Pongo pānui/July Newsletter 2024

3 Jul

Term 2 2024

Kia ora koutou,

Just like that, we have nearly finished term two and half way through 2024.

We have had a lot of staff and children off the last month with colds and general winter bugs. I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for being so great at keeping their children off when they are sick or not 100%, or if they are to go downhill quickly, they are picked up with no issues. We know it can be frustrating at times having children sick throughout the winter months, but it does really help if they stay off until they are 100% and can cope with the busy routine of preschool.

Wow, our Matariki Celebrations just get better and better every year. The team have really been working on their bicultural practices over the last few years and I think the growth is really shown each time we get to our Matariki celebrations.

Thank you to everyone that came in for our Matariki breakfast, this was an early start, but what a wonderful event it was. The look on the children’s faces when the garden lit up with fairy lights was amazing. Some fabulous feedback from families as well. So, this has become a favourite tradition for our Matariki celebration at Moa.

We are heading into the school holidays; can families please make sure they have emailed in if you are going to be away. Even if it is a last minute day off, if you make sure you email through in the morning, it would be much appreciated. This helps us work our staffing and if we need relivers.

We have lots of our friends turning 5 over the year. We have a very large waitlist at Moa, so our system automatically has the children leaving when they are 5. It is really important we have your child’s last day dates in our system. If you are planning on sending your child later on, and not on the cohort entry they would normally start on, this is absolutely fine, please just make us aware of this, so we can plan for it.

With Moa Kids being a not-for-profit community-based centre, fundraising events play a very important part in our way of life. It is really important that all our fundraising events are supported by our families. We have a couple of fundraisers coming up before the end of the year. Emma, who is our superstar head of fundraising, will be emailing out these details through out the next few months, if you can support these, this would be much appreciated.

We had our AGM in May. Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all our wonderful members who came off this year. I really appreciate all the support. We have had four new parents step onto the governance committee, which is super exciting. With Moa Kids being a community-based preschool that is not-for-profit, we have to have an active governance committee, so a big thank you.

This August, for the first time since I have been here, we are having a teacher only day on Friday 9th of August. We will be closed that day and taking the teaching team to the Early Childhood conference, which is in Christchurch this year. We are so lucky to have a governance committee and family community to support the growth of all of us, so thank you so much for supporting us to head along to this, we truly are so lucky to be a part of Moa.

I know a lot of our families love to get up the mountain for skiing at this time of the year. Please make sure to send in some videos or photos of your children skiing as they love to share this with their peers.

Remember my door is always open. My personal Moa email is Hayley.flanagan@moakids.org.nz if you would prefer to send an email straight to me.

Nga mihi maioha

Hayley

Reminders:

· Lunch boxes: You have most probably noticed the very full lunchbox shelf in the preschool. We would really appreciate it if all children’s lunch boxes, drink bottles and food containers could be named, as well as food that needs to go in the fridge. There is a permanent marker attached to the basket for the food that needs to be kept in the fridge.

· Nut Free Zone: Moa Kids is a “nut free” zone. Lately we have been noticing a lot of nut products coming in-cashews, almonds, peanut butter sandwiches etc. Please can you remember that we are a nut free zone when you are making your child’s lunch. We have had children start this year with high allergies to nuts.

· Lost Property: We have a large amount of lost property. Please come and have a look to see if the treasures and clothing belong to your family. The lost property is in the foyer. Please name all clothing that comes to preschool as this really helps us to return clothing and hats back to the correct person.

· Away sick: It is that time of the year where winter bugs are upon us. Moa families are always so good and keeping their children off when they are not 100%. This is a good reminder coming into winter to please email or call in the morning if your child is off sick.

· New person picking up: As part of our policy at Moa if anyone new is picking up your child and they have not been in before, even though they are on the pickup list and your children know them, we will ask them for ID on that first pick up, and match it to the name you have given. This is of course for safety. Please email through and keep us informed if there is going to be someone new coming in.

· Show and tell: Each child who attends the preschool room has a show and tell day. This is the day where they can bring in something special to show their peers. We know lots of our friends like to bring in toys and often it is the same toy from the week before. We are not saying no toys, but if parents could get the children to have a think of something different each time, this will help their child when they get up to talk about their “show and tell”. Remember that you are most welcome to email in any photos of what they have been getting up to over the weekend. This goes down really well and the children normally have lots to say about it. Can you please remember to take home your child’s show and tell item. The basket seems very full.

· Nappies: Some parents choose to bring a bag of nappies in for their child and we let the families know when they are running low by writing on the daily role sheet. Please make sure when you see “please bring nappies” that you bring them in as soon as you can. We have emergency nappies if children run out, but these need to be replaced if used. We unfortunately are not in the position to be supplying nappies to children.

· Bread bags: Please bring in any used bread bags for the preschool. These are used for toileting and come in very handy.

· Going away on holiday: Please make sure you have emailed through these days. Moa gives each child three weeks a year Holiday fees, which is 50% off the normal rate. We need to be emailed and informed to put this discount on.

