Newsletter March 2010

We also welcome Faye who is  in her 3rd year at BTI (Bethlehem Tertiary Institute) till the 1st April and Maria from Waikato University with us just on Tuesday mornings.    Again we are a lucky to have Shani (Jizzy’s offspring) joining us on Wednesday’s for work experience, and we are privileged to have Palemia and Louna volunteering on Monday and Friday mornings to teach the children Tongan songs, read stories and play games with them. I know they will all gain strong learning approaches.
Thea is proud to announce the arrival of her baby brother Kees, it seems the Lord was listening to Thea for the boy request.  He is perfect!!!!  Well done Renee, you sure do grow fine kids.

What’s going on at the Corner???
Listening to the teachers discuss their holiday adventures we realised how many connections and same places we went to.  We thought it would be great to create a Holiday display wall so we all could find out more about what every family did in the holidays.  It sure was amazing listening to our tamariki talk about their holiday’s, where they went , who was there and what they did, all these children gained so much confidence to korero this, and answer questions about their holidays.  
The childrens’ interests have flowed on from their holiday adventures especially fishing and boating, this seems to also have set off a pirate adventure as well, so don’t be surprised if they insist you walk a few planks.
This interest has led us to plan a bus trip to Mauao/Mount Maunganui rock pools, Fresh fish market and possibly fish/boat related shops.  Bus is booked for the 30th March, so please get your permission slips in asap.
The two Bike Days in February were very successful with the children.  We were so impressed with their biking skills, their safety awareness and their kindness in sharing their bike with other children.  You can be very proud of them.  There were definitely some future cyclists racing around.  
The first Parent Dinner this year is on Friday 26 March, with the restaurant still to be confirmed.  This is a great night for adult conversations and for us teachers to discover more about your family.  We have a list of suitable babysitters if you need one. Upon discussion with many Parents we have decided to have a potluck dinner for our next terms Parent Dinner.

Thanks for filling out the Parent Survey forms, teachers/kaiako will be discussing the findings and addressing ideas and suggestions provided. We can already see a Grandparents day being put on the calendar. We are planning a Teachers Only Day on Tuesday 6th April (day after Easter) to review our policies. They too are on the book shelf if you would like to have a read. (opps we have made a mistake and charged for that day, the money will be credited to term 2's fees).

On the 17th of Feb we were Re-licensed by the Ministry of Education. This is a new proceedure, helping to keep Early Childhood Centres accountable to the Early Childhood new regulations put out in 2008. There is a copy of the regulations on the Parent Library book shelf beside the double doors. The observers who came to watch and discuss our practice were very impressed with our profesionalism, so much as some of our learning is going to be published as "Best Practice" examples.

Diane, Corina and Cathy went to a one day conference in Tauranga in Feb. It was a great time of inspiration and challenge. The biggest topic was relishing risky play, how in today's society we have taken away all the risks for children,not allowing them to climb trees, experience speed, play by water, play with fire. In turn children as they ger older play with these things but don't understand the risks and dangers involved because they have never been able to experience them safely. Check our this website, it might change your view about what you allow your children to do. 

www.TED.com  Then type in "Five Dangerous things you should let children do." By Gever Tulley.

Next thing on the agenda is a conference in Wellington the Corina and Cathy are attending in May.

Sunsafe

Please ensure you still send your children to kindy with sunblock on in the morning. We supply natural sunblock that the children must put on after lunch. Hats are essential, please provide a NAMED  hat for use at all times. If you have any Pukeko clothes at home could you kindly return these as we are getting short of change items.

Guinea Pigs

After much discussion and deliberation teachers have decided that our children are not really interested in caring for the Guinea Pigs any more. Our very special friends have been adopted by Janna and her family. Janna was the child who was the reason we got them and her interest and passion still lives after being at school for almost a year. It is sad to see them go but for their holistic wellbeing it is the right decision.

UP AND COMING EVENTS

Parents Dinner: Fri 26th March 7.30pm

Bus Trip: Tues 30th March

Teacher Only Day: Tues 6th April

Holidays: Easter Fri 2-6th April

Holidays:10th to 18th April

God Bless,

Cathy, Gina, Diane, Corina, Gary, Jody and Dianne.

Did you know the custom of giving Easter eggs is an ancient pagan tradition to signify spring and renewal. Rabbits were the symbol of fertility and new life. In Christian tadition, eggs are eaten on the morning of Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus' resurrection, and hot cross buns to illustrate the story of Jesus' crucifixion, with salt for tears and spices for  Jesus' entombment.