
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
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Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
Well … it’s been a minute. All of us - children, parents and teachers have had a very busy year so far! It’s been fabulous!!
At Seven Stars we have been enjoying a Froebelian activity every day and you can see our #30DaysofFroebel posts on our Facebook page. Sometimes we have used a suggested activity straight from the The Froebel Partnership website but as Matariki drew near, we decided to meld a few of the Froebel activities with whakaaro Māori to fit our Aotearoa context.
Here are some of our activities which draw from both Māori and Froebelian perspectives.
Music & Movement
Froebel bel ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
At Seven Stars Kindergarten we are keenly interested in how we, as Kaiako, support children to understand the rich gifts that nature and the outdoors offer. It is part of striving to provide a learning environment that enhances social and emotional competence and engagement.
As part of our Froebel Partnership, we recently presented a research project at the EECERA conference that looks at how how children engage with nature in different contexts, and how we can foster an appreciation and sense of responsibility and guardianship (kaitiakitanga) in line with Froebel, Penetito and matuarang ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
Matariki, the rising of a star cluster in the pre-dawn mid-winter sky. The heralding of a new year. The mourning of loved ones. The celebration of life. The hopes for tomorrow and beyond. On June 24, Aotearoa officially celebrates our first Matariki as a national holiday.
A group called the Matariki Advisory Panel was convened last year to give recommendations on how best to celebrate Matariki as a nation. This panel of experts in the fields of Māori astronomy and navigation established a set of guidelines and key values based on ancient knowledge and practice and applicable to our modern cont ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
Anne Denham and Lynda Harris are a force to be reckoned with. Together they run the education consultancy AMA Associates and are the force behind Massey’s newest kindergarten. Anne’s son Mitchell spoke to them recently about their journey thus far.
The pair met years ago while working for Auckland Kindergarten Association.
“The more we worked together the more we realised that we valued the same things. We both have strong beliefs and philosophies about early years education,” Lynda explains.
“We both love nature, play, and championing curiosity and exploration,” Anne adds, “when we took the l ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
Our children are very comfortable with technology as ably demonstrated on a recent Zoom session with Sophia - a scientist from the University of Auckland.
Sophia is part of the Soilsafe Aotearoa team. (She would usually visit us in person but we decided to give Zoom a try as part of minimising the number of new people that come into contact with our children in these COVID-aware times.)
We were so proud of the children who managed well, gathering around to listen, watch and interact with Sophia - they were genuinely interested in what she had to say.
We had the resources that Sophia had droppe ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
Keeping COVID-safe is a serious business for everyone offering childcare or kindergarten services in Auckland and Seven Stars Kindergarten is no different. We want to do all we can to help keep our young ones safe.
Kaiako have made a number of changes since opening to our health and safety practices, our goal has been for the children to embrace these changes and have them become part of everyday kindergarten routine and ensure our parents and caregivers are confident that are COVID-aware.
The children have coped really well with all the changes we have made.
One of the key changes has been ar ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
To learn a thing in life and through doing is much more developing, cultivating and strengthening that to learn it merely through the verbal communication of ideas.
FROEBEL
As Pete Moorhouse writes in the Froebel Trust pamphlet on woodwork - There is something special about woodwork's ability to engage young children. It is learning through doing.
Working with a natural material, the smell and the feel of the wood, using real tools, the sounds of hammering and sawing.
Hands, body and mind working together to express imagination and solve problems, the use of strength and coordination: all g ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
Anne Denham and Lynda Harris are the Directors at Seven Stars Kindergarten. Alongside Lead Kaiako, Petrea and Debbie, they have been researching and documenting the development of the Kindergarten’s Froebelian philosophy and practice in the outdoor environment, in collaboration with the Froebel Partnership.
Te Whariki, the New Zealand Early Years Curriculum enables us to weave our own distinctive, culturally responsive, and contextually relevant curriculum, based on what we believe is important for the children in our setting; Seven Stars Kindergarten.
Since opening in May 2 ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
Matariki is a time to gather with family and friends to reflect on the past, celebrate the present and plan for the future.
Matariki signals the Māori New Year. It is a time of renewal and celebration in Aotearoa that begins with the rising of the Matariki star cluster.
The two meanings of Matariki both refer to stars: mata ariki (eyes of god) and mata a riki (little eyes)
Matariki is a star cluster which appears in the night sky during mid-winter. According to the Maramataka (Māori lunar calendar) The reappearance of Matariki brings the old lunar year to a close and marks the beginn ..read more
Seven Stars Kindergarten Blog
1y ago
It was my privilege to accept the Head Teacher role for Seven Stars Kindergarten and I was fortunate to be offered the additional opportunity to enrol on a six-month on-line ‘Froebel in Practice’ course with the University of Edinburgh. These opportunities have challenged me to develop my understanding of Froebelian principles in the context of a kindergarten in a contemporary world and to reflect on how Froebel principles interconnect with Our New Zealand bi-cultural curriculum, Te Whāriki.
As a kindergarten team, our priority was to agree on and establish our core values and intentions ..read more