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.

Celebrating St Patrickʻs day

Top o the mornin to you.

As is tradition at Botany Downs Kindergarten, we celebrated St Patrickʻs day today.  The wearing of the green, the eating of the green and of course ... the Irish dancing.   What fabulous community support we had for this event.  Thank you to all those who made the day such a success.  We were so pleased that we could share the day with our four lovely visiting teachers from Singapore.

Uncle Ian offers professional advice

Jacob, guess who came to visit us today ... your Uncle Ian.  He just happens to be the ICT professional development consultant for the Auckland Kindergarten Association.  Yesterday we hosted an ICT cluster meeting for all the local kindergartens.  Uncle Ian has such a wealth of ICT knowledge; we love it when he comes to share with us.  We just had to have a photo taken with him so that we could show you that he has been to visit.  He says that he might be Uncle helper one day.  That would be good, wouldnʻt it?

Mia draws our attention to St Davids Day

Mia, how excited you were as you arrived at kindergarten with a bag full of goodies from Wales.  "My Mum is from Wales,"  you announced.  I guess that makes you half Welsh, doesnʻt it?  March 1st is St Davidʻs Day.  St David is the patron saint of Wales.  a little while back we had a boy at kindergarten called Jac, and he was half Welsh.  He shared some of the history with us but we have to admit that we just didnʻt remember about it this year.  Just as well you reminded us.  You would think that it is a date that I might remember as I have a Welsh name ... Bronwyn.  I am going to try and remember this date next year.  Thanks for sharing with us Mia.  This is how we learn about different parts of the world.

Brumpa comes to visit

We get to hear so much about Brumpa and his farm that it was very exciting to have him visit kindergarten.  Oliver, you tell us that you want to be a farmer when you grow up ... just like Brumpa.  The pictures in your portfolio show some of the good times that you have together on the farm.  How cool that Brumpa could come to kindergarten to spend time with you and to have a look at your portfolio.

Happy Birthday

What a delight we had this week when Jaydenʻs great grandmother joined us all the way from the Netherlands.  It seems that she had come all the way to New Zealand to celebrate her 80th birthday.  We just had to sing her ʻHappy Birthdayʻ.  How special is that!

A blast from the past

As I opened the emails at kindergarten over the term break I was SO delighted by one that caught my eye. It read ... Hi. my name is Aislinn. I was just fooling around with some friends in class and I thought I would show them where I went to kindergarten. They thought it was a very cool place. My Mum said I should write to you guys and see if you remembered us. YES, we do, and we were impressed that you remembered the teachers names.
Some things just make your day, and this was one of them. Thanks for getting in contact Aislinn.
Aislinn is 16 and lives in Canada.

NanNan comes to visit

Archie, we have come to know your NanNan quite well over the years even though she lives in Australia (we wonʻt hold that against her!). Every time she come to New Zealand to visit you she spends time at kindergarten. She is always so interested in what you are doing ... and has been a great contributor to the friesian cow stories in previous blogs. How proud you were to show NanNan your kindergarten portfolio.

With heartfelt thanks

It is always a bonus when siblings have the opportunity to visit kindergarten. And this was one of those exciting occasions. Kevinʻs big brother Matthew has shared his guitar skills with us before, so we were even more delighted when he offered to come back and play for us. We love the role model this provides for our children. It was also a treat when Kevin and Matthewʻs mother played the flute for us. Thank you both so much.