Kia Ora Karori Kids Whanau!
I hope everyone has had a fantastic month.
Welcome to Karori Kids!
Anna Matheson has been with us for the last 6 weeks completing her practicum. We are excited to share that she will be working with us as a permanent reliever while she finishes her studies and then joining us as a full-time teacher in January.
Haere Ra!
We will be bidding farewell to our financial officer, Flora. Her last day will be on the 3rd of July. Flora will be greatly missed but we wish her all the best.
What have we been up to?
A. Culture and Identity
1. Samoan Language Week: We were very lucky to have Fatima Hisatake with us as a reliever during Samoan language week. Fatima is from Samoa and was excited to share her culture with us. The children practised and performed the words and actions to ‘Le Aute.’ They also learnt some new Samoan words such as Pua, Ula, Talofa lava and Popo. Fatima brought in her coconut grater (Ausa'alo) and a fresh coconut (Popo) and showed us how they grate and retrieve the cream (penu) from the coconut. The children were fascinated by this authentic Samoan tradition.
2. Queen’s Birthday: We celebrated Queen’s birthday with a splendid afternoon tea party. We listened to our national anthem, sang Happy Birthday in English and Te Reo Māori to Her Royal Highness, and then tucked into some scones, sandwiches, and banana cupcakes. Yummy!
3. Philippines Independence Day: We celebrated Philippines’ Independence Day by introducing the Filipino flag and looking at where the Philippines is on our world map. Gina and Vincent, who come from the Philippines, introduced us to Filipino songs and native Filipino. Lester, (Vivi’s day) who also is a Filipino, came to teach our tamariki some Filipino words and introduced us to the native folklore dance ‘Tinikling.’
4. Pride month: Pride month was recognised and celebrated at Karori Kids to encourage our tamariki to embrace diversity whatever the culture, gender, colour, etc. of our children, whānau, kaiako and community are. Our tamariki and kaiako went for a walk around the community with our rainbow flag, dressed head to toe in rainbow clothes flaunting our fabulous uniqueness.
B. Other Activities
1. Community Walks: Our tamariki have been really enjoying going for walks and exploring our community. If any parents or whanau are interested in joining us, please feel free. We would really love the support and will not take to much time out of your day!
2. Indoor activities: Our children have been enjoying art and crafts. Painting and collaging are just a few that have been on offer.
3. Thunderbirds and 3 years old programme. We have now moved our Thunderbirds programme time from 2:30-3:00 to 12:30-1:00 as we found this time, the most calming and quietest time of the day. Recently, teachers have been developing children’s numeracy and literacy skills through intentional teaching.
4. Our student teachers have also developed projects with the children. Brierly introduced the ‘kumara’ and the story of how it came to New Zealand. She bought in some kumara which the children blessed with a karakia and then helped with the preparation of some yummy kumara muffins. Anna enhanced our children’s understanding of the story; Panea on the reef. She also supported the children’s interest in bugs by creating a bug house for them to explore.
5. Tuakana-teina: Our older children have been taking responsibility in helping our younger children with their routine and play.
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 warm clothing for your child.
Upcoming Dates/Events:
We will be recognising Independence Day in the United States on July 4th. Matariki Hakari – On Thursday June 23rd we are having a special Matariki celebration. We have been doing lots of learning about the 9 stars of Matariki and thought it would be fitting to come together, share food, reminisce the past and plan for the future during this time.
Teachers’ Professional Development.
Learning is a continuous process. Recently, our teachers have been involved in lots of professional development. A summary is listed below.
Catherine:
Te Reo Course: Catherine is achieving towards fluency in te reo Māori with her weekly Te reo class 'He pi ka rere ' at Te Wananga O Aotearoa. Our Karori Kids tamariki can follow simple instructions and answer questions given in Te reo Māori as well as experience hearing te reo Māori as a natural part of daily life.
The NZ Sign Language Course: Catherine also attended a NZSL course earlier in the year which has helped her incorporate Sign Language in her daily practice. Our tamariki recognise signs such as, please, thank you, more and good work.
Gina
ECE Webinar: Gina took a lot of opportunities to attend to the webinar workshops which had helped her develop her management skills and keep her up to date with the current practices in early childhood setting.
-Governance for ECE Centre Boards
-NELP
-ECC Budget what you need to know
-Building Confidence in the Professional Growth Cycle
-Covid-lights protocols
-Networking-Gina has also been doing a lot of networking with the other Centres: Kiwi Kids Childcare Centre and Elim International Childcare Centre.
Savannah
Beyond Activities: Savannah and Tracy both attended this PD, gaining deeper understandings of children's interests and the importance of utilising children’s funds of knowledge.
Incredible Beginnings: Savannah has been developing her teaching methods on social and emotional coaching, nurturing child-directed play interactions, using descriptive commenting, proactive teaching with consistent positive behaviour management strategies and much more.
Tracy
Sustainability: Tracy attended a sustainability workshop which helped her gain a better understanding about caring for the environment. She also developed the concepts of sustainable leader through modelling and coaching. This PD was echoed to the team during our Teacher’s Only Day.
Vincent
Te Whariki: Vincent has started to gain an understanding about the early childhood curriculum from day-to-day practice. In August, Vincent will be attending an Incredible Years programme which will allow him to develop positive guidance in supporting tamariki.
Gina and Tracy will also be learning administrative financial instructions from Flora before the end of the month.
Mentoring and supporting team members do occur daily at Karori Kids.
Policies:
We have reviewed the following policies: Nappy Changing Policy, Transition to School Policy and Complaints Policy. The updated policies will be emailed to you by the end of the month.
Facebook and Google
We encourage parents to share why they love Karori Kids so feel free to leave a google review. This helps promote our centre and gets our name out into the community! We also encourage families to visit our Facebook page where we share photos and updates so you can see what your children are busy doing!
General
We continue to build that much-needed resilience to thrive in these ever-changing times and encourage you to stay connected to support your child’s development here within our Karori Kids Community. Thank you for your on-going support!
Ehara taku toa I te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.
Success is not the work of an individual, but the work of many.