Tēnā koutou katoa, malo e lelei, talofa lava, ni sa bula vinaka, talohani, kia orana, fakalofa lahi atu and blessings and warm greetings to you all.

We have no specific news from round the country to provide you with, but here are some snippets that I hope you will find of interest.

A document published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane in 2007 provides a statement you might like to think about:

Classroom teaching/learning of religion in the early years

• views children as capable learners who bring diverse knowledge and experiences to their learning;
• provides learning opportunities through all of the sensory pathways;
• encourages active and play-based learning and provides problem-solving, decision making and strategic planning opportunities to enhance the cognitive development of early learners;
• acknowledges the role of parents and other adults as supporters of learning.

• A big idea in Te Whāriki 2017 is a shift from the thinking that this is what we do in our centre, to asking,”What learning is valued in this local community?” For a Catholic service, that includes the value of the Catholic curriculum.
• Further, Te Whāriki 2017 requires a commitment to equity and social justice. Hopefully, our services are already well committed to these concepts and practices.
• A little bit of celebration: Te Whāriki 1996 was the first national early childhood education curriculum in New Zealand, and the first bicultural curriculum, and was celebrated internationally for its bicultural stance. We note here that The Catholic Early Childhood Curriculum was similarly groundbreaking, being the first Catholic early childhood curriculum in the world to cover children from 0-5.
• In releasing Te Whāriki 2017 the Ministry of Education has identified areas of practices to be strengthened across the sector: providing a rich curriculum for every child; focusing on learning that matters within the local setting; affirming children’s identity, language, and culture; engaging parents and whanau in their child’s learning; and developing personalised pathways from ECE to school and kura.
• Intentional decision making (reflection-in-action and on-action) and using specific teaching practices are crucial to providing a rich curriculum for each child. Page 38 of the Folio provides a detailed chart of intentional teaching practices and strategies, which is valuable.

Click here to link to the complete folio online.

Awareness and confidence to work with Te Whāriki (July 2017, electronic only)

In this evaluation, ERO wanted to find out how aware and confident leaders and kaiako in early learning services were as they began to work with the updated curriculum, Te Whāriki 2017.  Leaders and kaiako reported a high degree of awareness of, and growing confidence to begin to work with, Te Whāriki 2017.  However there was significantly less confidence in using the document to support Māori children. Uptake of PLD has been high.

This material is from an American (Catholic) publication which contains a section of books suitable for various age levels, classified under various virtues.  The books may not be ones you use for your children, but I hope that the idea of specifically and consciously linking virtues to stories for small children will inspire you, and enable you to look at the books you are using, as explicit support for the virtues you wish to teach. Books, as you know, can provide valuable starters for conversations about behaviours, and virtues.

These extracts are provided as examples of how you might look at the books you are using.

Hope:   

• Angelina Ballerina, Katherine Holabird.  A young mouse dreams of dancing her way to stardom. This is one in a series of books with the same principal character.
• Caterpillar’s Wish, Mary Murphy.  This is the story of a caterpillar who longs to fly like a bee or ladybug. She grows into a beautiful butterfly.

Love:

• My Monster Mama Loves Me So, Laura Leuck.  This book tells the story of what a monster mom does to show her love.
• You are my Love, Maryann E. Cusimano. A parent expresses love for a child through a rhyming text that describes the parent as a safe haven and the child as adventuresome.

 Community:

• Millions of Cats, Wanda Gag.  An older person seeks to find a cat for another older person. He comes home with many cats, but one remains faithful.

Courage:

• Arthur Lost and Found, Marc Brown.  Arthur takes a city bus to his swimming lesson for the first time by himself. He falls asleep and misses his stop.  He gets off and is lost, but he finds courage to find his way home.
• Monster Moments, Daniel J Porter.  This is a series of poems that help children deal with their fears.

Reconciliation:

• The Grouchy Ladybug, Eric Carle. As the reader progresses through a series of brilliantly-coloured pages, a bad tempered bug becomes nicer, happier, and better-behaved.
• It’s Mine, Leon Lionni.  This is the story of three childlike frogs in a pond who learn the importance of co-operation.

Service:

• The Clown of God, Tomie dePaola. This story shows that all people have something to give. If we give happiness to others, we are giving glory to God.
• Dr. DeSoto, William Steig. A clever mouse helps all of his dental patients, even the ones who are not trustworthy.

Remember to pass on the newsletter, and to send us any news or photos for circulating.

Mā te Atua koe e manaaki, e tiaki hoki – May God bless you and keep you

Susan Apáthy, Deputy CEO, NZCEO

New Zealand Association of Catholic Early Childcare Organisations
C/- New Zealand Catholic Education Office
PO Box 12307, Wellington 6144
Phone 04 496 1739
Website www.nzceo.org.nz
Email nzceooffice@nzceo.org.nz or s.apathy@nzceo.org.nz

Catholic early childhood curriculum: Anne Kennedy
National Centre for Religious Studies (NCRS)
email: ncrs@tci.ac.nz, or a.kennedy@tci.ac.nz