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Newsletter 4th February 2015

Posted: 05/02/2015 in Newsletter

4^th February 2015

Dear parents and whanau

I hope you have all had a fun and safe Christmas holiday period, making the most of the lovely sunny days we have been blessed with.

As you will now be aware Ashleigh (Miss Best) has taken on an exciting opportunity to travel overseas next term. While we will all miss having Ashleigh as part of our teaching team we are also very excited for our close friend and colleague. For 7yrs we have prayed together for your children, the families of Grace and each other. We know that we will all still remain close friends and we look forward to SKYPing Ashleigh with your children on our big screen tv.

We have had a large number of new children join our Grace kindy family from last November.

A big Grace welcome to Adam Parker (mum Tania and dad Dave), Caleb Rae (mum Robyn and dad Andrew), Faith and Emily Yate (mum Caroline and dad Mark), Mackenzie Hume (mum Mel and dad Andy), Hetty Humphries (mum Megolin and dad Hunter), Isla Jenkins (mum Lyndsey and dad Adrian), Isabella Lauchlan (mum Stephanie and dad Ben ), Bria Moore (mum Debbie and dad Richard), Jayden O’Brien (mum Susan and dad Daniel), Lucy Rees-Thomas (mum Nicky and dad James), Olivia Sharma (mum Sybille and dad Ankit), Jake Uy (mum Jocelyn and dad Johnny), Heidi van Rij (mum Rachael and dad Stuart), Johnny West (mum Anna and dad Matt) and Isabella Yeoman (mum Rebekah and dad Ben).

We are currently looking at the theme of ‘Our Changing Environment’ due to the large portion of our children interested in the construction work now in progress for the church hall. Please see our ‘learning snapshot’ noticeboard, where we will record our planning and the children’s responses to this exciting project. We will also be doing some planting of vegetables in the next week

The teachers have all had a wonderful week back with your children. Once again we are all amazed at how well the children have settled back into kindy and embraced the change of hours. We are conscious of the heat and the effects of tiredness that come with the very hot outdoor play so we have made a few slight changes to the structure of the session that we feel will benefit the children.

For the Younger Tamariki Session, that is held on Wednesday and Friday, we will have our welcoming time followed by morning tea at 9.45am. We will then continue with our free play/exploration time at approximately 10am.

At 11.30am we found that the children embraced our music program, which was held in the hall. This consisted of the children using props and playing instruments, demonstrated by the teachers, to action songs. We also will be including some exploration songs where children can trial out their own moves and beats to a variety of styles of music.

We found most of the children had become quite hungry well before the original lunch break so we will change the lunchtime to 11.45am.

We will also need to change the later parent help start time to 11.30am, so we can set up for our lunch etc.

For the Older Tamariki Session, that is held on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, we found that the children were more attentive to our story/discussion time (based around the children’s interests) straight after they had eaten. So we have adjusted our structure of the mat time slightly.

9.45am we will have our welcome song and music, followed by morning tea.

10.15am we will have our story/discussion/research time then we will continue with our free play/exploration time at approximately 10.30am

The children having a turn at the weather chart will now be based on a list of children’s names rather than being done by the parent helper’s own child. This is due to having 2 parent helpers per session and only one chart. We do have a couple of ‘jobs’ the parent helper’s child will be able to do on the day though.

Please check the website for the whole programme.

Needs – Can you help?

We are needing a parent to help with our entertainment book fundraising. If you are unable to do a parent help this term perhaps you would please help us out with this fundraiser. Our previous parent who did this is happy to show you what to do.

We also need someone to kindly volunteer to sand and paint the legs of our water play troughs. Paint and sandpaper will be supplied.

Do you know someone who has access to wood, that is not tanilised, for our carpentry table? The Older Tamariki would greatly appreciate any wood that can be contributed. Please let one of the teachers know if you can help.

Reminders

As the weather is now very hot, please remember to include your child’s sunhat. We have sunhats for sale at $20 each, as well as Grace Kindergarten tee-shirts.

We have sunblock available for you to use on your children upon their arrival. The teachers will apply sunblock to the Older Tamariki after they have had lunch, as the day is now longer for them.

Please check out our facebook page (you don’t need to be a member to see it). It contains all of our updates, plus if you like or follow it you can receive updates to your newsfeeds.

