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My place in the world...What is it like to be me?

August 20, 2015, 2:32 am
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In June I was extremely fortunate in being able to attend some wonderful professional learning in Portland, Oregon. Whilst there, learning about the role creativity has in promoting literacy for young children (a blog post for another time perhaps), I encountered teachers from all over the world. Two teachers I got to know fairly well were from a school in Canada teaching, as I do, children aged 3-5 years.

Whilst sharing experiences on our programmes, we felt it may be nice to stay in contact and for the children within our classrooms to share what it is like living in New Zealand (or from their perspective Canada).
Nethra and Mercia wear traditional Sri Lankan clothes whilst proudly holding the Sri Lankan flag

Mairtown Kindergarten is culturally diverse and we are lucky to have families attend who have links to, or have lived in countries such as Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, England, Ireland, the Philippines and Pakistan to mention a few. At the moment, apart from myself (I lived in Montreal as a child) no one else has lived in Canada, so our knowledge of this country is fairly limited.

Using the book ‘Children of the world: How we live, learn and play in poems, drawings and photographs’ as a resource I began some work with the children, which we hope to share with our soon to be Canadian friends one day, about where we live, where we have lived - basically our place in the world.

Dammika reads in Sinhalese the extract about Sri Lanka


 For those who have not heard of this book, it is truly special.


‘The book covers a total of 192 countries each arranged alphabetically. Each entry focuses on one country and includes the country’s official name, its geographic location, a poem by a child in the original language as well as an English translation, artwork from children, a photograph of a child or children, and some interesting facts including the most popular local foods, sports, or activities. Each drawing is as unique as the child who createdit’.


Yet as Emma noted as we leafed through the book reading and looking at the images, ‘The children, they all have different writing, but they are like me as they all like to play'.



With the book set up as a provocation, the children of Mairtown naturally began to tell me about their place in the world. Some were true experts sharing languages they can speak, countries they have visited, places their families originate from, whilst others learnt from their peers that although we live in Whangarei – the country we live in is called New Zealand.


Our first encounters with this book involved reading the entry and poem from the Canadian child and discussing the picture they had drawn. We then narrowed the question down we wanted to think about. Finally, we reached an agreement that we should think about what to tell the children in Canada about New Zealand and the other countries we may have lived in or is part of our heritage and culture; What do we like to do? What do we play? What do we eat? How do we dress? What do we speak?  What is it like to be me?



What I could never have expected, or even hoped for, was the participation from our families towards sharing their cultural heritage and the stories that they bring from their homes – be it New Zealand or further afield.




 Whenever we tell a story, we open ourselves to others, we communicate and share something about ourselves, and invite a response, either spoken or unspoken from our listeners. Stories always give rise to other stories - both similar and different. Whether they are personal stories or traditional stories, both the experience of telling and the shared meaning of the stories knit people together. When we choose to tell a story we make time for ourselves and for those we share our story with (Tanya Batt).


In order to support the children's thinking, I offered them opportunities to visually represent their ideas. Here are some of the beautiful art pieces created along with their cultural stories:

Mia: I live in New Zealand; I’ve always lived here. We speak English and Māori. Kiwi’s and beetles live in New Zealand. I eat fish pie and tuna. In the summer I swim in the sea. New Zealand has lots of nature.  I have a dog called Zippy.

Max: I am from Whangarei, New Zealand. Daddy was from England. We live in a house, it doesn't have any stairs. In New Zealand we have dogs - I have a dog, she's a girl. We eat cake and party food. 

Sharlotte: I have always lived in New Zealand but I was born in Auckland. I love the pool because I like going swimming. New Zealand has mountains. New Zealand is green.

Sienna draws her horse on a New Zealand beach: I live in New Zealand. I eat rice and spicy rice and nuts and seaweed. I ride horses, my horse is Billy and it's lots of fun. I like the beach, my nanna has a house in town and one at the beach. The weather is rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, sun in New Zealand and then thunder and lightening. I have an Uncle that lives in London, that’s in England.


Isla: This is nanna and poppa, they live somewhere different to me. They live in Russell. I think that's in New Zealand. In Russell there's a beach with rocks and mussels in the water. I live in Whangarei.

Jack: I live in New Zealand. I eat mandarins from my tree and toast and honey. When I am older I can play rugby like the other people. When I go to the beach I swim and it’s cold, and I go fishing with my daddy.

Lala: My mummy is from Japan, she speaks it to us, my daddy can understand a little bit.






Madison chose to draw a map of New Zealand as she tells me: This is the West Coast of New Zealand, and that little dot, that's a small Island. We get rain and sun and then you get rainbows. I've always lived here. We have sheep and chickens in New Zealand. I live at the top of New Zealand, at the very top there's a long beach. Our flag has 4 stars, the Rarotongan flag has circles.





Emma draws the Hong Kong flag (in purple her favourite colour) while telling me: I live in New Zealand in a house with neighbours. I haven’t always lived here because I was born in Hong Kong. I eat heaps and heaps of things like muffins and cheese. Down the bottom of New Zealand there is heaps of snow. Hong Kong has very big buildings and the only building that is little is the church. I lived right next to the church, I was one then and when I turned two, I moved back (to New Zealand). One day in Hong Kong it's sunny and then the next it’s rainy. And the buildings stick together. We lived at the top of the building and nanna did live with us, she lived in the second floor. My nanna has been to India and it was boiling hot and in the winter it was as warm as the summer in New Zealand.

Pippa: I live in a town in New Zealand. I like going to the snow. When it’s cold you get snow, I go to Wellington. We don’t get snow all the time in New Zealand.

Franchi: I live in Mount Tiger, it’s on a hill and there’s lot of grass. It’s too big a hill to jump off as it’s a little bit scary. I live there with me and mum and Juno and Joel my dad and puss puss and Inca. On my road there are pink and purple flowers.


Ruby draws her house and Kiwi's and talks about the NZ flag: I live in New Zealand, not the far of New Zealand. I normally eat pies. We have kiwi’s here and once I saw a real one out the window of my house. It was brown. Kiwi’s are a bird and they have long beaks and their food is on the ground. I have an Uncle that lives in America and my sister lies in Whakatane. The New Zealand (flag) has stars, 4 stars, the flag is blue and and the stars are red.

Sadie: I live in town in New Zealand. We eat vegetables, like broccoli and carrot and pasta. My dad plays hockey. I like going to the park to play.


Mercia: I live in Whangarei, I haven't been to Sri Lanka, mummy and daddy has. In Sri Lanka they dance, it's like a shake. It's hot there, we eat soup, curry, milk. I like go one day. This is my family in Sri Lanka.


As our New Zealand Early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, states‘There are many migrants in New Zealand, and, as in any country with a multicultural heritage, there is a diversity of beliefs...There is a growing understanding of the links between culture, language, and learning, and an increasing commitment to addressing the issues faced by children growing up in a society with more than one cultural heritage…The early childhood curriculum supports the cultural identity of all children, affirms and celebrates cultural differences, and aims to help children gain a positive awareness of their own and other cultures (p.18)

Nethra studies her photos from Sri Lanka before deciding to draw herself. She tells me, That my Sri Lanka school. There is a zoo, I see elephant, giraffe, lion, tiger. At school we jump, swing.

At Mairtown we work hard as a team to recognise the experiences that take place beyond the walls of our kindergarten, to understand both the learning that is taking place and the cultural and historical backgrounds of our children. It has been so empowering to see the children partake in listening to the stories, and looking at the pictures of one other; stories that have contained symbols and words from their own and from the cultures of others. It has been a totally wonderful experience for me as a teacher to get to know, really in-depth the history of some of our attending children, to see where they lived through videos and photo albums leant to me and through places pointed out on maps.


Mercia's mum explains how to write 'Mercia' in Sinhalese

Books can certainly not be considered a substitute for firsthand engagement and contact with other cultures and communities. I do believe however, this book initially sparked and therefore enabled many children to deepen and broaden their understandings of not only their place in the world, but those of their friends, and also possibly the people/children in the photographs who of course they are never likely to meet.

Mia draws Mercia's dress and reflects on her learning: The dress from Sri Lanka has different designs on it. There is one bit of her showing, her belly button. The dress is really a top and a skirt and it's exactly the same. If you're from Sri Lanka you look really beautiful and you wear a necklace and bangle on your hands.

As B Kupetz states ‘Early childhood professionals may find children's books to be one more avenue to seeing, understanding, and accepting the rich variety and uniqueness of persons. Rather than pretending that the differences among us do not exist, books help children discover what is similar and different among persons and groups of persons’ (Early childhood news).


As the teacher who embarked on this provocation, I also believe this work has not only been of benefit to the children, it has also improved my own cultural literacy. I have really enjoyed and learnt so much by sharing extracts of this book with some of our families from countries and cultures I soon realised I didn’t have that much in-depth knowledge of. There were many wonderfully proud conversations I shared with children and their whānau about different cultural perspectives to mine, which truly allowed me to recognise and affirm the primary importance of the child’s family and culture. 


Nethra's name in Sinhalese
I have to say an especially big thank you to Lorraine and Dammika for sharing their knowledge, photos, books, flags, costumes, songs and lullaby’s, language and food (delicious pol sambol, string hoppers, ala hodi and pol pani pancakes) from Sri Lanka. I have learnt so much from you, as have the other children at Kindergarten, and I feel honoured that you have been so open and accepting of my questions. The stories you have shared have come alive for me – it is as if these stories have the power to bring a community together – thank you.


