June Newsletter - Geraldine Preschool

June Newsletter
6 High Street, Geraldine.
Phone: (03)6939133.
Email: geraldinepreschool@xtra.co.nz
Website:www.geraldinepreschool.co.nz
Tēnā koutou,
Celebrating Matariki by bringing grandparents/whānau and friends together was just
lovely…such a special occasion. We thank you all for making the effort to come along
and spend time with your mokopuna/grandchildren. The tamariki/children are so
fortunate to have such wonderful support from you all.
This passed month we have had quite a lot going on behind the scenes. Karen
Morland (Chairperson) and I have attended a 3 day Management and Leadership
Conference in Queenstown, we have held our AGM, we have been recruiting new
employees, teachers have all had 2 sessions of professional development on
assessment and planning for children’s learning, some teachers attended a hui to
develop the transition to school process and we all enjoyed a snow day!
We are very pleased to advise that Rachel Fletcher and Tess Waddington have been
employed in full time permanent positions from the beginning of August.
We have also employed Richard Rowley as our new caretaker/handyman who, from
this week, will be carrying out numerous jobs around the preschool.
We continually work towards growing our profile in the community. I believe the
best way of doing this is by ensuring that we meet every child’s needs and implement
an excellent programme. Happy and engaged children are learning children. It’s not
about advertising and marketing, it’s about what happens here every day! All those
positive learning experiences are the catalyst for promotion.
In addition to this we have been more proactive in meeting with other education
providers within the community. All principals meet regularly with the Geraldine
Education Social Workers group, we meet to develop the transition to school process
and at present, we are all investigating a Ministry initiative ‘Community of
Schools/Learning’, which is an opportunity for early childhood through to High
School to work collaboratively and share expertise. The whole Collaborative
approach to raising the level of achievement in education is very exciting. No longer
should/do education providers compete with each other, the approach now is to
share knowledge and expertise to develop.
Once again we appreciate your efforts with our new wrapper free policy. It’s been
nice to receive positive feedback about how it’s really not that hard! If you are still
struggling please feel free to talk to teachers about any alternative wraps and healthy
food options.
Sue Cooper
Senior Head Teacher
“Children must be taught to think, not what to think”
-
A 50 year old quote by Margaret Mead
WELCOME/HAERE MAI
We wish to welcome Zoe Ellery, Mackenzie Dyson, Maddisyn Cowan-Kitto and Igor
Pallaver Barboza and their whānau to Geraldine Preschool.
Teacher Profile
Introducing…. Emily Walker
What do you love about working at Geraldine Preschool?
There is never a dull moment! We have the coolest children, who are so much fun and make
me laugh every day. The staff are also fantastic, loads of fun, lots of laughs and I have made
some amazing friends. I’ve also learnt some great life skills at Geraldine Preschool – who
knew I’d learn to tie balloon animals, put together a go-kart or dress as The Grinch?
If Sue gave you next week off work, what would you do?
Ideally it would be a week in the sun in the south of Italy…. But realistically it would probably
be a Game of Thrones marathon in front of the fire and a whole lot of online shopping…. (No
spoilers please, I haven’t seen the whole of Season 5 yet!)
Who’s your favourite famous person and why?
Arnold Schwarzenegger, he’s my gym hero and fitspiration. He is also endlessly quotable,
“Get to the chopper” (from classic 1987 film Predator) is applicable for almost every
situation.
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever had?
Heathcote Valley Primary School, Room 4, the year was 1993. “I like your scrunchie” from my
best friend Katie. I felt SO cool. (The scrunchie was striped pink and white and matched my
dress, ‘90’s fashion was awesome).
What’s your favourite quote or saying?
See ‘Favourite famous person’ above. But because I like to talk a lot I get two. “When in
doubt, just add glitter”.
What would you like people to know about you?
I didn’t choose my car, it chose me…. In the form of my mum very kindly gifting it to me!
Pihinga News
Kia ora everyone,
What a busy month we have had in the Pihinga
group where a lot of the children have enjoyed
sensory play and physical activities. The children
have been involved in making different coloured
playdough, some even had stars and glitter in it
for Matariki. We made cheese muffins for a
practice run for Grandparents day. This was a big
hit for a lot of the children who enjoyed
measuring the ingredients into the bowl and then
helping to eat these.
Winter is well in truly here. With the cold
weather and snow around, this limits the time we have outside but we make the most of outside
play when we can. Lots of the children have also been working on their physical skills, to support
this we have setup tunnels, mats and steps both inside and out to help these children master these
skills.
The children have also been interested in creative art. This month we are working on fine motor
skills and creativity. Where your child will become familiar with the process of art and craft such as
drawing, collage and painting (Communication Goal 4, Te Whāriki).
