Kia Ora Karori Kids Whanau!
Welcome back whānau. We hope you have had a lovely and relaxing Christmas break.
Welcome to Regan who joined the teaching team last month. Regan is originally from China but has gained his teaching qualification in New Zealand.
We also would like to welcome Alanna-younger sister of Isa who has joined our Karori Kids whānau this January 2023.
We want to say a warm farewell to Vivi who has now graduated from Karori Kids. We would like to wish her well and a fantastic adventure as she continues her learning journey in her new school. We will surely miss Vivi.
BUSY KARORI KIDS TAMARIKI
Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Karori Kids reviewed the Karori Kids Treaty. The children expressed their ideas about how to look after themselves, how to look after the environment and how to look after others. The principles of be kind (kia atawhau), be safe (kia marutau) and listen to each other (whakarongotia) summarized the ideas of the Karori Kids Treaty. Our tamariki also created taonga for their special friends and these were distributed with a hongi, hug or high five at mat time.
Dean, Mahina’s dad also came in and made fry bread and creamed paua for kaiako and tamariki. The learning outcomes tamariki experience during these events were rooted in Tātaiako’s principle of tangata whenuatanga, alongside Te Whāriki’s strands of Contribution; treating others fairly and recognising their ability to learn, as well as Belonging: showing respect for kaupapa and understanding how things work here.
Lunar New Year. Over the week the teachers made Chinese dishes for lunch each day, played Chinese music and learnt about the stories and animals of the Lunar New Year. As we engaged in these activities children made connections with their experiences of Chinese culture; seeing the Lunar New Year Parade, food that they liked and symbols such as those the decorations we displayed. The recycled dragon was used to dance around outside as well.
Angela, (Briana’s mum) also actively took part in celebrating Chinese New Year. She assisted Kaiako in decorating Chinese lantern at Karori Kids. She also made dumplings for our tamariki and kaiako on this special day. The learning outcomes for our tamariki centred around communication; experiencing symbols of their own and other cultures and expressing ideas through a range of materials.
Sustainability. Our strawberry plants provided a lot of strawberries over the last few months which we enjoyed them in our kai time.
We have also now using hand cloths instead of paper towels. Children are continuously learning the different ways to look after Papatuanuku. The learning outcomes of our sustainability journey are based in Te Whāriki’s exploration strand; making sense of the world by generating and refining working theories and Tātaiako’s principle of manaakitanga.
STEM- Biology has also been popular amongst our Karori Kids. A lot of our tamariki have now gained mastery about chicken laying eggs. They also gained knowledge about which animals lay eggs and don’t lay eggs. The learning outcomes are tamariki refining their working theories.
Construction- Another popular activity for the last few months. Tamariki used different materials such as magnetic shapes, wooden blocks and rocks to create buildings, houses and cars. The learning outcomes for construction play are tamariki playing, imagining, inventing and experimenting.
Our current internal evaluation is entitled: How effectively are we in providing an inclusive environment that sustains the identities, languages and cultures of our akonga? Indicators of this evaluation will be sent to you next month.
ERO
ERO-we have had a successful lovely visit from the Education Review Office and would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for all your participation in the last year 2022. Our success is also your success!
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive
What’s New for the year 2023
· Kaiako Board. Teachers will make sure that they are up to date (at least once a term) with their displays on their board. This board displays activities with their children or teachers’ professional growth cycle.
· Continue with sustainability
· 2 Working bees
Summertime
We continue to encourage our parents to bring plenty of spare clothes in their child’s bags as we do a lot of water play and messy paly outside play.
We are applying sun block to children 3 times per day as per our Sun Protection Policy: before morning tea, after lunch and after afternoon tea. Children will be encouraged to play in the shade during peak burn times. If your child requires a special sunscreen, please bring in a named bottle for us to apply.
Dates to Remember:
Parent-Teacher Interview: 6-10 March
Teachers Only Day: Tuesday, 11th of April 2022
Friday, 21st of October 2022
Reminders
-Please name your children’s clothing.
-Please ring/email the teachers if your child is going to be away.
- Make sure that you send spare clothing for your child.
-Please remind your children to keep their toys at home.
Policies Reviewed:
We have reviewed and updated the following policies: job descriptions of all staff of Karori Kids
Reminders: Up to date immunisation records
Please be reminded that we are still waiting for your child’s up to date immunisation record. Thank you to our parents who already gave me a copy of their child’s immunisation records.
The Ministry of education reminded us about measles protection and the Centre is now up to review all the immunisation records
Kaiako Professional Development
Courageous leadership- Gina attended this PD on Friday, on the 27th of January. Gina learnt the six characteristics of courageous leadership-resilience, be yourself, learner (flexibility),doing the right thing even when you feel uncomfortable, having a heart centred approach and learning to let go emotions without feeling or attachment. National Education and Learning Priorities and Internal evaluation were also touched on her PD
Sustainability- Reena attended Pd on sustainable which she learnt about the different ways to be sustainable. Concepts that are linked to sustainability include: social and culture, environment and economy.
Catherine has also completed and passed the Te Wananga `o Aotearoa level 4 Te Reo Course. Congratulations Catherine.
Karori Kids has also put up a monthly Te reo Māori evenings for parents. A great opportunity to share what we have learned, practice our pronunciation and pick up more reo that relates to our everyday lives.
General
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continuous support at Karori Kids.
He waka eke noa