Kei Tua o te Pae

Child: Rahsaan

Teacher: Carol

Date: 28 February

  Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest
Finding an interest here – a topic, an activity, a role. Recognising the familiar, enjoying the unfamiliar. Coping with change.

Because there has been such strong interest in playing quidditch created by the “pipes”, I brought Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone18 to kindergarten.

After mat time I told the boys with the pipes that I had the book and Rahsaan was…

28 February

Ezra wanted to be really tall today. He was walking around with the sawhorse held up high over his head. Later I noticed him under the tree house positioning the sawhorse in different ways, trying to reach the bottom ledge.

He tried standing on both the bottom and top of the sawhorse.

The sawhorse is upside down with its legs standing up.
Ezra works out how to reach the ledge more easily.

Then with intense concentration he walked around the playground. “I’m going to reach that tr…

Throughout the past few months we have been experimenting with PowerPoint® as a tool for documenting children’s learning. PowerPoint® allows the children to plan and construct their own interactive computer program. Previously we had been working on group documentation and Tori had been a keen helper. I wondered if she would be interested in making her own presentation, a prospect that she found very exciting.

Tori and I discussed a story topic and Tori decided that it would be about her good f…

JanuaryLauren (a teacher) brought in a CD of children from the Burnham Primary School kapa haka group.

As soon as Jace walked into the nursery today, he stood still upon hearing the music that was playing. He seemed to recognise the waiata. Jace just stood there, listening and looking around the room at the teachers and the other children.

A short time later, he began to move his body to the music, stamping his feet in time to the waiata playing. He seemed familiar with the actions for this pi…

Children: Thomas and Isaiah

26 February

Teacher: Margaret

It’s our centre’s first birthday and distinguished guests have come from afar to help us celebrate. Isaiah and Thomas stand around the birthday cake with other tamariki.

Some of our guests donate trees to the centre. We were so lucky to receive two silk trees, two kauri trees, and an olive tree.

During morning mat times, we discuss the trees we received for our birthday in detail, thinking about the process that they may take to grow…

 

  Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest
Finding an interest here – a topic, an activity, a role. Recognising the familiar, enjoying the unfamiliar. Coping with change.

If ever there is music playing, you can always be sure that Immy will be there, ready to dance as quick as a flash.

Today was no exception … I arrived to find her swirling the two ribbons to and fro. “Up in the air,” I gestured. “Down on the ground …

Immy continued to wave the ribbons,…

Many of the exemplars in books 11–15 directly document the continuity of learning in some way. A key strategy for mutual understandings about continuity and increasing strength is revisiting the documentation with children and families. Not all revisiting conversations with children and families are documented, but these conversations are also important pedagogical opportunities. Assessment for learning becomes assessment as learning. A teacher comment in the exemplar “O le matamatagā tusi” (Boo…

June 18Belonging | Mana whenuaTaking an interestFinding an interest here – a topic, an activity, a role. Recognising the familiar, enjoying the unfamiliar. Coping with change.

Wellbeing | Mana atuaBeing involvedPaying attention for a sustained period, feeling safe, trusting others. Being playful with others and/or materials. 

Exploration | Mana aotūroaPersisting with difficultySetting and choosing difficult tasks. Using a range of strategies to solve problems when ‘stuck’ (be specific).

Commu…

Narrative record for Abigail6 July

Abigail and the baby’s gender

Abigail has been quite definite that her new baby will be a girl, to the point where she says that if it’s a boy, she will take him back to the baby warehouse and swap him! Today we had a bit of a breakthrough. We were discussing that the baby could be a boy or a girl and you couldn’t tell, just had to wait.

(I had talked to Liz previously – they don’t know the sex of the baby.) Abigail was not convinced. I tried to say that boy…

Learning story17 September Teacher: Gae

Michael’s mum says he really likes helping at home. He closes all the doors and enjoys helping adults to do tasks.

Michael helps me to get his bottle ready. He opens the fridge, gets his milk and gives it to me, shuts the microwave door, and pushes the buttons.

Short-term review
"Belonging, Goal 1: Children and their families experience an environment where connecting links with the family and the wider world are affirmed and extended."

