Kei Tua o te Pae

The logging industry: Conner shares his knowledge

Connor brought some photos from home to share with his friends.

They were about his dad’s machinery that he uses when he works in the bush.



Connor showed the photos to his friend Daniel.

“This is a harvest line hauler. It pulls out logs off the hills into the skid. My daddy’s skidder pulls out logs from the bushes, too. It has chains or else it will get stuck in the mud.”

 

“They use waratahs in the bush and grapples and skidders. A wara…

8 AugustPamela has told me about how much Sofia loves her books. They go to the library on a regular basis and Pamela reads to Sofia often.

Today when I went to visit Pamela and Sofia, I was able to see this for myself.

Sofia was sitting near her basket of toys and began to take some out. She chose books and there were quite a few in there. She didn’t just take the first book though. She looked through each one until she came to the one that she wanted, which was Thomas the Tank Engine. She th…

Child's name: Jorjia 2.2yrs

Date: September

Teacher: Caroline

 
Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest

I was sitting down by the reels, writing in the infants’ daily books. Jorjia came over. Jorjia: “See my turtle.”

Caroline: “You’ve got a turtle,” as she carefully laid “the turtle” in my hands.

Jorjia: “Look, my turtle.”

Caroline: “What shall we do with your turtle?” Jorjia: “Put it here,” pointing to the plank.

I placed it down carefully.

Jor…

In this domain of Contribution/Mana Tangata, the emphasis is on the recognition of (and action towards) children’s rights and responsibilities, together with early perceptions of and responses to diversity, inclusion, and fairness. Assessments give value to and record actions that are associated with children’s increasing confidence to stand up for themselves and for others when they perceive that justice is threatened. Creating an environment that is characterised by mutual respect supports chi…

Child’s name: Stevie

Learning storiesAt one point this afternoon Stevie was very upset. I asked “What’s wrong Stevie – why are you sad?” He told me he was sad because someone told him he couldn’t play on the pirate ship. I took his hand and said, “That’s very upsetting – and they told me I’m not allowed either – because girls aren’t allowed!”

Victoria piped into the conversation “Me too!” “Wow, how did it make you feel when they said that, Victoria?” I asked. “Sad,” she said. “Well that ship n…

Thursday, 31 March

Tēnā koutou e ngā kai-whakaako ki te kura. Kei konei waku whakaaro e pā ana ki te ripoata mō Taylor. He mokopuna nōku.

To the staff

In regard to

I am Taylor’s koro. I have just read his profile book, which I enjoyed very much. It provides an invaluable window of his life at kindy. The observation notes and comments helped me a great deal in understanding the steps he has achieved.

This is what I got out of it:

1. Feeling shyStaff will continue to implement name games at…

On Monday afternoon the children were playing outside in the playground. Hadi arrived at the family centre and was happy to see his friends. He gave Shukrullah and Maryam a ride in the wagon.

Suddenly Mahdia came outside. She came over to them and showed them her arm. They began talking together in their common home language, Dari.

She showed them her plasters on her hand and inside her elbow. Their faces changed. They wanted to see closely and as she talked their faces became full of concern.…

Jak uses pictures as a reference point against which to assess his construction for himself: he is able to make his own judgment about the quality of his block building. The ambitious design also provides its own evaluation: the roof, delicately balanced to come to a point, doesn’t collapse. This is an example of self-assessment. It is also an example of the teacher writing down an occasion when she says “I’m not sure”, modelling for Jak that being uncertain is part of the process of learning (a…

Observing and listening in to literacy practices includes enjoying stories, either told or read by others, in a range of styles. It also includes noticing cultural conventions, such as making a shopping list, or local conventions, such as writing down valued learning episodes.

In the exemplar “Tiari wants to draw”, her mother reports:

"Whenever I sit down to work at the table Tiari always wants to be included. She sees me and my husband working at the computer. Tiari can turn on the compu…

Child: Daniel (14 months)

Teacher: Shaz

Date: 1 August

A learning storyDaniel was sitting on my knee while I read the story about a pudgy pig that visits lots of different animals on his way to find his favourite pigsty with all his little pig friends.