Keep warm this winter and until next time,
Robyn, Helen, Gina and Tess.
Hōpara News
Kia Ora from the Hōpara group!
Well this month we have seen some crazy weather,
from warm nor’westers, to the freezing snow of last
week. This has meant the Hōpara group have had to
roll with the weather and plan our explorations
accordingly. We have had lots of inside time, with the
trains being a huge interest area. We have seen some
fantastic team work and co-operative play with the
trains, which has been great for practicing our social
competency skills. We have been practicing asking to
join in, to pass each other tracks and trains, and take
turns with the different engines and carriages.
On the outside front we have had lots of exploration
with snow, ice and frost, looking at how it changes from (from ice/snow to water), using our senses
to discover how it feels (and tastes!) and then recreating it inside, with paper snowflakes and
pompoms, and turning our Hōpara area into a winter wonderland. We do try to get outside even on
cold, frosty days, so please make sure you are sending warm, long sleeved jackets and hats etc.
Rugby also continues to be popular, and it has been so fantastic to see some of our younger children
joining in with our older children, working together as a team and developing some great physical
and social skills.
We have also been preparing for our Grandparents morning tea, furiously creating invitations,
decorations and delicious delicacies for our Grandparents to sample. This is in celebration of
Matariki, a huge part of which is a gathering together of our whānau, so we are looking forward to
having many of our extended whānau join us, and the children are really excited to share their
preschool with you.
Last but not least, we have had several new children join us in the Hōpara group this month. To
Riley, Igor, George, Maddisyn and Molly, Nau Mai, Haere Mai, welcome to the Hōpara group! We
look forward to getting to know you and your families as you spend the next year with us.
Until next time, stay warm!
Emily and Jen
Hōpara Teaching Team
Tuakana News
Kia ora koutou,
We have had another eventful month with our Matariki Celebration (AKA Grandparents’ Morning
Tea), preparing for the Flava festival, having a few visitors, and having snow in our playground!!
The children put a lot of effort in to making the invitations for our Grandparents Morning Tea,
decorating the preschool, and baking food for the event. Each activity was full of learning
experiences involving, Literacy, Maths, fine motor skills, social skills, etc. We have talked a lot about
Matariki (Māori’s New Year), what people do during this special time, and learnt a lot about different
Māori legends (e.g. Ranginui & Papatuanuku, Maui’s stories, Battle of the Mountains, the legend of
Tarahaoa, etc). We will be participating in the Flava Festival in Timaru next month, so we have been
busy practicing new waiata, as well. If you hear your child singing a Te Reo song that you are not
familiar with, you may find the lyrics of the waiata on Educa (Menu bar > Centre > Resource).
Thank you so much to those parents who have been supporting our new Wrapper-Free Lunch
policy. We have noticed a great reduction in our rubbish as well as much healthier food selection in
the children’s lunchboxes. Along with this, the children have been learning about the waste
management: where our waste goes and how we can reduce it. The other day, Hilary, our
Enviroschool coordinator, came to do a waste audit with some of our children. It was interesting to
see what actually goes into our rubbish bins, and it was a great hands-on learning experience for the
children. According to the report from the audit, we are currently doing well with our waste
management. So let’s give ourselves a good pat on the shoulders, children, teachers, and parents!
We had a visit from Mr Luxton from Ashburton who is a rock expert, and he showed us so many
different types of interesting rocks (including fossilized dinosaur’s poo!) Also Hugh and Fi came and
played a lot of good tunes for us with their ukuleles. Some children played ukulele with them and
the others had a good boogie. 
With the bit of snow remaining in our playground, the children and teachers got creative and
invented a new style of snow slide. There was a team of children down the bottom of the hill pulling
a rope to help another child (wearing a plastic bag on the bottom) to slide down the snowy slope.
We witnessed such great teamwork and had heaps of fun!
Please stay warm in this cold time of the year.
Ka kite anō
Naomi, Jacqui, Tarsha, and Rachel
Calendar of events
Pyjama Party - TBA
Flava Festival – Friday 31st July
Meaning of names for our groups:



Pihinga (under 2’s) – young and developing
Hōpara (2 Year olds) - explorer.
Tuakana (3 & 4 year olds)- more knowledgeable and experienced
GERALDINE WINTERLIGHT FESTIVAL - July 10th- 12th:
SAT 11th: WINTERLIGHTS FESTIVAL MARKET 4.30-8.30 pm. Stalls, hot food, fairy lights, mulled wine,
entertainment, under 5's area, activities, and - climate allowing- a snow hill for the kids!
Thank you to those running our preschool stall, selling flouro lights