Isaac this morning you were excited to share with me that you’d had a dream last night and you were bursting at the seams to tell me all about it. You told me…”In my dream there was a car and it got stuck in the mud and there was a logging truck and it towed it out. When the truck towed the car out it did a wheelie and a skid!” Isaac I could see that this dream had quite an impact on you so suggested that perhaps you might like to create a picture about it. Isaac you thought this was a good idea and got straight to work. Once you had finished I encouraged you to label your work with your name. Isaac as you were creating your art work I wondered if I could encourage you to include more detail into your work by studying a picture of a logging truck. Once you had completed your work I asked you if you would like me to find a picture of a logging truck so you could have another go at recreating your dream. Isaac you thought this was a great idea and together we looked at different images on my computer until you found one that had the closest resemblance to the one in your dream. Isaac you went and retrieved the picture from the photo copier and got straight to work, as you began to draw I suggested we look at all the different parts that made up the logging truck such as the wheels, the front grill, the side mirrors, the logs and the trailer. Isaac I could see that you were really studying the picture and thinking about how you could recreate the image onto your paper. As you drew the front grill on the truck you paused to count how many lines it had on it and then counted the lines that you were making onto your picture. Once you were happy with the truck you then moved your focus to the car, asking if we could look for a blue car like the one in your dream. Isaac I was really impressed with the way you embraced the challenge I put to you, taking your time to study the pictures and having a go at capturing more detail in your art work. I loved the way that you were so expressive when describing your dream and through this expression I was able to visualise for myself what your dream may have been like. This creative experience has helped you to retell your story to others, showing me that you have fabulous confidence in expressing your thoughts and ideas to others. You really captured our imagination and had the whole table waiting to hear what came next. Thanks for sharing Isaac, I look forward to hearing what you dream about next. Written for Isaac by Cassandra, 15 May 2017

Hannah’s Unicorn

Hannah this morning you arrived at kindergarten with a picture you had created with your Dad of a Unicorn. You have been really interested in unicorns for quite some time now and I wondered how I could extend your learning through your interest. So Hannah I asked you if you would like to Google some pictures suggesting that perhaps you could use these as a reference for your art work. Hannah you settled on two pictures, one of a unicorn in a paddock of flowers and the other one was of a unicorn with a back ground of clouds and moon, you thought these were great. Hannah you got straight to work and created the most amazing pictures that included great detail. It was great to see you with the pictures we had printed, you sat these beside your paper and would glance at them throughout the duration of your picture. Hannah even though you were so focused on your creative work you still made time for those friends who had gathered around, sharing your knowledge of Unicorns with them and pointing out different things in your pictures and showing them how your picture and the photos had the same things in them. Hannah over the next few days you went on to create a Unicorn with Keith at the carpentry table and also made a model of one using dough that could be baked in the oven which you then went on to paint the next day. Hannah it was so rewarding to see your dedication to this interest and the great pride you gained through out these experiences.

I have been trying to think of different ways to strengthen nga tamariki relationship with Tuakau Primary. I think it is important that they not only form a connection with the New Entrant teacher but also the wider school as a whole. 
So a couple of weeks ago when we made some baking I thought maybe it would be a nice idea for our tamariki to make some for one of the classes at the school. Everyone who was involved in the baking activity thought this was a great idea and they were excited to be creating something to share. 
Once the baking was ready we walked over to the school and surprised Room 11 with our delicious treat. Our tamariki showed such pride when gifting the class their kai and the class were excited to be receiving it. We all came away feeling a sense of pride and a aroha.
Last week Room 11 came to visit us to look at our sandpit, so I thought it would be nice to bake a cake to share with them. Many of the children who had delivered baking to their class were at kindergarten and offered to help with the cake.
I think that through these experiences our tamariki are beginning to form a connection with their wider community, they are developing an awareness of important places that are within their wider community and it also assists those tamariki who will be going to Tuakau Primary to become more familiar with teachers and the school environment.

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

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.