www.hardykids.co.nz
[email protected]
(03) 5456905
400 Hardy Street East, Nelson
To all parents who attended our Parent Evening this month “Play is a child’s
work” where we all learnt about the learning outcomes of a variety of the play
experiences we offer daily at Hardykids: Playdough, Puzzles, Role Play, Sand and Messy
Play to name but a few!! Take the time to read the information on our hallway notice board for
“We don’t stop playing because we
grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!”
more information on this topic. And remember
Policy Review: Health and Wellness Policy
In early childhood your junk is often our
treasure and the things you have lying
around your home or workplace can
sometimes be favourite play equipment
for young children leading to creative
expression, realistic role play and open
ended discovery. Please drop in any of
the following to reuse and recycle!!

Magazines, greeting cards,
wrapping paper & ribbon

Empty and clean household
packaging i.e. yogurt pottles

Shiny costume jewellery, hats,
bags, shoes and other clothing

Fabric Blankets buttons and
interesting material

Old toys books and games your
child may have outgrown

Large planks of wood, tubing,
pipes, car tires etc for hut building
and obstacle courses

Cultural artifacts
ornaments and objects of beauty
and interest

Cooking and other
household equipment e.g. jugs,
cooking pots as props for role
play.

Baskets, storage boxes, gift
boxes, corks, bottle tops, the list
could go on. Basically anything
you can think of that might be
useful and we can use in a creative
and exciting way to stimulate
learning. Thank you.
Winter is now fully upon us and as such we thought that it is a
timely opportunity to review our Illness Policy . As always, we
would appreciate parental contributions as we develop and
revise our policy regarding sickness and health at Hardykids. If
you would like a copy of the policy for a detailed review please
ask or alternatively have a quick read as you sign in at the sign
in desk and add your comments and ideas before Wednesday
12th August so that we can take into account parental perspective as we review this policy .
Don’t forget your warm and
water proof jackets, hats, gloves
and gumboots for our up and
coming Winter Wonderland Day
on the 6th August so your child
can make the most of this
fabulous natural sensory
experience!!
Before kai in every room we sing a
karakia (song) to bring the group
together and transition the
children. We have had several
requests from parents for the
words as their children are singing
it at home too so here we go....
Whakapai nga enei kai
Hei orange mo te tenana
Mo o matou wairua
E kai tamariki
Thank you for the food we eat
yum yum
Thank you for the friends we
meet Such fun
Thank you for the birds that
sing a ing a ling
Welcome to Judi and Jodi, our two new teachers who have joined the
Hardykids family this month. Thankfully, with their confusingly similar
names, they are not in the same room!!! Judi, working in the Moana
Room brings with her several years of knowledge working in Reggio/
project based learning centres similar to what we are developing in the
Moana and Aroha rooms, and Jodi, who joins Laura and Jo in the
Harakeke Room. Jodi worked with the nature based learning curriculum
in her previous centre and so adds her knowledge of this as we develop
a nature programme to utilise our park more frequently. Welcome to
you both...it is exciting to have you join our Hardykids team.
Pounamu Room
Page 2
Welcome
Fletcher
Athena
Cooper
It has been wonderful getting to know you
and your families over the last month. We
look forward to watching your interests
develop over time as you settle into the
Pounamu Room.
Music and Movement
The children in the Pounamu Room
have really been enjoying music.
During our spontaneous music
sessions, many of the children get
involved with actions and sometimes
even singing whilst other children just
contently watch. There is much
learning happening here. The songs
and rhymes are enhancing the
children’s speech, vocabulary and
language skills as their repertoire of
rhymes, songs and tunes increase. The
actions are helping children’s memory
development and fine and gross motors
skills. They are learning about their
own bodies and how they move.
Schemas
You may have noticed our new ‘Schema’ notice board in the Pounamu Room. Schemas in
children’s play are such an important concept when it comes to children’s development that
it’s worth taking the time to understand them so you can facilitate this learning when you
see it. So what are schemas? They are the urges that children have to do things like climb,
