Child Poverty in Aotearoa

Comparisons between ECE and Primary Teaching

I have seen ECE using the environment as the sole teacher, it was never meant to be that, the third teacher I was trained to see it as. Teachers are disengaging more and more, a total hands off approach... oh the children are just so independent they say, well it's a cop out if you are not interacting and scaffolding young minds with conversations, questions and expert information.

I have seen children in schools regimented into 1 hour a day of reading, writing and maths, only three curriculums are so highly valued when we know that people have potential in so many areas of the curriculum.

There is one undeniable truth-both methods work but there is no way that schools are going to change from elephants into automobiles and teach the way ECE does, or vice versa, so I am more interested in what is not working and why?

When it doesn't work, the child does not learn, in my experience it is these three points that can be avoided;

Parenting 

Neglect-nutritional, affection, time to be creative "I watched TV and played with my Nintendo all holidays" - true story grrrrrrrr

Poverty 

When poverty comes in the front door, love flies out the back window, noone can perform at their best when their tummy is rumbling, or they haven't seen a doctor yet because the visit and prescription will be too expensive.

http://closertogether.org.nz/end-child-poverty-in-new-zealand/

Passion 

Of the teacher, I have sat in on one remarkable Teacher with a love of works and creative writing and magic happens when she reads, wonders over children's work and teases out new little dialogues from the unknown, the one factor that we can influence in our ECE centres and schools is passion, moods are contagious and if a Teacher is not into it, everyone is affected by this.

Canva Graphic Design Free Software

Excellent free Graphic design programme recommended to me from a friend, Thank-you Sarah! can't wait to use this and explore it more at work/mahi.

Create graphics for the web, with the greatest of ease, really cool templates like these;

Blog Graphic – Untitled Design by Janine Durno

To sign up for free click here http://all-free-download.com/free-photos/photojojo.html

Free Fonts @Fontspace

Wow this is a very cool site my girls found! 

 I've been able to download cool fonts to liven up my CV and learning stories from here, some of our favourites are;

Go to Fontspace and select from kajillions of funky fonts, that's probably the hard part, you can be in there for hours, so many cool styles of writing to choose from, most are free for personal use and for commericial use there is a link to contact the designer.  

Eventually you've chosen then zap the download button...

If you are on a mac it will go in your downloads folder, double click and install the font.

it will take it directly into WORD and PAGES.... how cool and magical is that!!!     

BUT REMEMBER the name of your new favourite font so you can scroll through and find it from the font menu.

Here's a sample of what my nine year old is producing using fontspace...

Mud Running

What can you do with your children in the holidays when it rains and rains and finally you get outside?...

Try a mud run obstacle course with kids on a friends farm like we did.  We got the idea a couple of weeks ago when we completed a 5km mud run fundraiser in the Hawkes Bay, hilarious challenge for friends, one I thoroughly recommend even with minimal training.  The hills were the hardest, not for goats I bet, but definitely for us.

We balanced over logs to cross rivers and crawled under cargo nets in thick mud, it was a great feeling to get out of our comfort zones and swim in mud up to our shoulders...ugh.  You don't have to be a 'Tough Girl' but you will feel like one afterwards!

To view the official School Fundraiser Mud Run facebook page click here

The children looked at our pictures and videos from this event and we planned our own version the next day, to be followed as well by a warm shower and hot lunch.

We started the race in the woolshed on a friends farm, the kids went down the sheep shots to the yards, over the fence and around a pond.  Hurdles included fences, posts and hay bales and loads of fresh sticky mud :)  Children from age two and upwards could compete, my eldest daughter planned and explained the course track to the smaller ones which was wonderful to see as a parent who likes to be the organiser.

What learning did the kids get out of this...

Risk taking
Good old competitive buzz
Sequencing/number order-who was first, second and third on our tree stump podiums
Moving through water and mud without concern over clothing and other superficial things like that
Endurance and fitness 

After cheering on the children we raced each other, I think we took longer than the children, it's pretty hard to run in gumboots but it's surprisingly awesome fun.

Go ahead try it and get dirty!

Market Day - we're in business!

Very nervous the first morning and late setting up! Even though it says be set up by 10am, all stallholders we ready to go at 9am when we arrrived. Thanks to Kurstin, I had a lesson on how to construct a Gazebo and we were ready to roll at 9.55... beautiful weather and the comments from people were awesome. My girls are the youngest stallholders her market fee half price! I was so proud of her and her origami demos drew lots of interest.
A really successful day for our whole family, working for weeks to achieve this, a great school holiday project.



My favourite customer was a young guy who brought a bouquet for his first wedding anniversary, telling us the first year token is paper! what a sweetheart.

Thanks to all our friends and family who came to see Paperlicious Origami in action, especially, Miss Page, the beautiful teacher who taught my daughter all about Biz Kids, who happened to be at the markets on our first day, thanks so much!
Big hugs to Kate at Mini-Eco for the garland idea, Shazza for the gazebo, Trace for the table and transport! and Mark from the Art Group for our groovy business cards, posters and labels, they are so professional.




To order origami bouquets, email paperliciousorigami@gmail.com with your favourite colours!

Mini-eco playdough recipe

Found the most brilliant site for creative and handmade crafts for the kids, we spent yesterday morning making our own playdough colours with flower petals, tumeric and my eleven year old's idea- GERKINS! didn't quite come out the shade of green we anticipated, and the smell sure clears the nostrils! We found a great list of plants that will make every colour and plan to keep experimenting, to see the extensive list from Pioneer Thinking, click here.

