1. He
pānui
mo
ngā
kaiako
o
Tāmaki-­Maungakiekie
Tāmaki-­Maungakiekie
Early
Childhood
Newsletter
March
2011
Tēnā
koutou
kātoa!
Warm
gree1ngs
to
you
all!
Welcome
to
the
first
edi1on
of
your
Tāmaki-­‐Maungakiekie
teachers
newsle>er.
This
will
be
another
portal
of
informa1on
for
your
centre
as
we
progress
through
the
Ministry
of
Educa1on
funded
Professional
Learning
programme
-­‐
Targeted
In-­‐Depth
Communi1es.
You
will
find
a
range
of
resources
and
news
items
that
I
have
collected
over
the
past
month.
I'll
report
on
my
trip
to
Norway
a>ending
the
Interna1onal
Digital
Storytelling
Conference
and
provide
some
reflec1ons
from
our
recent
Literacy
Tours.
I
will
provide
details
of
upcoming
workshops,
there
are
limited
spaces
for
these
so
please
register
early.
Have
a
fantas1c
week!
Naketa
Ikihele
-­‐
Early
Years
Faciliator
Rubrics
and
Memorandum
of
Understandings
I
will
have
organised
centre
visits
with
you
over
the
next
few
weeks
to
collect
these
documents.
The
Memorandum
of
Understanding
is
important
for
me
to
confirm
that
all
teachers
are
fully
aware
of
the
programme
and
focus
areas.
The
rubrics
can
be
a
very
reflec1ve
process.
They
can
help
you
consider
where
you
are
at
before
we
begin
this
professional
learnign
programme
and
it
helps
me
understand
this
too.
So,
make
the
most
of
these
as
a
tool
for
your
team
to
reflect
on
your
current
prac1ces.
Those
of
you
who
have
completed
this
form
tell
me
that
it
is
a
worthwile
process.

2. Professional
Learning
Clusters
-­‐
2011
as
at
March
2011
Tāmaki
Transi7ons Literacy
Cluster
"Healthy
and
Ready
to
Learn" Toku
reo
toku
oho
oho
Glen
Innes
Kindergarten Tinytown
Childcare
-­‐
Mt
Wellington
Pt
England
Kindergarten Tinytown
Childcare
-­‐
Otahuhu
Panmure
Bridge
Childcare
Centre Waipuna
Preschool
Centre
Akoteu
Lou'Olive
Pre-­‐school Otahuhu
Kindergarten
Te
Ao
Hou
Childcare
Centre Seugagogo
Aoga
Amata
Edukids
Apirana
-­‐
Preschool St
Mary's
Family
Pre-­‐school
Just
Kidz
Early
Childhood
Centre Kidstown
Childcare
Ltd
Ngā
Purapura
Puawai Ngā
Tamariki
Puawai
Li>le
Moa's
Educare
What
is
Literacy?
What
is
an
effec7ve
Transi7on
to
School?
Iden7ty,
Language
and
Culture
-­‐
how
important
is
this?
While
I
don't
promise
that
this
year
will
answer
all
of
these
ques1ons,
in
fact
i
can
promise
that
you
will
unravel
more
ques1ons
than
answers.
Each
centre
is
about
to
embark
on
a
learning
journey
looking
at
2-­‐3
of
the
following
focus
areas:
* Iden1ty,
Language
and
Culture
* Transi1on
to
School
* Literacy
The
Ministry
of
Educa1on
rubrics
will
be
useful
in
help[ing
inform
your
thinking
about
a
possible
self-­‐review
focus
area.
I
will
work
with
each
team
to
develop
a
ques1on/focus
to
start
a
self-­‐review
process
taht
looks
deeper
into
components
of
the
above
focus
areas.
What
are
your
curisoi1es
about
Transi1on
to
School?
Iden1ty.
Langauge
and
Culture
for
Māori
children?
Literacy?
Collec1ng
evidence:
Espoused
theory
vs.
Ac1on
Theory,
What
is
the
difference
between
what
we
say
we
do
and
what
we
actually
do?
When
you
ar1cualte
that
you
ahve
strong
literacy
prac1ces
in
your
centre,
what
does
this
look
like
in
prac1ce?
We'll
be
collec1ng
examples
of
what
you
say
you
do
as
a
way
of
provoking
reflec1ve
prac1ce.
"Without
con1nual
growth
and
progress,
such
words
as
improvement,
achievement,
and
success
have
no
meaning"
Benjamin
Franklin
I'm
looking
forward
to
engaging
in
some
robust
conversa1ons
over
the
year,
if
you
have
any
queries,
please
feel
free
to
email
me
at
naketa@core-­‐ed.org
.