Governance Committee

The next Governance Committee meeting will be Monday 15th July, this will be held here at Moa. Zoe will be here to take photos of new members, so if you can pop down from 7.10pm for this it would be great

Preschool News

Kia ora, the tamariki have been enjoying our Matariki project this term, we thought we would do things differently this year for Matariki by celebrating one significant Whetū a wēki leading up to Matariki, then followed by a special PJ Day and Matariki breakfast. The learning and involvement with this has been extraordinary, we have had many conversations and the tamariki have come to a more deep and meaningful understanding about the different ngā whetū, their knowledge around this has been built on and extended. The tamariki have been asking questions and even testing whānau at home on their knowledge of the different whetū and what each one means, such as: “Mum it is windy today, what is the star of the wind again? There have been amazing artworks, experiences, and creations throughout the centre and the tamariki have grown within this. Do not forget to check it all out and if you have any questions around Matariki we are more than happy to help.

Our Matariki, PJ Day breakfast was a real highlight as the tamariki loved the glow cave, searching for whetū under the twinkling lights, singing waiata and sharing delicious kai together. Matariki is an amazing way to come together and make those important connections between home and preschool as well. Thank you to everyone for joining us.

We have also been on trips around the community that has been related to the knowledge we are learning about the whetū. Sharleen took a group of tamariki to look at the Woolston aviary to make connections to tupu ā rangi the whetū of the fruit trees and the birds that live within them.

Matariki has been well established within the centre and we are very proud of all the amazing effort of the Kaiako, whānau and tamariki for embracing this and learning alongside us.

The tamariki have a growing interest in drama and literacy and this has been adventuring into the classroom with tamariki wanting to write their own imaginative story and then perform this with their e hoa, there have been many laughs and excitement around this. Tamariki learn to be confident, involved, support others, use their voice, while developing an understanding that symbols can be ‘read’ by others and that thoughts, experiences and ideas can be represented as words, pictures, numbers, shapes, models, as well as recognition of some letters and print concepts and interest in storytelling. This seems to be an expanding interest and the tamariki are becoming more elaborate with their story telling. So, watch this space!

Dolphin club has been in full swing, with Matariki as well this has been a little sporadic due to tamariki being very engaged in what they are doing and we are not wanting to interrupt their learning. We do our best to have dolphin club every day, however we follow the lead of the tamariki interest. We are also working on an emergent evaluation around dolphin club.

The tamariki have been really enjoying the three soft teddys that Emily has introduced these are given out to the tamariki that we have seen in the classroom displaying the Moa Kids’ values, the tamariki get to take the teddy on an adventure, take photos and write a wee blurb in the book that goes home with them.

This has been amazing and the tamariki have been doing their best to earn these. The reason these came about was to encourage the positive behaviours we want to see as well as provide a connection to home. The tamariki are so excited and happy when they earn a teddy to take home, thank you for your support with this.

We look forward to seeing what the next project will be after we see what the children are interested in and then we will plan for this in the next month.

Nga mihi

Shay

Nursery News

We have settled in a few new tamariki this term. A very warm Moa Welcome to Molly, Owen and Theo to the nursery family.

Anya and Arabella have completed their transition into the preschool and are enjoying their new learning opportunities. Raffaella and Lennox have now started their transition process into the preschool room.

The nursery tamariki have taken an interest in literacy. They are looking at the book corner and exploring all the books on offer. Mat time, a time where we come together to share stories and songs is also a true favourite time of the day.

The nursery tamariki have experienced a range of Matariki learning opportunities. We created sensory bottles, colorful stars, bird feeders and some delicious Kai.

Through these learning experiences we are working in partnership with our nursery families to embrace their own cultures.

Eleana’s family have provided information on the Germany lantern festival, which we are looking forward to celebrating.

Aleix’s family have also provided us with some words, phrases and celebrations.

Dolphin Club

Learning Term 2 Dolphin Club

Matariki as the overall project this term

· Star connection to earth environments

· Te Reo Māori, waiata, karakia, place names

· Project work: Matariki

· Emotional self-regulation, breathing exercises

· Drama play

· Learning new Karakia for Kai

Cheese Rolls

With winter upon us and having lots of soup, why not make cheese rolls to dip in that yummy soup 😊

Ingredients

· Can ( 375 ml ) Evaporated Milk

· 1 packet Onion Soup

· 180 g ( 1.5 cup ) Grated Tasty Cheese

· 750 g Wholemeal Bread

· 30 g Butter

· Step 1

Combine first three ingredients in a medium sized saucepan. Cook over low heat until cheese melts, stirring constantly. Allow to cool.

· Step 2

Spread cheese mixture over bread slices. Roll up and if desired brush with melted butter.

· Step 3

Place under a preheated grill for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden brown.

Centre Manager: Hayley Flanagan

Centre Administrator: Hanna Laredo

Address: Main Road, Redcliffs, Christchurch 8081

Email: admin@moakids.org.nz

Phone: 03 384 1910 Web: www.moakids.org.nz

Hayley Flanagan