We have flyers available for you to give to friends and family on the information table if you know of families who are looking for a kindergarten.

The Term Dates for this year are as follow:

Term	Start	End
One	Monday 26^th January	Thursday 2^nd April
Two	Monday 20th April	Friday 3^rd July
Three	Monday 20^th July	Friday 25^th September
Four	Monday 12^th October	TBC

Newsletter September 2014

Posted: 09/09/2014 in Newsletter

9^th September 2014

Dear parents and whanau

What a fun term it has been with our focus on extending the children physically. We have had the children rolling over mats placed on the long ramp, skipping rope challenges, extended obstacle courses and Commonwealth Games based activities such as beam work and hurdles. The children were so very proud of their achievements and it has been so lovely to see so many children still wearing their medals. We have also focused on the ways God makes us unique with all of our special body parts and our individual skills.

At present we have a large portion of our afternoon children interested in creating and inventions. We are currently extending this interest through reading and discussing stories about real life inventors and crazy inventions. We are also showing the children’s own profile books at mat times that contain running recordings of inventions and creations made during the session.

Thank you to all our families that helped and supported the disco. We all had so much fun dancing and eating and we even raised $800 to put towards our new playground. A special thanks to Sam Lienert from Prolight Electrical who supplied the fabulous lighting.

Welcome to Flynn Couchman (mum Janine and dad Ryan) who has recently started at our kindergarten.

Do you know someone who has access to wood, that is not tanilised, for our carpentry table? The afternoon children would greatly appreciate any wood that can be contributed. Please let one of the teachers know if you can help.

As the weather is now very changeable, please remember to include your child’s jacket and also their sunhat, for those changeable chilly mornings. We have sunhats for sale at $20 each, as well as Grace Kindergarten tee-shirts.

Please check out our facebook page (you don’t need to be a member to see it). It contains all of our updates, plus if you like or follow it you can receive updates to your newsfeeds.

We are having an Open Day on Thursday 18^th September from 10.30am. Please “spread the word” to any friends/ family members you know that may be interested in coming to our great Kindergarten.

There will be a number of places coming available at the end of the year so now is a good time for new families to join the Grace Kindergarten community. We have flyers available for you to give to friends and family on the information table.

The Term Dates for this year are as follow:

Term	Start	End

Three	Monday 21^st July	Friday 26^th September
Four	Monday 13^th October	Friday 19^th December

Newsletter July 2014

Posted: 04/07/2014 in Newsletter

4^th July 2014

Dear parents and whanau

While it has been a very changeable term, weather wise, we have felt very privileged to have had Easymoves Gymsports come to our kindergarten with their fundamental movement programme. This has been enjoyed by all of the children, as well as the teachers, who have gained lots of ideas on ways to extend children in their physical development.

In addition to the Gymsports programme, we have also had a relaxing and fun PJ day for all children. We also had a fantastic train trip, with our afternoon session children, to the Johnsonville Police Station. Thank you to Blair (Braedon’s dad) who helped arrange this for us. Please check the blue learning snapshot board for examples of some of the planning and activities we have been doing.

We have been continuing with our focus on ‘literacy with Meaning’. With the current Matariki celebrations, being held in the community, we have provided the children with a range of stories and songs about stars and God’s creation to link in with this.

Welcome to Joshua Teal (mum Kellee and dad Rick) who has recently started at our kindergarten.

Early next term, we will have available an information sheet about the way we incorporate maths into our session. This will be placed into all of your profile books early next term.

Thank you to Colleen who has donated 20% of all her Nutrimetics sales. If you are interested in ordering, please see Mel.

As the weather is now very changeable, please remember to include your child’s jacket for those changeable chilly mornings.

We would appreciate any donations of tissues for the current cold and flu season. There are lots of runny noses and it is important to have tissues available at all times.

If you have any friends who may be interested in enrolling at our kindergarten but would like to visit us beforehand, please encourage them to contact us so that we can arrange this. Word of mouth is a great way of connecting new families to Grace Kindergarten.

