Oh my goodness didn't thing it would take this long to set up a blog page shoo. So I decided to use the same one that I used when I was in uni.....

Refresher...Mother or 2 boys now !!! Yes 2 been a busy girl lol...
I have a 2 almost 3 year old and a 1 year old, well he just turned one...Since staying at home with them and pulling my hair out I thought this could be an awesome way to release some stress :)

The almost 3 year old is in daycare but part time  he leaves at 10 and back at 3pm...such a quick 5 hrs..and the one year old stays at home with me...so hoping to put him into daycare soon BUT the cost is unbelievable.. I was so that the 20 hrs would have helped but NO his centres policy still chargers a great deal after the 20hrs..So no daycare for a while for the small which is so unfair and I feel that I am depriving him off he's time to excel :(:(...hoping to check other centres around me that might be cheaper and place 1 year old in there for a few hrs..

Time to get the dinner ready and start my night shift offbreast-feeding, night terrors, sleepless walks to the toilet ....

Speak soon !

CULTURAL DAY

At our centre we decided to have a cultural day introducing the children to different cultures. After Samoan week we decided that we should include other cultures in our planning for the month. Parents helped bring in different traditional food adding their own taste from their countries Te Whāriki states “Children develop familiarity with a variety of types of music, art, dance, and drama as expressions of feeling, mood, situation, occasion, and culture” (Ministry, 1996, p. 80). Our day started off with the children deciding that they needed a stage before they can start to learn different forms of music. Since we have a deck we all decided that the deck would be a good stage and the rest of the five houses of the centre would be able to see us.

I decided to ask the children which would they like to learn first the Hindi song, the Poi song and dance. By Facilitating their learning and asking them which one they would like to learn first gave them a freedom of choice I also believe that this made them aware that I respect their choices. Using facilitating as a teaching technique helps to carefully observe and provide the appropriate timing which insures that all learning that is provided is appropriate to children’s needs, interest and strengths (MacNaughton and Williams, 2004).

The children decided that they would like to learn a Hindi song first. With learning the song they had to dance and clap their hands as this was the way Indians sang their songs. The children enjoyed singing in Hindi and found it very funny to say the words. Through singing children start developing listening, concentration and language skills. They learn to identify different types of music and memorize the sounds.  Children learn the right way to pronounce the words which they have learned through music “We remember always that the emphasis is on enjoyable experience not on a performance inseparable from standards” (Somerset, 2000, p.44)