We are still struggling a little with Braxton and Titans behavior and the inability to understand a lot of their speech, so today we met with Titan and Braxton's Mum to try and gain a deeper understanding of what their home life is like and what they enjoy doing at home and the style of discipline that is used. 
It was great to be able to share with their Mum that we are seeing improvements with speech and behavior and she was able to share with us that it is Braxton that is the more mischievous of the two, this is what we had also noticed. Their Mum also shared with us a little about their birth and their living situation at home.
I feel this meeting has given me a clearer picture of the boys and a greater understanding of their home environment. It was helpful to hear that at their previous learning center they were never encouraged to sit on the mat during mat time, instead they were allowed to just go and do their own thing. This explains why we had so many issues with this when they first began kindergarten and I now understand why they were behaving the way they did, our routine would have been polar opposites to what they were used to. It was also nice to hear that their Mum really appreciates our persistence and encouragement that we give the boys during mat time to help them become engaged in discussions and the learning that occurs during this time. It made me realize that the difficult times that we have been experiencing has been appreciated and are having a positive learning outcome for the boys. 
I think it is easy to become weighed down in the day to day struggles and it can become difficult at times to recognize progress that takes place. This meeting to day has helped me to remember how important it is to continue to try and form open relationships with whanau and the learning and partnership that can often occur from these relationships.
I will continue to support the boys on their learning journey but will be more mindful about their previous early childhood experiences and how it may be still impacting on their learning and are committed to continuing to build upon my relationship with their 
whanau to help gain greater learning out comes for the boys.

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.

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.

Today Hannah was exploring the kinetic sand which I had set up with small sticks to encourage letter exploration. Hannah decided she wanted to write her name in the sand, some of the letters were getting a bit mixed up and the formation wasn't quite right so I went and got our letter land sheet on how to form the correct letters. I talked Hannah through each letter noticing a great difference from her first attempt, she really responded to the names the letters are given Harry hat man for H and so on. Toni had noticed what we were doing and came and joined in, Hannah began exploring the letters with the characters she liked in particular the Z (zebra) and M(munching mike) Hannah is really interested in anything to do with horses. With my support this activity allowed Hannah and Toni to support each other in their learning, sharing knowledge and problem solving together. There were many discussions between the girls about letter formation and the names of the characters, they were able to refer to the letter land sheet for guidance and support. By providing this sheet I was able to support and extend Hannah's interest in letter formation in a supportive environment she also discovered her interest was share by her friend Toni.