School Buddy stories

Each time the school buddies come we write a story about their visit for their portfolios and for the kindergarten child's portfolio and they put them in to the books together.

Now the kindergarten children work with a teacher the next day to tell a story about their time with their school buddy and print it to get it ready for the next weeks visit.

The display on the board of the stories has created interest from the children and from their parents and they spend time standing at the board discussing their buddy experience.

Our school buddy programme has been running for 6 years now and we are delighted to see children come back as school buddies who have had a school buddy themselves when they were transitioning to school. It is an fabulous community building experience. Thanks to both Mangere Bridge and Waterlea schools for continuing this joint project over so many years. We all see the benefits every week as children move into the new entrant rooms with a bigger school buddy keeping in touch with them.

A kindergarten in transition

Each year at the end of the year we farewell groups of children and now we are transitioning children into our kindergarten and also still farewelling some as they go off to start school during the next week or so, at the beginning of the school year. Of course in New Zealand children start school at all times during the year but we always have a bigger group at this time of the year.
Transition to school has a big emphasis in our kindergarten  - as you will know from reading around this blog - but we like to emphasise that our focus is on the child and family feeling comfortable about their move to school, not on a checklist of readiness skills.
Our children regularly write, enjoy stories with adults and other children and count in their daily life in the kindergarten and with their families / whanau. We see literacy and numeracy as part of our everyday curriculum that concentrates on engaging children in interesting and relevant experiences and relationships everyday.

Writing a card that says " I will miss you" to the teachers and children

reading a fun story under a tree

or working collaboratively to play and enjoy friendships are important learning opportunities that create confident, capable learners who when they move to school are able to be social beings in a social setting.
For those who are still at kindergarten it is a time of transition too as new children move in and we rely on the children who have been with us for a while to support the children who have just started. Once again to be a social being - someone who will care for and build friendships is at the forefront of our programme.

Crossing the Border Book Launch

Our book was launched - not into space as Ollie thought - but into the world of published education research on Thursday night at Ambury Farm. We chose the farm because it is a special  place for all of us and we love being there. The perfect venue although perhaps a little wet. Our co-authors Sally Peters (far left) and Margaret Carr (far right ) joined Jemma, Pat and Carol to celebrate. And then we had to have Cree - a chapter in the book, Angeline - the artist for the cover and Rosie one of our first buddies up to join us in photos at the front.

We were delighted to have Josh from the publisher NZCER Press join us to for this special occasion.

First up we were delighted to have Emily sing for us - a past kindergarten pupil. She was fantastic.

 We had a puppet show by Hands Alive to entertain all the children who came and then signed copies of the book.

Our thanks go to all who contributed, the title is about a community negotiating transition and the community were invited to join us so that we could say a very big thankyou to all who contributed.

Kia Ora School buddies

Kia ora, thank you school buddies. Once again you have done a wonderful job supporting kindergarten children in transitioning to your schools.

Another great transition visit to school (and our mountain too).

We had another great visit to school, spending time in the classrooms. We joined the children in the classrooms writing, cutting and drawing, and listening to stories. We had a visit from England with us too. Ann is interested in the transition research we are currently writing up for publication so it was  fantastic that she actually got to experience the school visit.

Once we had finished in the classrooms we went up to our mountain, Mangere. The children have a great time whatever we plan there and this time it was soccer on the fields. Trey wanted to play soccer, he is a great fan of the game but he also wanted to finish the work he had started at school. Great to see such perseverance - a learning disposition, we really value.

Making books

We have been making books. The children dictate the story, find the appropriate puppets, and friends to play the parts, act out the story and we take the photos. Then they are printed, the words added, the children laminate and bind the book. Lastly they read the story at mat time. There is much competition to be the one to help, as actors and then to use the laminator and the binder.

William at Conference in Rotorua

William continues his travels. He travelled with us to Rotorua to present at the NZEI EC Hui. We talked to two groups of teachers about our Transition research and joined the group for dinner. It is always great to catch up with teachers from around the country and talk about how best we can support our children and families in the transition to school.