Thank you also to the children for their beautiful, and as always thoughtful work. I think our soon to be Canadian friends with learn a lot about Mairtown, the children in our community and ‘their place in the world’, wherever that may be.



For anyone wanting to know more about this book please visit www.artinallofus.org . Incidentally all proceeds from the sale of this book go to support ‘Art in All of Us’ programs, the not-for-profit organisation founded by Mr. Asael and Ms. Rabemiafara, dedicated to stimulating the creativity and curiosity for other cultures within children using art.

Mā te wā,
Christine
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Shared Kai: What a delight

August 24, 2015, 10:00 pm
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Today we had a shared kai and invited families to bring in a plate of food that is special to their culture or something that they love to eat at home together. Some of our children even dressed up in special cultural attire which was so very special.
 






Once again our families made this shared kai a wonderful event. There was truck loads of delicious food, from spicy rice cakes to seafood chowder and fry bread, mini mince and cheese pies to sushi, banana cake to fish and chips. It was endless and amazing! We had a grand time trying to fit it all in our bellies!
 


 
Na to rourou, na taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi
 
(With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive)
 
 
 
 
















 
We absolutely love having these events at Mairtown as they are always times filled with lots of excitement and joy. It is a lovely way for families to catch up with one another or for new connections to be made. Our shared kai today was a huge success due to the participation and dedication from our beautiful families. We would just like to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone who helped out, made food and came along. We will be having more shared kai in the near future and look forward to celebrating these with you all again.
 
Till next time,
Zair
 






 
 
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Treasure Bags: Thinking about Stuff

September 4, 2015, 2:36 am
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At the end of last term we sent home ‘Treasure Bags’ with our children. A humble brown paper ready to fill with beautiful and interesting bits and bobs. We gave the families some ideas as to what they could put in the bags. The book, ‘Beautiful Stuff – Learning with Found Materials’ by Weisman Topal and Gandihi (1999), was our inspiration for this idea. It is full of great provocations and gives some lovely notions of ways that ‘stuff’ can be utilised to support children’s thinking, creativity and learning. The introduction to this book powerfully states that, “To a young child, the world is full of materials to touch, discover, and explore. To find, collect, sort, and use materials is to embark on a special kind of adventure. For adults, gathering materials means rediscovering the richness and beauty in natural, unexpected, and recyclable objects that are all around us, but not often noticed.”

After the term break we were all excited to see what was going to come back in the bags. The response from our children and their families was immense, filling up our benches and office shelves with many, many bags. The children were excited about opening their treasure bags, bursting at the seams to show their friends and teachers all the wonderful things that they had found for their individual bags.  

Usually we would do a big grand opening at a group time, however this wasn’t able to happen for numerous reasons so over the past few weeks we have been opening the bags in small groups. The delight that was shared amongst the children as they got to up-turn their bags and tip out their treasures was just so lovely. They were given time to look at, play with and talk about what they had within their contents. The other children who were observing also had a chance to explore their friend’s treasures. It was all very exciting! There was lots of dialogue and debates around what objects were and where they may have come from.

“Oh, this is mine. Oh, this is so sparkly. I love the pink flowers. I think it is from the shop. It must be treasure.” (Mercia)

“Hey Zair. This mine, mine monies (bottle lids). Don’t touch. I love my green flower. It’s from my bag, my Mummy.” (Nethra)

My Nana is so cleaver isn’t she because she did this treasure. Look I have a boongy thing. It is like a snake.” (Kayla)

“I love all my treasure bag stuff. You know I have heaps of ribbon. And you know that the ribbon can be fun for cats. You could make a ribbon for your kitty. They love chasing ribbon.” (Sam)

“Oh look, this is so beautiful stuff. What are all these? Oh they are beads, I love the beads. This is pretty fabric, I think they will make such beautiful stuff.” (Tamsyn)

“My Mum got this here, I like my beads the best.” (Austin)

“It’s like a surprise egg. I don’t know what this is. I want to play with it though!” (Kalani)

“This is an old cushion – you can have it for some treasure!” (Oliver)

“These are for paper, if you don’t want paper to get wet you put it in here. I got some of this from my Nana and some from my house. This is the biggest treasure bag, mine is the biggest, biggest, biggest one. Everyone else is the littlest, littlest, littlest ones. It’s got stuff really like in it and I think we could make a lot with all the beautiful things. There is heaps you can do with stuff!” (Sienna)

“My favourite is the buttons in my bag. Umm we can do making spider webs with the wire. I don’t know where wire comes from by I know we have some at our house.” (Sadie)

“I like my Nana’s house stuff and my flies I brought. We can use all this paper it for cutting out pictures.” (Toby)

“I brought lots of heavy things, we could make so many things with the things. Maybe we could make presents for everyone!” (Ruby)

“You know my Nan gave me lots of treasure for my bag. There is so many lovely necklace’s. What do you think we can do with these? Maybe they can just make something beautiful for kindergarten. And I have been sorting this pile of ribbons. There are just so many, it’s a very big pile. This stuff would be great for glue gunning or even wrapping the tui’s for our turning five birthdays at kindergarten.” (Nyla)

“This shell is from the sea, I got them with my Mum.” (Willa)

“Look, it’s my magic beans! They are magic for kindy!” (Manaia)
"This is from my Granny's house and my house. I'm thinking I can make fishes and octopus's with these. This is going to be a surprise for you (wrapping some of the treasure in paper). Do you know what it might be?" (Aurelia)



"Sorting my stuff was quick, but I like sort my friends stuff. I don't know what some of it is, it is interesting to pick up and look at." (Amaya)


“Can I open treasure? We can play with the treasure and hammer them.” (Ahmad)


Next the children were asked to sort their treasures into groups. It was really interesting watching how some children group their objects; specifically, thoughtfully and methodically grouping things like lids, metal bits, ribbon, shells, paper, wire, buttons, beads, seed pods and so on.

There is something satisfying and enjoyable about sorting. It seems to be relaxing and filling for both children and adults alike. It is also an activity that supports different learning areas. Gordan (2001) acknowledges that,“Sorting objects or toys according to size or colour helps children develop their intellect. These experiences are not only fun, but are building blocks for later learning. Sorting, matching and classifying are a means to academic learning in math, reading and science.”

After sorting the materials and objects they were then transferred to our low table with containers and frames. This became a space were children were encouraged to use the found and recycled materials to create works of art in the frames. During this process the children used their senses to explore the materials. Looking closely at them, handling them, even smelling and mouthing the objects (though the mouthing of the objects was discouraged). The objects made beautiful pieces of art and the children who engaged in this activity did so with consideration and purpose.

“I’m making his face. What can I use for his eyes and what is this (holding a piece of ribbon)? Oh, I think I need this in my picture, it can go round and round here.” (Pippa L.)



Once a child had finished making a picture in the frame they were then encouraged to sort the objects back into the right containers so that others could come and enjoy the activity after them. This sorting of the materials was once again really enjoyed by the children.

“Children have a natural desire to make sense of their world, to create order in a world that seems largely out of their control. For that reason, sorting activities often attract children. In fact, many children will start sorting things without even being taught.” (peacefulparenting.com)

Other materials have been utilised on our glue gun table, with Madison instigating a revamp of one of our fairy houses. She wanted to use her treasure bags contents to do this and happily let other children join her on the mission.

 Some of the children have been very much engaged through out this whole experience, while other children have enjoyed certain aspects of it. Some of the children were eager to share the stories behind the treasures they had brought in while other children were more captivated by the sorting and then creating works of art with all the interesting objects. All in all the process and experience has been very valuable and interactive.

In the book (mentioned above) that inspired this concept they use the found and recycled materials in rich and meaningful ways, using them to explore children’s thinking, represent their ideas and knowledge in very creative and flexible ways. This book is available at kindergarten if any of our families would like to have a look to gain a deeper understanding of the ideas behind the treasure bags.  

We are so thankful to have all these wonderful treasure bags and really appreciate that we have some many wonderful families who jumped on board with the idea. All the contents of these bags will eventually go into our kindergarten resources and be enjoyed at many different activities. Open ended and interesting, the way that these objects and materials can be used is exciting and we can’t wait to see how they are utilised to support the children’s thinking and interests. I feel that we are still at the beginning stages of seeing the full potential that these treasures can bring to our children’s in terms of creating lots of joy and learning opportunities. I will finish this blog post with another lovely quote from Weisman Topal and Gandihi’s book about ways to think about stuff.

“A Way of Thinking- We think back to the beginning of this experience and realize that bringing materials into the classroom and discovering their potential for learning involves many of the same process skills used in math and science and interpreting literature. It’s a way of thinking about things. It helps both teachers and children become more aware of how they think. The experiences also refines our aesthetic sensibilities, and gives both adults and children a frame work for learning life skills.” (p. 98)

Till next time,
Zair
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What makes me feel happy

September 9, 2015, 9:44 pm
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Recently while dancing to the song titled ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams it seemed to spark some thinking amongst our children about what makes them feel happy. I'm talking about that truly happy feeling of being really warm inside your heart, when it is filled with positive emotions.

