Waikato Kindergarten Association is Expanding its Green Image

Newcastle Kindergarten hosted a celebration of partnership between the Waikato Kindergarten Association (Ngā kura Kōhungahunga O Waikato), Enviroschools and Waikato Regional Council. The official signing signifies a growing commitment to sustainability and leadership in the community.

All 29 kindergartens and five early learning centres within the Waikato Kindergarten Association will be actively involved in the Enviroschools programme.

Children at Newcastle Kindergarten were proud to showcase their initiatives.

“There has been an exceptional effort towards creating our sustainable environment.” says Tanya Podjursky, teacher at Newcastle Kindergarten.

There is a commitment to recycling and composting. Children planted and care for trees. Fruit grown in the orchard is used and shared with the children and their families.

"We are really excited about working with the early childhood sector as there is such a great fit between the kaupapa of Enviroschools and Te Whariki – the early childhood curriculum. Our partnership with Waikato Kindergarten Association is going from strength to strength. The amazing range of actions happening in the WKA Kindergartens that are part of the Enviroschools Programme is inspiring." says Kristen Price, Operations Director of The Enviroschools Foundation. 

Andrea Soanes, schools programme coordinator for Waikato Regional Council says “We are also excited about the opportunity to support the Waikato Kindergarten Association with their implementation of the Enviroschools programme throughout their early childhood centres. Waikato Regional Council facilitates a regional approach to creating a vibrant and supportive Enviroschools network. We are looking forward to a collaborative partnership that provides support for our children, teachers and communities to work towards a sustainable future.”

Enviroschools is helping to create healthier, more peaceful and more sustainable communities.

Our New Outdoor Classroom!

We have posted on our page about a couple of things we've done this past week. We have enjoyed looking at what you are doing at Hillcrest. Thank you for sharing. :)

Here are some pictures of our recent makeover at the back of our kindergarten. Our native area was cut down before our renovations because the trees were creating a few issues with light and drains/spouting etc. We were very sad to see it go but are very pleased with our new garden. It has been planned so the big growing trees don't encroach on the building. The children love it especially the stepping stones and log rounds. We can't wait until Summer to enjoy opening our sliding doors from our art area and moving our art area outdoors!

We had a wonderful Teddy Bear's Picnic earlier in the term to officially open the garden.

Beginning the Big End of Winter Weed Out

Weeding was on the agenda , find the strawberry plants and get rid of the violet take over. Gloves were put on and hand forks and hand shovels were at the ready. The children got stuck in.   Then other things were found during the dig.... 

   

The worm , "it was that big"


the dig was on and worms were being found all through the muddy garden.



Weeding in the back garden produced another variety of curiosity, a large collection of snails!!

Matariki

The tamariki were involved in the preparation of the food and were there for the lifting and blessing of the kai.

Spider Web Art

Hello everyone,

Friday morning was very foggy and damp and great morning for discovering the many spider webs around the garden.

They were first spotted in our mandarin tree. The children were given glue, paper and glitter to create their own cob web or orb web designs

Cheers from the team at Hillcrest

Mandarins for Morning Tea



Picking Mandarins from the back garden at Miropiko Kindergarten

Our mandarin tree was over flowing with mandarins.  Oliver and Cara picked so many mandarins off the tree that there was enough for one each. They put them into a big silver bowl to share for morning tea.  This is what the children said when they were eating them, "yum, sweet, these are easy to peel, juicy, this one taste good". 

As part of our enviroschools programme we look after and care for the trees and vegetables in the garden.  In the summer we had to water the mandarin tree and feed it with worm juice so that it would produce fruit in the winter.  When we care for trees they produce lots of fruit and they grow bigger.  We are also caring for our friends when we share the fruit with others.

May 2012

Written by Raewyn



Miropiko kindergarten end of year gifts

Miropiko Kindergarten Produce

Lauren helped pick purple and yellow beans and water the vege garden today.  She got so many purple beans that we needed to get a bigger bowl.  Lauren then sorted the yellow beans from the purple beans. 

Ka pai Lauren it is great to see you taking an interest in the garden and taking responsibility for looking after them to make sure they grow.

purple king beans