Tree Planting in Makara Peak

As you will recall, our house is right next to a huge mountain bike park and nature reserve, called Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park. It is a beautiful place to ride, although most of the trails involve much too much risk of bodily harm for my taste. We enjoy hiking in it, however, and are deeply appreciative of its role in providing a wonderful ecosystem for native plants and birds. Several of our neighbours are very involved in keeping Makara Peak as pristine, inviting, and healhty as possible, and this Sunday, they invited other neighbourhood helpful-types to come and plant some baby trees. J and I decided that we could be helpful-types for a bit, and headed up the Rimu Track, which starts right next to our house, and then onto the Miro Track, where the planting was focused. 

More skilled helpful-types than us were working with a digger, although I confess that I got distracted and didn't actually ask what they were doing with it. I know that they're creating a brand new path somewhere in the park, so perhaps it's to do with that?

Heading out to find some seedlings that need planting.

First we planted some Northern Rata, a native tree that we actually read about not too long ago, after having realized that many people (including us unless recently) call all trees with bright red starburst flowers Pōhutakawa trees, but actually many of them around here are Northern or Southern Rata. The Northern Rata is actually the one that is native to Wellington, so it's the natural choice to plant here.

This is what that cute little baby tree will look like all grown up.

Next, we planted some Miro trees (hence the name of the track, although we'd gone on past it by then), and some Kohekohe trees.

(Sorry for the blurry picture. These trees like shadier spots, and this was a great one for them, but not ideal for clear pictures.)

A grown-up Miro...

... and a grown-up Kohekohe.

The soil was very rocky (or it might be more accurate to say that there was some soil between the rocks), so J had his work cut out for him digging holes big enough for the baby trees.

But what lovely little additions to the woods they are once we get them in! We'll have to keep visiting them over the next few months and years and see how they grow!

Kudos to everyone who works so hard to keep this park the incredible natural space that it is. We just barely dipped our feet into the colossal amount of work that goes on, and we're truly appreciative of everyone who does it regularly. We'll be up for more tree-planting next time! 

Children's Conversations

Sorry for the delay in posting this week. J and I had a wonderful and exhausting weekend of snowboarding, and I confess that I completely forgot to do anything but sleep when we got home.

Today's post is not particularly unique to NZ (with a couple exceptions). Lately, I have been even more impressed than usual over how wonderful it is to have lots of conversations with children every day. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they are confusing, sometimes they are heartwarming, and they are always interesting! I thought I'd give you some examples from my time in NZ that I've found particularly great.

E will be me, and C will be child.

(C, who has recently had a few accidents due to waiting too long to do wees, comes into the bathroom and sits on the toilet)
C: I didn't have to run!
E: That's great! You didn't wait so long that you had to rush to the toilet.
C: Yeah, I just did wees on the floor a little bit, but that's okay, eh?
E: Um, if you did wees on the floor, we need to clean it up. Where are the wees?
C: Right there. (Points to a dry spot on the bathroom floor)
E: They're not there. Where are they?
C: Somebody did wees over there (different dry spot) but I don't know who it was.
E: But what about your wees? Where are they?
C: Right there (different dry spot on linoleum floor). They're on the carpet but you can't even see it.
E: You did wees on the carpet? (outside the bathroom)
C: Somebody did wees on the floor but I don't know.
E: .... Okay... did you do wees on the floor?
C: No! (indignantly)
(cue E's head exploding)

(A child is trying to climb over the top of a the monkey bars - a tricky maneuver)
E: I can see that that is tricky to figure out.
C: I look scared!
E: You look scared? Do you feel scared?
C: I feel a little bit scared, but I can do it!
(And she did. Bravery at its finest. I always try to teach my children that when you feel scared, that's the best opportunity to be brave.)

(Two children talking at the creativity table)
C1: Did you go see Moana?
C2: No, mum says I can't because it's too scary.
C1: Well, it does say PG, and that means Parental Guidance and that means your mum and dad get to choose.

(Child is screaming because someone broke his block creation)
E: Honey, you need to take a deep breath and calm your body.
C: (through sobs) I can't take a deep breath because my mouth is too silly!

