident in articulating my practice, what I do and what I can do better.

13 January 2016

PMI Workshop

Which criteria does t            1-Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and wellbeing of all akonga.       4-Demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice.                                                                                                                                                         Why does this evidence this criterion? I engaged in ethical, respectful positive and collaborative, professional relationships with teaching colleagues and other professionals. I participated responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community. How has this impacted on your practice? It gave me the opportunity to engage in dialogue with other professionals, listen to their views and sharing my own. By doing this it has made me more confident in articulating my practice, what I do and what I can do better.          How has does this show that your practice has changed/improved? Being involved in this workshop demonstrated to me how the five competencies of Tataiako can be put into practice. This has helped to strengthen my knowledge of Tataiako. Whanaungatanga-building relationships Tangata Whenuatanga- learning within a cultural context Manaakitanga- Values, integrity, trust, sincerity, equity Wananga- robust dialogue for the benefit of learners, co constructing, knowledge, innovation Ako- reciprocal teaching and learning, taking responsibility for own learning