Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. Just wow! So many amazing things are happening out there, thank you so much for sending in your emails! Ma tini ma mano ka rapa te whai. By many, by thousands, the work will be accomplished. Jane 
He Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens – COVID-19 update #13 (replacing today's email) Another short update. In tomorrow’s update we will provide you with more details about what level two looks like, even though we won’t find out when we are going to level two until Monday afternoon. On Monday, we will try to react fast and send things out to both you and to families as soon as we can on Monday evening. In the meantime, please tell you families we will continue as we are until at least 13 May, next Wednesday. Health Update Today there was one new case of Covid-19 relating to a known cluster in the Waikato. The number of active cases in the country now stands at 136, down 15 from yesterday. There remains one case in the Capital and Coast District Health board area, four in Hutt Valley, and none in Mid Central Health, Whanganui or Wairarapa. There remain two cases of people with the virus in hospital both in Auckland and neither in ICU. Ministry survey The Ministry has asked some questions about staffing in its survey today, but please note they are only for schools – you do not need to answer these.
Finance Update 2019-20 Whānau Contribution Tax Certificates Your families may be starting to ask about their 2019-20 Whānau Contribution/Donation Tax Certificates. These are being generated today and will summarise all whānau contributions and other donations made to Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens (received and banked) in the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. The Tax Certificates will be emailed to recipients tomorrow. Any queries about the tax certificates can be emailed to donations@wmkindergartens.org.nz. Electricity and Gas Supply We have been working to reduce the cost of our electricity and gas supply and have negotiated a deal with Genesis, Meridian and Nova for improved costs. The new arrangements were effective from 1 May, so in the coming days/weeks you may receive some communication at the kindergarten about changes to your utility supply – you do not need to respond to this – instead please email any communication you receive to brendon.fyfe-gits@wmkindergartens.org.nz. For those kindergartens on gas bottle supply your new bottles are scheduled to be switched out by contractors on Monday. If you have any questions about the changes please email them to brendon.fyfe-gits@wmkindergartens.org.nz.
Managing Your Emails You have probably seen an increase in the emails you would normally receive while we have been under this rāhui. Many of the emails have been sent to a large number of people, we use distribution lists to make it easier when sending. When you want to respond to these emails it is a great idea to think, who needs to see my response? If you are only intending the sender to receive your reply please make sure you click on Reply and not Reply All. However if you want all recipients to see your response then do click Reply All. We hope this small tip may help you when managing your inbox!
Welcome Back Video!
As the light at the end of the tunnel nears, we thought how awesome would it be to prepare a welcome back video from our teachers!! If you would like to contribute, please send us a video saying hello in your native or chosen language and record yourself saying the following message:
‘We are all so excited to see you back at kindergarten soon! We can’t wait to hear all about the awesome things you’ve been doing at home. Until then, stay safe my friends’
Once you have recorded your message please send to Chanelle.huia-rutten@wmkindergartens.org.nz You can send via wetransfer.com or onedrive, if you have issues with this flick Chanelle an email and she will help you with getting your video through 😊
Ramadan Under Rāhui Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, is a special time in the calendar for the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims– nearly a quarter of the whole population. This year under lockdown it has been different, including for the nearly 60,000 Muslims in New Zealand. Whānau Manaaki’s Community Navigator Hanaa Sadoun works with Muslim families across the kindergartens, and she says people respect the lockdown and are supportive of making health the priority this year. “We accept it, for health, for everyone.” She says no-one wants to take a risk because it is not worth it. During Ramadan people fast from sunrise to sunset, and usually break the fast after dark in groups of extended family and friends. Ramadan is considered a special time rather than a time of deprivation, and it brings people closer together and allows them to focus more on Islamic values such as peace and charity. At the end of Ramadan there is a big feast known as Eid. Children especially look forward to Eid, and it is a time of coming together and celebration, feasting, visiting and sometimes new clothes. This year of course, everything is different. Hanaa says a big part of the acceptance of the lockdown comes from the personal popularity of the Prime Minister within the community. “She’s very well-regarded. We are lucky to have her.” 
Māori And Pasifika Families Speak About Learning In Covid 19 Situations A paper recording how Māori and Pasifika families are finding distance learning has been released. The paper by Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch and others says families enjoyed being more involved in their children's learning, and found it empowering as well as creating some anxiety. Parents appreciated the chance to have a voice, and said they would like to be asked for their views and be listened to at all times, not just during a crisis. Although it relates to school experience, the voices of the families will be of interest to early childhood teachers as well. Here is the link to the paper. Dr Riwai-Couch says some families reported becoming closer in the lockdown, and parents have gained a better understanding of where their kids are at. Here’s a clip from Te Ao Maori news.