throw things and hide in small places. They are building blocks for the brain, repeated
behaviour that in turn forge connections in the brain, patterns of unfolding, learning and
growth. Schemas are natural, uncontrollable and very necessary urges that all children
have. Knowing about these urges can help us to understand why children are so
determined to do certain things. Without this understanding of schemas we might actually
think that the child is being 'difficult' or even try to stop the developmental urges
themselves. By knowing about these schemas we can recognise and support their urges
and development. Every month we will be concentrating on one schema that is prevalent in
the children’s play in the Pounamu Room. This month’s board briefly explains each
schema and the theory in more detail.
Harakeke Room
Welcome Lexie
Our New resource
This month we have purchased a plastic
trough. This trough has been used for
water, sand and messy play inside and on
the deck.
The children are really enjoying this as some
days it is too cold to spend lengthy amounts
of time outside. By bringing the activities
indoors the children in the Harakeke room
are able to play alongside each other and
get involved in the activities they enjoy
without being cold.
Exciting news, we now have an art storage
box. This box has got a file for each of your
children's art work during their time here in the
Harakeke room.
This month the children
have really enjoyed all
of the Sports Tasman
equipment. They have
all been finding exciting
ways of using the
equipment, in
imaginative ways - a
train, a bus, a boat and a
plane were a few of the
imaginative objects.
No more searching through mountains of paper
trying to find your child's art work.
This will also be a job that your children can
help us with. By filing their own artwork in
their own file the children will feel a sense of
responsibility for their own work and feel that
their work is respected by all.
Our new teacher
Kia Ora, my name is Jodi Ellis
and I am the new teacher in the
Harakeke Room. I live in Riwaka with my partner Richard and our two children Sean and
Rosa. As I drive back and forth each day I find
myself feeling a wonderful sense of gratitude
as I reflect on how rewarding it is getting to
know the children and their families. The children have been keen to reveal their individual
unique qualities to me and I look forward to
supporting their learning as I get to know each
of them.
JULY IN THE MOANA ROOM
Welcome to Charlie, Molly and their families to the Moana Room. Goodbye
to Oscar—enjoy your new learning in the Aroha Room.
SNOW DAY
On the 6th of August we will be having a snow day. Please remember your gumboots,
warm coats and hats .You are more than welcome to bring some snow toys to play with.
OUR TADPOLES TURNED INTO
FROGLETS
During this month, our Tadpoles turned into Froglets. It
was fantastic for the children to
see this life cycle in action. The
children enjoyed watching them
daily, helping to feed and care
for them. The Froglets have
now been released to the river.
PLAYDOUGH
CLOTHING
Please can you label
your child’s clothing. We are finding
that there are quite a
few items of clothing that look similar
and we are not sure
which child they
belong to.
There has been a lot of playdough making
this month. This
activity allows the
children to extend
their imagination
as they create
their individual
projects.
Rescue Vehicles in Action by Judi
With our children’s recent
vehicle interest, I brought
along three large carton
boxes for a team project –
making a fire engine, an
ambulance and police car!
This involved taking turns
with painting then patience for the drying process. Each day these vehicles were driven to emergencies. A station was
made with chalked areas
for each, and an office
with phones, and clipboards, paper and pencils.
I had forgotten a major
detail which the children
thought of – a petrol station “to make them go” –
so out with the big rope
which we tied to the
fence! The recycling centre was kind taking a small
donation for a hose which
I cut up for fire hoses.
We added a doctors office with equipment for
the injured and sick. Our
children were learning to
take turns as each rescue
vehicle had room for only
two, also to take things
slowly because the boxes
might tip over! Sirens
could be heard throughout
the day! I noticed how the
Aroha Room children happily chose to join in! The
wear and tear on the vehicles just needed a bit of
sewing up with harakeke
strips now and again to
keep them on the road! All
in all, it was a very social