The Term Dates for this year are as follow:

Term	Start	End
Two	Monday 5^th May	Friday 4^th July
Three	Monday 21^st July	Friday 26^th September
Four	Monday 13^th October	Friday 19^th December

Newsletter May 2014

Posted: 22/05/2014 in Newsletter

22^nd May 2014

Dear parents and whanau

We have been busy this term with lots of very excited children curious regarding the demolition of the OCC building, next door, over the school holidays. While there has been a few challenges, with having a temporary smaller outdoor space, the children have all been so accepting and enthusiastic knowing that in the end we will be gaining a larger outdoor area.

The demolition and construction learning opportunities have been embraced by the teachers with lots of discussions and stories about construction vehicles and buildings. We are also linking the importance of building our lives on God’s solid foundation. The afternoon children have already made a group construction book and this will be added to once the construction of the new church hall starts.

Welcome to Naomi Beard (mum Ann-Maree and dad William), Joel Butel (mum Marie and dad Andrew), George Millar (mum Angela and dad Campbell), Alex Rhodes-Robinson (mum Heather and dad Pete), who have recently started at our kindergarten.

This term’s focus is on ‘Literacy with Meaning’ so please check the blue learning snapshot board for some of the many ways we incorporate literacy into our sessions. This also includes the afternoon children learning some sign language. This has been displayed in a folder for the children to revisit and for you to view. We still have available for viewing our ‘Math’s with Meaning’ folder, please look out for this on the sign in table.

We will be holding a nutrimetics party with 20% of all sales made being kindly donated to the kindy to fundraise for educational equipment. Please support and join us at Grace Kindergarten on Tuesday 10^th June at 7.30pm for a fun and connecting night.

As the weather is now very changeable, please remember to include your child’s jacket for those changeable chilly mornings.

The Term Dates for this year are as follow:

Term	Start	End
One	Monday 27^th January	Thursday 17^th April
Two	Monday 5^th May	Friday 4^th July
Three	Monday 21^st July	Friday 26^th September
Four	Monday 13^th October	Friday 19^th December

Newsletter April 2014

Posted: 01/04/2014 in Newsletter

Dear parents and whanau

What a fantastic term we have been having with lots of outdoor play on our new challenging equipment. The lovely weather was also well appreciated for our ‘Fish n Chip’ night where our families and children were able to connect with each other over tea and then later in the playground. We hope you enjoyed seeing your child in the powerpoint about ‘Maths with Meaning’ while eating your dinner. We have made up a book with photos from the powerpoint so please look out for this at the sign-in table.

The teachers would like to continue to encourage you to be involved in celebrating your own family’s culture. What songs, food and traditions do you like to celebrate with your family? If you have something you would be willing to share at a kindy session, please talk to one of the teachers.

We would like to thank Cameron (Hugo’s dad) for his demonstration of operatic singing to the afternoon children. Also to Rahel (Max’s mum) for working with the morning children in the making of Swiss buns.

Our current programme will continue to focus on ‘Maths with Meaning’. We are also starting to look at Jesus as a boy and as a man, in preparation for Easter. We will then show how we weave in maths and literacy, into the theme, and display on the noticeboard as a learning snapshot. Keep an eye out!

Welcome to Micah Bunting (mum Amanda and dad John), Felix Mounter (mum Nik and dad Wes) and Zach Mowat (mum Stephanie and dad Hamish) who have recently started at our kindergarten.

As the weather is now very changeable, please remember to include your child’s sunhat in their bag and a jacket for those changeable chilly mornings.

The Term Dates for this year are as follow:

Term	Start	End
One	Monday 27^th January	Thursday 17^th April
Two	Monday 5^th May	Friday 4^th July
Three	Monday 21^st July	Friday 26^th September
Four	Monday 13^th October	Friday 19^th December

Newsletter November 2013

Posted: 22/11/2013 in Newsletter, Uncategorized

15^th November 2013

Dear parents and whanau

What an exciting term we are having with such events as our quiz night fundraiser. Thank-you to Blair and his wonderful team of parents who contributed to this fun, family connecting event. Please keep a lookout over the coming weeks for the new outdoor equipment that we now have been able to order.

Our dress-up PJ and Space Day was a success and the children just loved going into the ‘blue room observatory’ armed with torches for planet spotting.

I have been informed by many parents that their children are busy singing songs in anticipation of our Christmas show which is on Friday 6^th December at 6.30pm. If you would like the words to some of the songs please contact one of the kindergarten teachers and we will email these out to you.

