During our mat time today we practiced taking turns with the hand drum. I played a little beat for M, A, T and P and then passed the hand drum onto A “you have a turn A, and then it will be Ps turn, OK?” I explained. A played us a lovely beat and then happily passed the drum onto P. “Ps turn now” I said and P also played us a beat. Can you let M have a turn now? I asked and P had no problem giving M a turn. ”Ms” turn P said as he handed it over. M then had his turn, he even stood up as he beat the drum and then without me even saying he passed the drum onto T. “Ts turn now!” she said as M handed it over. The children passed the drum around in a circle for the remainder of the mat time, with little or no cues from me to remind them to take turns.

I was very proud of the children during this activity. They were so willing to wait patiently for their turn with the drum and were willing to share it was their time to hand the drum to their friend. They could see how taking turns can be fun and they are learning skills for enjoying relationships with other children and learning alongside their peers.

By Ally – January 2015

Around the World.

How did this interest start?

Quite a few children have been on overseas holidays lately or have had family and friends come and visit or leave the country on aeroplanes. We have also been talking quite a bit about our Holidays at news time and the different places we have visited. During one of Ally’s mat times, the children noticed Mary Louise stapling a World Map to the wall and asked what she was doing. I explained that the map shows all of the different countries in the world – we then talked about the different countries the children have visited or countries that their family and friends live in. Since then, the children have spent time gathered around the map asking the names of the different countries.

At mat time the next day, it was decided that we would learn a bit more about China and Japan as our teachers Lydia and Kathy are from China, and I’s mummy is from Japan – B also has a granddad in Japan. We watched a short clip on the computer about China – the children got so excited when they saw the traditional Chinese Lion Dancing! We decided to watch more of the dancing and soon discovered Chinese Dragon Dancing. This then led to clips of traditional Japanese dancing with fans and umbrellas, Thai dancing, Indian dancing and Spanish dancing – they also use fans in their dance.

C and N decided that they would like to make their own Japanese dancing fans. I put a video of the dancing on the computer so that they could copy the movements. It wasn’t long before V, I, T, E, N and J wanted to join in. It really was quite lovely to watch the children dancing with their fans.

So here starts our new interest – Around the World! We are very excited to see where this interest will take us and the different experiences and activities it will bring. We are keen to further explore the different types of tradition dance and costumes – this may lead us on to customs and festivals, food, language, flags and buildings – so many avenues!

By Ally – January 2015

A giant pancake! Yum yum! That is what we made today and it all started with the pancake story. In the  pancake story, the pancake got eaten  by the pig. But today our children ate the giant pancake that we made. B, C, T, L and A were especially interested in having a turn to add and mix the ingredients together. N, N and the rest of the children especially couldn’t wait to eat the giant pancake. The enthusiasm and verbal communication throughout this process was very evident, as children made many comments about the pancake story and our experience of mixing, making and eating our giant pancake. It was so exciting!

Te Whariki— (communication G3) Children experience stories and symbols of their own and other cultures. Stories create and develop into meaningful experiences.

Possibilities and opportunities-Let us continue to follow the children’s interests that may develop from ideas and experiences from books.

Date: January 2015               Teacher: Mary-Louise

What a lovely time we had celebrating Christmas with the children and their families.

The children are very excited about Christmas time – parties, holidays, Christmas trees, Santa and presents! We have been having lots of different activities in the centre to support the children’s interest with songs and dance, art and craft, baking, pretend play, decorating and storytelling. It is such a delightful time for the children!

The wild and wonderful in our own backyard!

Today Brian the bug man (Creatures unlimited) arrived at our  centre with so many containers and boxes of wonder and curiosity for the children.

The children eagerly waited inside and watched out the window. They saw a four wheel drive (a car that they are not familiar with in our car park), the shouts of excitement told me the bug man was here. The children sat down  so very quickly,  such a surprising site.  Brian captivated the children’s (and adults)  attention with a variety of insects, a spider and reptiles for close to an hour.  The care, respect and attention that the children gave to the creatures  was clearly noticed, as they listened to Brian  give a short talk about each creature. The hands on (tactile) experience helped the children to acquire  more knowledge, respect and positive attitude towards the creatures.

Possibilities and opportunities- This experience has brought together the children’s knowledge and understanding of nature. We will continue to support the children who still have an ongoing interest in insects. We will continue to talk with the children about their experience with the variety of insects/reptiles. We will continue to care and respect  our outside environment.

Date: November 2014                                            Teacher:  Mary-Louise

The children had a great time riding their bikes and scooters in the car-park with their teachers.

November 2014

In the past few weeks, the teaching team has observed that there has been a lot of interest and curiosity shown by the children to know and learn about bugs and insects. We have been on lots of bug hunts in our garden and so many wonderful pictures of bugs are being created.

What a lovely day we had celebrating Diwali with sari’s, henna, Diwali music and yummy Indian food. The weeks prior to our celebration, the children created Diwali artwork – rangoli pictures with coloured sand, fireworks and candles –  and made Diya’s (candle holders) with salt dough to paint.

Books are such an important part of our culture at Mt Royal Early Learning centre. Over the last couple of weeks  at book time L is always passing me the Pinocchio story book to me to read to her. To help extend the joy of this wonderful story I asked the children to bring in any Pinocchio/puppets to the centre. Over the next couple of days B and myself brought in our Pinocchio puppet toys.

After showing the Pinocchio puppet/toys  at mat-time the children were so captivated with the puppet/toy Pinocchio that was brought in.  Then reading the story Pinocchio, we talked about the  shapes of  Pinocchio’s body. Later on in the morning the children were very enthusiastic about drawing their own Pinocchio. Over the next couple of days we painted a giant paper Pinocchio and put it up on the wall. N spontaneously came up to me and said “What about a Pinocchio day!”. That was a great idea N, like a party day for Pinocchio. So we decided to have a Pinocchio party!

A week later C reminded me that we needed to put  up  a “Pinocchio Birthday sign”, Which was for our Pinocchio day party. C also wondered how old Pinocchio was. Lets try and find out C.

Book information: Pinocchio was written by Carlo  in Florence Italy and the first published book was in 1883.

The magic of Pinocchio enchanted the children’s hearts today at our Pinocchio Party. Of course Pinocchio being Italian , we had to have all things Italian, especially  yummy pizza !

We started our party with making long noses,a few if the girls were especially interested in making. B was so creative with his nose, he used a carrot!

At morning tea the children had the opportunity to make a fruit platter in the shape of Pinocchio. I was especially interested in this activity.

After morning tea we did lots of baking. We had so many helpers. After lunch we put the cakes on a sliver tray, then the cakes were cut and arranged in the shape of Pinocchio. We discussed the shapes that we needed to make the  Pinocchio’s body shape. Afterwards lots of  children iced and decorated our Pinocchio cake. Wow, Amazing job done ! !

By Mary Louise