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Thinking about the benefits of play
Welcome back to a new year at Mairtown kindergarten, we trust that you have all had a relaxing and fun summer so far. This new year and new term sees us welcoming many new children and their families;...
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Culture of caring
The only way to have a friend is to be one - Ralph Waldo Emerson Returning after a summer break is always a time filled with anticipation and excitement for our children and their families at Mairtown....
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'Bum Sliding' on the Nature Programme
Last Friday (30th January) I facilitated the first of our Nature Programme excursions into Mair Park for 2015.As it is a new year, this meant that Sarah and I were also welcoming in five new tamariki...
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More than Jumping
Recently at kindergarten our children have had a really keen interest in jumping, which has actually continued on from the end of last year and into this term. It is wonderful to observe how confident...
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Drawing with Scissors: A look into the work of Henri Matisse.
Over the last couple of weeks I have introduced many of our children at Mairtown to the artist Henri Matisse. Matisse loved colour and shape, and when you look, really look into his work, you can see...
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The wonders of water play: increasing sustainability awareness
Water is a very popular resource for our children and it is highly valuable when it comes to supporting children’s learning and development. ECE Lead recognise that “Water play is an enjoyable and...
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Forest kindergarten leading the way in New Zealand
Tēnākoutou, This is just a small post from me - Christine - wishing to share with you all something a little special; something that I would love all our whānau and community to read and to be a part...
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The Owl and the Pussy-cat
Recently some our children had the opportunity to see an adaptation of The Owl and the Pussy-cat by local theatre group Company of Giants.This production was suitably described as ‘utterly delightful’...
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Culture of caring
The only way to have a friend is to be one - Ralph Waldo Emerson Returning after a summer break is always a time filled with anticipation and excitement for our children and their families at Mairtown....
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Wheel-a-thon 3rd March 2015
On Tuesday 3rdMarch 2015 we were very fortunate to have beautiful weather for our annual Wheel-a-thon fundraiser at the Kensington park courts. It was wonderful to see so many of the bikes or scooters...
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The science behind the drawings
Several weeks ago Sarah brought in some gorgeous sunflowers from her garden to share with the children at kindergarten. There is something about the sunflower that seems to totally capture the...
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Transferring knowledge from 2D to 3D - The wonders of drawing and clay work...
A few of our children have been partaking in some lovely observational drawing of wild animals. After looking closely at books and toy animals there have been giraffes, zebras, lion cubs and tigers...
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'Awhi is good medicine'
We are currently enjoying the term break here at Mairtown and will return on the 20th April. I hope that you all had the opportunity to get out and make the most the Easter weekend's glorious weather...
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Our extended playscape
Nau mai haere mai. Welcome to term two at Mairtown Kindergarten. In our absence over the term break, a year of visioning, planning and teamwork came to fruition when Cole from Stoneworks came in to...
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Room on the Broom provokes imagination and creativity
The book titled ‘Room on the Broom’ written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, would be one of our children’s most favourite and frequently requested. At the end of last term I was...
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Nurturing a sense of wonder about spiders
Last week, one of our children Sadie, brought a spider in from home, to share with her friends at kindergarten. It was quite a large spider that Sadie held in a plastic container and told me, ‘It was...
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Celebrating our kindergarten community
At Mairtown Kindergarten we believe it is vitally important to welcome our new families/whānau. A great way to achieve this is through sharing kai/food together. Celebrating our kindergarten...
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Colour our city
A few weeks ago Mairtown kindergarten was approached by a local community organisation. Having heard about our art's based curriculum they asked if any of our children would like to take part in the...
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Open-ended beauty: The value of our colourful scraves and capes
At Mairtown kindergarten one of our most highly used and valued resources is our colourful scarfs and circle capes. The simplicity of these pieces of material allow for so much open-ended play to take...
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Fire Thursday
There is something so special about sitting around the fire on a cold winter’s day, cooking delicious food. That is exactly what we do at Mairtown kindergarten; during our cool winter months we hold...
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