3. A huge thank you to those teachers that participated in the recent
'Literacy Tours'. I realise that it is difficult to find appropriate
staffing for release in your busy centres. While I would like to work
on providing more of these in the future, it was particularly difficult
to organise with so many last minute changes.
We visited a school, a centre and a kindergarten to look at vaious
literacy practices. Each teacher that participated in the Literacy
tours has the luxury of taking away their own learning, for those of you
that missed out, here are a few reflections from my pages of notes:
Oral language - when briefly talking to teachers in the school sector I
asked them what they thought was the number one priority for
children coming into school (of course each teacher/school has a
different priority) but for many of the teachers I talked to they
believed that oral language was vital for children to communicate their
ideas, their learning and participate fully in the school context.
- This was evidenced by seeing teachers reading in an inviting way.
teachers using lots of vocabulary in their conversations, poems and
songs on the wall.

4. Environments: In many of the environments that we entered there was a
wealth of 'literacy'visible, such as children's artwork with their scribed
stories, children's pictures, poems, songs, books, tools for writing etc. As an
outsider coming in my first instinct was
'whether you wanted to be immersed in
literacy or not, you can't really escape it in
some of these environments'. While in
many of our centres there are a range of
other curriculum areas that we attend to,
literacy can be infused into any area. I really enjoyed the images with words
(above) that I saw in a school and a centre, prompting us to use a variety of
words with children. You can download these phrases from here.
Making it fun: We visited my old primary school, with a teacher who taught
me over 25+ years ago. Those that met her will know who I am referring to.
This teacher clearly loves learning and loves working with new entrants. She
made reading fun, by making up funny actions, played games and enjoyed the
company of the children. I was mesmerised with her and her interactions
with the new entrant children. When was the last time you read a story to a
group of children? Was it playful and were they engaged? I think we all
agreed that the Literacy Tours were inspiring, the real challenge will be
seeing we consider what we gained from this experience and how we intend to
implement change in our own contexts - Watch this space!

5. Taking
NZ
Stories
to
Norway
Extracts
from
my
personal
blog
journeythroughteaching.blogspot.com
and
our
CORE
Educa1on
Blog
42
hours,
5
airports,
1
train,
1
taxi,
and
thousands
of
miles.
I
have
reached
my
des1na1on.
Welcome
to
the
4th
Interna1onal
Digital
Storytelling
Conference
held
in
the
beau1ful
city
of
Lillehammer,
Norway.
With
over
200
par1cipants
from
all
over
the
world,
I
am
not
phased
at
all
by
the
fact
that
I
am
the
only
New
Zealander
present,
and
have
probably
travelled
the
furthermost
to
be
here.
The
small
number
of
par1cipants
provides
an
in1mate
context
to
establish
and
maintain
some
great
conversa1ons
with
others—a
li>le
different
from
the
thousands
I
am
used
to
at
ULearn.
We’re
all
here
to
engage
in
three
days
of
professional
learning
conversa1ons
with
one
common
focus
—“Digital
Storytelling”.
Day
one:
inspira7onal
conversa7ons
and
digital
storytelling
gurus
Without
a
doubt,
Day
One
was
amazing!
I
was
inspired
during
workshops
as
well
as
by
conversa1ons
held
throughout
lunch
and
morning
tea
sessions.
The
mix
of
par1cipants
is
so
diverse,
and
somewhat
humbling
for
an
early
childhood
teacher
from
South
Auckland.
I’ve
enjoyed
conversa1ons
with
university
professors,
journalists,
health
professionals,
anthropologists,
museum
staff,
psychotherapists,
teacher
service
educators,
organisa1ons
who
work
with
youth—from
all
around
the
world.
Day
two:
workshops
and
my
presenta7on
Day
Two
offered
a
wide
range
of
workshops,
including
my
own
“Engaging
Community
through
Digital
Storytelling”
presenta1on.
My
presenta1on
shared
stories
created
by
three
to
five
year
old
children
in
the
ECE
ICT
PL
Pro-­‐
gramme,
and
ways
that
teachers
and
families
in
this
programme
used
digital
storytelling
to
engage
families,
extended
families
and
community
in
the
early
childhood
curriculum.
The
Ministry
of
Educa1on
funded
programme
certainly
provided
children,
teachers
and
families
with
world-­‐leading
opportuni1es.
I
had
lots
of
comments
about
the
age
of
the
children
crea1ng
their
stories
as
well
as
their
competency.
I
was
a
very
proud
Kiwi
at
this
point.

