Merry Christmas 2010

To our regular visitors to our blog, friends and whanau,

We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

Thank you for our Christmas gifts. We will enjoy them, especially the chocolate!

 We look forward to seeing you in 2011.

From

The Team at Learning Curves

xxxx

Our Trip to the Marae

Please hit the link for more information about Unitec's Marae: Marae
Please hit the link for the story, 'How the Kiwi Lost His Wings': Kiwi

Our Trip to Whangaparaoa, A Steam Train Ride and Much, Much More

There was lots to see and do on our Whangaparaoa trip

We could ride on the steam train 

Go on bush walks

Jump on the trampoline  - Woohoo!

And play on the playgrounds

We saw animals and counted owls hiding in the bush. There was a train track on a table and so many of us could play with it all at once and because there was enough trains to go round, we were all happy. There were swings and slides, trucks and trees. Oh yes, it was a fun packed, busy trip and do you know, the rain stayed away.

It was good to see our friends from Kinross Street and we really enjoyed travelling on the double decker bus.

Thank you for such an awesome trip!

Hit the link below for more details:
Whangaparaoa Narrow Gauge Railway

Something for us all to think about

At a recent professional development course we were given an opportunity to watch the following clip. It is quite long (4 mins) but it is worth watching to get an idea of the world that children are growing up in.

Children are using technology. They will face challenges and they will need skills to manage these challenges. Who will teach them these skills, their parents, their teachers? Do we know the technologies that they will be using?

 

A Vision of K-12 Students Today - Watch more Tech Videos at Vodpod.

Liz Clarkson from New Lynn Primary gave us this message:
"Don't prepare children for our world; Prepare them for their world."

हमारी दीवाली का जश्न! - Our Diwali Celebration!

दीपावली की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं

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दीवाली के लिए हमारी तैयारी छोटे तेल के लैंप मिट्टी के साथ परंपरागत तरीके से बनाने के साथ शुरू कर दिया
Our preparation for Diwali started with us making small oil lamps in the traditional way with clay.

Jaimini हमें दिखाया रंगोली बनाने के लिए, यह एक स्वागत योग्य संकेत है
Jaimini showed us how to make Rangoli. It is a welcome sign.

मिठाई के लिए हम नारियल गेंदों बनाया
For sweet we made coconut balls.

जिया और ईडन भारतीय रोटी (दोपहर के भोजन)बना रही है
Jiya and Eden making indian bread for lunch.

Ann and Mandy's Trip to Christchurch - Part 1

Ann and I went to the U-Learn 2010, teachers conference in Christchurch with Marlise and Wendy from Kinross Street. We were able to see some of the devastation and destruction that was caused as a result of the earthquake and following aftershocks.

Before we left, the children at Learning Curves had already expressed interest in the earthquake and our planning around the phenomenal event began. Although our trip down to Christchurch was for professional development, we took a few moments to have a closer look at the aftermath. The city was able to host a conference to accommodate over 2000 teachers from all over the world with little or no disruption to our timetable. Quite incredible really.

The following slide show should give you some idea of the destruction experienced by the people of Christchurch, and for me, a clear picture of the resilience that they express every day after the event with unpredictable aftershocks that strike at any moment.

This is part 1 of our trip to Christchurch...more to follow. Thank you for your interest.

Devonport & Mt.Victoria Trip!

Our Ben - The Learning Curves Gymnast

During a discussion with a group of children today we established that, Ben, is in fact, the Learning Curves Gymnast and I managed to capture a moment of his skills as he expressed with confidence what he can do. In addition to his cartwheels he did a head-stand but I wasn't quick enough to record him. I can tell you though that his legs went straight up in the air and he stayed in that position for a number of seconds before safely rolling down on his back and back to his feet.
With Ben as the motivator and inspiration for this experience, some of his friends joined in to show off his or her moves. This was a fun and very energetic time for us.

A learning story has been added to Ben's portfolio. Harpar, Jiya, Cameron, Eden and master L were very impressed with Ben's moves and practiced some flips and roly poly and cart wheels. 

Roti with Fatima

Fatima, Zahra's Mum offered to come and make Roti with the children on Wednesday, 6th October, 2010. Fatima demonstrated to the children how to make Roti and then they gave it a go. Have a look at the photo story of the children participating.

This Is What Friends Do

In our mixed age setting from 2 to 5 year olds there is many opportunities for the children to take on the role as teachers and we all learn from those experiences. Below is an example of children learning from each other during a normal day at Learning Curves. Don't forget to click on the picture to enlarge and the back arrow to return. A video will also follow:

23 September 2010

Annie and Mandy's Trip to Christchurch

We're back! What a busy week we had in Christchurch, full of learning and experiences that we are both keen to share with you all. Stay tuned for our photos and stories of our very shaky trip:

Look at our colourful Lillies!

Lots of Lemons Everywhere

Look what we made with the lemons that Sahara brought in from her garden:

Lemon Slice

Recipe

150g butter

1 cup flour

1/2 cup icing sugar

Topping

2 tablespoons of custard powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup lemon

1 tablespoon lemon zest

3 eggs

Melt the butter. Remove from heat and mix in flour and icing sugar.

Press the base into a square, lined cake tin. Bake in pre-heated oven

at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes.

Mix all the topping ingredients together until combined. Pour over base

and bake for a further 25 minutes until set. Cut into slices and enjoy.