Children Need Greater Priority In Virus Response, Group Says Tick for Kids, a group of organisations representing children has called for children to be more visible in the response to Covid-19. Here’s their press release.
Cool Things Keep Happening We had more Whānau Manaaki stars featuring on Karen O’Leary’s “Karen’s House” on Home Learning TV on Tuesday. Skylah and Maddox showed Karen how to make a sandwich for lunch. They are the daughters of Lynnaire who was a TONI Homebased Educator with us and is now an ESW, the nieces of Angelique Crump, teacher at Cottle Kindergarten in Upper Hutt, and grand daughters of Katrina King, head teacher at Brian Webb Kindergarten in Tawa. 
Then Jessica Paea-Reihana and her daughters, Mila and Arihia showed Karen how to make fried bread. Jess is head teacher at Katoa Kindergarten in Elsdon/Takapuwahia. Both the sandwich and the fried bread looked yummm! 
The Irmgard Ritchie teaching team would like to extend our warmest wishes to all of the Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten whānau this Mother’s Day. We wanted to extend our children’s creativity and support them to make a little something to give their mums for Mother’s Day as we would usually do at kindergarten. So we put together card craft kits and delivered them to the letterboxes for each of our tamariki. 
The team at Cottle Kindergarten created a library on Storypark for their whānau so they can find the resources that they have been uploading in the past 5-6 weeks. They realised that many of their tamariki wanted to return to these resources so this was a great way to make it easier for them. Excellent ongoing resource for their kindergarten families too.
Staying Connected During this alert level 3, the fantastic team from Irmgard Ritchie Kindergarten have been doing so much work with their tamariki to continue to engage with their learning. They touch base with their tamariki and whānau on a regular basis by providing a zoom meeting each morning. On this zoom kaiako take turn of reading stories, singing waiata, reciting karakia, jiggle jam Their tamariki then have the opportunity to do show and tell, sharing their arts, projects, stories, pictures about their learning from home. Often the parents have been supporting their child at zoom meetings. The team meet each morning to reflect and plan for the next zoom meeting. They also have a group of children that they interact with through phone calls, email or story park and they document the information, aspirations of our parents and learning experiences of the child/children. Here is some of the feedback they have received from their parents: - What you guys are providing is fantastic! Having the zoom meeting daily is great to keep in touch and see what everyone is doing and plus story time which is a favourite for Ryan. Thank you so much again for all your help. The whole family at Irmgard is so welcoming and lovely. Can’t speak highly enough.
- This is what I love about Irmgard Ritchie kindy, willing to embrace new technology to bring stories to children.
- Zoe is loving the stories and seeing your pets
- Those zoom mat times must be a buzz for children and staff alike, good on you Irmgard Ritchie kindy.
They also provide resources, activities, pre-recorded story telling of kaiako, tips and information in their facebook and storypark daily for whānau to support distance learning for tamariki. This week they put together and delivered home learning packs for some of their children that are needing them.
Ka pai to their team, Rowena, Christi, Lyn, Kelly, Tania, Annette and Marguerite.
 Like so many of our teams, Toru Fetū has been posting videos on Facebook for children and families to use as ways of connecting and learning. Check out this video, by clicking here, to see the dance skills of some of the team.  Michelle Marriott, from our Manaia Kindergarten, has been writing hand written letters to children complete with stickers. She thought it would be nice for the tamariki to get letters in the mail. How cool is that, and did you know you can get stamps from the supermarkets.
Feedback We continue to get some amazing feedback, here is some for this week: Raumati Beach Kindergarten 
Waitangirua Kindergarten From Taitoko  
In response to Mandy's video message. 
Here We Go Again! Not sure what this rāhui is doing to us all!! Here again some of the office staff decided to take up the video challenge.
This Week On Facebook  
Handy Facebook Pages  The Dr Seuss page has been sharing a bunch of cool videos featuring well known celebrities reading Dr Seuss, including Danny De Vito, Kate Winslet and Liv Tyler! 
For Koha Wellington South Kindergarten has a shelf unit, screen printing table, play kitchen, sink, play bed and child's armchair available for a koha if you are interested. Please get in touch with the team directly.  
 
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