It is easy to think that positive emotions just happen to us as a result of creating or getting what we want in our lives. But they are notjust the icing on the cake of a great life. Positive emotions can help us create our 'best life'! This is because they help to open our minds, build up our personal resources and undo the negative effects of stress.  So it is really worth concentrating on feeling these emotions as much as we can (Hands on Scotland, 2013).

Once the dancing had finished it was really interesting to see how drawing became the preferred option for the children to express their thoughts and ideas.  For most of the children thinking about what makes them feel really happy seemed to be an easy decision.  Yet for others it required a bit more thinking as they had so many things that made them feel happy, it appeared to be a difficult decision.

Te Whāriki states that children need to experience an environment where they develop non-verbal communication skills for a range of purposes.  This Includes children developing non-verbal ways of expressing and communicating imaginative ideas, and an ability to express their feelings and emotions in range of appropriate non-verbal ways (Ministry of Education, 1996).

The focus wasn’t about producing beautiful art work rather getting the children thinking about what makes them feel happy.  “It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” (Dale Carnegie)  The question ‘what makes you feel really happy?’  provoked great thinking amongst our children, here are some of their responses:

Mercia:  “Ice cream makes me happy my favourite is the green one.  I like flowers too, rainbows make me happy too.”

Manaia:  “That’s me I’m happy, hugs and cuddles make me happy.”

Kayla:  “Playing with my kitty Sammy makes me happy, it’s all white in the middle and he has black fur and playing with Dora my lamby.”

Sam:  “Lego makes me happy.  Aimee and I have hundreds of Lego.  I make cars because Aimee and I have wheels & car buttons, we share the Lego.”

Emma:  “My Missy Bear makes me happy, she’s a polar bear.  I like to look after her.  She has an upside down triangle nose and she has a little tiny bow.  I got it when I was I baby.  She makes me feel happy because she’s so beautiful in her purple dress.  Missy bear sleeps in my bed.”

Nyla:  “Playing with my lamb.  It used to be called Curly but now it’s called Sandy.  When I got him he was called Curly, so I kept that for a while, but then I changed it to Sandy.”

Ahmad:  “I like engines, happy engines.  That’s where the air gets in.  It’s a great big long pipe there, the smoke goes out of the van.”

Sadie:  “I love playing with my puppy Chester, I like throwing the ball it’s green with stripes and he chews it.”


Miller:  “Having hugs and snuggles with my Mum every single night.  It makes me happy before I go to sleep.”

Ruby:  “Me, Mummy and Daddy go to McDonalds and have ice cream at the town basin park.”

Sharlotte:  “Playing with my magic clip.  I like changing the dresses.  I’ve got two, Belle and Aurora.”

Pippa:  “Playing with my lamb makes me happy.  When I lie down she jumps over me.”

Milla:  “Mummy and me going for walks to the town basin.  This is Nana and Poppa, I like going to the town basin with them. I go to the playground.  I like the swings.  I like going to Nana and Poppa's house.”






“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”
Frederick Keonig

Mā te wā
Susie



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The process of art

September 16, 2015, 8:13 pm
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Young children ‘do’ art for the experience, the exploration, the experimentation and of course the enjoyment.  In the process of completing their work they discover mystery, creativity, joy, and at times even frustration and challenge. I feel these factors all make art and creativity for young children a really vital and essential aspect of any early childhood programme, and one that we certainly nurture carefully and thoughtfully at Mairtown.


Art is a learning tool we use frequently at Mairtown, and I believe it’s important to remember that children should be encouraged to be independent in their artistic processes rather than striving for a finished product. With this in mind, when I introduced the children to a type of art - painting on wood and later layering these painted colours with PVA glue and gold and silver pens – it was the process that was in my mind. However, the added benefit of this process is that the product has turned out to be incredibly beautiful.



The first step in this process was for each child to choose a piece of wood. They then painted the wood in sections of bold colours. Next came the difficult bit, we had to wait for it to dry! When dry I invited the children back to revisit their painting and we talked about carefully adding PVA glue in black, silver and/or gold (next came the hard part again – more waiting as it dried). The third step was to create finer more intricate details and patterns with the addition of gold and silver pens.



















In the photos below the children are adding the PVA. This was quite challenging at times; squeezing the bottle as well as moving it to create a line requires a lot of fine motor skill and concentration.


Author and artist Mark Wagner who heavily promotes creativity and art within education talks about how ‘Art Develops the Whole Brain.’ Mark suggests ‘Art strengthens focus and increases attention, it develops hand-eye coordination, whilst also requiring practice and strategic thinking, and finally involves interacting with the material world through different tools and art mediums.’



Although the creation of these art pieces looks like a three step process, I really wanted to encourage the children to take time with their work. Often the children thought they were finished, but would choose to revisit it again a little later or on the next day, adding an extra layer of PVA or pen. The whole process was about taking time and having the option to keep on revisiting, reflecting and adding on.



When children are able and invited to revisit their work over time, they are able to view it though a different lens.; for instance, what can I add to enhance my work? What does it mean to me? Am I finished? It is when they see it from a different perspective that they may then decide to add to it or change it.


When children re-visit their work they become better observers, become more aware of their own thinking processes, develop dispositions of good thinking and become more critical and able to expand their expressive repertoire (Salmon, 2007).



My role as the teacher in this work was to support and encourage, to ‘slow down’ children’s thinking at times, so they could process their thoughts and then transfer these into their work. I really wanted to emphasise the importance of lingering for children – of not rushing to get to the end – but of reassuring them that this will still be available in half an hour or tomorrow; to assist the children in becoming fully immersed in their work in a relaxed and thoughtful manner.


Although many of the children used Hundertwasser art work for inspiration, the real creating must of course belong to each child. It is in the making of these creations that children gain value from their work. These art pieces demonstrate each child’s process; they demonstrate each child’s ideas and imagination as they reflect on past and present experiences, and for us, these pieces give us a little insight into each child’s expression of the world.



Mia gave some very clear instructions on how this art should be done ‘I’ll tell you what you need to make one of these, we need a silver and golden pen and some glue and wood and paint and a book to look at. The book is to give you ideas and if you haven’t got your own ideas you can use some of the ideas from the book. I had my own ideas but I did use a few from the book. You have to be patient to do this, like wait for the next day, you must wait and then do a little more till you are all done.’


Many teachers talk about process art versus product, but I think it’s clear from the children’s work here you can engage in process art yet still have stunning outcomes.  Process art is about art being open to children, of having no expectations, of children doing, of them experimenting with materials and ideas and of them discovering, exploring and wandering. This is certainly evident in each of these unique pieces.


















After many many days of work, finally the children each, one by one, and only when they were ready, began to announce they had finished. As the children had worked over several days to complete their work we had had plenty of opportunities to discuss how artists give a name to their pieces and how many artists also choose to tell a story through their work. It was at this point then, that I asked each child if their art work had a story to tell, and if they would like to name their work.

A collection of the work together




Here are some of the finished pieces with the stories – a real insight into how art can enhance imagination.


“Art can bring imagination to life and give life to imagination” Dogra 2010





Sam: My one looks like a house and there are shooting stars. The moon looks like a pancake and I’ve added a little rocket and this is a moon house. My picture is called ‘Rocket’ and I’ve added another planet, that’s Saturn and Mars. There’s an astronaut and the house in space has rocket boosters, even the rocket houses can crash into stars. Here’s Jupiter and here’s Uranus.


Sienna: I just made the ideas up, may be it’s taken me like 4 or 5 days. It reminds me of a rainbow, but that little bit there reminds me of a beach. I’m just going to call it ‘Rainbow’.


Amaya: First I did the lines in paint then I do the dots, mines called spider web.No, no it minds me of a mountain. I’m going to call it ‘Mountain’ cause its like mountains exploded. I haven’t seen one explode but I watched a cano explode before on the TV and it looked like my picture.


Milla: It’s all dry now. First we did paint in blue and purple then I did the bubbles in silver and I did the H’s shiny gold. The picture has a special name it’s called ‘Our House’. There are bubbles that fly up high in the sky and the dots live outside our house.


Ahmad: I love it. I show it to my mum and dad and they be proud of me and I’m show it to my friends.


Emma: I did the painting and then I did the glue and then the silver and golden pens and then I waited for it to dry and I really like the look of it. It’s going to be called the ‘The World of Planets’ cause this is planets and this is a desert planet.


Sadie: First we did painting, then we did PVA’s then I did the silver pens and gold. I used the book for ideas. Mines called ‘The Alien Planet’ but now we have to wait and wait for it to dry.


Sharlotte: These flowers are the garden – my garden and the school garden – my new school. The blue is the sky and it’s a rainbowy day. I’m going to call it ‘Rainbow flower’.


Ruby: It kind of reminds me of Hundertwasser. I’m calling mine ‘Rainbow’…there is a story, cause this picture shows where the kids sleep and waking up they saw a rainbow and then they saw the sun with gold and then the mummy and daddy woke up and said ‘Go back to sleep cause it’s not morning time’. So they went back to sleep and saw dots in their room and they they woke up again and played.

Ruben: Those look like swimming pool and the water of the swimming pool and these are the stories in the water. I’ll call mine ‘Swimming Pool’.
  

