The Firemen visit KCC!!!!

With our interest in community helpers toward the end of last year we called upon the fire service to come along and introduce their "Get Out, Stay Out" preschool programme with our tamariki.  Matt from the fire department came and then promised us if we practised our song everyday we might just get a visit from the Howick Fire Department!!! Well today was our lucky day and we were all so excited to see the big red fire truck drive in.  

Fireman Andrew sat us all on the mat and gave us a quiz us on fire safety.  The teachers were so impressed with what super good memories our children had and the awesome  and correct answers we were giving, Well done Phoenix House children.  Then we had to help firefighter Morgan put on his correct uniform for work....  boots, trousers, jacket, mask, helmet, gloves and most importantly his oxygen tank to help him breathe.  They have such a lot of safety gear they need to wear to protect them in a fire.

Outside we saw the fire truck up close and even had a peep inside.  Such a long way from the ground but we weren't scared.  Then fireman Theo said because we had been such awesome listeners,  we were allowed to have a squirt of the hose, how cool is that!!! 

A big thanks to the Howick Fire Department for visiting today.  The children certainly were in awe of their Hero's and together we all learnt a lot more about one of our very important helpers in the Community.

Fire Visit 2015 on PhotoPeach

"Lest we forget" Commemorating 100 Years at Phoenix House

ANZAC day activities...........

This week we have been doing lots of activities for Anzac Day in remembrance of the Australian and New Zealand soldier's who fought in the war.  As we are commemorating the centenary we set up a special memorial on our Phoenix tree.  All of the children contributed to the memorial in some way whether it was their handprint or helping paint the poppies.  At mat-time we spoke about us about what ANZAC stands for, why we have a public holiday and wear red poppies. We have certainly learnt a lot about New Zealand History this week!! 

Cricket Fever on PhotoPeach

Busy Doctors Office

"At the doctors, the sick persons have a nap" (Kaide)

"I'm ringing their mummy" (Zane)

"Agents, calling all agents...I'm calling into the speaker" (Malikah)

"The injection takes something bad out and you have to wait for it to get better" (Kaide) 

"I'm just going to get you some strawberry medicine" (Kaide) 

"The doctor listens to your heart from the back too" (Kaide) 

"I'm signing out all the patients we've done" (Lachlan) 

Chalk Painting

This wonderful art experience is something that all children enjoy participating in..it is a fun way to bring art into the outdoors. All it take is a few sticks of chalk, crush them up and add some water and then away you go with your paintbrush :) 

Measuring volume

Measuring volume! We filled different household items with water and then measured out the water to see how much each item could hold. I questioned children, which do you think would hold more "The......" or "The.....?" We spoke about what other liquids we could measure out, "juice", "milk" were a few of the answers I received. Everyday activities and experimenting with real objects helps children to understand measurement concepts.

How tall are you?

Measuring with ribbon, we were able to find out the different heights of each of our Phoenix House children...after recording with colourful ribbon we measured and wrote the initials and height of the child on the label. A fun way of introducing early mathematical concepts, children are able to revisit the activity and find out who they're taller or shorter than.

The Great Big Easter Egg Hunt!!

What excitement as the Easter bunny visited Kindy today and dropped yummy chocolate easter eggs all over the backyard!!!

Butterfly Garden Trip!!

We had the most amazing time going to visit such a special butterfly garden at

St Kentigern College.

Due to our current interest in butterflies and caterpillars this was a great way to extend the children's thoughts and ideas by learning new facts and new ways in which we can take care of our own swan plant at KCC.

We had lots of wonderful students from St Kents take us around the huge gardens and show us all the butterflies and caterpillars they had, we even saw a whole lot of chrysalis that will soon turn into some beautiful butterflies.

We even each had a turn of holding a real caterillar on our hands and inspect them up close, this was pretty special to experience.

Not only the excitement of the butterfly garden we began our trip by catching the public bus from Howick which we all thought was pretty cool and couldn’t wait to get on!

Butterfly Garden on PhotoPeach                                            

What an amazing trip we had Thank you to everyone who came and also our special helpers!