Pongo pānui/December Newsletter 2024
Kia ora koutou
Well just like that we are writing the last newsletter for 2024.
We have had a few new families start since the last newsletter was sent out. So, a big welcome to all our new families. Everyone is settling in really well to Moa.
The spring bugs have been out and about recently and I feel they are never ending. We often find in spring where we get the odd warm day, and then back to cold, that we often see a spike in colds and other winter bugs. This has been the case recently. I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for keeping their children off when they are not 100%. I am hoping with summer now upon us we start to see the decline in these bugs. Covid has certainly changed the way bugs tend to float around. Hopefully with summer upon us, we see less of them.
With the Christmas break just around the corner, please can families email through any holiday dates so we can apply the holiday rate to your bookings. We close at 3pm on Friday 20th December and open on Monday 6th January at 8am.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support this year. It certainly has been a busy one. We have a few changes happening from January. We say goodbye to our superstar domestic, Ali. Ali is retiring from full time work. She will be coming back on a casual basis and doing relief work for us. We will be celebrating Ali on the last day of Moa, before she heads off. We are having a High Tea Party. Big shoes to fill, but we are excited for Sophie who will be taking over the is role in the new year.
Rachael is also heading off to new adventures. Rachael is taking the leap to Australia. We can’t thank her enough for all her hard work and support in her Head Teacher role. Our nursery and curriculum spaces are in a better space because of the great work she has done.
With these changes Shay and Edel are stepping up into new roles. Shay is now stepping into the 2IC position in the Management Team, and Edel into the Head Teacher role in the nursery. Congratulations to them both.
David and Chloe are the new kids on the block and have settled in really well at Moa and we feel they have always been a part of our team, which is always a great sign
When Emily returns from ACC, and is back to full capacity, she will be doing shorter hours, 8.30am – 4pm each day. She will start her slow return to work program from January and we hope to have her back in full swing come the end of January, start of February. We look forward to having her back in the new year.
With new families joining Moa, and some families inquiring about the committee, it’s a good time to explain about us being a community-based preschool and what that is all about. With Moa being a non-profit preschool, we are required to have an active Governance Committee which is made up of parents. We meet once a month, which is normally the third Monday of the month, here at the centre @7.30pm, or sometimes online.
It means every year at our AGM (May) we look for new families to come onto this. We will be looking for new families to join us this year as we have a lot of members coming off. We are in particular looking for a new treasurer. We would love to hear from anyone that may have an interest in this, or skill set, who could take on this role. Steve who is currently in this role and would do the hand over and show them the role. If anyone is interested or would love to pop along to a meeting to see what it is all about, please come and see me. We have a great brochure that explains the roles and I am happy to have a chat with people and explain a bit more😊.
We have some exciting plans for 2025, and Moa has a new IT plan which we will be rolling out and we will finally be heading to not just not profile books, but an online platform. We will start this slowly from term 2. We are also trialling the use of iPads for documenting children’s learning and also taking photos. So, you may see Shay, Olivia and Margie using these a bit more, as they are part of the team leading this work. Any questions please come and see me
As you probably all know the Moa Kids lost property has a trend to grow and grow. We really would like to get a better handle on this moving into the new year. Please can families try and name all their items and regularly check the lost property. What is left at the end of the year will be donated to charity.
Enjoy the last weeks of 2024.
Nga mihi maioha
Hayley
A few 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 contain 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. Thanks.
· 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.
· 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. Thanks.
· Preschool Door: Please can all families make sure you are shutting the preschool door behind you. 9am and 3pm are a busy time with children and families coming in and out. If all families can please make sure there is a parent with each child it would be much appreciated.
· Bread bags: Please bring in any used bread bags for the preschool. These are used for toileting.
· 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.
· Moved House? We know many of you have recently moved house. Can you please ensure you have updated Hanna or myself in the office so we can make sure our system is up to date.
· 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.
Governance Committee
We have finished our meetings for the year. The next Governance Committee meeting is Monday 17th February and will be held here at the centre at 7.30pm.
Preschool News
Wow I cannot believe that it is our last Newsletter for the year we have been so incredibly busy this term.
We have been really enjoying learning all about insects our project has taken off in a real and meaningful way. We have learnt about all sorts of insects and tamariki have brought in insects they have found at home. There have been many experiences happening in the preschool. The walls have been covered with the tamariki learning about: Butterflies, bees, ants, spiders, life cycles and much more.
The tamariki have been really enjoying exploring in the garden to see what insects they can find while developing their knowledge about the world around them. Now it has come time to finish up our project and close it up for the year. In the new year we will embark on a new project with the tamariki interests in mind.