“There is more to art than just drawing a picture that looks like something. The process of creating a piece of art is precious, especially when you make something relevant and make a bold, personal and contemporary statement” Source unknown

Mia -'Artist's Picture'.

Mia and Emma both reflect on their learning. Mia discusses how each piece although created in a similar manner, looks very different. None of them looked the same cause if they looked the same it looks like someone’s done all of them the same and then they don’t look nice together as they’d all be the same. They look nicer when they’re all different. I’ve learnt if you don’t be patient it will smudge as it isn’t dry yet, you have to be patient over several days. This is my work for over days.  Whilst Emma tells me I’ve learnt that I think you have to think quietly and that it takes lots of days to do this.


















Children need to be submersed in rich artist experiences and given time to revisit and create at their own pace. When you follow the children’s lead – as you can see here – you will go to some wonderful places :)

Until next time,
Christine


These art pieces will on display for a few weeks from 12th September in the Whangarei Central Library as part of their 'A Big Day in at the Library'. If you live in Whangarei we'd love you to visit and tell us what you think.
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Happy Term Break

September 24, 2015, 8:10 pm
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We have come to the end of term three already and what a busy term it has been. We hope you are all looking forward to spending some extra time with your beautiful children. Have a great break, play games, read books, sing and dance and relax with each other.


We welcome Kim back for three days a week during term four (as she has been approached again by the Northland Kindergarten Association to continue to support their professional practice team). This means that Donna will continue her relieving for our kindergarten two days a week for the whole of term four (which we are all excited about.)

We look forward to seeing you and your children at the beginning of term four, refreshed and ready to enjoy many sunny days filled with fun, laughter and play.


"What enable us to innovate, problem-solve, and be happy, smart, resilient human beings?
- Our ability to PLAY!" (Dr Stuart Brown, MD)


Be safe and we will see you soon,
The Mairtown Kindergarten team.
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Welcome back to term 4

October 14, 2015, 8:33 pm
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Woo-hoo! Term 4 has arrived, the weather is warming up and at Mairtown kindergarten we are looking forward to a very busy and productive term.


This term we have a few things happening, so keep an eye on these weekly blog posts for updates and information about our programme and curriculum. We are feeling really lucky to welcome Kim back this term for Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Kim returns to us on these days as head teacher whilst she continues her role as a Professional Practice Manager for the Northland Kindergarten Association on Mondays and Tuesdays. Once again a big thank you to Zair who has stepped up into the head teacher role for the days Kim is absent and to the lovely Donna who is with us on these days also.

Now for some really exciting news. Following on from our Education Review Office visit in August our full report has been published online for everyone to read (and enjoy!). We would love, of course, all of you to read the report and comment, so please click here or follow the link at the very bottom of this blog page. We are very proud of our children, their families and the work we engage in at Mairtown. It is through our collaboration together that ERO have made the recommendation of a four year return, the highest outcome possible :)

Mā te wā,
Christine
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Wahoo! More success for Christine

October 23, 2015, 10:15 pm
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If you are a Mairtown Kindergarten Blog follower or are familiar with our team, you may know that last year Christine was awarded with a National Excellence in Teaching Award (NEiTA) and subsequent ASG scholarship (see more about this here: http://mairtownkindy.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/christines-asg-national-excellence-in.html).

In June, Christine used her scholarship money to travel to Portland, Oregon to attend seminars and learning opportunities at the Opal School Summer Symposium. The focus of this symposium was for likeminded teachers to explore ways that ‘literacy and the arts build upon each other’.

Since returning from this symposium Christine has continued to explore and research possibilities for extending the creative and cognitive capabilities of many of the children at Mairtown, through the use of materials. Christine has also sought out possibilities to aid her own research and teaching goals. In term three she applied for two different national scholarships. Like all work Christine undertakes her applications were eloquent, concise and innovative and so it came as no surprise that Christine was successful in not one but both of her applications!!

Christine has been awarded a 2016 Dr Vince Ham efellows scholarship for teacher research and a Joyce Barns Travel Trust scholarship. 2016 is certainly going to be a very busy but hugely rewarding year for Christine and of course all of us as recipient learners of Christine’s skills and expertise.
At Mairtown we recognise the significance of honouring the successes of others. Our team philosophy is underpinned by the concept of manaaki - of care. This includes hoping for the very best in others - and celebrating their achievements.  On Wednesday we recognised Christine’s most recent successes with a small gathering and delicious shared morning tea at kindergarten.

Christine was honoured by the tamariki (children) and parents/whānau (families) at an informal gathering. Here she  was presented with flowers and a beautiful card full of well wishes. There was also an opportunity for attendees and children to share their thoughts about Christine. Our CEO Richard Storey was also in attendance, he acknowledged Christine for her professionalism, commitment and ‘raising the bar’ for others in early childhood education. It was another very special time of connecting and sharing at Mairtown.





 
Some words shared with Christine:

‘You are awesome, well done. Congratulations Christine, you are passionate about teaching our children and it’s wonderful to be rewarded for it. Congrats on such an amazing achievement. You deserve it for your talent and your hard work, my best wishes. You are so inspirational. Fantastic work and very well deserved.”

We are all incredibly proud of Christine’s achievements, her commitment and passion for excellence in early childhood education is second to none and compliments the culture of quality that is offered by Zair, Susie, Donna and Sarah, our Mairtown education team.

Me te mihi nui
Kim
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The wonders of hay

October 29, 2015, 8:23 pm
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Recently at kindergarten we had a delivery of some hay bales which came as a surprise to many of our children.  We were all excited and keen, especially the teachers to see how the children would respond to the hay; how their play might develop around it, guide it or even how they may perhaps incorporate it into their play.



Open ended resources are highly valued items at kindergarten, this includes many ‘loose parts’ for example, sticks, stumps, bones, ropes, rocks, sand and shells to name a few.  The hay bales are also what we would classify as ‘loose parts’ as they are moveable, however they provide endless play and learning opportunities.

“When children have access to loose parts, it frees their creativity and imagination to change the world around them in infinite ways.  The more flexible are the materials in their environment, the greater the level of creativity and inventiveness they express.”  Polly Neill, 2013


The hay setup included a tunnel and initially the children explored the hay through lots of physical energy using their large motor skills to balance, climb, crawl and jump off the hay.




















It was interesting to see the high energy physical play move aside when the children started to use their imaginations to think of different ways to use the hay in their play. Through using their imagination the children were able to transform some bales of hay to create endless play opportunities including a princess castle that had enough room for the kings and princes, a barn and also a pet food shop.

“The presence of loose parts also promotes a wide variety of play: exploratory, constructive, and dramatic play as well as games with rules.  Loose parts lend themselves to innovation and a sense of unique that will encourage more symbolic play – a higher level of play.”  Polly Neill, 2013

With the addition of fabrics and cushions the hay bales have been useful to create a lovely outdoor retreat, somewhere to relax, take in a deep breath or a place to enjoy a book.

















Something else I noticed about the hay is how it seemed to be a great conversation starter and a topic to discuss with each other about where it comes from and what it can be used for.  Here are some of the children’s comments:

Kaden:  “We have hay, we have round ones and square ones at the run off.”
Tanner:  “I have hay in my big trailer we feed it to our calves.”
Amaya:  “Mmmmmm it could be a bouncy castle.”
Ben:  “I’ve seen lots of people feed hay to horses.”
Ruby:  “Sometimes my dad feeds hay to the chickens.”
Mercia and Nethra:  “Let’s make a princess castle.”
Ahmad:  “Smell the hay Max.”
Max:  “It smells like strawberries.”
Ahmad “Nah it smells like hay, or is it straw?”


I’m looking forward to seeing how the play continues to evolve around the hay bales, I’m sure it will continue to spark the children’s curiosity and their imaginations.  Oh the wonders of hay.




















Mā te wā
Susie

















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Exploring portraits: Why do we have a face?

November 4, 2015, 12:34 am
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Recently some of our children engaged in a self-portrait activity. Set up on a table was a mirror, some paper and black pens. I invited them to carefully look at their face in the mirror at all their beautiful features. After having a good look they then started to draw what they could see.


All the children started by drawing a large circle for their face and then they moved onto the eyes, nose, ears, mouth and their hair. We talked about some of the finer details that they could see, like their eye brows and eye lashes, and they then proceeded to draw these. The children were very proud of their portraits, as was I. They concentrated really hard during this activity and thought a lot about all the details and how they could add these to their portrait.

 


It was really interesting observing the different features that stood out to the individual children. Lali was very focused on her freckles while Toby made sure that he drew all his teeth. Mila thought carefully about drawing her top knot, leaving it till last to do. Penni-May observed that she had lovely nostrils, Franchi was sure she needed to draw ‘kissy’ lips while Aurelia concentrated on her pig tails.

