Fortune Theatre

We had a amazing day exploring the in's and out of the Fortune Theatre. What excitement there was on the way to the Theatre, it was great having the opportunity to act on stage, under lights and real live audience. This was a first time experience for some of our new children and they are looking forward to going on another trip in the future. We learnt lots about stage sets, props and how they are made, it was fantastic that we got to try on many different hats. there was a lot of tired children on the way home!

Breakfast at Kindergarten

To celebrate the change in seasons from Summer to Autumn our children ddecided that we could have breakfast at Kindy. Some of our older children who had breakfast here before, really wanted Carmen to make her special waffles. Along with the usual breakfast items like toast, and cereals we enjoyed a hot Milo and waffles. It really was a family affair with the baby brothers coming along in their PJs too. Lots of fun was had working alongside each other in our PJs, playing in the dough, building in the sand and even have a story read to us before bed time that night.

Billy Goats Gruff

Princess Song

Here at Kindergarten we have been exploring the art of acting. This is one of our favourite songs to act out in a group with our friends. We are starting to make different props to go with our plays, because we have learnt that they can tell the story too! It is great to lots of supporting, turn taking and communicating with each other, while we perform. All the children want to have ago at once, but it is always important to have the back ground singers. Next week we get to take our play to a real theatre and act it out on stage. Watch this space!!!

Wombat Stew

What a great story teller you are Max and Felix. It is really great to see you both sharing the story together. I was talking with Mum Felix and she said that you sing this song all the time at home. Here is another example of our children working with dramatic play!

Dramatic Play

Over the past 2 weeks our children have been exploring dramatic play, creativity and re-telling stories. We have been working in small groups to act out many different stories, like the Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children have also found that props can help tell and story too. Here we are using head bands with ears to help decide who is the big Billy Goat, The Middle and the smallest Billy Goat. Can you tell?

Visiting the Fire Station

Early this term the children saw a house on fire up on the hill above the Kindergarten, and then the Fire Engine came to put out the fire. This cause a huge discussion at mat time, the children had lots of questions, answers, and ideas about fires. A trip to the fire station was one of the suggestion that came from them, so that is what we did!
The bus arrived early and took us to the Dunedin Fire Station to meet the brave people that fight fires for a job. It was a great day and we learnt many new things about fire and keeping ourselves safe all the time. Here is Lukin exploring the inside of a fire engine.It was a busy morning and we had lots of tired children on the bus home, but is was worth the trip!

Alex discovers

Wow!! Alex you spent a long time at the table today, using the pens to write many different letters. It was great to see you making your own discoveries of letters and colours. With the special pens you could write over the top of the letters that made up your name. You could tell me that 'ALEX' is your name.

Wombat Stew again!

Yes, we have lots of storytellers here at Port Chalmers. The children have shown an amazing interest in the book 'Wombat Stew'. In our extended session the children decided they needed their own pots to fill with many different shape and sizes of bugs. It was fantastic to see how creative the children became, expressing their ideas and imagination through the arts. Jaimin here is holding up his creation of the big pot of 'wombat stew.'

Sam the bug man

It is wonderful to know that we can count on Sam when it comes to feeding our new frogs. "Watch out buzzing flies, Sam will catch you and feed you to the frogs."
Our little tadpoles are not so little anymore, they are now green frogs that like to eat flies and thanks to Sam we don't have to worry about finding them food. When there are lots of bugs around the kindergarten, Sam will get his container, stand very still and then BANG! he's got them. Even when he is at home the flies are not safe. Sam will hunt them high and low, making sure that our frogs don't go hungry. Thanks Sam we know that if there are flies about, you are on the job!

Taylor makes muffins

At our Kindergarten we do lots of baking. Today we made carrot muffins, we decided to make them because they are a lot healthier than chocolate ones that we normally make. Through baking we learn that it is important to wash your hands before coming to the table to help. If we don't then we might get lots of other bugs on the food, which will make it unsafe to eat.
Taylor loves to bake, he is always there helping with his friends. We have to do lots of mixing, stirring and pouring to get the right kind of mixture. We learn what some of the names of the ingredients are and count lots of different times as we measure all the things that go into the bowl. If we are lucky the baking is usually cooked by lunch time, that is when we get to be the taste testers for the teachers. The muffins today were yummy!!!!

Max and wombat stew

What a wonderful day you had Max, re-telling the whole story of 'Wombat Stew' out in the playground today. You used the natural resources from your environment to fill up your pot, just like in the story. You are amazing at acting out the different elements on each page, dramatic play is one of your strengths and we enjoy watching you learn through this skill.It was great to see you connect our environment to the outback of Australia. We know this because you told us that wombats live there. You have been revisiting this story now for a few days, and have been including lots of your friends in your play.You are a great communicator Max!

Here we go!!!

Welcome, it is great to have this opportunity to use a tool that will enhance our relationships with our families and the wider community. We look forward to your comments about your children's learning on our blog.