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Welcoming Kate with a meaningful Mihi Whakatau
This term we have the pleasure of welcoming a new teacher to our Mairtown teaching team and whānau. On Thursday 25th of August we officially welcomed Kate Newson into our kindergarten with a mihi...
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The power of imagination
I have been in the extremely privileged position to visit the Opal School in Portland, Oregon twice. My most recent visit was in June of this year. This school is an amazing place for an early...
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HAVE A HAPPY TERM BREAK
As another term ends we find ourselves reflecting on how it has been such a busy, engaging and full on time. Many wonderful experiences have been had at Mairtown Kindergarten this term and the children...
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Pom and his chainsaw: authentic and real experiences at kindergarten
Early this year I wrote about how we discovered one of our logs had started to rot and the interest that this spiked for our children (click here to see this blog post). After a good few months of the...
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Celebrating our playpod
At kindergarten one of the busiest places would be outside at our playpod area. It has now been over two years since our playpod was introduced and it is still very popular amongst our children. When...
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Tell me a dragon
Last term, many weeks ago now, we borrowed a book from our local library called 'Tell me a dragon', written by Jackie Morris. This book has inspired many stories over these weeks along with some...
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Hundertwasser inspired art, a beautiful tradition.
Each year at Mairtown, beginning in term 3, something exciting happens; the children begin creating their own individual art pieces ready to make into calendars, cards and diaries. This is a time of...
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Mairtown's 60th Birthday Celebration
There was much excitement when the start of term four began on the 10th of October, and so there should be as the tamariki were on the countdown to something worth celebrating. Something exceptional...
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POOH STICKS 2016 - A special community event
This last Saturday we have just had our Annual Pooh Sticks fundraiser. The raising of extra funds for our kindergarten community is vital to its success. This event is always a massive community effort...
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Investigating bees – do they eat grass?
Recently our children have had a real fascination with bees. This seemed to come about last term when some of our children shared their excitement when they received honey through their sibling’s...
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Manaaki at Mairtown
Manaaki - 1. (verb) (-tia) to support, take care of, give hospitality to, protect, look out for - show respect, generosity and care for others. When you walk around Mairtown Kindergarten you see...
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Rituals of our festive season at Mairtown Kindergarten
“Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.” (Roy T. Bennett)As the festive season comes round we start to think about all the wonderful things we are grateful for (among all the Christmas...
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Building relationships through art
Over the last week all the Mairtown tamariki have begun to return to kindergarten after their long 4-week summer holiday. This year at Mairtown we have 15 new children and their whānau starting with...
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Random acts of kindness
The beginning of term one at the start of a new year is always an exciting and sometimes a nerve wracking time for our children as there is plenty of catching up to do of old friends reconnecting and...
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Nau mai haere mai
Nau mai haere mai a matou whanauwhanui,Nga mihi motu tau hau.Haere mai, haere mai, haere mai.We all welcome you here today, our new whanau and those returning,We acknowledge you and greet you.Welcome,...
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Collaborative Art Pieces: Working towards a common goal
Just recently I was doing some work with the children that required them to share the ownership of a piece of art. The children were shown a provocation, a photograph of many beads that had been made...
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Observational drawing - a kindergarten perspective
Anyone that knows us at Mairtown, will know how much we value all aspects of the creative arts. One particular aspect that I choose to visit with children often is that of observational drawing. So,...
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Wheels-a-thon 2017
There is one particular favourite annual event at kindergarten, one that everyone seems to love, it’s our Wheels-a-thon fundraiser at the Kensington courts. This year the event was held on Wednesday...
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Mihi ki te Ngahere
In term 4 2016, the kaiako at Mairtown, had an idea that it would be nice to introduce a karakia or a mihi to the nature programme, as we thought it would be fitting as we enter the beautiful Mair Park...
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Sarah, our beautiful Nature Programme Coordinator
"The early childhood years are vitally important for laying the foundations of being environmentally responsible now and in the future (Hughes, 2007). It is through the interactions with the...
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