Kia Ora Karori Kids Whanau!
WOW! Time flies. In only a few weeks, it will be our Christmas holidays.
Welcome to Karori Kids!
We would like to welcome Avielle who has started this month. We also would like to welcome our student teacher: Nalini Ranasinghe who will be doing her training with us. We look forward to getting to know Avielle and Nalini.
Birthdays!
We celebrated two birthdays this month! A big happy 3rd birthday to both Leo and Aadhira! We hope all your birthday wishes come true.
Graduations!
We also said goodbye to our friend Saathvik as he heads off to big school. We wish you the best of luck and will miss you and your whanau! Haere ra!
What have we been up to?
· Sustainability - The teachers have been encouraging tamariki to continue looking after Papatuanuku - the mother earth. Gardening has been a common activity for our tamariki. Children have weeded the garden and planted seeds. We are continuously teaching our children about the 3rs (reusing, reducing, and recycling).
· STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) - The team have also been enhancing our children’s understanding about STEM learning. The common teaching strategies used are providing resources and sustained interaction. For instance, physics was taught through setting up zip lines to explore ideas about gravity, velocity, distance and speed. Instilling curiosity through questioning and distinguishing were used to determine the fastest zip line was discussed during their play. Math has also been reinforced through providing magnetic shapes and as they delved into constructions, teachers were present to ask and describe the different shapes of the magnets. Savannah also made a science corner which focuses on the human body. The children use the corner to play with puzzles and read books about body parts. The highlight of STEM learning was providing a realistic experience about how plants grow and how eggs hatch.
· Thunderbirds - Learning about human skeletons have also been a focus of Thunderbirds. Children have been learning about the different names of the human bones and what it looks like underneath our skin. “All about me” was also another topic for Thunderbirds. The children have also done some awesome work about discovering their likes and dislikes.
· Going for walks – As we have now completed Tumbling tots, we are aiming to go for regular community walks.
· Sandpit play – Our children have been really enjoying the sandpit recently. They love making mud cakes, volcanoes, transporting and so much more. We also had a big delivery of new sand which the children helped us move.
· Music and Movement – Our children continue to show interest in music and movement. The music concepts such as beat, rhythm and tempo are learnt through regular participation of music and movements.
· Christmas songs - We have also started to practice our Christmas songs for our Christmas party in December.
· Diwali – Lastly, we celebrated Diwali at the end of this month. We had traditional treats and dressed up in Reena’s beautiful cloths. The children also made diya and Rangoli.
Upcoming Dates/Events
Halloween Party - Friday 28th October
Working Bee – Saturday November 26th
Christmas Party - Friday 16th of December
Illnesses (Covid-19 and flu)
For the month October, we still had quite a few children away due to the flu. The good news is no one has got Covid-19 this month. As we have now moved to a long-term strategy for COVID-19, mask wearing is no longer required and household contacts of a person with COVID-19 do not need to isolate, but instead are asked to complete a RAT test each day, for 5 days. All other recommended public health measures will stay in place as we know they reduce the spread of infectious illnesses including COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene, encouraging everyone to cough or sneeze into elbows and, most importantly, staying home and getting tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
Sunscreen
As we are now heading to a warmer season, we are now going to be applying sunscreen each morning and afternoon. If your child needs a special sunscreen, please provide a named one.
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
Three policies have been reviewed for the month of October: Māori as Tangata Whenua, Inclusion and Conduct for Student teachers
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.