To make your own, visit Kate's beautiful website Mini-eco for the basic playdough recipe and natural dye options. My advice though, is to add twice as much oil so the playdough doesn't dry out quick, having spent over a decade making playdough in Early Childhood-if you want it to last, oil is the way to go. I love this idea for playdough because children learn about plant properties and don't need to rely on expensive dye or toxic paint. Kate is a web designer and a self-confessed 'visual junkie', you will fall in love with the photos of her creations from garlands, to beads and her latest post, the homemade guitar, SO COOL !!.



My daughters enjoyed the scavenger hunt for petals just as much as the finished product.



This one's a bit of a cheat on the recipe, with a splash of red colouring, as some petals she found did not make a deep colour. Rose and hydrangeas petals were the coolest giving us a deep red and light purple that kept turning blue, then pink, then purple, very exciting in the pot!

School Children in Business

What is it?

Biz Kids started in Term Four as a major craft project for five classes of Year 5/6 students, the project culminated in a Market Day in Week 9 which was SOLD OUT in just one hour with the parents, whaanau and junior class clients who attended. This Business of crafty wand sellers was very popular!! Such a COOL idea...



How does it work?

Children in each class had an opportunity to be a Buisness Manager which involved producing a C.V. and craft product description, buisness name and ideas to their Teacher. In my daughters class, for example there were 10 buisness managers who then advertised for employees...giving the remaining students jobs to apply for.

Here is my daughter's ad for her Origami Buisness;

WANTED: Two Creative and Crafty Employees

This job is part-time and temporary.

We believe in turning boring old paper, either recycled and new, into anything using your imagination.

You will need to create products and come up with useful idea.

You will need to co-operate well, be organised, diligent, flexible, creative, independent and hard working.

You also need to have most of these skills wich are;

Good with numbers
Be able to do origami
Be artistic
Measure perfectly
Be extra careful

You will also need a 'can do' attitude!

Pay will be 2 Bart per week.

(Bart is the currency, different coloured paper with various amounts and the Bart Simpson logo on are exchanged by class CEO's on Market Day, $1.00 buys 3 Bart for example.)

Once all employees are hired they are trained and led by the Buisness Managers to produce a craft object for sale. In previous years Market Day has involved food products as well, Teachers found that this disadvantaged the craft making children who worked for weeks then were beaten by the hot chip stand next to them on the day! The logistics of managing baking in the School Staffroom by classes was problematic too. This year Biz Kidz is solely a craft sale day.

Buisnesses work for three afternoons a week prior to Market Day producing their products. All the money made from each Market Day goes toward buying supplies for the following year's Biz Kids Warehouse. It is so gorgeous seeing children's creativity on such a grand scale, children making for children and teaching supporting individuality and entrepreneurship.

Here is a collage of Biz Kid's products, tie-dyed scarves, bath salts, cards, games, finger puppets, stress balls...



What's the learning?

Children learn SO much, from articulating their skills in a Curriculum Vitae, confidence in interviewing and being interviewed, working on a long term goal alongside others. This year the classroom teachers including social networking tools and hosted chat forums for De Bono Hat thinking and discussion on Twiducate. I was quite heartened that most children were logging on, however mindful this is a high decile school and the assumption that most homes have internet access. I have found that parents vary in allowing access, depending on the age of the child ( I have worked with Juniors who are not allowed on the computer at home yet) and Teacher's recommendation... Including Twiducate in homework tasks ensured its success.



De Bono's Hats Picture Source

Curriculum Links?

Following Market Day they assess their writing, Technology, Visual Language, ICT and Key Competency skills;

Establishing role as business employer (manager) or employee
Displaying responsibility in chosen role
Keeping own accurate financial records
Planning Product -includes procedural writing
Making Products
Advertising Products
Presenting Products
Evaluating success of Buisness (Profit/Loss)

Children also tapped into their drama talents for their own video ads, storyboarding funny ideas, dressing up and acting it out for viewing by the other classes...


To view the full video on the school website click here

Where did it start?

I have been trying to find out where it started and by who, but there is lots on the web about Education 4 Enterprise and it's association with the NZ Curriculum, perhaps Biz Kidz originated from this initiative or is the Primary School version of E4E?...

It's definition useful in emphasizing the learning present in such a process;

"...a teaching and learning process directed towards developing in young people those skills, competencies, understandings, and attributes which equip them to be innovative, and to identify, create, initiate, and successfully manage personal, community, business, and work opportunities, including working for themselves."

E4E Quote Source

Personal Reflection

My daughter has gained so much from being a part of Biz Kids. I talked to Teachers and some say how much work it is, and that colleagues are reluctant to take this on. The majority, having seen the results for children, support it to carry on each year and for this I thank them. Term Four can be a term where enthusiasm and energy is lacking, but with this project and the intrinsic drive that creativity creates I think Biz Kids is perfect for this time of year. My daughter learnt to teach and manage others, to develop a successful and beautiful product and to persevere and work towards an event. I have seen her blossom in confidence through this, with the belief that she can have her own business!



To learn how to make items, as pictured above watch you tube tutorials and visit this origami site Squidoo

Since Market Day we have been busy with orders for Paperlicious Origami Flowers and are working towards our first Market Day in real life. My daughter has learnt to stock up, as these are so popular!



This post is dedicated to all Teachers, who don't think of how much 'work' something may be but of its potential to help children learn more about themselves and their capabilities in creative and exciting way! Ka Rawe Kaiako