It is with such a heavy heart that we share with you the news that Helen (our teacher)'s daughter Jackie was tragically killed at her home on Saturday night. Our thoughts and love are with Helen and her family at this point in time.
I taught Jackie when I was teaching at Pakuranga Kindergarten in the late 80's and Helen was a member of our kindergarten committee ... a very long association.
Communication can be made on this blog or via
Botany Downs Kindergarten
22 Maroubra Place
Howick
Jackie's funeral will be at 11am on Thursday 30th December at the International Baptist Church on the corner of Chapel Road and Dannemora Drive. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Jackie's children's education fund.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Exploring the new friendship swing.
I captured a group of very happy girls exploring different "swinging" options on the new friendship swing at Botany Downs Kindergarten. Their enthusiastic intentions (to have four friends on the swing at once), patient interactions (waiting for each friend to place themselves on a perch) and endless giggles (pure fun and laughter) lead to the swing being labelled THE BDK FRIENDSHIP SWING. We hope that many friendships blossom on the perches of the swing in the future.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Making Christmas scones
The children often bake individual scones at Botany Downs kindergarten and with Christmas fast approaching it was time to make red and green Christmas scones.
2 heaped tbsp flour
a small cube of butter
cheese, apple, sultanas etc if desired
add a milk until its just the right consistency
bake at 4oo for 10 - 15 minutes
In this picture Ridge is writing his name on the graph so that he will know exactly which scone is his when they come out of the oven
Monday, December 13, 2010
Youtube Night and Hamper raffle
Thank you to all those who supported our YouTube Night. It went really well, didn't it. It is just so exciting to go to kindergarten in pyjamas!
Our raffle winners (they were all present on the night)
1st ... Poppy
2nd ... Connor R
3rd ... Mya
Making connections through soft toys from home
My atttention was drawn to a hub of excitement in the locker room. Not wanting to be left out I just had to check it out. Out of the bags came favourite soft toys. There is nothing like sharing your favourite toy with your favoutite friends.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Spending time with the guinea pigs
Our afternoons have been SO busy of late that we have not had a lot of time to spend with our guinea pigs. Caring for the guinea pigs is such a popular part of our programme that it was nice to spend some quality time in the guinea pig grotto holding the guinea pigs in their snuggle bags. For some of the new children this was a first time experience. Oh how we love our guinea pigs.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Spreading the reo
Since we have had the lovely Kara coming in to work with the children with te reo we have heard many heart warming stories. This story involves Madison. It seems that Madison has been practicing her Maori words on her sister. It is great to see the words learnt at kindergarten are being incorporated in conversations at home and at kindergarten. Ka pai, Madison.
All aboard
For years we resisted the urge to have bikes at kindergarten, however this sidecar bike changed our thoughts. This bike offers so many learning opportunities. On its own it tests children to problem solve. The first challenge is to remember that there is a sidecar attached! It is quite a mean machine to negotiate around obstacles - people and obstacles. The bike encourages social interactions. It often has three aboard. the driver has to exert so much energy to propel the bike with such a load on board. On this day the children had attached the trolley ... and had all piled aboard for their adventures. Mya struggled to get any forward movement, however with a little assistance she was off. After that she was able to keep the momentum up while her friends sat back and enjoyed the ride.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