(We found a mushroom in the Botanic Gardens)
C: Don't touch it! It's boisonous.
E: Yes, it could be poisonous.
C: No, boisonous.
E: Oh, what does that mean?
C: If you touch it, you turn into a boy!

(Playing in the sand pit, a child presents me with a sand cake)
C: Yucky 'nana cake for you.
E: It's yucky?
C: Yes. Yucky 'nana cake.
E: Well I don't want to eat it if it's yucky.
C: No, cake! (puzzled look) You put yucky 'nanas... you cook it... yummy! Yucky 'nana cake!
E: Oh! I've had that cake. Thanks for explaining!

(Upon finding a child throwing all the blankets out of a huge basket of blankets onto the floor)
E: What are you doing?
C: Looking for a hat.
E: Are there hats in that basket?
C: No, I don't want a hat.
E: So... what are you doing?
C: I want my balloon.
E: Is your balloon in that basket?
C: No.
E: So... what are you doing?
C: ... I don't know.
(At least we were on the same page at the end.)

(Sitting peacefully chatting about this and that)
C: Emma, I don't understand how we have good dreams.
E: Dreaming is hard to understand. I agree. Do you have good dreams?
C: Yes.
E: What happens in your good dreams?
C: I go to Whare Kea and the library. And sometimes I eat cookies at Whare Kea in my good dreams.
(Sweetness all over. How wonderful to have your life be your good dreams.)

(At lunch - the child has a sandwich and a cupcake and has picked up the cupcake)
E: Remember, we eat our sandwiches first to give our bodies good energy.
C: No, I'm going to eat my cupcake first.
E: When you have eaten your sandwich, then you may eat your cupcake.
C: You're not the boss of my cupcake!!!
(One of the most quoted statements of my life.)

(At the afternoon tea table)
E: Would you like a banana?
C: NO!
E: Okay.
C: NO!
E: I understand, you don't want a banana, that's fine.
C: NO! It's not "banana" (American accent), it's "banana!" (Kiwi accent)
(Garage and compost are also commonly corrected words.)

(Looking at the sea of puzzle pieces on the floor)
E: You tipped out all the puzzles!
C: No, it wasn't me.
E: Yes, it was.
C: Oh! True. (with an air of genuine realization)

(Trying to figure out if a child who has put magnets in rainbow order did this intentionally)
E: Why did you put them like that?
C: Because those are the colours.
E: But how do you know that that's how they go?
C: Because I put them like that.
E: Can I move one?
C: Okay.
E: So what if I take yellow out and put it over here by purple? Is that okay?
C: Yup ... Or .... we could put it back over by orange! (moves the colours back to their proper order)
(Diplomacy at its finest.)

(After seeing this child's discarded sweater on the floor near the lockers on a very cold day)
E: What do you have on under your jacket?
C: My sweater.
E: (silent, dubious look)
C: I'll go put on my sweater, then.

(Child sitting quietly on the toilet, staring into space, suddenly jolts up)
C: You know, some octopuses have ink, but some of them don't have ink. (looks slightly concerned for the latter)

(Soon after the child arrives in the morning)
C: I had ice cream yesterday.
E: Yeah, did you like it?
C: Yes, but did you know that ice cream is not actually healthy for your body?
E: That's true. That's why we only eat it sometimes.
C: Yeah, because it's not actually good for you.
(later that day, as we're having a goodbye party for a teacher)
C: Where's the cake?
E: We're not having cake because it's not her birthday. But also, you know how we were talking about how ice cream is not healthy for your body?
C: Yes.
E: Well, cake is one of those things, too.
C: (stunned silence, follow by...) CAKE ISN'T HEALTHY????

(As I'm sawing up a branch into natural blocks)
C: What's that stuff coming out and falling on the ground?
E: Hmmm, what do you think it might be called?
C: Tree glitter.
(This is now what I call sawdust.)

(Talking to another teacher, having discovered that I lost my wallet for the first time ever)
E: And I know that I put it back in my locker, and it's my special wallet from Germany and I don't understand where it could be!
C: Emma, it will be okay, because... well... you can have my wallet.
(The clear highlight of what was otherwise an awful day.)