As the children drew their pictures I asked them the same question, ‘Why do we have a face?’
This provoked their thinking and the responses were delightful and real. They all had similar themes as to why we have a face.
“We need a face so we can eat with our sharp teeth. It can look at people because people need a face so we can use our eyes to see Joel and Puss Puss and Inca and Juno and me. We have lips to put lip balm and lipstick on.” (Franchi) 


“We have a face so we can talk and we talk to our Dad’s because we have to laugh at Dad. This bit (she touches the top of her head) is our brains. We have lips so we can kiss and we have a nose so we can sneeze.” (Mila)
“Otherwise we won’t see where we are going and we have ears so we can hear people. Our teeth chew food because then we will get healthy, but no junk food. That’s bad for us so our mouths shouldn’t eat that.” (Toby)
“We have a face so we can breathe and eat. When I look at my face I can see little spots, look I have one freckle! Our faces are all different. Mine has one freckle, but yours (Zair’s) has so many, they are all over your face!” (Lali)


“You use your face to look. If you don’t have eyes you might trip over. A nose smells. You have ears to listen. Everyone’s face is different.” (Penni-May)


“I like to look with my face at my bunk bed and at my clothes. I like to use my ears to listen to music, Elsa and Anna music. I also like to see sparkly shoes with my eyes. I like to eat cake with my mouth and teeth. My face does quite a lot of things.” (Aurelia)


“These self-portraits are windows into the children’s identities. Their details tell us how the children see themselves and what they choose to emphasis in their drawings about themselves.”
-Ann Pelo-


A few days later I invited the group of children to make a clay model of their self-portraits as an extension of this experience. I had a copy of their drawing to look at during this process. They all carefully moulded a ball of clay till it was the shape of a head. When it came to using the clay to make different features of their faces I offered ideas and role modelled different techniques. Some of the fiddly bits like lips and eye brows challenged them, however they kept on trying till they managed to get them how they wanted them to look. The children also thought a lot about what the side and back of their heads would look like. Using clay as an extension of this activity helped them transfer their thoughts and ideas around their self-portraits from 2D to 3D which is an interesting concept to contemplate.








“Clay work can be a language for exploring and communicating ideas. Like drawing, clay work enables children to make their ideas visible – but in three dimensions”
-Ursula Koble-

Now their wonderful works of art are on display in Kindergarten. They are of great interest to others and have already inspired other children to explore the concept of portrait drawing and clay modelling. The children are very proud of their work and so they should be.
-Penni-May-


-Aurelia-



-Franchi-


-Mila-


-Toby-



-Lali-




Noho ora mai rā,
Zair
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A stunning tradition

November 8, 2015, 6:14 pm
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We have found ourselves once again at Mairtown, creating beautiful art for our end of year calendar fundraiser. As a community based kindergarten, fundraising has become an important way for us to maintain our high quality learning programme, yet this particular fundraising has also become so much more than that. The manner in which all the children create, in an unhurried manner, their own unique piece of art has also become a rather stunning tradition – one that many of the children look forward to, remembering previous years’ work, or having seen older siblings’ pieces.


What I really love about working with the children on their art pieces is watching how they interact with the materials, how they notice and enquire about the work of their peers, and how children when supported with time and space begin to ‘think like an artist’.


Often when I work with children on any art related experience I encourage them to ‘think like an artist’. Although as adults we may ponder too much over how to do this, for children I find it comes quite naturally. So how do artists think? I’m actually not much of an artist myself despite it being very much embedded in my teaching practice, so to answer this question I have to look at what artists tell me,

Artists often look at things more closely than most people do. They tend to notice things that others might miss, often with the eyes of a child...Artists also tend to look at things in different ways, often without using labels…when artists sit down to draw or paint a scene they look at the objects as shapes and lines, not as trees or noses. They notice how the shapes and lines are related to each other; they look at spaces between shapes; they look at shadows... (Mulcahey, 2009)



It is with that statement in mind that we often find ourselves at Mairtown returning to the work of Hundertwasser. His work is delightfully colourful, rather abstract and children are naturally drawn to his pieces, all interpreting his work in very individual ways.


For some, art and creativity comes more instinctively than it does for others, however I still encourage all the children to ‘think like an artist’. As I work with the children either in small groups or individually, I’ll encourage them to take a risk, to experiment and try out their ideas, as that is how we gain the confidence that anything is possible; I’ll encourage them to look at things in different ways, as that is how we learn that everyone sees the world differently; and as I perhaps do more frequently than anything, I’ll encourage the children to dream and imagine, to tell stories, to think about what it could be rather than what it is, as this strengthens our imaginative and critical thinking skills.


Artists often take risks with their work since more will be gained by taking a risk than not. We expose ourselves to risk any time we begin a work of art. Children do the same. Will it turn out the way they want it to? Will they be able to control the paint? What if they don’t like it? As [adults] we need to reassure the child that risk is a good thing and that mistakes are learning experiences (Mulcahey, 2009) 


Although we may have used Hundertwasser’s art as a provocation for the children’s work, I feel it is still vital for the children to make choices. In this year’s work, many children decided not to use Hundertwasser but created work from their imaginations. Those that did were given Hundertwasser books and left to browse his pictures until they settled on one that inspired them. In doing this all the children’s work has turned out differently. Some children have painted Hundertwasser's famous lollypop trees in an expanse across their paper, others have painted only one, some children included themselves in their picture, some have created buildings and others patterns. Each child has approached his/her creation differently; there was no right or wrong way to begin or to finish and as such the pieces once again this year are totally stunning.


Providing open-ended experiences based on adult artwork gives children a rich exposure to art and a rich exposure to art experiences. Children are learning and doing at the same time. As children look at examples of works of art that initially inspires them, their visual perception skills are being nurtured (Douglas et al., 1981).


I wish I could show you all the finished pieces, but for now I have included some of the stunning and beautiful final art works for you to see.









Allowing children choices of material and ideas stimulates the imagination and allows the child to think more inventively (Colbert & Taunton, 1990).








Money raised from this fundraiser will go towards purchasing some new outdoor play resources.

Until next time,
Christine
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Fun in the sun at our Pooh sticks fundraiser

November 17, 2015, 5:51 pm
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After many months of meticulous planning and organisation on Saturday 14th November we held our annual ‘Pooh sticks’ race fundraiser at Mair Park.


The ten children who attend our nature programme all know very well how to explain the game of ‘Pooh sticks’.  As Sam explained “first we find our sticks then we walk to the bridge, then we drop them off the bridge.  They float down the river”. 

As part of the build-up for the ‘Pooh sticks’ race, at our group time we showed a snippet of a Winnie the Pooh video explaining how the game of Pooh sticks was developed.  By the end of the week kindergarten was buzzing with excitement and anticipation. 

Fortunately on Saturday we had beautiful weather with great support from our children, their whānau and friends.  Thanks to Phil, one of our kindergarten dad’s excellent tidal expertise knowledge and pre-planning our sticks were racing along the Hatea river with an outgoing tide.




After a countdown from ten the numbered sticks were dropped off the bridge into the water (thanks Mat and Mike for your fantastic help with this job).  There were lots and lots of people watching the race from the river bank, cheering on the three hundred sticks, however there could only be one winner!  It was a close finish; thankfully we had Nigel and Phil in the kayaks ready and waiting at the finish line.



Once the race was completed the prize giving was held where there were fantastic sponsored prizes for the first five placings and even a prize for last place. Also there was more winning to be had with twenty three spot prizes to give away, as well as raffles and a silent auction to win.


With delicious food stalls and wonderful music provided by Junior Strings from the Whangarei Youth Music, Scott Martin playing the saxophone and local band Two Kay, there appeared to be lots of happy punters dancing to the music or sitting down relaxing.

Community events like our Pooh sticks fundraiser provide an excellent opportunity for whānau/families to engage with each other, meet new friends and socialise outside of kindergarten.


When I asked the children what they enjoyed most about the Pooh sticks race, there was an array of responses including:
Pippa C. “I like the race and watching the sticks fall in”.

Toby:  “My dad do it, he dropped them (the sticks)”.

Franchi:  “I won a prize”.

Isla W.  “I liked dancing”.

Capri:  “I went to the Pooh race.  I had a delicious cake”.

Madison:  “My favourite part was when the people threw the sticks in the water.  Who were the people?  I had a cupcake”.

Sam:  “I had a pooh bear cup cake and a bumble bee cup cake and vanilla ice cream, I was that hungry”.

Lali:  “I went with my daddy, I liked the cake”.

On behalf of the teaching team I would like to thank everyone who supported this event especially all the hard work of organising and planning efforts made by our Parent Support Group, this includes, Karla, Katie, Yvette, Kelly, Jess, Candace, Lena, Robyn and Katy and also Simon, Nigel, Phil, Mike and Jarrod.  Also we need to give an enormous thank you to Sarah our fantastic administrator who has worked above and beyond.  We really appreciate all the effort and time that helped make this event so successful.

A huge thank you to all the whānau who helped make this event such a success through offering support and help with many jobs including gaining sponsorship, collecting prizes, preparing the bread and onions, baking delicious cakes, selling tickets, cooking and selling the sausages and gaining sponsorship.

