09 222 9000 silverdale@fantailschildcare.co.nz

Five Minutes With…

What room are you teaching in? Babies

I grew up in… North Shore

If you came to my house for dinner you would have… Chicken roast dinner

My favourite place is… The beach

In my car I listen to… Talkback

Early bird or night owl… Both

My friends would describe me as… Good listener and happy

If I wasn’t a teacher, I would be… Secretary

The colour that makes me happy is… Red

My favourite game as a child was… Card games

Sweet or savoury… Both

The best day of the year is… Christmas

My hidden talent is… Need lessons to whistle

My dream holiday would be… Cruising the oceans

I love the smell of… Fresh bread

Teaching is… My passion and love

I love to… Spend time with my family and

friends

My favourite season is… Spring

Newsletter

www.fantailchildcare.co.nz Kia Ora Parents and Whanau,

It has been a busy past month with preparations for our Matariki

celebrations. We had an amazing turn-out of families join us for shared

friendship soup and Maori bread this week. It was a wonderful opportunity

for the children to share with their parents what they have learnt and been

practising at their mat times for Matariki. The children enjoyed participating

in the preparation of the food (thank you to everyone who brought in

vegetables from home) and our lovely new Chef Shasha finished the dish off

with her expertise! Yum! Shasha has years of experience cooking in a

childcare centre and we are enjoying her tasty and nutritious meals. (Keep

your eye out for some exciting additions to our menu in the coming weeks).

Our teachers have been busy attending various professional development

courses over the past few months based on respectful environments,

Te Whariki—ECE curriculum updates, music and cognitive development, arts

and authentic teaching practices, positive guidance strategies and full first

aid courses for all of our teaching staff. Ongoing professional development

and learning is an important part of our teaching philosophy at Fantails. This

ensures our teachers are challenged, up-to-date with the latest research

and actively implementing best practice teaching strategies; in turn

providing our families with quality care and education.

Kind regards, Nikki Summerville –Group Manager

Show a Little Kindness

Kindness is positive quality that children learn through example.

As your child watches you help and care for others - they

witness the results.

Label and praise kind behaviour from your child.

“That was kind of you to help your sister find her favourite story

for bed-time, look how happy you made her feel”.

Fantails Childcare

Newsletter

SILVERDALE

July 2017

In the Babies Room…

One of the highlights of this month was our Matariki

celebrations where all the children participated in making kites,

painting stars and making hand prints to contribute to our

Kakahu (Maori cloak). The most exciting event of Matariki is the

famous light tunnel that Pam made, which keeps getting

bigger and better each year! Our tamariki love walking through

the tunnel and looking at all the pretty coloured lights. It is a

very exciting experience for them. Many social interactions are

happening while the children navigate their way through the

tunnel which gives them the opportunity to learn about using

their gentle hands, turn taking and language skills.

We continued our Matariki celebrations by making some

yummy soup and bread to share with our families. We would

like to extend a big thank-you to all our families who kindly

contributed to the making of our soup by donating

vegetables. Our children are engrossed in reading books and

listening to stories at the moment. We have received more new

books about social skills such as ‘Teeth are not for biting, Feet

are not for kicking and Hands are not for hitting’. We have

been extending our mat times

because our children are so

engaged and responsive with

our interactive mat times. This

experience promotes

concentration skills and a love of

learning. Winter is well under way

so remember to bring in

gumboots, warm hats and

jackets, as we still go exploring in

our garden.

Pop-up puppets!

You will need:

Paper cup

Straw or ice-block stick

Cardboard or heavy duty

paper

Colouring pens or crayons

Scissors

Stapler or sticky tape

Draw your puppet on the

cardboard - it could be a

person, or just a face. It

might be an animal, or even

a vehicle. Cut around the

puppet, making sure it can

fit inside the paper cut.

Staple or tope the puppet

to one end of the straw.

Decorate the outside of the

paper cup.

Make a hole in the bottom

of the paper cup and push

the straw through.

Carefully pull the straw

down until the puppet is

hidden.

Your puppet is now ready to

surprise and entertain!

WINDSOCK

Take advantage of winter

wind with these wonderful

homemade windsocks:

Cut the bottom out of the

paper cup.

Decorate the cup with

colouring pens or crayons.

Staple or tape crepe paper

streamers around the outside

of the narrow end of the cup.

Attach a string handle near

the lip of the cup and hang

your windsock where it will

catch the breeze.

