Miramar North Kindergarten

Over the last few weeks, our kindergarten has been buzzing with excitement as we celebrate Matariki. The tamariki have been busy exploring the significance of this special time through creativity and art. You will see or walls with beautiful star-themed artwork, paintings, that represent the night sky.

When tamariki are learning to use scissors, they’re building lots of important skills. As they snip and cut, they’re strengthening the muscles in their hands, developing their hand/eye coordination, and practising using both hands together. They’re also learning to focus, take their time, and feel proud of what they can do. All this makes a simple cutting activity an important part of helping tamariki grow into confident, capable learners.

Loose parts are a wonderful way for our tamariki to explore throughout the day, encouraging creativity, imagination and problem solving. With open ended resources on offer, children are free to lead their own learning and create in meaningful ways.

We had lovely Kelly the librarian visit today at kindergarten. She brought her warm smile, beautiful singing, and a stack of wonderful stories. The tamariki were absolutely captivated — joining in with the songs, listening intently, and enjoying every moment of her visit. It was a engaging experience that filled our day with excitement and imagination.

We welcomed Mina and Koru the whale from Project Jonah to talk to us about the importance of looking after our ocean, and especially whales. We learned all about how whales dive, breathe, how massive they are, what they eat and how to look after them in a stranding situation. The tamariki all had turns at pouring water on Koru, remembering not to pour water near the blowhole. What an amazing educational resource. Nga Mihi Project Jonah.

Screen Printing.
The Kaiako have been teaching the Tamariki the concepts around the processes of the art technique.
Practicing our cutting skills in making our blocks.
Placing the pattern blocks down on a piece of paper, adding paint and then pulling the paint across the screen to create the underneath print. We are also using primary colours and over printing. This is to see if we can make our own colours and add depth to our designs.

Ngā mihi nui to Amy for her generous gift of the beautiful insect set preserved in clear resin. The tamariki have been fascinated by their detail, and we have created a special science area where they can observe, discuss, and learn the names of each insect. This gift has sparked conversation and curiosity, supporting our exploration of science. It also helps us deepen our respect for Papatūānuku, as we learn to be kaitiaki who care for and protect the land and the living world around us. Thank you, Amy, for supporting our learning in such a meaningful way.

🚲 We recently had our annual Wheelathon at Kindergarten. We had such a fun evening biking and coming together as a community 🍕

We are growing our own Mushrooms.

Over the past term the Tamariki have discovered little orange mushrooms growing at the base of some of our large trees. We decided that we wanted to grow mushrooms we could eat. We now have a mushroom bag that came with instructions that are easy for us to follow.

Check the bag has small holes in it.

Find the bag somewhere to live, out of the draft or direct sunlight.

When the holes start to pin, spray water on the mushroom bag.

"Look Tara our mushrooms are pinning" A child told me after two weeks of daily checks.

We can now water our mushrooms.

We are all very excited about growing our own mushrooms and that they will be pink, not so excited at the prospect of eating them.

Yesterday was an exciting day at kindergarten when Emma and Harold the Giraffe came to visit. The children were so excited to meet Harold and join Emma on a wet Monday morning. There were lots of smiles, curious questions, and plenty of giggles as Harold shared his friendly messages. It was a fun, engaging visit that left everyone buzzing with excitement long after Emma and Harold had gone.