Thank you to our amazing sponsors including; Evo Holdings, Reyburn and Bryant, Base Group Consulting, John Duff Roofing, Cato Bolam Consultants, Mojo Trust, Snugglies, Regent New World,  Pak N Save Whangarei, French Hen, Kensington Pharmacy, Pet Essentials, Golden Bay Cement, Farmlands, Parua Bay Tavern, Kelly Tarltons, Belltech, Specsavers Whangarei, Fledging Photography, Just Dance, Tikipunga Butchery, Young’s Four Square, Autocare Whangarei, Kiwi North, Zest Mortgage Brokers, Storytime, My Bounce, Melody Art and Design, Erika Blank – Bayleys Whangarei, Relax, Delights, Three Furlongs Bar & Grill, Whangarei Aquatic Centre, Placemakers, Swimspiration, Delights, Northland Pilates, Mini Glowlf World, Ollie & Dre, Stoodles Design, Office Max, Scentsy, Fudge Farm, Revive Beauty, Cabbage Tree Café, Riverside Café, Mercy Clothing, Northland Pottery, and Activ8 Mummy.
The monies raised from this event will be used to paint our kindergarten interior over the summer holidays.
Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.  Anthony J. D’Angelo
Mā te wā
Susie






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The Creation of Fairy Corner

November 29, 2015, 8:43 pm
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Inspired by one of our children’s interest and knowledge of fairies, several weeks ago, we decided to try to create a fairy kingdom for ourselves at Mairtown.


At the very beginning of our work together we began to talk about what we already knew about fairies. Some of our children are already great experts with Sienna telling me ‘If I wasn’t here you would know nothing so I’ll help you’. This statement was a great way to open the dialogue even further and really look and think in-depth about the wondrous world of fairies.

Here are some of our children’s initial thoughts:
Fairies only come out at night.
All fairies are nice.
Fairies and gnomes like one another as they are similar. Gnomes wear different colour coats and fairies wear dresses and other stuff.
Some gnomes have pets like bunny rabbits and reindeers
Fairies, they only like to be seen by one another. Gnomes like to be seen by people.
There are boy fairies, they have butterfly wings.
Fairies can turn people into the size of fairies with their magic wand.


 After a couple of weeks something really exciting happened. Kelly (Sadie’s mum) said she knew of an artist based in Kaitaia by the name of Sheree Wagener who builds fairy lands, and a recent one which has been on display at the Quarry Gardens was available to us if we’d like it (Thanks Sheree J - click here and here for a link to Sheree’s Facebook and website for more details). Imagine the delight and surprise as this stunning piece turned up at kindergarten. Each time you look into this fairy world you notice a little bit more, a little something new. The timing of this art was wonderful as it truly captivated the children’s imaginations and sense of wonder – just read a few of the conversations I managed to be a part of. 


The beauty of nature instinctively immerses children in wonder, a fundamental instigator for establishing and promoting a love of life long learning amongst children (Deviney et al, 2010; Wilson 1997).




Lali: I wonder what’s behind the door? May be there’s a fairy in there.
Penni-May:Yes, I think there is a fairy in there but she’s asleep so she can’t hear us. So…she must live in that house, here in fairy-tale land.
Lali:Is there fairies in there? I have fairies ay my daddy’s house, they might like to visit these ones.
Pippa L:I can’t see them. (Calls out) Fairies, where are you? Hmm, they won’t come out.
Lali:This is their home; I think they do live there as there are pictures on the wall.
Pippa L:(Calls out) –Come here, we can’t see you. Shall we wait for them?
Lali:Yes, we have to cover our eyes for 6 minutes or they won’t come out.
Sienna:(who had been watching with interest) I don’t know, but perhaps fairies are invisible.
Lali: I have a good idea; we could go hunting for fairies.
Sienna:I go hunting for fairies but I never do see one. You know that fairies are quite shy.
Max:This place is only for real fairies.
Toby:They must be in the house cause the lights are on in there.
Cleo:(head to the glass) I can hear something inside…I can hear sound.
Lily:Shush, shush (to everyone)
Sienna: Hmm, if you hear a noise inside, then there must be a fairy in there.

Images from Sheree Wagener

As the weeks have gone on our fairy corner has been transformed. The children have built fairy worlds at kindergarten, using their imagination and all the natural resources on offer to them. Many children have shared treasures from home – Sadie brought in a fairy house her and her dad built together - whilst many have brought in books to share or other special items to add to the already beautiful fairy corner. Fairies have been drawn, made from wire, discussed in depth, transferred into imaginative play, and many creative stories have been told.



As I worked alongside the children in their fairy kingdom, I encouraged the wonder and imagination of the children, I also modelled for them that life is not always about having the right answers. In fact, having the right questions can actually prove to be a more important and rewarding skill in life. I encouraged the children to explore, look, listen, touch, pick apart, compare, collect, sketch, and anything else that came naturally to them; this in turn allowed for their own open-ended investigations that were of course lead by their own curiosity and desire.


 


Of course after several more weeks the children began to wonder if any fairies were indeed visiting this special place they had created. Sienna, our fairy expert, told us, ‘They haven’t come to us yet as when they do they move your things around. They leave notes, but not all the time and they leave fairy dust and sometimes presents’

After this comment suddenly the children set about creating gifts for the fairies in the hope that they may visit us. Again totally independently the children demonstrated their care and respect for this special secret world by making a tiny necklace from beads, a crown, collecting shells, decorating a pine cone with gold paint and glitter, picking flowers, making a fairy peg doll, writing a note and leaving this all out on a collected leaf in the middle of fairy corner one Friday before they all went home for the weekend. They also made sure to give me instructions before they left telling me, ‘Fairies will only come if it’s quiet so no music or anything, and lights off too, everything off’.

The gifts are prepared and waiting for visitors.
I must have done a good job of following these instructions as one morning as we headed to fairy corner we were in for a lovely surprise; some flowers, a precious rock, a tiny note and something sparkly. Sienna was the first to come across the scene telling me ‘I told you they would come. Heaps of fairies must have come as there’s lots of fairy dust. Look, I think those are footprints’.

Slowly others joined us and we debated about the gifts, the note and where the fairies are now.

Pippa L:I know where the fairies are, they went into the house maybe, into the secret door.
Sienna:Well, if fairy dust is here it means they live here.
Sadie: Look at the crystal they left, they went to their workshop and made it for us.
Sienna:Yes, as they do make things.
Sadie: This is to say thank you to us.
Pippa L:Maybe it came from crystal land, ssh everyone we should go now and leave the fairies alone.






Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there will ever be to know and understand' (Albert Einstein)
This is just a small snippet of the learning and wondering that has happened in this special little corner of Mairtown over recent weeks, there is so much more I could tell you, but not enough space or time to write it all down. What I have really enjoyed is watching the children take such care over their play with the delicate resources, how they have worked almost everyday to add something new and special for the visiting fairies and perhaps what I have enjoyed observing the most is just how special childhood is, when we allow and encourage children to wonder, to be imaginative, to believe in fantasy and to be children.




A couple of years ago I wrote an article where I stated‘Remember back to your own childhood, the thrill of spotting a sparkling rainbow inside, reflected from the window, or your mind imagining all sorts of creatures hidden in the trees as you listened to the wind making music with the leaves. For most of us, these times are long forgotten and as adults we rush from one job to the next. Perhaps we too should slow down, take the time to observe nature and become filled with wonder, excitement and imagination once more…Childhood should be a time of magic and wonder; let us honour this’ (NZ Education Gazette, 2013).



More than anything I believe we should want children to be captivated in what they learn, as it is that captivation that will lead to the desire of deeper understanding and the seeking of knowledge. The world around us holds an infinite number of lessons for us and is filled with what can seem like magic.



“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.” (Rachel Carson)

Until next time,
Christine
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Christine's published work

December 6, 2015, 12:48 am
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In 2014, amid Christine’s professional learning and personal goals was the aspiration to have some of her research and work published. So, in December, after an absolutely huge year of scholarship writing and presenting Christine then went on to submit an article to the New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work to gage their interest. As you can imagine they were very interested and asked Christine to re-submit her work using their format.
Christine’s work was accepted and then peer reviewed and now after almost a year of anticipation, Christine’s article Drawing. The Universal Language of Children has been published and is available to read online.

I have asked Christine for permission to share this work with you, Mairtown’s readers and blog followers. I know for many of you Christine’s writing is highly regarded. This article provides another opportunity to glimpse into the mind and passion of an incredibly motivated, mindful and communicative early childhood professional. Zair, Susie, Donna, Sarah and myself feel truly fortunate to work alongside Christine, we are incredibly proud of her ongoing achievements. I hope this article ignites your thinking too.

Haere ora
Kim

Click here to view the article
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Being Grateful in this Festive Season

December 15, 2015, 1:34 am
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Christmas is just around the corner now and there is most definitely a buzz in the air.  The children are talking a lot about Santa coming and sharing their excitement with one another. At kindergarten we have been enjoying and embracing this energy. We have a daily advent calendar that is opened at group time, Donna and the children have been baking and decorating short bread cookies, and everyone has been making festive decorations.

 
To extend on this festive energy last Monday the whole kindergarten went on a special excursion to the ‘Festival of Christmas Trees’ at the St John’s Golden Church. This is a lovely event put on by the church where they invite community groups to decorate a tree. In November some of our children helped make some beautiful decorations and then the teachers used them to decorate the Christmas tree. There were ‘peg fairies’ and ‘golden bomby-knockers to just name a few things.
 
When the time came to go for our walk to the church lots of the children were delighted and surprised to see our tree on display. There was also a lot of other lovely trees to look at. The children enjoyed singing to the ladies who were running the festival of Christmas Trees and in return they had some delicious shortbread (thanks Raewyn!) and a story to read.  It was such a lovely walk in our community and we had such a wonderful turn out of helpers with nearly 60 of us getting out and about. Mairtown Kindergarten loves being a part of community events like this and really appreciate that we were invited to participate.  
 