Daniel pointed to the animals, squealing with excitement and bouncing up and down on my knee. He loved lifting the flaps to discover a different animal each time, saying “eyes” emphasising the “s” on the end. He often turned to me with a big g…

Observing and listening in to mathematical symbols, tools, and practices includes watching and listening in to adults and children engaged in a range of mathematical activities. It also includes noticing cultural and local conventions to do with ways of classifying and describing patterns and relationships, using ideas like number, shape, space, time, and distance. In the exemplar “Preparing a budget and playing with numbers”, a group of children and their teacher are using mathematics for a pur…

Child: Hamish

Teacher: Julie

Date: 18 September

The corgi sewing project started today! After we had pinned the pattern (Hamish’s fantastic drawing) to the fabric and cut it out Hamish said, “I can sew by myself – I don’t even need any help!”

“Great, Hamish – there you go – you know what to do!!”Hamish did just that – total concentration – fully bent to the task. “I’ve done five stitches,” and he had – very neat and right where they should be – I was impressed. I stayed sitting by him talkin…

Observing and listening in to practices in the arts includes watching and listening in to adults and other children participating in the arts for a range of purposes. It also includes noticing the cultural conventions – what you can do – with the symbol systems and technologies of the arts.

In the exemplar “The dancing cats”, the photographs reveal that observing and listening in is a feature of this project. The teachers comment that the children are improving their techniques “through observa…

This story began one day when Vanessa told me that her family were going to get a puppy. A conversation with her mum revealed that Vanessa was “breaking her neck” to get the puppy. She just loves animals.

The day came when the puppy arrived. Vanessa was bursting with the news when she came to kindergarten and with great delight told all the teachers. And so the beautiful pictures of Trent began with this one.



Day after day Vanessa drew or painted pictures of Trent. The pictures became more…

Observing and listening in to ICT practices includes watching adults and other children using ICT for a range of purposes. In the exemplar “Jason, the boy with the camera”, Jason has observed the teachers and children taking digital photographs and recognises that this is what children at his kindergarten do. This observation and his later interest in taking photographs himself contributes to his settling-in process, and to his family’s involvement.

Today Tuveina asked me if he could put the iSight® camera into the mouse house. I got it out of the bag and helped him plug it into the computer. Keanu was at the other computer with the other iSight® camera ready to see into the mouse house. Tuveina put the iSight® camera into the house to see what the mice were doing. He said, “Keanu, can you see what the mice are doing? They are sleeping.”

Keanu asked over the iSight® camera if Tuveina could wake the mouse up and see if it wanted to go on th…

The first relevant image is about continuity.

Ka tō te marama e tiaho nei
Ka hī ake ko te rā
Kei tua o te pae

When the translucent rays
of the moon disappear,
a new day dawns with the rising
of the sun beyond the horizon.

In an ever-changing world, we know that horizons of young children will expand and change in ways that cannot be foreseen. Children will travel beyond the current horizon, and early childhood education is part of that. It continues the shaping of a vision for children – that…

"Children and their families feel a sense of belonging. Children ... experience an environment where connecting links with the family and the wider world are affirmed and extended; they know that they have a place; they feel comfortable with the routines, customs, and regular events; they know the limits and boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

Ko te whakatipuranga tēnei o te mana motuhake, te mana tūrangawaewae, me te mana toi whenua o te tangata … Ko te tūmanako mō te mokopuna. Kia mōhio…

Today, Aminiasi came to me and said, “I want to make a kite.”

“You can,” I replied.

“I can’t,” Aminiasi replied.

“You can,” I replied.

“I can’t,” said Aminiasi.

“Shall we look at some books and see how to make a kite?” I asked.

“Yes,” Aminiasi agreed.

We read the story “The Wind Blew”. We talked about the shape of the kite and what kites need to help them fly.

Aminiasi then chose his materials and set about creating his kite, working independently. The pictures below tell the story about…

This is a story about Micah and his grandfather, told by his mum.

On Saturday mornings, Micah likes to come into our bed. It’s the only day we are able to lie in and have a cuddle with Micah because I leave for work at 6 a.m. during the week.

One Saturday, a few weeks ago, Micah was absorbed in telling me the story about Tama and the God of the forest, Tāne (the legend the children were acting for the centre’s Christmas performance). He said, “Do you know that you have to ask the God of the fo…