Welcome to Alice Hemsley (mum Robyn and dad Andrew), Cohen Monk (mum Jaimie and dad David), Jack Robilliard (mum Tina and dad Nick), Brooklyn Schleif (mum Angela and dad Shawn) and Felicia Stevens (mum Michelle and dad Wayne) who have recently started at our kindergarten.

Please remember to include your child’s sunhat in their bag now that we are having some lovely sunny days. We have sunblock available, on the sign-in table, for your use.

Our current programme has been focusing on the meaning of Christmas and the showing of God’s love to each other. We were so impressed with the recent prayers and praise many of our afternoon children gave for one of their kindy friends who went to hospital. We are so delighted to have her back with us now.

For examples of the way we include literacy, numeracy and science into our above programme please see the blue learning snapshot board.

If you have any friends who may be interested in enrolling at our kindergarten but would like to visit us beforehand, please encourage them to contact us so that we can arrange this.

Term Dates

Term 4 2013

Term 4 End date is Friday 20^th December 2013 (both sessions)

Term 1 2014

Term 1 Start date is Monday 27^th January 2014 (both sessions)

Reminder about Children’s Safety

We would like to remind parents that our driveway is one way only.

There is NO REVERSING.

Warning for new parents – turning right into Khandallah Rd means you are turning into a blind corner.

Grace Kindergarten hats and tee-shirts are available for sale. Please see the teachers. They are both $20 each.

Please save your milk bottle tops, corks and untanalised wood for our carpetry table.

Any donations of TISSUES would be greatly appreciated for the upcoming cold and flu season.

We would like to remind you that your child’s portfolio is available for you to look at any time. Also that we value your feedback at any stage either with a meeting, through a phone call or with an email.

Parent Help Roster:Due to the weekly/daily changes in our parent help roster we are unable to email out an accurate copy. Please write down the dates you have chosen in your calendar at the time of your choice. If you cannot make your parent help duty – please contact 3 other parents to try to swap before your duty date.

Please speak to myself (Pip) or Ange Marklew if you have any financial concerns regarding paying donations. We understand that this can be a tough financial climate for some of our kindergarten families.

**Remember to pack an extra set of clothes and named drink bottle for your child.

Newsletter September 2013

Posted: 27/09/2013 in Newsletter, Uncategorized

27 September 2013

Dear parents and whanau

Thank you all for supporting our Disco fundraiser. It truly was a wonderful night for connecting with other families and a fun time to show off some well practiced dance moves. We made over $700 and this will go towards our outdoor equipment, which we are now about to order.

Please remember to include your child’s sunhat in their bag now that we are starting to have some lovely sunny days. We have sunblock available, on the sign-in table, for your use.

Wishing you a safe and blessed holiday period and look forward to reconnecting with you in two weeks time.

Our current programme has continued focusing on the universe and we look forward to creating an observatory with the children’s paper machē planets along with a PJ dress-up day early in term 4. We have also been looking at being a good role model and have been linking this interest with the stories Jesus told of showing kindness and love to the people around us.

For examples of the way we include literacy, numeracy and science into our above programme please see the blue learning snapshot board.

If you have any friends who may be interested in enrolling at our kindergarten but would like to visit us beforehand, please encourage them to contact us so that we can arrange this.

Other – We have recently purchased some nature books and an additional cd and song book in te reo. We will also be purchasing a new stereo system.

Welcome to Roman Fa’atoafe (mum Alamein and dad Ropeti) and Daniel Kolia-Burns (mum Chrysanthe and dad Andrew ) who have recently started at our kindergarten.

Reminder about Children’s Safety

We would like to remind parents that our driveway is one way only.

There is NO REVERSING.

Warning for new parents – turning right into Khandallah Rd means you are turning into a blind corner.

Term Dates 2013:

Term 4 Start date is Monday 14^th October (both sessions)

Labour day is Monday 28^th October

Term 4 End date is Friday 20^th December (both sessions)

Grace Kindergarten hats and tee-shirts are available for sale. Please see the teachers. They are both $20 each.

Please save your milk bottle tops, corks and untanalised wood for our carpetry table.

Any donations of TISSUES would be greatly appreciated for the upcoming cold and flu season.