Christmas brings a lot of joy and happiness but we are also very mindful of how this time of year can be a little stressful and overwhelming due to the pressure that seems to come with the festive season. With this in mind we wanted to trial something new and create a gratitude tree for our Christmas recognition at kindergarten. We have a lovely branch painted white that is constantly being used to display beautiful things and now it is covered in special notes from all our families about why they are grateful to have their child in their lives.



Each child had a lovely black and white photo placed on some card and these were then given to the parents to write a note to their child. Once this was done they were hung on our lovely tree.


 
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and showing appreciation, it is a mindful acknowledgement of all we have been given.
We know that for each family, their child is an absolute treasure and blessing in their life, so that is why we had invited them to write a message of love and appreciation to their child. Here is small snippet of some of the beautiful notes shared,
 
When we planned for this idea, we knew it was going to be very special. However we had no idea how absolutely stunning the finished tree would turn out to be. The messages written on these cards are so special and just make our hearts sing. We are very thankful to each of these heartfelt messages, the children have just loved being able to find their photo and have the words read back to them. This beautiful little tree has become not only a celebration of Christmas but a reminder that the most important things in life are not ‘things’ but people.
 
Each of these loving notes have been documented for the children’s individual portfolios. This means that they can be revisited by them for many years to come. It has been a lovely way to capture the parent’s voice, which in turn allows us as teachers to get know each child that much more in a meaningful and holistic way.

‘Expressing gratitude is a rewarding habit that affirms the grace of the giver. Gratitude opens our hearts and encourages us to savour each gift that comes our way. It is a reminder that one can always find reason to be glad’
We are all very grateful to be able to work with such wonderful children and their families. Each day they bring us so much joy. As teachers at Mairtown we feel blessed to be a part of such vibrant, caring and thoughtful community. With that in mind we would like to say a huge thank you to all our kindergarten families for all that they do and bring to Mairtown.



We hope that the festive season for you all is full of precious moment’s shared loved ones. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year.
Kindest regards,
Christine, Kim, Donna, Susie, Sarah and Zair

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Creating both beauty and functionality

January 24, 2016, 8:46 am
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Welcome back to the first blog post of the year after our long 4-week summer break. This term is only just beginning and as always we know the children are going to be bringing in lots of ideas, passions and interests to kindergarten, which will guide our curriculum and the learning that takes place.


To all our Mairtown whānau, we hope you had a wonderful holiday and were able (despite the rain!) to enjoy lots of relaxing family time together, you may notice a few changes around Mairtown this term. To all our new families and children – welcome to Mairtown – we are so looking forward to getting to know you all and welcoming you into our special kindergarten.


As a little taster of what is to come this term, I thought I would share some photographs of Mairtown before the term began - a great deal of thinking (and re-thinking!) goes into setting up the environment so that it can nurture yet also challenge, provoke, engage and ultimately inspire the children to learn. This year the teachers met up the day before kindergarten, relaxed and refreshed, and began to put into action inside, all the thoughts that had been buzzing through their heads over the holidays.



We hope you agree Mairtown is looking beautiful (especially after it has been newly painted), and is it this beauty and consideration to aesthetics that encourages and supports the children’s learning. When we prepare the environment at Mairtown it is done with intent; the environment really is the main teacher. Who could possibly disagree with the words of Plato when he states,

 The most effective kind of education is that a child should play among lovely things.



From looking at the photos you may get a few clues as to some of the interests the children expressed throughout last term, which we would like to support and foster further this coming term.

When preparing the environment one of our other aims is for it to be flexible and open-ended.Again when we do this, we need to be intentional and considerate of our children’s plans and ideas. Very often we observe how children play and invent games based around how they want to use certain resources and this is often very different to what we as the teachers may have envisioned such items being used for! It is the flexibility of the environment that supports all our learners.  If we are too restrictive and rule based we immediately limit children’s engagement and any potential for valuable learning and creative thinking.




“When children are offered flexible furnishings and open-ended materials, they engage in the range of activities that foster their development and learning – moving, manipulating, investigating, building, representing, creating, communicating and problem-solving” (Curtis & Carter, 2003, p.57).



So once again, welcome back to a new and exciting year. Remember Mairtown is your place, a home away from home, always feel free to stay and enjoy this space with your children. We hope you can see how we aim to make the environment ‘speak’ to the children, to draw them in, to provoke their curiosity and wonder, to “combine both beauty and functionality” (Ministry of education, 2009).


Mā te wā,
Christine
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Thinking about Protected and Enclosed Spaces

February 3, 2016, 8:57 pm
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Setting up our early childhood spaces should be a thoughtful and considered notion. Every child deserves the respect of teachers who work hard to create environments that allow for many different types of play to take place. I am very honoured to work amongst a team of focused, thoughtful and dedicated professionals who are always striving to provide spaces that are inviting and safe for the children that attend Mairtown.

Late last year we were lucky enough to attend a workshop run by Robin Christie from Childspace (thanks to the NKA) which focused on designing environments. One aspect of this that stood out to us as a team was the importance of creating protected and enclosed spaces for children, sanctuaries where children could get away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the kindergarten.

“Protected retreat spaces need not be huge, in fact smaller spaces are a vital part of the recipe. Soft, inviting areas like this also act as 'sanctuary' spaces for children to be able to have somewhere to withdraw to when they feel overwhelmed, aiding in developing self-regulation.” (Childspace)
On reflection we realised that this was something that we were already successfully doing within our kindergarten environment in some respects but enjoyed the inspiring ideas that we could add to our bag of tricks. With that in mind we returned to work and began planning  how we could enhance the learning environment for our children.

Children love to be in spaces where they can ‘shut’ others out. This may sound harsh but it is valid and empowering for them. Being able to take control of a space and make it their own through their imagination and play is a very important. Children are often more open and free in the way that they verbally express themselves through imaginary play when they feel that there is no adult ‘watching’ or ‘listening in’. So as teachers we like to create spaces where adults can still safely keep an eye children, but in an unobtrusive way.


Here are a few examples of ways that we took information and ideas from Robin Christie's workshop and how we implemented them into our practice. We started with the whare tākaro (play house) upgrade.
This was always a nice space for children’s play however as a team we felt that it could be enhanced by adding a new beautiful fence and gate around the outside of the deck to give it more of an enclosed feeling. This has been done and the way that the children are interacting with the space is just lovely to observe; they seem to really enjoy the act of closing the gate behind them. There is a lot of in-depth imaginary play that has been taking place as well as some solitary and small quiet play. All in all it has added a wonderful new space for our children to explore.



"Being able to relax and feel protected from intrusion or competition, as children play alone or with a friend, helps them regain their inner peacefulness." 
(Cryer, Harms, & Riley, 2003)

Another idea which we took from our workshop was using electrical conduit and electrical tape to make light weight, easily moveable huts. Thanks to Scott Electrical Whangarei who donated the conduit we have been able to make two huts. These have proven to be popular with the children. One is smaller and is in our sandpit at the moment. We find children playing within the hut and although it doesn’t have any ‘walls’ it seems to outline a special place for children to take ownership of.



Our other conduit hut is bigger and has been used in a number of ways, often having a cover over it which makes it a space were children meet and play. The huts can easily be moved by the children, making their play with it more interesting and fun. Both constructions have added lots of value to the environment that we provide for our children.

Kable (2010) beautifully reflects on creating special spaces for children by saying “Spaces to pause, spaces to hide, spaces to meet, small spaces; secret places: children love to have nooks, crannies, cubbies and places to kick back and relax in their play spaces.”
Here are a few of the other small, protected and enclosed spaces that we have at Mairtown Kindergarten.
Tee Pee


Bed Swing
Hammock

Mosquito Net
Family corner
We look forward to watching the children from Mairtown Kindergarten interact with all the small enclosed and protected spaces. As a team we are committed to providing our Mairtown Kindergarten community with a learning environment that fosters children's development in a holistic and meaningful way. This is just one small snippet of the thoughtfulness that goes into our work.
Kindest Regards,
Zair
"Children’s well-being, safety, learning and social development, as well as their essential enjoyment of childhood, are affected by the extent and the quality of their opportunities to play. By the same token, the cooperation of many different professionals and roles is needed to ensure a cohesive and effective approach."
(Shackell, Butler, Doyle and Ball)


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Celebrating Chinese New Year

February 11, 2016, 6:08 pm
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Monday the 8th of February was the official start of Chinese New Year.  At kindergarten this has been a greatly anticipated event where we have been researching, discussing and sharing knowledge about the importance of celebrating Chinese New Year Festivities.  


Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, has more than 4,000 years of history.  It is the grandest and most important annual event for Chinese people.  The festival lasts for 15 days from the 1st to 15th day of the first lunar month.  According to the 12 animals signs of the Chinese zodiac, 2016 is the Year of the Monkey.

An important part of Chinese New Year festivities is giving children a red envelope which traditionally has money inside, however our children were pleasantly surprised to find a chocolate coin in theirs.  Upon giving the red envelopes we were careful to keep with tradition and present with two hands and our children remembered to receive it with their two hands (palms facing upwards).


Red envelopes, also called red packets, lucky money or hongbao in Chinese are a popular monetary gift given on some important occasions or festivals in China, especially widely seen during the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival).  It is a Chinese New Year gift with money stuffed into a red paper for children  The red packets are usually presented by parents and grandparents to children during Chinese New Year, and is probably one of the most recognised traditions that is observed during the Festival.







