Ka kite koe e Forsaith!

Sadly, Forsaith leaves us officially today to head off to one of the centres in Whakatane which is run by one of our good friends. Thank you to all the Hahipene whanau that shared your taonga with us during the time here at Matariki and we know she is in good hands with facilitators who are just as enthusiastic and passionate in children's learning. Here are just some of the photos of the tamariki, Forsaith and mum during her last day with us. The tamariki are enjoying some of the goodies that Liliana brought in for the tamariki and the staff, thank you Lil.

Tena koutou katoa!

Kia ora whanau, this is just one way that we achieve foundation skills with our tamariki. Foundation skills are crucial to the more formal learning they will experience at the new entrance level. The earlier we can instill these types of skills the better it will be for your child when they make the transition to school. In this video I'm working on their short term memory, by saying a few numbers~letters~names or colours and getting the tamariki to repeat them. The best thing about this activity is that it's all about having fun but learning an important skill at the same time. When children eventually head off to school. the teacher will more then likely give tamariki 2-3 tasks to do at once and children will need to commit these to short term memory. Therefore, for us as facilitators, to instill these types of skills at this level is significant. If they can't do this by the time they enter school then it maybe very frustrating for the teacher and more importantly for the tamaiti. Have a fun week everyone.

Notice to all our whanau!

What a busy couple of weeks it has been, hence the reason there hasn't been much posting during this time. During our staff only day last friday, we cleared the entire Starlight side out and started from scratch. The purpose was to prepare these areas for our tuakana and teina (toddlers) merge as well as creating a safe area for our pepe. Again because of the limited space inside, we really had to think of how we could use every little space to our advantage and again I believe we have achieved this. A reading titled: Open... shut them... open... shut them... How we influence inclusive practice by Charlotte Robertson will be sent out to all parents to inform you as part of the reason why this change has occurred. Part also, is to create more inside space for all groups as for those who have been to the centre, would agree that the inside space is small. To those staff and whanau that gave their time willingly without grouse, we thank you so much for offering your time and effort. To the management team, thank you for providing the means to support us in our vision of becoming a move inclusive teaching and learning environment. And to all our whanau, thank you for your understanding as to the reason why we had a staff only day.

Take a look at the new lay out...