(Building with blocks with C, and I drop one, which falls and breaks his block structure)
C: That's why we can't have nice things.
(I'm usually good at not laughing at the children, but I had a little giggle at that one.)

(C is doing puzzles in the "Library Room." He brings a puzzle, almost complete, out to me, looking very sad)
C: I can't finish the puzzle because pieces are missing!
E: Oh no! We need to take care of our puzzles. Where did they go?
C: I don't know. They're missing.
E: Well, let's go look in the Library Room.
(We look under and around things for a minute, when I notice C glancing over at the open window)
E: Did you throw the puzzle pieces out the window?
C: No.
E: I'm going to go look. Will I see the pieces in the street?
C: Um... yes.
(Sure enough, upon looking out the window, two brightly-coloured puzzle pieces are laying, miraculously un-smashed, in the road)
E: You threw them out the window.
C: Yes.
(Never a dull moment.)

(Over several days, we'd been reading the Lorax and discussing saving trees, and how if you have paper scraps after making creations, you should put them in the recycling so that it can be made into new paper, instead of cutting down more trees. I observed C taking clean paper off the shelf, cutting it into small pieces, and then putting it straight into the recycling bin. Just as I was going to ask about this, he runs over to me, with a big smile on his face)
C: Emma, I made lots and lots of paper to turn into new paper and I didn’t even cut down any trees!

(While collecting sticks for the Bug Hotel, C brings over a big one)
E: Oh! You found a big, fat stick!
C: I saw a big, fat lady at the shops, but Mum says don't say that anymore.
(Mum later shared that she'd never been more embarrassed in her life.)

(While giving baby dolls a bath outside, a child pauses and looks up at me)
C: Emma, I'm so glad you're here.

(While walking through the Botanic Gardens)
C: This is a good place for me to open my mind. Then my brain gets lots of energy.

Well, if that doesn't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what would. I've always said, teaching early childhood shouldn't be done if it's not your passion, because it will drive you insane. But if it is your passion, nothing is better!

Linguistic Kai Time

As I've shared in the past, bicultural practice is a vitally important part of the NZ Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki. In fact, a new, updated version has just come out this year, and bicultural practice is even more highlighted and effectively woven through it than before.

Being the language geek that I am, my favourite part of bicultural practice is teaching in te reo Māori. ("Te reo" means "language," and I have found that using the full phrase "te reo Māori" is the most respectful way to refer to the Māori language.) 

Helping young children learn new languages is a very rewarding experience, because their brains are primed for language learning, and so they can understand and remember quickly and capably. However, they need consistent and repeated exposure to pick up on things, and that can be hard when none of the teachers are even fluent, let alone native speakers. I have found that routines throughout the day are perfect for this, because kaiako (teachers) often say pretty much the same thing each day, and the meanings of words tend to be concretely represented in what is going on, so the children can make meaningful connections between the words and the actions or objects. It is not helpful to language learning to say something in the target language and then immediately repeat the same meaning in the child's native language, because it communicates that the meaning is secondary or even unnecessary. Plus, children aren't dumb and will just learn to wait for the English. Also, I find it to be ideal when we can teach both the question and the response, so that a two-way communication can occur. Anyway, we find times when we can consistently use te reo Māori in meaningful exchanges with the children throughout our routines, with no English involved.

Kai (food) time, and particularly lunch time, has proved an extremely successful time, and we have integrated a great deal of te reo Māori into this routine. After our karakia mō te kai (which you can read about in my post by clicking here), a kaiako goes around the table and asks each child, "He aha māu?" and the child can respond, "He iti koa" or "He nui koa." The children can also answer questions about whether they would like wairanu and tīhi. (See translations below.)

He aha māu? ------- What would you like?

He nui koa. ------- A lot, please.

He iti koa. ------- A little, please.

He wairanu māu? ------- Would you like sauce?

He tīhi māu? ------- Would you like cheese?

(We also know the words for lots of other foods, which we can use here.)

Āe. ------- Yes.

Kāore. ------- No.

He kai māu āno? ------- Would you like more food?

Homai tō kumete koa. ------- Give me your bowl, please.

Homai tō pereti koa. ------- Give me your plate, please.