Here are some of the children’s comments about the celebration;

Austin:  “I had a chocolate coin, it was yummy”.
Kayla:  “I got a chocolate coin, I ate it in the car”.

Matteo:  “I had chocolate money in my envelope, mine didn’t melt.  I ate it when I got home.  I loved the spaghetti”.
Pippa:  “I liked everything”.

Maximilian:  “There was a chocolate coin in mine too”.
Tanner:  “A chocolate coin was in there and it was all sticky”.



As part of our celebrations, on Wednesday we held our Chinese banquet.  At Mairtown having shared kai is a great ritual where we love to recognise the diversity among our kindergarten whānau.  We are fortunate to have wonderful connections with one of our past families who run Big Wall takeaways.  A huge thank you to Ken and Kelly for preparing such a scrumptious feast of noodles, rice, black bean and beef, chicken and cashew (to name a few options), there was plenty to share with all our children and whānau.

“Children’s learning and development are fostered if the well-being of their family and community is supported; if their family, culture, knowledge and community are respected; and if there is a strong connection and consistency among all aspects of the child’s word” (Te Whāriki, Ministry of Education, 1996, p.42). 


Speaking on behalf of the teaching team it is so rewarding holding events such as Chinese New Year, especially to receive positive feedback from our whānau, “Wonderful time, thank you” “What a lovely thing to do for the Chinese and other students!  Lots of fun!!” “I love foods, just like in the Philippines.  Wonderful time for the family and kids especially for the staff".  "Such a great turn out.  Love it how the Mairtown community gets on board for these events.  Thank you”.


We had such a lovely time celebrating Chinese New Year, thank you to our lovely Donna for organising the feast, and a big thank you to everyone who contributed.  We are fortunate to receive wonderful ongoing support from our kindergarten whānau. 

Gong Xi Fa Cai – Wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year
Susie   

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Risky play - children love it and need it.

February 15, 2016, 11:17 pm
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Fear, you would think, is a negative experience, to be avoided whenever possible. Yet, as everyone who has a child or once was one knows, children love to play in risky ways—ways that combine the joy of freedom with just the right measure of fear to produce the exhilarating blend known as thrill (Peter Gray, 2014)



At Mairtown we foster aspects of risky play for children, we allow tree climbing and rock jumping and provide an environment and programme which not only challenges children but allows them to encounter, manage and master their own risks.

We also know, as do all our whānau, that our children are confident, capable and willing (as well as wanting and needing) to push their boundaries; to engage in some risky activities which ultimately will provide opportunities for them to learn new skills, try new behaviours and reach their fullest potential.




This week I read an interesting article about risky play by Peter Gray - a researcher in educational psychology from Boston University - and it made me think really hard about our play at Mairtown and what we consider is normal and expected for children’s learning and development.

So just briefly I thought I’d share some photos of our children engaged in play that feels risky for them, along with a couple of extracts from the article. I hope it makes you think as much as it did me – risky play can be worrisome to observe as an adult - yet I know I climbed trees, tried to jump across streams etc., as a child - at the time, that was what I sought out and craved. I feel that risky play is something that children need and ultimately have a right to experience. How does it make you feel?


Children are designed by nature to teach themselves emotional resilience by playing in risky, emotion-inducing ways.  In the long run, we endanger them far more by preventing such play than by allowing it. And, we deprive them of fun (Peter Gray, 2014)


Children are highly motivated to play in risky ways, but they are also very good at knowing their own capacities and avoiding risks they are not ready to take, either physically or emotionally. Our children know far better than we do what they are ready for…Children know how to dose themselves with just the right amount of fear, for them, and for that knowledge to operate they must be in charge of their own play. (Peter Gray, 2014).




In risky play, youngsters dose themselves with manageable quantities of fear and practice keeping their heads and behaving adaptively while experiencing that fear.  They learn that they can manage their fear, overcome it, and come out alive.  In rough and tumble play they may also experience anger, as one player may accidentally hurt another.  But to continue playing, to continue the fun, they must overcome that anger.  If they lash out, the play is over.  Thus…[risky] play is, among other things, the way that young [children] learn to control their fear and anger so they can encounter real-life dangers, and interact in close quarters with others, without succumbing to negative emotions (Peter Gray, 2014)




Ma te wa, Christine

The link to the full article can be found here, it makes for quite provocative reading.



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The best part of me

February 22, 2016, 12:47 am
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A couple of weeks ago, I shared, with a small group of children, a book titled ‘The best part of me’ by Wendy Ewald. What is so lovely about this particular book is that it was part of a project – Literacy through photography – which records children’s very honest yet beautiful words about their bodies, captured alongside some stunning photography.




After sharing this book with the children I became curious about how our tamariki at Mairtown regard their own bodies: What do they like best and why? Rather than using photography, I encouraged the children to study themselves in a mirror then, providing pen and paper, asked them if they’d like to draw the part of their body that they liked the best. This took a great deal of thought and contemplation. Many children focused in on one aspect of their bodies then, after looking in the mirror, changed their minds to another, then another. It was very tricky indeed to just think of one thing and many just had to settle on two or more! But what has come out of this has been truly amazing, and I have noticed how the book has been a wonderful catalyst for sparking meaningful conversations and promoting a positive self-image for all the children.



As I chatted with the children, and they carefully examined themselves, our conversations and observations together appeared to boost the children’s perceptions of themselves. As many children sat and considered what they felt was their best part, their friends were keen to help them out – I like your eyes as they are colourful; Your best part are your feet as they run so so fast and dance well. I can't help but feel the whole experience has been really beneficial for developing a positive self-image as well as enabling us as small groups to look at how we are all different, yet also so similar; not only did we develop a positive self esteem of ourselves but also of those around us.



The human soul needs actual beauty more than bread – D H Lawrence


Self-esteem is an interesting notion to tackle as a teacher but such an important and valuable possession to have for life.

Self-esteem is about valuing who you are. It is about self-respect and liking yourself. It is not conceit or boastfulness, but about believing in yourself and what you can do in the world… Children are not born with self-esteem. It is learned through how parents and other important people feel about them, and treat them… Self-esteem gives you the confidence to have a go at something new, and helps you build resilience to overcome setbacks...Self-esteem is feeling that you have a place in the world where you belong – that you are part of a family where you matter. It is knowing about your roots and having confidence in your future (Child and youth health, 2016)





Unlike the original book, I encouraged the children to draw their ‘best part’. This proved really successful and as soon as they completed their drawings - which meant really studying themselves carefully - they were able to put into words much more fluently the reasons they liked that part of their body best.

Drawing nurtures children’s abilities to think, feel and imagine and to share ideas with others (Kolbe, 2007)

Here is just a selection of the some of the children's thoughtful words and observations:


Jonah : I like my hair cut cause my daddy cuts my hair. I like my ears cause they are listening and I listen when mummy tells me to feed the cats. And I love my cheeks because I like them cause mummy kisses me on my cheeks. I like my smile cause my mummy gives me kisses on my smile. I like my head cause it looks like me.




Raina: Hmm, it’s your shoulders that are best. That’s because I put bears on my shoulders and it makes me happy.


Finn: My favourite part is my hand because I can press up, and I can climb, and they play dinosaurs. My hands are small, my hands can make claws! And my hands like playing animals like sea animals, My hands help tidy up and give hugs to momma.




Sienna: I like my hands best. So that’s because I can move my hands, they pick up things and they can tidy my room, they work and go and build things. If I didn’t have my hands I wouldn’t be able to do anything. And when I’m scared at bed time I wouldn’t be able to hold onto something – what would I do? –I guess I’d have to be a bit braver.




Sadie: The best part of me is my face, it has my nose, which has a red dot on it and two nostrils, and eyes and teeth and a tongue. My eyes are colourful and I also love my hands cause they have nail polish. My nose I like, it can tell me when it's dinner time.


Tamsyn: I like my teeth best because I want to eat my fingers – ouch (laughing). They are white and too little and my tongue is there. I have only 9 teeth on my drawing but 16 in my mouth. I eat with teeth and I have to clean my teeth .... a lot!



Tanner: My best thing is my eyes, yes I like my eyes best. I like them as I can see things like animals and like motorbikes, my eyes are green and white. They are the part of my body I like best.


Ruby's nose

Ruby: I like my hands best because I can grab things with them, they can draw books, they can put my shoes on and sometimes I wear polish on my nails from my make up box. I like dressing myself with my hands and I also like my nose because it can smell things like lollies and they have two nostrils.


And then of course there are the drawings and thinking of the children talking about what they liked best about us (their teachers), their friends and their family members! Here is a little peek into what Sadie liked best about Susie,


 I like her lovely ears best cause they have earrings in them.


And Danielia's thoughts on Sienna,


Hmm there's lots I like best, I like her hair...maybe it's her head and her eyes. Her eyes are really nice and happy and big.

Then of course, there is Ruby's opinion of me,



                           I  like your hair, cause, it's actually quite soft!


This has been a really beautiful project to work with alongside the children. I wish I could have shared all the children's lovely ideas and thoughts, however I hope you have enjoyed reading the selection I have provided as much as I did.

Ka kite koutou,
Christine






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