time and our children were
adding their knowledge
that they have gained
from home or beyond …
MAKING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS WITH MAREE
Maree has been making
some musical instruments with the children.
We have saved up all our
tissue boxes and Maree
has helped the children
make some Guitars.
The children started this
project by painting the
tissue boxes. This was a
great activity and allowed
us the opportunity to
discuss colours with the
children. Maree asked
the children which
colours they would like to
use. Most children wanted to use every colour
to paint the tissue box.
When you see the Guitars, you will notice that
they are not just one colour, they are multi coloured.
This activity has
encouraged the children
to be creative and has
allowed them to make a
resource for all the
children to share. We
have re cycled old tissue
boxes and the new
Guitars, gives the children
the opportunity to use a
variety of tools with a
particular purpose in
mind.
We have more projects on
the go including making
drums and shakers for
our musical instrument
collection.
ArohaRoom
Room
Aroha
This month we had a special visitor in the Aroha room. We
welcomed Linnea’s Dad Damian who is a scientist. Damian
shared his knowledge on fish and how they live. The children
had lots of questions for Damian, including “how do fish move?”.
Damian stood up and acted out the different ways that fish can
swim. The children thought Damian’s impersonation of a fish
was very funny and they could not stop laughing. Damian also
brought in his electronic microscope for the children to explore.
The microscope plugged into the computer for the children to
see on the screen. Together they explored the small hairs on a
plant leaf, the threading in our clothing, the small writing on a
coin and even our skin. Damian also brought in a shark’s jaw for
the children to touch and examine, we had to be very careful as
it had very sharp teeth.
Lastly, Damian discussed dinosaurs with the tamariki. The
children were excited to share their knowledge with him also,
especially about the big earthquake which wiped out the
dinosaurs. Damian shared some very exciting information with
the children… That dinosaurs still exist! Well, the closest living
relative which is a bird! The children were so excited to hear that
birds were related to dinosaurs that they explored the garden on
a “Dinosaur hunt”. Thanks so much Damian for coming in to
share your knowledge, Linnea was very proud of her dad.
If you have any hobbies, interests or a job which will inspire or
provide a new experience for the tamariki we would love for you
to come join us. You could even come in and read a book at mat
time. Please let us know, we would love to have you in.
During the school holidays we ran a show and tell programme
which allowed the children to bring in a special toy from home
to share with their friends at mat time. This was a great
challenge for some children as they had to push themselves
outside of their comfort zone to speak in front of others.
Throughout show and tell we encouraged the children to use
descriptive language to describe their items as well as
developing their listening and questioning skills. We will run
another show ant ell program next school holidays.
WELCOME
This month we say welcome
to Oscar who has joined us
from the Moana room.
FAREWELL
We say a sad
farewell to Oliver who is
starting his primary school
learning
journey
and to Simon, also
off to
school in a
few
months.
We wish
you all the
best, from
the Aroha
Fishes group:
July Topics

Numbers

Recycling
Please see weekly
summary for this work
on the wall inside the
classroom.
Over the School holidays we had a Teddy
Bear’s Picnic day. Everyone brought in their teddies
to share at mat time. The children told us their teddy’s
name and one thing about their teddy. We noticed
how all the bears were different, just like us. We
found that Ryan’s ’Ben’ was the ’tallest’, ’biggest’
and Holly’s ’Teddy’ was the ’smallest, shortest’. We
set up a Wood with our potted plants and tea set and
watched the ’Teddy Bear Picnic song’ on the
computer. The children also made teddy bear biscuits.
The children enjoyed sharing their special friends
from home with their peers.
Upcoming events:

St Josephs New Entrant class visit: 12 August 2015

Suter Art Gallery (Eric Carle workshop ) 14th September.
To extend our children’s
curiosity/knowledge about numbers we have
been making new resources/games for further
exploration. These
have included ‘feely
bag numbers’ and
numbered cars/
carparks. Here are
some children
exploring these new
resources.