Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another wonderful day in the Kindergarten. Today we were joined by two of our wonderful Senior Kindy friends Ella and Mia who came to engage in play with us.
This morning after having our yummy morning tea we joined together on the group mat where we sang our good morning songs and took the roll. As mentioned yesterday this week we are focussing on the New Zealand culture. To learn a little bit more about the New Zealand culture we watched a video about New Zealand with the children having the opportunity to share some of the information they had learnt after. Jaxon liked the Haka, Hamilton once again mentioned the corn being cooked in the water along with Graysen who also mentioned this, and Layla talked about the people touching noses which I reminded the children about this being called a hongi, which we practiced doing yesterday. Maybe today we could practice doing the hongi again. After our discussion about New Zealand we transitioned into our morning activities using the child’s choice of song which was five currant buns.
During the morning the children were feeling very creative and imaginative as they explored both painting which they were able to freely use their imagination and creativity to create their works of art, which a lot of our friends have been showing an interest in doing lately. The children also had the opportunity to draw using a maori picture which was lots of different styles of koru today. As the children attempted to draw their Koru they commented that it was really tricky. I then went and photocopied some extra copies attaching these to the windows for the children to practice tracing these, which seemed to make it a lot easier for the children. The children also used their own imagination and creativity to create their pictures using the pencils, crayons and textas. It is wonderful to see the children so enthusiastic about art and willing to try and explore new types of art.
Once again the shop was a hive of activity in the home corner this morning. When I asked the children what sorts of things they were selling in their shop today, they told me veges and fruits. As I observed the children engaging in their role play this morning I could hear lots of reciprocal communication happening between the children, negotiating on who’s turn it was to be the shop keeper, and using mathematical language as they talked about the value of the fruits and vegetables along with the exchanging of money. I wonder what kind of shop we will have tomorrow.
The children have also been showing an interest in construction again this week particularly when we have been in the outdoor environment, so I thought I would put the lego out for the children to explore today. This proved very popular with the children as they worked both independently and collaboratively to create their creations. As they worked it was wonderful to hear some great conversations going back and forth between the children telling each other what they were making and giving each other suggestions in their collaborative pieces. Hamilton told me “I’m making a tower with a ramp” Hamilton also posed a great thought “What if we had a lego castle building contest to see who can build the biggest tower.” What a great idea Hamilton I think we will set that up for tomorrow for you and your peers to explore. Jaxon was working hard with Matthew this morning making a farm. Wynter was also hard at work making a farm for the cow. Great work everyone.
Last week our friends had so much fun exploring music using a variety of musical instruments to explore rhythm and beat. Today to further extend on this I introduced the children to a maori rakau stick game which explores rhythm and beat. First the children watched me demonstrate the actions, then having the opportunity to practice this themselves. The children did so well at picking up the rhythm and beat. I then showed the children a video showing them e papa waiari which is the song we will be working our way towards. As the children watched this video they picked up their rakau and tried to copy the actions that they could see on the video. It was so nice to see the children so excited and eager to try this new skill, asking if we can do it again tomorrow.
We hope you have a wonderful afternoon
Miss Emma and Miss TJ