6. My
Takeaways
from
the
digital
storytelling
conference
The
workshops
I
a>ended
were
aimed
at
Iden1ty
and
Engaging
Community—something
I
am
very
keen
to
see
influence
my
own
prac1ce
with
teachers.
In
my
current
work
I
am
assigned
to
a
Targeted
In-­‐
Depth
Community
–
Tāmaki-­‐Maungakiekie.
The
work
we
are
doing
looks
at
engaging
geographical
communi1es
in
Ministry
funded
in-­‐depth
professional
learning.
Prac1cal
strategies
I
have
adopted
from
the
workshops:
1 Who
we
are
and
what
we
do
has
an
impact
on
how
we
interact
–
capturing
this
through
digital
stories
is
useful
for
team
building.
2 Digital
Storytelling
as
a
reflec1on
tool
for
early
childhood
teachers.
3 Place-­‐Based
Storytelling
—
children
and
families
crea1ng
stories
about
their
local
community
—
maunga,
iwi,
marae.
4 Inves1gate
more
into
the
CDS
model
5 Mul1-­‐modal
literacies
(advocate
for
this
more
in
my
work).
Overall,
the
conference
was
moving
both
personally
and
professionally.
I’ve
learned
that
it’s
healthy
to
step
outside
of
our
educa1on
bubble
and
our
own
country
to
be
inspired.
It
has
been
refreshing
to
look
outside
of
educa1on
as
a
discipline
and
hear
the
stories
of
social
jus1ce
advocates,
museum
curators,
health
professionals
(the
range
is
extensive)
and
adopt
prac1ces
into
my
own
work
and
my
own
thinking.
Visit
to
London
Centres
On
my
way
back
from
Norway
I
stopped
in
London
for
a
few
days
and
visited
several
early
childhood
centres
in
Haringey
.
Haringey
is
considered
to
be
a
low-­‐socio
economic
area.
They
are
experienceing
significant
cuts
to
educa1on
and
health,
which
meant
that
I
visited
at
a
1me
when
many
were
experiencing
job
loss.
Regardless,
they
were
vey
invi1ng.
A
few
thoughts
from
my
visit:
*
Diversity
-­‐
in
a
room
of
20
toddlers
there
were
approx
15
different
ethnici1es.
Teachers
in
this
par1cular
centre
were
very
commi>ed
to
learning
languages
and
phrases
of
all
children.
I
was
there
for
a
carpet-­‐1me
where
children
read
stories
and
sang
songs,
much
like
our
mat-­‐1mes.
They
sang
the
Māori
Waiata
"Tohora
Nui".
When
the
teacher
asked
the
children
what
language
they
were
using
-­‐
a
li>le
boy
replied
-­‐
New
Zealand,
she
prompted
him
by
asking
which
language
from
New
Zealand
-­‐
he
thought
about
it
and
then
responded
-­‐
is
it
Māori
(pronounced
by
him
as
marry).
I
was
so
humbled
by
this,
they
do
not
have
Māori
children
in
their
centre
but
are
making
an
authen1c
effort
to
celebrate
diversity.
G

7. * Environments
-­‐
the
outdoor
areas
were
somewhat
different
to
those
that
we
are
used
to
in
New
Zealand,
very
small
and
lots
of
concrete.
However,
they
had
made
spaces
with
natural
resources
such
as
the
willow
tree
hut
and
li>le
grass
areas.
I
was
par1cularly
intrigued
with
their
wooden
hut
they
called
'The
Snug"
a
place
just
for
1me
out
-­‐
they
had
cushions
and
cuddlies
and
there
were
rules
that
enforced
children
use
this
space
as
a
slow
down
areas.
Children
were
not
allowed
toys,
games
or
books
in
this
area.
They
could
talk
but
it
had
to
be
quiet.
How
many
quiet
spaces
do
you
have
in
your
centre
for
children
to
take
1me
out?
* Family
Centres
-­‐
In
Haringey
they
provide
mul1-­‐agency
support
for
families,
the
dialogue
I
had
with
many
of
the
teachers
in
these
centres
confirmed
that
each
early
childhood
centre
had
-­‐
community
outreach
person
(someone
who
goes
into
communi1es
to
find
families
and
link
them
with
the
centre
or
other
services,
play
groups,
community
workshops
(when
I
was
there
they
were
having
a
morning
for
dads),
housing,
health
etc.
This
is
not
a
new
concept
in
England,
and
not
so
common
in
Auckland.
It
would
be
great
to
see
some
thinking
around
this
in
Auckland.
Resource
Making
Workshop
-­‐
Literacy
Come
along
and
spend
some
1me
making
resources
to
support
literacy
-­‐
poem
cards,
magne1c
stories
and
books.
Please
bring
one
idea
to
share
with
other
teachers.
When:
24th
March
2011
When:
31st
March
2011
Time:
3.30pm
-­‐
5.30pm
Time:
5.30pm
-­‐
7.30pm
Venue:
Akoteu
Lou'Olive
Preschool
Venue:
Li>le
Moa's
Educare
127
Taniwha
St,
Glen
Innes
4
Thompson
Park
Rd,
Mt
Wellington
Cost:
FREE
Cost:
FREE
Iden7ty,
Language
and
Culture
What
does
this
mean?
We
will
unpack
what
this
means
in
your
early
childhood
context
and
explore
and
iden1fy
prac1cal
strategies
that
support
children,
families
and
teachers
with
authen1c
interac1ons
with
children.
Registrations are ESSENTIAL!!! When:
13th
April
2011
Please register by emailing/texting or calling Time:
4.00pm
-­‐
6.00pm
Naketa at the details below. Venue:
To
be
confirmed
Cost:
FREE
Contact
me
021
594
825
naketa@core-­‐ed.org
iChat:
naketa@mac.com
Skype:
naketaferguson