Connor we are fortunate to have you join us in the ‘Main Area’ which is children aged 2 ½ to 3 ½.  So far you have participated in activities such as making works of art, dancing, running outside, water play as well as joining us for mat time and kai time during your transition with Jo.  Connor you have shown that you really enjoy physical play, books and building with the blocks and I look forward to seeing what other areas of interest you have as we get to know each other better.

Connor I know from your transition time with Jo that you will soon adapt to all the routines and expectations of the Main area while continuing to maintain the relationships which you have previously made.  With the unlimited access to the tools, equipment, and resources that are available in the Main Area I am sure you will continue to have fun and do great learning as you move along the Aroha chain.

Let the adventures begin.

Date:  May 2012

Jude, the day was winding down and many children had gone home for the day but that certainly didn’t deter you from experimenting with the vehicles.  Jude you brought outside two small cars and began pushing them along the concrete and onto the grass.  “They make no noise on the grass” you tell me.  I ask you where do they make noise and you decide to experiment to see what surfaces the cars roll on what sound they make.  Jude you push the cars along the tunnel house, along the bracken fence, along the wooden bench seat, along the sand in the sand pit, along the wooden fence, along the tin shed and back onto the grass.  Jude you noticed that the loudest and best noises were along the wooden fence and along the tin shed so you ask me to come and watch as you demonstrate this and sure enough on this quiet Friday afternoon the sound of the wheels rolling along these surfaces changes in pitch and tone.  Jude it is fantastic to see you developing great learning skills such as experimentation, perseverance, observation and curiosity.  Jude it is amazing to see the complexity of your learning develop in new and interesting directions through the play with cars, trucks, trains and other vehicles and I am wondering where you will take that learning to next.

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Lachlan,

Happy birthday to you.

Respond:  To stand back and let the natural attachment from me Jo to Aroha helping where and when I feel support is needed.

April 2012

Chelsey sits beside Aroha waiting for the birthday cake or jelly as it was today.  Chelsey was a little unsure about joining the large group at first but the support of Aroha she sat back and moved forward when the time suited her.  Chelsey understands her own feelings and will seek the support needed to have these feeling met.

8^th May 2012

Chelsey today you stayed with Aroha for quite some part of your time at the centre today.  You did however choose a book and enjoy this alongside Aroha.  As this was being read Aroha was talking to you about what was happening around the two of you and what you yourself might like to do once the book was finished.  Chelsey can and does find the support she needs and can be encouraged to work through her feelings.

17^th May 2012      Today Aroha found you in the writing/drawing area.  She sat beside you and asked you what you were doing.  “A picture for my mum” you replied.  Aroha then noticed that you were also looking through a book.  She joined you and included herself in your book.  What a great friendship happening between you and Aroha.  Chelsey feels comfortable choosing her own interest independently of Aroha.

Chelsey has attached well to Aroha and with this I feel very comfortable with her transition.  I look forward to seeing her development and learning as she explores the main room more and more with her ever growing confidence.

26^th April 2012

Amelia has become one of Chelsey’s friends that she shares a common interest with. Drawing, or in today’s case writing their names.  Amelia watches on as Chelsey writes her name and then Chelsey follows suit as Amelia writes her name.  Amelia is starting to identify some of her letters especially the “A” in her name and works hard at encouraging Chelsey to do the same waiting for her to identify a letter in her name.  However Chelsey you decided not to stop at one letter you decided to identify your full name.

Chelsey joins her friend at the craft table where Amelia sits alongside Lisa.  Lisa is talking to Amelia about her picture she has just drawn and offers to write her name on the paper for her.  Amelia states that she can write her name herself and demonstrates this to Lisa.  Chelsey listens to Amelia state the “A” in her name.  “I don’t have an “A” she says.  (Numeracy is starting to play a huge role in her centre experiences.)

April 2012

Chelsey joins her new friends at the kai table waiting for the much anticipated birthday cake or in this case jelly.  Chelsey sits beside Aroha and waits and once the singing and the clapping is over she moves into her place at the table ready for her jelly to be given to her.

Chelsey is developing some ways in which she copes with the situations that otherwise may upset her or have her feeling a little uncomfortable.    She searches out her friend Amelia and then finds a teacher for some one on one time.  Large group gatherings have been an issue for her so with the support of Aroha she has developed a way for dealing with this.  Sit back for a while and then on her time she will move into the area when she feels comfortable.  What great skills you have developed Chelsey for coping in your new situations.

