Tena koutou e te whanau...

This is just a catch up of the kaupapa we have been implementing here at Matariki to help children work alongside each other in a positive manner. The recent panui sent was tilted: ‘What does good behavior and sharing mean to you.’ Most whanau would by now have received your child’s responses however some children are still on holiday so we will discuss this with them when they return.
The children’s responses have been put up on a big chart and reinforced at mat time. For those children who are unable to give a response due to either being shy or does not yet have the ability to verbally express his/her self, staff will write their sharing experiences they observe and send home also. Whanau, if you have any strategies you use at home to help encourage ‘Sharing or Good Behaviour’ we would love you to share this with us. Followed is the discussion of the children’s responses:
Things you can say to help you and your friends…
If you want a turn of a toy…
· Please can I have a turn
· Can I have a turn after you please
If someone wants a turn of your toy…
· You can have it after me
· You can have a turn after me
If some is using their hands or feet to hurt you…
· Stop it, leave me alone
· Stop hitting me
· Stop, you are hurting me
If that person does not listen to you, who can you ask to help…
· Tell a teacher to help you
· Ask a friend to help you
Discussed by children and staff to encourage sharing on Mon 16th Jan 2012
We trust those whanau who have received the reading ‘The vital role of play in Early childhood’ by Joan Almon was informative. The next reading we would like to share with you is tilted; ‘Guiding Children’s Behaviour in Positive Ways’, by Anne Stonehouse. Some of the strategies discussed in this reading have proved helpful for the tamariki and staff attending Matariki. This reading will be sent out very soon.

Ngaa mihi mo te tau hou whanau!

Wed 11th Jan 2011
Kia ora whanau, nau mai, hoki mai ki to koutou kohungahunga me kii ko Matariki. Welcome back to Matariki, we trust you have had an awesome break with your whanau and are rearing to begin the New Year. For the next couple of weeks before term 1 officially begins, we will be focusing on our team goal which is Sharing and what it means to tamariki and kaimahi. Again, we will also be focusing on what 'Good Behaviour' means to tamariki and some strategies children can use with their peers if they think someone is being unfair to him or her. The children’s responses will be written up on big charts as well as a copy sent home for whanau so that whanau are informed of the strategies we will be using here at Matariki. A panui will be sent to you called ‘The vital role of play in Childhood’, by Joan Almon. This reading will give you a bit of an incite of why we believe play is an important part of a child’s learning development. If you have not received a copy of this reading, please request one from the centre.
Ngaa mihi nui, na ngaa kaimahi o Matariki.

Kia ora e te whanau...

Just a reminder that the Matariki Xmas Party is this Mon 19th Dec 2011. Whanau are all welcome. Mihi whakatau (informal greeting) will begin at 11am then followed with items performed by the children and staff. Hope to see you all there. Just below are a few awesome photos that some of the tamariki had taken, enjoy!

Tena koutou e te whanau...

Kia ora whanau, anei etahi whakaahua ano. Here are some photos of the tamariki going to get bamboo to make tee-pee and also a few tamariki helping to make porridge for morning tea, enjoy!

OUR RUGBY GAME

Hi whanau, here are just some of the photos of the tamariki having a game of rugby, enjoy!

"They playing rugby, Aniheta is kicking the ball." Naru

Ï'm kicking the ball and I'm getting the goal." Aniheta

"That my ball." Cedric

"We sitting, me and Hiiti-Tania watching the boys play rugby." John

"That's me with the headband, butter cups. We have a umbrella because we get hot." Makere

Ngaa mihi nui kia koe pirihimana Trish!

Tena koutou katoa e te whanau... I te Mane, i haere mai a Trish, (he pirihimana) ki te korero ki ngaa tamariki i ngaa tohutohu o te ora i te waa e eketia ana te motuka e ngaa tamariki. Tino kaha ngaa tamariki ki te whakautu i ngaa patai tika a Trish. Ngaa mihi nui kia koe Trish. Noreira e te whanau, anei ngaa pikitia e whai ake nei ma koutou, kia ora!

bey blade photos

Tena koutou katoa e te whanau

Just to let you know the holidays are upon us again in the next week and a bit. We’ll get the holiday programme out to you all by Wednesday next week. If we decide to take the tamariki to the movies during the holidays we will let you all know how much you may need to contribute for this. A reminder; if your child is not in during the holiday break please phone and let the centre know. Below are a few more photos of some of the tamariki during the bike-a-thon, enjoy.