We would like to remind you that your child’s portfolio is available for you to look at any time. Also that we value your feedback at any stage either with a meeting, through a phone call or with an email.

Parent Help Roster: Due to the weekly/daily changes in our parent help roster we are unable to email out an accurate copy. Please write down the dates you have chosen in your calendar at the time of your choice. If you cannot make your parent help duty – please contact 3 other parents to try to swap before your duty date.

**Remember to pack an extra set of clothes and named drink bottle for your child.

Newsletter August 2013

Posted: 27/08/2013 in Newsletter, Uncategorized

27 August 2013

Dear parents and whanau

Please pencil in your diaries the 20^th of September, which is the date of our KINDERGARTEN DISCO. We are all having such fun practicing and learning new dance moves so that we are ready for this fun and family focused fundraising event. Tickets will go on sale from next week.

Mrs Lienert has settled so very well into the role of teacher, part time. She has already become a real asset to our kindergarten. The children and teachers are happy to have her as part of our close team.

Our programme is currently revolving around the topic ‘the world around us’. This incorporates the children’s previous interest in earthquakes with their current interest in planets and stars plus construction and bridges. We are encouraging the children to form their own theories about space and our planet earth, also to make up questions of ideas that they would like us to research with them.

For examples of the way we include literacy, numeracy and science into our above programme please see the blue learning snapshot board.

If you have any friends who may be interested in enrolling at our kindergarten but would like to visit us beforehand, please encourage them to contact us so that we can arrange this.

Other – Our recently purchased cd and song books in te reo, have proved popular with the children.

The teachers recently attended a night of professional development in relation to ECE and the use of ipads.

Thank you to Blair McDonald who has done some maintenance on our well loved bikes and our doll’s house.

A reminder about the privacy agreement signed by families on admission to our kindergarten. The wording is ‘I respect other family’s rights to privacy and agree not to place images of Grace Kindergarten events on social networking sites if children other than my own are visable in the picture, unless permission from the families is given’.

Welcome to Jemima Young (mum Tanya and dad Warren) and Alice Hemsley (mum Robyn and dad Andrew) who have recently started at our kindergarten.

Reminder about Children’s Safety

We would like to remind parents that our driveway is one way only.

There is NO REVERSING.

Warning for new parents – turning right into Khandallah Rd means you are turning into a blind corner.

Term Dates 2013:

Term 3 End date is Friday 28^th September (both sessions)

Term 4 Start date is Monday 14^th October (both sessions)

Grace Kindergarten hats and tee-shirts are available for sale. Please see the teachers. They are both $20 each.

Please save your milk bottle tops, corks and untanalised wood for our carpetry table.

Any donations of TISSUES would be greatly appreciated for the upcoming cold and flu season.

Parent Help Roster: Due to the weekly/daily changes in our parent help roster we are unable to email out an accurate copy. Please write down the dates you have chosen in your calendar at the time of your choice. If you cannot make your parent help duty – please contact 3 other parents to try to swap before your duty date.

**Remember to pack an extra set of clothes and named drink bottle for your child.

Newsletter July 2013

Posted: 04/07/2013 in Newsletter, Uncategorized

12 July 2013

Dear parents and whanau

Hopefully you will have had a chance to see our lovely Miss Best on the Māori channel last Sunday evening. The children were most impressed seeing the clip of Miss Best winning a dishwasher. Our afternoon children were also very excited to find out that we were doing our own version of ‘its in the bag’ during the session.

MRS JULIAN’S FAREWELL – We will be having an afternoon tea, on Wednesday 10^th July at 3.30pm, here at our kindergarten, to say thank you and give our farewells to Mrs Julian. Please refer to the notice beside the sign-in sheet.

Our programme has recently been focusing on the children’s interest in leaves and nature. We also have been researching and discussing, with the children, the star constellation of Matariki. This produced a great interest in the stars, the sun and space. The children expressed lots of their ideas about the greatness of God’s creation and were very interested in knowing how God created the stars.

The recent bus trip for the afternoon children to Te Papa was successful and all enjoyed the experience of a ‘night sky’ held in a dome tent. The stories about Māori treasures (taonga) and additional stories about Matariki captured the children’s interest.