Kahlani is learning theories about social relationships and social concepts, such as friendship, authority, and social rules and understandings.  So as she learns with and alongside others she will have opportunities to: develop the strategies and skills for initiating, maintaining, and enjoying a relationship with other children – including taking turns, problem solving, negotiating, taking another’s point of view, supporting others, and understanding other people’s attitudes and feelings – in a variety of contexts. (Te Whariki- Contribution: goal 3)

Where to next:

Adults are to support Kahlani’s interactions with others. Recognise and acknowledge Kahlani’s intentions and feelings, (help other children to recognise her intentions) and model an appropriate response feelings towards other children especially those younger than her.

Adults will continue to support Kahlani in her social interactions – and learning about the limits and boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Help her to see & understand what the other children might be communicating/telling her… verbally and non-verbally. Talk about, and model appropriate ways to approach others.

16^th May 2012    Kahlani loves the babies.  She enjoys being very close to them and at times forgets that she is bigger and this can cause problems.

Kahlani follows Anahera around the floor.  She crawls very close to her forgetting to let her explore by herself.  A teacher suggests that she should find some toys to give Anahera so that Anahera can explore and that Kahlani can sit beside her to do the same.  Kahlani finds a shaker and hands it to Anahera in which she shakes.  Kahlani enjoys this.  Putting her hand on Anahera’s head she lets her know that she is still here and is enjoying her company.  What a gentle touch you had Kahlani.

18^th May      Kahlani joins her friends at the paint table.  She chooses her roller, puts her paint shirt on and then chooses her place.  Kahlani’s strong leadership takes on here.  She takes control of the situation and instructs the other children where to stand and what to do especially with the roller and the paint.  Kahlani had her own ideas and Brooke had her own.  However Brooke is stronger in leadership and she dug her toes in.  This causes a confrontation between the girls.  A wee bit of yelling which required some adult help to encourage each girl understands the other.  Once they were given the tolls to work through the issue Kahlani then offered Brooke the roller and Brooke stood beside Kahlani enjoying the experiences.  (With adult support Kahlani along with Brooke was able to work through the communication situation that then lead into two girls enjoying the company of each other the paint experience.)

Andrei is involved in an often revisited occupation of purposefully constructing from wooden blocks, a track for the toy trains Lady (?) and Thomas. Andrei focuses on this task carefully and uses his imagination to create pretend conversations between the two trains as they are pushed along the track he has built. Andrei moves away to the writing area, creates a picture then returns to the trains bringing his picture with him. He now involves the Percy train in his play with Lady and Thomas. Andrei responds to the teacher who is sitting in the block corner, when she asks about his picture which he has beside him. He informs her that the picture is Thomas, he has used blue to represent Thomas (which is his actual colour). The teacher challenges him by asking what colour he might use to draw Percy and Lady? Andrei focuses on Percy, he responds with”green”. He is further challenged to draw Percy like he did Thomas, he responds with “I can’t”, you do it Aroha”. He accepts the offer of working together with Aroha. He fetches paper and crayons. Andrei and Aroha study Percy together deciding to use a green crayon as he is green, Aroha asks, “what shapes can we see?”, Andrei points out some circles (the wheels), he is encouraged to represent these on paper, which he does, he comments that there are two, Aroha helps him count them on the train, there are four, he counts to himself (with help) as he draws them. When asked what other shapes he sees, he points out the “funnel” and “whistle” which he proceeds to represent on his picture now. Another teacher suggests he and Aroha look for lines on Percy to draw. Andrei points out a line between the wheels and adds this to the picture. Andrei notices some red  on Percy and chooses a red crayon to represent these pieces, he is not confident about drawing these more complex pieces himself, the teacher encourages him to have a go, but he solves his problem by enlisting the help instead of another peer, who obliges and adds some red pieces to the picture at Andreis request. Andrei is now satisfied with his representation of Percy, the teacher now shows him how letters can be used to represent his story about Percy, by writing what he says about the picture on the paper then reading it back to him. Andrei listens to and observes this proccess. Andrei takes his picture/story and puts it in his bag to take home to show mum.

