ABC Hastings

Part of the Overseas Project requirements is that you complete 8 hours of service-learning within the community that you are living and teaching. Upon my arrival I asked Emma and the other teachers for suggestions about where to volunteer. After attempting with the volunteer coordinator at the Hastings hospital I found myself talking to Kate – the Center Director of ABC Hastings Kindergarten.

In New Zealand – Kindergarten (or Kindy for short) is an Early Childhood Education Center. All ECE Centers implement the Te Whariki curriculum developed around five strands: Well-being – Mana Atua, Belonging – Mana Whenua, Contribution – Mana Tangata, Communication – Mana Reo, and Exploration – Mana Aoturoa. At ABC Hastings, teacher-initiated and student-initiated activities are developed to ensure the students experience holistic development.

I was placed in the 4-year old room working with Bronwyn and Linda. After school on Mondays and Wednesdays I would walk from Heretuanga to ABC Hastings and spend about 2 hours working in the room and interacting with the children. The majority of the academic curriculum took place between 8 am – 3 pm so by the time I arrived it was free time and fun. My responsibilities ranged from supervising outdoor play, setting up activities tables, reading stories, and cleaning up at the end of the day.

Working with the 4-year olds was always a refreshing experience after a day in the Intermediate school. It took the children about 45 seconds before they asked me “Why do you talk so funny?” As my ambassadors – they grabbed my hand and showed me every inch of the playground and classroom. They recounted all of their adventures of the day for me. I learned about their units about the Solar Systems, Healthy Eating, and Garden Building. They made me dinner in the play kitchen, we built train tracks around the room, and played freeze out (a dancing game where I was doubled over fighting back my laughs).

My favorite day was when I arrived to see a sign on the door that said – 6 June Dress like Royalty Day. I was greeting by the children wearing sparkly pink gowns and homemade crowns. It was so much fun to talk to the children about the Queen of England and their celebration of her birthday.

On my last day I took pictures of the room and some of the activities. Check them out below!

Learning center with the Letter of the Week,
Days of the Week in English and Maori, and the
New Zealand National Anthem

Building the train tracks

In NZ when a child turns 5 years old they are enrolled in
a Year 1 classroom if we are still in Term 1 or Term 2
of the school year. This makes New Entrance classes
challenging because there are always new students
joining as they turn 5 years old.

Play kitchen area

Hard at work making me a crown

Egg and spoon race

(ping pong ball and spoon race)

Computer station - every week they were playing
Freddie the Fish - brought back memories!!

Washing dishes

"Magic Tricks" with knot tying 

Which was secretly shoe-typing practice :)

Cooking dinner

He was tying one HUGE knot that I was never going
to be able to get out :)

Knot tying turned into making leashes for the dinosaurs

Which is why I love the imagination of four year olds...

After creating the leashes the dinosaurs moved into
their new home in the egg crates

Sport

Sport is an important piece of the NZ Intermediate curriculum. Once a week the students have a PE session with Mr. Whitt plus at least two sessions with their teacher. They are taught specific skills for each sport through drills, practice the skills during games, and complete a self- and teacher-assessment at the end of each unit.

During my time I got to observe and participate in Rugby, Hockey, and Football (Soccer) instruction. Below are pictures from Rugby with Room 6 and Hockey with Room 17.

Working on passing...

No forward passes...

Pop Pass

Practicing a Try

Mr. Whitt demonstrates the Grubber Kick

Grubber Kick Pro

Room 17 Hockey Battle

Waiting on the sideline for numbers to be called

Stealing the Eggs

Final Game for Assessment

Every Friday during Block 3 all of the students participate in School Sport. The students in each of the Syndicates – Tawa, Rata, Kauri, and Rimu – are divided into 4 teams – Rugby, Football (Soccer), Hockey/Indian Chairs, and T-ball/Capture the Flag – that they stay with through the entire term. In the first 3 weeks each of the Syndicates play each other in order to be ranked and placed in seeds. In the final weeks of the term they are placed in a bracket towards winning the Winter Sport Syndicate Shield. I have spent my Fridays rotating through the different Sport events to see all of my students play.

Each sport also has an Inter-Class competition. A bracket is set up placing each class in competition with each other. The games are played during T3 or joint PE time blocks. The winner of the Inter-Class competition wins the shield for that sport. Room 9 has the shield for Swimming and Beep Test displayed in their room.

There is also the opportunity for students to try-out and play on different sport teams to represent the school in competition. Emma is coaching the top Netball team so I have had the opportunity to help out at some of the practices. Last weekend I spent my Friday evening watching the Heretuanga hockey team play and my early Saturday morning watching the Nike Netball team play. Check out the pictures below!!!

Grace in the goal in her new gear!

First day at Goal Shoot and she scores!

For each sport there is also the Inter-Intermediate Competition. Through trials of the sport teams a group is chosen to represent Heretuanga. They spend an entire school day competing against teams from the other area Intermediate schools. During Term 1 Heretuanga’s volleyball team brought home the top prize!

As you can see being physically fit and healthy as well as healthy competition is of utmost importance in New Zealand. Many of the classrooms complete a 10-minute run around the school grounds every day. Possibly a mentality to bring into my classroom in the States…

Electives

Electives began Week 6 of the term. Each of the teachers chose a fun hobby or activity that they would be interested in teaching the students. Students give given a list of the options and were able to rank what skill they would like to participate in and learn. Electives run for the first half of Block 2 (45 minutes). In Week 6 I was working in Room 17 - where Mrs. Fox was teaching Sewing (which was turning into super cool friendship bracelets - shout out to Camp Tecumseh!!). After getting the girls started on their projects I took a walk around the school to check in on the other electives...

I unfortunately did not get pictures of Gymnastics, Kapa Haka, Digital Photography, or Extension Art. Some of the students participate in choir, orchestra, or individual music lessons during this time period as well. Lots of busy activity going on across the school grounds!

Friendship Bracelet #1 in the Sewing Room

Learning how to play Chess

Hands on top of your head when you have all of your pieces set.

Mass chaos in Room 18 - roughly 20 students attempting
to juggle tennis balls.

Book Making - looking at examples and deciding
on their stories as well as their book lay-out.

Agriculture - planting the gardens on school grounds.

Scrapbooking and Card Making

Harakeke (Flax) - Maori tradition