Ānei tō kai. ------- Here is your food.

Tīkina te ipu wai. ------- Get the pitcher of water.

Riringihia tō wai. ------- Pour your water.

He pai ēnei kai. ------- This food is good.

He mutunga kē mai ō te reka. ------- This is delicious.

We started with just the interactions in the paragraph before the translations, and have slowly added on the subsequent phrases. Some teachers are more comfortable just sticking with the original ones, which is fine, but the children are increasingly familiar with all of them and respond appropriately. They are fantastic at context cues, and at first mostly responded based on those, but many of them are moving beyond that now. For example, at first when I would ask them, "He kai māu āno?" (Would you like more food?") they would answer, "He nui koa" (A lot, please) or "He iti koa" (A little, please). While this effectively communicates, it indicated to me that they weren't differentiating between the specific words in the phrase, but rather responding to the context. In addition, it meant they were unsure what to respond if they did not, in fact, want more kai. Now, when asked that question, many of the children will respond with "Āe" (Yes) or "Kāore" (No) and then wait for me to ask, "He aha māu?" (What would you like?") before telling me how much. This delights me, because it means that the language is being integrated authentically and their learning is accessing the linguistic part of their brains and not just the rote memorization part. It's fantastic!

I have a million other very exciting linguist exploits to share, but I'll do my best to remember that not all of you get as excited about phrasing as I do. As my first recognition of that, I will stop here, and will spread out my subsequent language posts over time. You're welcome.

First Snowboarding Weekend of 2017

The weather is not being particularly supportive of J's and my desire to be snowboarding as many weekends as possible, but it is still the beginning of the season, so we have plenty of time.

I thought I'd go ahead and share our pictures from our first trip, although I'm sure I'll have lots more by the end of the season.

It's a 4 1/2 hour drive, which is a bit of a pity, but there are stunning views along the way, and as we get further up into Tongariro National Park, we get to start admiring the mountains themselves. This is Ruapehu, on which both of the ski fields are located.

Tongariro is on the left, and Ngaurahoe is on the right. Remember when I could see all three of these mountains from Mount Taranaki? That was pretty amazing.

Clouds blew in over the mountain as we drove up, but I still like this picture because it shows the pretty scrubby land we drove through near the end.

Even closer to the top, we get to these rocky areas.

We got all suited up and hit the slopes. Here's J on the chair lift. We'd never used this kind before, and it's clearly made for skiers to just ski right off of it at the top, but is much more challenging for snowboarders, as the angle is straight-on and you need to be sideways to snowboard. We got the hang of the dismount on the second day, but we fell a lot the first day. Unfortunately, we tried going on the same one once, and when we fell off, my snowboard cut J's leg! Three weeks later it's still healing, but no permanent damage done.

Here's J on the slope. It's always frustrating how flat it looks in pictures. It's certainly not terribly steep, as it's the beginner slope, but it's also not flat.

Look at J's good humour, even after a fall! By the way, fall is pretty much all we did the first day. The snow-machine generated snow had partially melted that morning, and then re-frozen by the time we got there. This resulted in hard, slippery snow that was hard to dig your board into (an intrinsic part of balance and turns) and horribly painful to fall on. We got rather more battered and bruised that usual. My knees got the worst of it for me (and swelled up like balloons), while J's cut leg was his most serious injury. Our good humour did somewhat run out towards the end of the day, so we elected for a good meal at a restaurant with a big fire, and then a relaxing evening at the hotel.

We went back the second day and tried again, despite being rather disheartened by our previous efforts. Fortunately, the snow was replenished and softer, and we regained enough balance to avoid falling much. It was an infinitely more productive and enjoyable day.

We even mastered the chair lift, snowboarding off it like pros, with (almost) no falls! We actually had very few falls the whole day, and were feeling very skilled and impressed with ourselves, zipping down the slope increasingly quickly.

We had some sunny times of day, which I delighted in, but J found too hot in all his gear...

... and times when the clouds blew over and it was colder, which was fine since we were bundled up.

As we left, we were delighted by the layers of hills off in the distance, which were so clear as to seem unreal.