New life for old play dough

When your play dough gets

past it, try these two

activities:

Dough gardens - Use a lump

of play dough on a meat

tray, or sturdy piece of card.

Provide flowers (fresh or

dried), leaves, sticks, shells,

pebbles etc. to decorate

Prints– Make pictures with the

play dough on a piece of

cardboard. Paint over them,

then place a piece of paper

over it and rub gently.

Carefully peel the paper

back to reveal the print.

In the Preschool Room… This month has been all about the different types of Transport! From

cars to planes to trains to rocket ships, nothing has been left out in this

exciting new topic the children have been exploring. We have

created some awesome tunnel ramps out of some large cardboard

tubes, which lead to the idea of building a rocket out of one of the

tubes. This is currently under construction – watch this space!

Speaking of space, some of the Pre-schoolers are in the process of

creating a paper mache astronaut helmet. Talking about creating a

rocket has sparked further interest in space as we have been using

inquiry to develop our learning of this topic. There have been many

activities surrounding this topic. Listening to the sounds different

transport vehicles make has helped the children learn an interesting

way to help them identify diverse forms of transport. We have also

explored art with using vehicles to create different tracks as another

for of identification. We have been building 3D models using a variety

of materials, which include paddle pop sticks, paper, bottle tops and

paint. These models are of different transport modes that have been

discussed within the room. This month we are celebrating Matariki,

the Maori New Year. This has sparked conversations about different

cultures and what they may involve. We have been busy making

kites, weaving mats, and drawing family pictures. To celebrate Maori

New Year, we decided to create ‘friendship soup’ out of vegetables.

This soup and the Maori bread

which was made from the

Junior’s room was shared with

all the children’s families for

both rooms.

We said a sad farewell to

Helen this month who has

retired, but we were delighted

to welcome Jenna into the

room.

In the Toddlers Room…

Interests in the Toddlers room are constantly changing so we

have now moved from animals to ‘How things move’ as we

noticed children absorbed in their play with cars and all things

that move. We have been making ramps and roads for the

cars to move on, putting balls down a tube to see how fast they

can roll, driving our cars around the car mat and digging and

dumping sand in the sandpit. Our tamariki are building on their

concentration skills as they sit and listen to stories about

transportation at mat times.

Matariki celebrations are in full swing with all our tamariki busy

decorating leaves for our Maori cloak, collaging stars, making

music with Rakau sticks at mat times and singing Waiata.

We are teaching children about responsibility by asking them to

put their belongings in their lockers and getting their own

jumpers out of their bags. Children are showing us that they are

very confident and capable in looking after their environment

by helping tidy up and putting toys back in the right baskets.

Self- help skills are being encouraged by supporting children to

put their own shoes and socks on. Please remember to bring in

lots of warm clothing as winter has settled in for awhile.

In the Juniors Room…

This month we have continued to explore role play. This has

extended to many different areas, with some children role

playing Doctors and Nurses, to others pretending to star in their

very own T.V show! Often large groups of children are role

playing together, not afraid to incorporate everybody’s ideas

into the role play at any time.

This month brings along with it the celebration of Matariki, the

Maori New Year. This is a time to celebrate growth and new life,

and the Juniors have been busy creating kites, stars, and

woven mats to help celebrate this time. The stars represent the

cluster of stars, Matariki (or Pleiades), which come into view at

this time, their presence signalling the start of the Maori new

year. We have been learning how to sing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little

Star’ in te reo Maori, along with strengthening our knowledge of

other te reo songs, such as ‘Ma is White’.

The children have shown an interest in sharing more about their

lives outside of Fantails, and often at mat times we will have a

few children cheerfully share with us what they have done over

the weekend, or something else that is happening in their lives,

such as upcoming holidays, or the exciting prospect of new

siblings.

The children are using great self-help skills, and are not afraid to

try to put their shoes or jumper on before coming to ask a

teacher for help. I have noticed some children helping others

with these tasks as well, which is great to see! Manners are

improving at mealtimes also, with many children politely using

kind words when needed.

Going on a bear hunt has been huge this month! Requests to

go on a bear hunt happen almost daily, with the children

deciding whether they want the story read or the story played

to them. Whenever the bear comes, chaos hits, as all the

children scramble back to

safety, making sure not to leave

anyone behind!

Te Reo Phrase:

Tau Hou Maori hari

Happy Maori New Year