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Our Local Heroes
Here at BestStart Hokowhitu, the preschool room has had a major focus on emergency vehicles and the every day heroes that drive them. This rich learning experience has been so popular with this age group of 4-5 year olds and brought on many opportunities for our tamariki (children) and whānau to be involved. Kaiako (teachers) facilitated the learning environment to promote interest and engagement. An example of this was through our three interactive wall displays of a police car, ambulance, and fire engine. This really set the theme for our tamariki and supported them to share their thoughts and ideas.
Through our amazing whanau engagement, we were able to organise all three vehicles to pay us a visit at the centre! Tamariki (children) were eager to share their new found knowledge with their local heroes and experience each vehicle inside and out! This topic led itself well to lots of dramatic play and provided opportunities to contribute their knowledge with each other and to explore their own understandings. Tamariki had the opportunity to learn new words and their meanings and allowed for the development of verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
A highlight activity during this focus was our ‘fire fighter training school’ which was revisited time and time again. Tamariki were encouraged to take part in a fire fighter themed obstacle course where they had to work through challenges to get to the fire and put it out! Utilising the outdoor environment for a ‘planned time’ activity, respected and honoured our tama mā physical exploration and wellbeing (whakamana).
I think we definitely have some future local heroes amongst us!