Thank you to Sahara and family for the lemons from your garden.

Watch this space for more lemon recipes that the children have

experienced.
Thank you also to the Edmunds Cook Book for the recipe idea.

Lost Property

Hello to you. Thank you for logging on to this blog. Depending on how successful this post is I may continue to add similar posts to help reduce the lost property that we seem to accumulate.
I have attached a slide show of a number of lost pieces of clothing that want to be re matched with the owner. Please browse through and either add a comment or let one of the teaching team know which item belongs to your child.

Don't forget to check back on our blog regularly to see when more posts are added and if you want to be added to our mail out list, which means that you will be notified by email when a new post has been added to the blog, let me know and I will add you to the list.

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day evening has become a regular event to celebrate the families in our community and the many different ways that they come to us. We appreciate and value the contribution that our families bring and this is one way that we can give back to them. A relaxed, low key, informal evening, an opportunity for the teaching team to connect with the dads/grandad and share stories about their precious children. In true NZ style we shared fish and chips for our evening's kai.

Thank you to Gerald, one of our dads that comes back to help us even though his son is off to school. He is prepared to share his vast knowledge and skills in technology. Without him, our Father's Day evening would have been somewhat more challenging!

For the mums, grandmas and aunties out there, don't feel left out as we have plenty of whanau nights and, just for you, we have a Mother's Day evening too. We will let you know when, just stay tuned.

I hope you enjoy the following slide show as much as I did. Thank you to Jonny for your speech at the end. We appreciated your words and it made our evening all the more special. A big thank you to all the dads that could make it and we look forward to next year.

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Eden's Yummy chocolate!

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Eden came up to me with a chocolate case she had found and wanted to make real chocolate, so on Thursday 2nd September, I brought some chocolate, and look what we made!

Our visit to St Dominic's Primary School

We visited St Dominics Primary School Please hit the link for the St Dom's website.

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Move to the Groove - Compliments of Justin Bieber

Hit 'here' for Justin Bieber - Baby song

Birthday News

General reminder:
Don't forget to click on the birthday link on the right hand side to see the latest birthday celebrations.

Tantalising Lemon Muffins

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Mandy has some renovations going on at her house at the moment and mentioned to some children how she likes to make muffins for the builders to enjoy each Friday. Grace wanted to taste one of Mandy's home baked muffins and so Mandy said she would try to remember to bring some in. Unfortunately, there was only enough for the builders and so we decided to make some of our own muffins 'Learning Curves style'.


Mandy thought that this was an awesome opportunity for the children to learn using all of their senses and by participating within the process - it is good to learn by 'doing'. Learning stories will be added to the portfolios of the children involved but in the mean time, please take a moment to view the photos.


As always, we appreciate any comments in the box below. 

Tantalising Lemon Muffins:

Firemen Visit

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Our most popular songs

Following our visit to Arahoe Primary's school assembly, two of the songs the children saw performed have now become firm favourites. The chorus lines in both songs are very catchy and repeatative. The two songs are 'Ice Baby' by Vanilla Ice and Justin Bieber's 'Baby.'

Jo-Anne's grandson visits the centre

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Ugly Bugs

Sonny's Special Day

Sonny was making so much noise and so Maree had a quick look to see if he was ok. She thought he'd like a nice basin of water to splash around in and off she went to see what she could find.

Moments later she was back and added a nice ensuite to Sonny's cage. Good job he had a bath because soon afterwards Sonny had a visitor. He can be a very naughty bird sometimes, especially when he splashes everyone. Have a look at his video to see how much he enjoyed it:

Out and About in our Community

We have been very lucky with the weather this week. Winter is upon us and it is cold but not wet and so we made the most of the fine weather with a visit to our friends at Learning Curves in Kinross Street. We caught a bus to Blockhouse Bay and while there we popped in to visit Josh and Jiya's mum in her place of work. We received a very warm welcome and we were also fortunate to meet Om's Grandad. Have a look at our news letter and tell us what you think:

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Tip: Click on the 'play' circle to enlarge and the smaller 'play' circle to watch the video. Click 'X' top right to get back to the blog.

Maree's 70's and 80's Birthday Celebration

Our Blog's Make-over

While practicing my Blogging skills on the weekend I discovered how easy it is to give our blog a new look and in line with our current programme I found a template that has a nature feel to it. I hope you like it... Any comments would be much appreciated and I can always change it back again if need be. Stay tuned as we will be updating our Blog soon with useful information and of course more stories and pictures, thanks to the children of Learning Curves. If you have any trouble adding a comment to any of our posted Blog updates the teaching team will help you. It is very easy after the first time. Hope to see you during the week ahead, Mandy

4 Year old visit to Arahoe Primary

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Join us on our winter adventure......

Create a photo album

Look who's Birthday it is!

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Happy Birthday Sara

Oh No! Another one off to school!

Jordan's news

Jayden's 5th Birthday - 18th June, 2010

All the best for school from your friends and teachers at Learning Curves Childcare!

Jordan's 3rd Birthday - 16th June, 2010

Happy 5th Birthday Reece

Kapa Haka Performance!

Watch Te Atatu Intermediate School,as they perform a wonderful Kapa Haka experience for all the children and teachers! Thursday 3rd June 2010

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Hangi Shopping - Thursday 10th June, 2010

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Matariki Evening - 11th June, 2010

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