Our Bey-blade Bike-a-thon

Just to let all our whanau know, the Bey-Blade Bike-a-thon was an absolute success. A thank you must go out to our whanau who got behind the kaupapa and sponsored their tamaiti in this awesome event. The bike-a-thon itself went throughout the whole day whereby those tamariki who chose to participate went in groups of three around the track as many times as they could. Below is a list of the amount of times each child rode around the bike track during the morning. Aniheta; 14 ½ times, Tutepakorarangi; 9 times, John; 8 times, Naru; 5 times, Rarotapuhikura; 25 times; Hare; 10 times, Te Kupu; 9 ½ times, Mihiata; 10 times, Kanuehi; 9 times, Wenarata; 4 times, Cedric; 1 time, Alyas; 6 times, Makere; 1 time, Tangitawhiti; 2 times, Georgia; 2 times. The Bey-Blades will be given to your tamaiti tomorrow afternoon along with a certificate of participation and a reciept for the purchase of your child's bey blade. Thank you also to Koro Rua who provided the pigtail poles for the track, management for providing sausages, bread and iceblocks, whanau who were able to pop in for the event, Kmart for suporting the event, whanau who gave bikes to the centre, whanau who brought their child's bike in for the day, staff who baked and cooked for the day, Puhi for sending letters out to whanau, Mark for mowing our lawn, and of course to all our Matariki staff who got behind the fantastic day. Ngaa mihi kia tatou katoa. Below is a few photos of our day.

Our Vist to Matata Early Learning Centre

Just a quick update on our trip yesterday, we were fortunate enough to be invited out to the Matata Early Learning Centre to spend the day with Whaea Margie, Whaea Lucy Rust and their whare kohungahunga ataahua. Vila and Whaea Muffy were able to take a group of 7 tamariki who thoroughly enjoyed their day out yesterday being able to see Whaea Lucy again, meeting new people and seeing a different environment to their own. None of us wanted to leave yesterday and couldn't believe how fast time flew by. Lastly, we would like to share a couple of photos that we were lucky enough to take of our time spent at Matata. Thankyou to Whaea Margie and her awesome whanau for having us yesterday what an awesome day it was!

BEY BLADE BIKE-A-THON

Kia ora whanau: some of the tamariki have been showing such an interest in the Bey Blade game that the staff are putting on a bike-a-thon in the next few weeks. It will be called the BEY BLADE BIKE-A-THON. The date has been set for the Wed 7th Sept 2011. We are planning to funraise to purchase a bey-blade for each of the tuakana to take home. At this stage the cost for 1 bey blade is about $15 each. Therefore we would like to know if you could support these children's interest by sponsoring him/her for the bike-a-thon. You will have received a letter and sponsorship note by now explaining this however, if you have not yet recieved one, please let us know so we can have one sent to you. The bike-a-thon will consist of each child going around our bike track 14 times or as many times as they can. Some of the tamariki have already had a bey blade competition with Tiana Te Pou winning, they have also made atamira (arena's) out of boxes, tried making potaka with bottle tops and using the harakeke to spin it, as well as helped put a waiata together;

Anei te waiata e whai atu nei:

1,2,3,4 Let it rip x2

Bey blade, bey blade turning fast

Bey blade, bey blade spinning fast

Bey blade, bey blade turning fast

Twisting and rotating really fast

1,2,3,4 let it rip x2

1,2,3,4 tukuna x2

Potaka, potaka

taki huri e

Potaka, potaka

taki wiri e

Potaka, potaka

taki huri e

Rite tonu ki te awhiowhio e

1,2,3,4 tukuna x2

Learning outcomes:
We thought to share with you just some of the learning that can occur from this interest; turn taking, sharing, balance, spatial awareness, negotiation skills, maintenance skills, numeracy/literacy, safety rules, tuakana/teina concept, gross/fine motor skills, communication, oral language, just to name a few (Te whaariki 1996) and thank you for your support.

snowing in Ruatoki

Kia ora whanau

As most of you would have seen or heard, snow was falling all around the Bay and of course Ruatoki was no exception. We had about half an hour of snow fall upon as while here at Matariki and looking at the pictures below, the tamariki had an amazing time running around in the snow and you look carefully, you’ll see some of the tamariki running around with no shoes on. The staff of course was not that brave to do the same. Hope you enjoy them.

Just a thank you to those parents who were able to take time during the holidays for parent interviews. We had good feed back from these parents and just a good catch up regarding their child’s progress here at Matariki. Noreira, ngaa mihi ki koutou katoa.

Tena koutou e te whanau; here are just some of the photos that we have been able to put together for you. We now have a good collection of photos but not yet able to obtain a professional dvd. We are hoping that we will be able to obtain one soon. If you have a copy of the tamariki haka, we would like to know if we can have a copy for the centre. If you would like copies of the photos we have, please send in a usb key for this. Ngaa mihi, the staff of Matariki.