LATEST STORIES
Water from our Lake Taupo
Our Motutaiko Infants have been learning about their geograpical surroundings through Korikori wai. Water is largely connected to our local iwi Tuwharetoa. Our centre's location means that we have a great connection to Lake Taupo and the Waikato River. Water play enables us to make references to these local water features and discuss the legends associated with them.
Our children bring their experiences and stories about their time spent at the lake with their families and here at Motutaiko teachers strive to extend on children's home life to ensure that what children experience outside the centre is largely recognized throughout their learning in centre and children are given the opportunity to share their working theories with their peers. Through community engagement we aim to connect with children's wider lives, and engage the support of their families and whanau.
"Playing with water provides many opportunities to practice social skills through interactions with other children and teachers. The chatter around what they can do and how they can work together is always something you’ll hear around the water trough. Through conversations with adults and other children they consider ideas or concepts like heavy/light, sink/ float, shallow/ deep, absorption/non absorption, frozen/liquid. They figure out that water can push and move objects, water can clean things, water evaporates in the sun, water can be frozen and then melts."