Recognize – Representing an object by creating an image on paper, looking for shapes (numeracy), sharing ideas, finding out others ideas, enlisting peer support, small motor skills to control felt/crayon to create detail, observing the meaningful use of print.

Respond – Andrei will be further observed and supported in increasing his skill in representing objects/thoughts through images or symbols he creates.

Andrei shares a drawing he has created which he identifies as a tower, the tracher provides him with a book about skyscrapers, he studies the images of the skyscrapers.

April 2012

Notice- JayJay continues to observe what his peers around him are building and how they are building it, JayJay involves himself in group construction often by first observing then sharing his ideas through joining in with the construction (and often the subsequent role play), JayJay contributes his ideas verbally too. There is a strong group interest( which JayJay observes and is involved in) in constructing with large equipment outdoors, so tyres, wooden planks, cones and hoops are made available to the children for this purpose.

Recognize – Observing peers,involving self in group play, modelling from others, sharing ideas, using construction for a purpose, working in collaboration with a group.

Noticing:

I have noticed that Amelia has developed a real interest in her name and the letters that form her name.  She seeks out me (Jo) to write her name for her on her art and then she herself writes her name.

Recognising:

Amelia is making connecting between her name and the letters that from her name.

Responding:

To provide Amelia with more opportunities to explore letters and the meaningful links they have in forming names especially her name.

4^th May       Amelia joins a group of children outside using stencils in their drawing/writing. She chooses a stencil and using a pen traces the letters onto her paper.  “Look a name” she says pointing to the letters.  Amelia is identifying letters as names.

8^th May     Amelia spots the foam letters and numbers on the table.  She moves the pieces around for a while then starts to pile the letters on top of each other.  “What are you going to do with those Amelia” I ask.  “Puzzle” you say.  “They sure area puzzle, can you find which square they fit into” I ask.  Amelia searches through the squares and find what she believes to be the correct one.  She then works hard at connecting he letter to the square.  “Name: she says as she pushes the letter in the square.  “That’s a letter for a name or word” I say.  “Jo’s name” she says.  “No that’s a “C” I say. “C” name she repeats.  “That’s right Amelia”.   “A” she says picking up the A.  “Yes that is an A, A fro Amelia” I say.  “My name” she replies.  “Yes” I say.  Amelia is making a real connection with the letters identifying an A.

10^th May       There were two little friends enjoying a book when one said to the other let’s have a look.  They shared the book and looked and looked at each page finding and sharing what was important to them.

Once Tara had moved away Amelia continued to make some discoveries in the book.  She examined the print.  Running her finger along the letters and talking to herself.  “Were you reading the book Amelia and following the words with your fingers”?

I look forward to finding the answer to this question. 

To support Ava in her exploring of literacy and her interest in letters forming meaning words to her.  

24^th April   Ava sits outside with our student Dayna.  They together have gathered the paper and the pens, found the perfect place to sit and together explore ways to write letters.  Dayna talked to Ava about the letters in her name and then wrote them.  Ava looked at the letters that made up Dayna’s name and asked Dayna to write her name on the paper.  Ava examined her name for a while then pointed to the “A” in Dayna’s name and the “A” in her name.  “The same” she said.  Dayna acknowledged the discovery and continued to draw.  Dayna then said “Do you know what the letter is that you pointed to”.  Ava looked at Dayna and from this Dayna took on that she didn’t know.  “That’s an A” she said.  “For Ava” said Ava.  “Yes” said Dayna.

Ava is beginning to link letters that are the same together.  She is identifying that the A is in her name and is starting to recognise that the A also starts with her name.

4th May

Dayna has sat down with the children to explore through a book.  Ava takes a book to her that has become a particular interest to her.  She hands it to Dayna and then quickly turns the pages to the page that she likes to looks at.  The book is called “Where is the green sheep”   Ava likes the page where the red sheep is in the bath.  She thinks this is very funny.

As Ava explores books she is becoming familiar with them and the print that forms a story.

Ava has taken quite an interest in letters.  She has a great understanding about her name and what forms her name (letters).  Ava has started to make some steps into the recognising of her name, such as “A”. 

Ava has also made some more defined discoveries about print.  She is discovering that print also makes a book and by putting the letters together they in fact from a story that she is delighting at the moment.  I look forward to watching the discovery continue.