Te Wh…

Last week one of the children brought in this skeleton that they had found at the beach. I showed it to Leo and asked him if he had any ideas about what sort of skeleton it might be. “Maybe a flying fish?” was Leo’s initial thought, but after a closer inspection we both decided that it could not be a fish as it had what looked like nostril holes at the top of its beak. I thought it might be a penguin and the only way to find this out was to have a look in some of our books. We soon discovered it…

Sandra’s story

“Look, look, look, look!” shouted Joey, excitedly waving his hands in front of my face. “What? What? What?” I jumped up to see just what was so amazing.

“Look!” exclaimed Joey, pointing up to the sky.

Well, what a sight! The most amazing cloud formation had formed. Stripey clouds were whizzing in the opposite direction to large, white, fluffy ones. Spectacular!

“Quick, go and tell Jill – she’ll love them,” I told Joey.

I then called the children to the hill, and we all lay on…

Child's name: Campbell

Date: 28 June

Teacher: Carol

 

 
 

A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest

Campbell delights in pulling objects out of the supervisor's bag (rolls, verification forms, and so on). He opens the books carefully for an eighteen-month-old. He scans the pages and, if he manages to find a pen (crayons are of little interest), he will hold the pen correctly and write small, precise symbols.

So as not to deter Campbell's interest in books…

Child's name: Jesse

Date: 3 September

Teacher: Wendy

 
 
Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest
Finding an interest here – a topic, an activity, a role. Recognising the familiar, enjoying the unfamiliar. Coping with change.

Jesse: At your centre, did you have sleep time?

Wendy: Yes, we did.

Jesse: Did you have mahi taonga time, too?

Wendy: No, we didn't have mahi taonga time. That is something special we do here.

Jesse: So the children can…

Communication is one of Te Puawai's strongest points. Te Puawai's language skills have increased significantly since the beginning of the year.

She supports her language using non-verbal communication methods such as facial expressions and hand gestures. Her verbal communication is based on fifty words or more, using one-to-three-word utterances like "Ka haere ia'', "He inu māku", or "Pānui pukapuka".

She knows everybody's names at kōhanga and…

A learning storyWhenever I sit down to do 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 computer by herself and immediately moves the mouse (as she has seen us doing). Then she taps the keys on the keyboard. It’s a bit of a stretch for her, standing, but she manages and can just see the screen. Here is a sample of her work on the computer and writing with me.

Tiari also loves writing with pens. She sits beside me…

Child: Tegan

Teacher: Jane

A learning story

Tegan sat down on the couch in the book area, bringing the guitar with her. She began to play the guitar and said, “It’s working, it’s working.”

I asked Tegan, “What’s working?”

“My playing – it’s working.”

“How do you know that it’s working?” I asked.

“The birds are moving. I played the guitar so they could dance.”

Short-term reviewTegan displayed a genuine interest in the new birds. She demonstrated this by wanting to play the guitar for them…

Names: Koasigan and Cameron

18 November

Teacher: Lee

I found Koasigan and Cameron sitting on the floor together, viewing a book titled “How Your Body Works”. Cameron was turning the pages.

“Look at the funny hat,” said Cameron.

“Oh! That’s not a funny hat. It’s your brain. Your brain is for thinking,” said Koasigan in an informative manner.

“Look at this funny hat, too,” said Cameron.

“No, that’s your skull. It protects your brain. Stops it from being sandwiched,” said Koasigan.

Short-te…

Child's name: Fred

Date: 27 June

Teacher: Karen

  Examples or cues
A Learning Story

Belonging

Mana whenua
Taking an Interest
Finding an interest here – a topic, an activity, a role. Recognising the familiar, enjoying the unfamiliar. Coping with change.
Fred came with his mum to his IP meetings today.
We put Fred's videotape on to celebrate Fred's progress with his IP team.

Fred's second story on the tape was about some writing he had done in a book. When the story came…

Child: William

Teacher: Jo

22 November

William’s map drawing is amazing! We sat down together and looked at the map that is on the wall at our kindergarten. I asked William if he knew where the kindergarten is on the map. He wasn’t too sure so I showed him Garnet Road and where the kindergarten is. He said to me, “You know where my house is, aye Jo. You have been to my house.” I confirmed this and we then looked on the map to see where William’s house is. We looked at all of the roads and I a…