We have been on many trips into the community, such as the library to get pukapuka around our project. We have been on school trips to Redcliffs and we’ve been to Summer School . We have been on many hikoi, walks down to Redcliffs playground to work on tamariki physical skills, such as fine and gross motor skills.
Over the last couple of months, the tamariki have really been enjoying getting to know our new Kaiako David, and over the last couple of weeks they are loving getting to know our new Kaiako Chloe. Our two teachers are amazing, they have slotted in really well into our team and they bring amazing skill sets with them, which is fantastic.
The tamariki have been very busy in the sandpit with the planks and the boards creating and making different things with the items that they have been resourced with. The carpentry has been out almost every day and the children have been discovering different ways to use the new tools and the carpentry table items brought in from whanau and Kaiako David has really added value to this.
Outside has been a flurry of excitement and fun as the weather has got warmer the children have wanted to be outside more often and have been enjoying being out in the sunshine.
We have been creating different spaces for tamariki to be able to be relaxed and enjoy nature as well as busy spaces for where they can be really busy dancing, because we all know that they like to do this especially to “Shake it off.” We have loved singing waiata with David, and his guitar as well.
There has been lots of risk play set up as this is a passion of David’s, to challenge the tamariki physically to see what they can and cannot yet do. We have many different activities that develop children’s growth and find motor skills and offer varying degrees of physical challenge and reasonable risk. Activities include climbing, balancing, hammering, hopping, turning, pouring and undertaking obstacle courses and construction projects. Tamariki repertoire of physical skills are extended by having access to big open spaces and equipment such as skipping ropes, balls, rackets, bats, balls, as well as through a focus on physical literacy.
The tamariki have loved practising for the concert and they did such an amazing job!
We loved exploring with the paint and making all the different props and they especially enjoyed making their own story in dolphin club around “The Hungry Caterpillar.” We had a successful dolphin hui around our planned evaluation, which was fantastic, where the tamariki got to share their voice and share what they think about what our values are. We are going to look more into this as we go into next year. We will really help the tamariki to understand the different values that we share at Moa and what these mean in practice.
Lastly, I want to give a big shout out to our amazing Kaiako and the incredible mahi they have done with the tamariki this year! Tino pai to mahi. That’s all from me, have a safe and happy Christmas and we look forward to growing and teaching your tamariki next year.
Nga mihi
Shay
Nursery News
This term we have welcomed Alfie and Ariella They are both settling in well and enjoying their time at Moa.
We want to thank everyone that came along to the Xmas party. Great to have had you all there. The children have been loving all the Xmas craft and baking.
Transition into the preschool has been super busy this term. Jack, Olive and Frankie are now all settled into the preschool life and routine. Eleana is nearly two and is enjoining the new adventures and opportunities on offer, and reconnecting with her friends.
We have been lucky to have Flora as part of our Centre for the last 4 weeks. The tamariki have grown strong connections with her and she has been providing lots of fun activities for them to explore.
The nursery tamariki have really been enjoying and exploring literacy this term. Exploring books and all the wonder they contain. Through books the tamariki are extending their knowledge around different forms of communication. Oral language, non-verbal and sign language. Also, through books the tamariki are making connections to home and the preschool environment.
Another thing that the nursery tamariki have enjoyed this term with the warm weather, is outings into the community, either going to the field for a run or kicking a ball. Even getting out in the pram more on a adventure. Being able to do this is helping build a stronger connection to home life and the local community.
Dolphin Club
We have been getting into the Christmas spirit this term. We have some changes for Dolphin Club next year, with a name change. We will be sending out all the new information in the new year. So, watch this space.
Learning Term 4 Dolphin Club
· Christmas craft, making cards for the community
· Bug project carried on and now finished
· Trips in the community
· School visits to Redcliffs and Sumner
Christmas Gingerbread Reindeer
Ingredients
· 1/2 cup butter (softened)
· 1/2 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
· 1 egg (yolk only)
· 1/2 cup golden syrup
· 2 1/2 cups plain flour
· 1 1/2 tbs ground ginger
· 1 tsp mixed spice
· 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
· white writing icing
· black writing icing
· red mini-M&Ms
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Line a tray with baking paper and set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar together using an electric beater, stand mixer or food processor. Add egg yolk and golden syrup and mix until combined. Add flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarb soda and combine.
2. Place onto a piece of baking paper and then cover with another piece of baking paper – using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until 5mm thick and cut out shapes (kids can help here). Re-roll as needed, but keep using the baking paper.
3. Move the cut shapes over to greased baking trays with a spatula/egg flip and bake for 8-10 minutes. Once baked, let cool for 10 minutes on the tray and then transfer to cooling rack.
4. Using the white writing icing, outline the ears, draw antlers, eyes and eyebrows. Using the black writing icing, dot the eyes and draw a mouth. Place a red M&M's MINIS on the nose.