We got one last view of Ruapehu as we left, and I'm pretty sure it was inviting us to come back soon. We will get there as soon as we can!

Nature-Based Centers on the South Island

Due to pouring rain and gale force winds on the mountain, we (wisely) decided not to snowboard again this weekend. J took the opportunity to catch up on a bunch of work, and I am spending a delightful weekend rereading Northanger Abbey, making peppernuts, and practicing telling the story of Ngā Poaka e Toru (The Three Little Pigs) in te reo Māori. I have puppets and everything, and it's pretty wonderful, if I do say so myself.

I was so wrapped up in this enjoyment, that I almost forgot to write a blog post. Oops! 

As promised, I am now posting pictures of the indoor and outdoor spaces at the centers we visited on our trip to the South Island. All of these centers are inspired by nature-based learning, and have programmes in which the children spend some time out in nature each week. (To see my post about these nature programmes, click here.)

Although all the centers we visited were inspiring and impressive, I took by far the most pictures at WEKA Preschool in Winton. A Weka is a NZ bird, and the name also stands for Winton Educates Kids Ambitiously, which certainly seems true from what I saw. Their environments were stunningly beautiful, and were set up in a way that communicated respect for children, as well as the expectation that the children would be respectful of the environment and resources. This is a big deal for me, as I find it challenging when children break or lose special things that the teaching team has intentionally provided for them. Setting up the environment so that it communicates respect in both directions is an impressive skill, and one that I'd like to further develop in myself. Notice also, throughout all the pictures, how little plastic you will see, and how many things are either collected from nature or recycled from other use. You'll also notice many earth-tones, and not many primary colours. We are moving away from traditional "child-friendly" vivid plastics, and into homey, gentle, inviting natural resources.

Throughout their spaces, WEKA teachers use light in a variety of engaging ways.

This is a "loose parts" area. Many centers (including mine) have loose parts, which are various items with no specific function, which challenge children to use their imagination and think outside the box. This set-up, especially with the large mirror, is a great way to make loose parts inviting.

This is one of their creativity spaces, and as soon as you walk into it, you want to get right down to painting or sculpting or something artistic.

Their outdoor spaces were very natural, with wonderful use of stones and wood. We're developing more rocky places like this at Whare Kea, but progress is slow, as we have to collect the rocks from the river ourselves, and it's hard work!

This is an ephemeral art area, which is charming. I have done a lot of ephemeral art with my children over the years, and I would love to have a round shelf like the one on the left to present my beautiful items for arranging.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but I loved this egg-shaped cozy place in the infant room. You'd feel so enveloped in soft safety in there.

I particularly fell in love with this stunning circular shelf, and really want one. As was true around WEKA, I felt that it was a way to present resources invitingly, rather than just a place to store them when they weren't being used.

This magical outdoor space was constructed by the owners, who used old posts from farm fences to make the castle. Being a rural center, many of their families could donate these posts, so it's a great community connection as well as being gorgeous and imaginative.

Believe it or not, that was all from WEKA. It was such a beautiful place, I didn't want to leave. We didn't get to go on their nature excursion, due to lack of time, but I'm sure it would have been lovely.

This is at Fiordland Kindergarten, where, among other impressive accomplishments, they have the best carpentry space I've ever seen. It looks like the children are inside, but they're actually just under a large, partially enclosed overhang. But look at all the wood and all the storage pace. It's hard to tell, but they had everything they needed to build all kinds of things.

Arrowtown Preschool Cotter Ave also have a wonderful carpentry space, outside but under a roof. Well-resourced and ready for all kinds of building. My carpentry area is nice as well (although it needs more work), but we don't have a space to have it under a roof, making it unavailable when it's rainy, which is a pity.

Arrowtown Preschool Durham Street have this lovely slide built into a hill, with fabulous tussocks and other plantings around it. We would like to build something similar at Whare Kea, next time we get some funding for renovations. (The last renovation money we got was spent on our new sand pit (box), which was worth every penny).

I don't know how impressive these pictures are to those of you who don't work in early childhood, but please believe that they are phenomenal to me. It's wonderful to get inspired by the incredible work that is being done by early childhood teachers around the country, and to come back and apply or extend these in my own setting.