For examples of the way we include literacy, numeracy and science into our above programme please see the blue learning snapshot board.

If you have any friends who may be interested in enroling at our kindergarten but would like to visit us beforehand, please encourage them to contact us so that we can arrange this.

Welcome to Eva McClintock (mum Michelle and dad Henry), Thomas Cobham (mum Kirsty and dad Josh), Amelie Nestmann (mum Daniela and dad Michael) also to Oliver Yeoman (mum Rebekah and dad Ben) who have recently started at our kindergarten.

Reminder about Children’s Safety

We would like to remind parents that our driveway is one way only.

There is NO REVERSING.

Warning for new parents – turning right into Khandallah Rd means you are turning into a blind corner.

Term Dates 2013:

Term 2 End Date is Friday 12^th July (both sessions)

Term 3 Start date is Monday 29^th July (both sessions)

Grace Kindergarten hats and tee-shirts are available for sale. Please see the teachers. They are both $20 each.

Please save your milk bottle tops, corks and untanalised wood for our carpetry table.

Any donations of TISSUES would be greatly appreciated for the upcoming cold and flu season.

Parent Help Roster: Due to the weekly/daily changes in our parent help roster we are unable to email out an accurate copy. Please write down the dates you have chosen in your calendar at the time of your choice. If you cannot make your parent help duty – please contact 3 other parents to try to swap before your duty date.

**Remember to pack an extra set of clothes and named drink bottle for your child.

Newsletter May 2013

Posted: 24/05/2013 in Newsletter, Uncategorized

24^th May 2013

Dear parents and whanau

It has been a bit chilly but still a lovely term with lots of outdoor play and the chance to explore the beautiful falling Autumm leaves.

There have been a couple of kindergarten families who have had a loved one in hospital recently so we are all feeling very blessed that our prayers have been answered. We wish them a fast recovery.

We are feeling sad to be losing our part time teacher, Mrs Julian, who has been part of our VERY close teaching team for a number of years. We are excited though for her and the future career opportunties that she has been provided with.

We will be having an afternoon tea, on Wednesday 10^th July at 3.30pm here at our kindergarten, to say thank you and give our farewells to Mrs Julian.

Our AGM (Annual General Meeting) will be held on Monday 10^th June at 7.30pm.

If you have any interested friends who maybe interested in enroling at our kindergarten but would like to visit us beforehand, please encourage them to contact us so that we can arrange this.

Programme –

The programme has recently been focusing on the children’s interest and enjoyment of drama. We have been acting out emotions and a variety of bible stories with the children. The children have been so enthusiastic that they have been re-enacting and creating their own plays in the exploration portion of the session.

The theme of ‘Autumn’ will also be connected into our mat and exploration times.

We are having a ‘pirate’ dress-up day for Wed 5^th June

For examples of the way we include literacy, numeracy and science into our above programme please see the blue learning snapshot board.

Professional Development – Pansy, Ashleigh and Pip are attending the annual CECEAA conference and workshops this weekend.

Welcome to Thomas Hunter (mum Jillian and dad Mark), also to James Parker (mum Angela and dad Craig) who have recently started at our kindergarten.

New Equipment – Our dress up trolley has now arrived and is in action. A new children’s basketball hoop has been ordered, along with a variety of books and cd’s in te reo. Additional outdoor equipment is in the process of being chosen.

Reminder about Children’s Safety

We would like to remind parents that our driveway is one way only.

There is NO REVERSING.

Warning for new parents – turning right into Khandallah Rd means you are turning into a blind corner.

Term Dates 2013:

Term 2 End Date is Friday 12^th July (both sessions)

Term 3 Start date is Monday 29^th July (both sessions)

Grace Kindergarten hats and tee-shirts are available for sale. Please see the teachers. They are both $20 each.

Please save your milk bottle tops, corks and untanalised wood for our carpetry table.

Any donations of TISSUES would be greatly appreciated for the upcoming cold and flu season.

Parent Help Roster: Due to the weekly/daily changes in our parent help roster we are unable to email out an accurate copy. Please write down the dates you have chosen in your calendar at the time of your choice. If you cannot make your parent help duty – please contact 3 other parents to try to swap before your duty date.

**Remember to pack an extra set of clothes and named drink bottle for your child.

Grace Kindergarten

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