Our Rooms
Active Explorers Leeston has three separate rooms, enabling us to deliver age appropriate experiences for children at each different age and stage.
Explorers’ Room
This is our nursery – a safe, secure and nurturing space for our under two’s. Purpose built in 2017, this room features inside and outside learning spaces that are naturally inviting, encouraging curiosity, exploration and gentle, meaningful play. We have a teacher to child ratio of 1 to 4.
Daily Routine
In the Explorers class we like to follow the lead of our infants and toddlers and routines are offered around home as much as possible. Sleep and eating times vary depending on individual needs. We utilise our environment as a third teacher, providing infants and toddlers with opportunities to explore, and learn about their world and the people in it. We give our children the time and space to develop skills and milestones at their own pace. We offer opportunities for creativity, using all of their senses and cater to the age and ability of individual infants and toddlers.
Discovery Room
Our 2 to 4 year olds are well catered for in our Discovery Room with an engaging daily programme and free access to both the inside and outside environments including a large, grassed area at the back of the centre. This is used for riding bikes, ball games, obstacle courses, group games and also includes our vegetable gardens, compost heaps and worm farm.
Daily Routine
7.00am: Centre opens , children are settled and engagement with the facilitated inside environment .
8.30am: As the centre is becoming fuller the outside environment is opened up and children can then choose to go outside to play and explore with and alongside their peers and teachers.
9.30: Discovery children are called inside to morning kai with a bell. Here they wash their hands, get their lunchboxes from the shelves and sit at a table. A teacher sits at each table and the
Karakia is sung before eating. The morning roll call is also completed at this time.
9.45am-9.55am: When children finish eating their morning tea, they can again engage in the facilitated inside and outside environment and the range of activities and experiences set up for them with and alongside their peers and teachers.
11.30am: The inside teacher picks a child to ring the bell for mat time. The teacher taking mat time has an intentional mat time in mind for the Discovery children this could be action songs, reading a story, nursery rhymes, magnetic or felt board stories. These may be based around the class project/theme that the children are learning eg; colours/bugs/a season/. At the completion of mat time children are released to wash their hands and get their lunch boxes for Lunch time. A teacher sits at each table with the children and conversations about the day are shared.
12.00pm: Children who sleep are gathered up and prepared by the routines teacher to be taken to the sleep room. Once asleep they are checked every 10 minutes.
Children who are not sleeping can resume activities and experiences inside and outside.
2.00pm: Children are called inside by the bell for afternoon kai time. Here they wash their hands and get their lunch boxes and take them to a table. A teacher sits at each table with the children. (In Summer afternoon kai is often an outside picnic with all the over 2 year old children including the Enquiry class.)
3.00pm: The majority of teachers and children go home at this time. Any Enquiry children come over to the Discovery class for the rest of the day. There is a variety of activities for children to engage in, these may be either inside or outside depending on number of children and teachers at this time.
4.00-4.15pm: Late snack time. (Sometimes this is shared fruit/crusketts or toast)
5.30pm: Active Explorers Close
Enquiry Room
This is where our biggest Active Explorers prepare for their transition to school, with a learning programme and routine that is more structured, and helps develop the social skills, independence and resilience they will need for the next stage of their learning journey.
Daily Routine
7.00-830am: The Enquiry Class early arrivers start their day in the Discovery Class. Where they participate in the activities and experiences available.
830am: Enquiry children who are present move to their class here they engage in facilitated activities and experiences inside and outside.
9.30am: The inside teacher rings the bell and the Enquiry children gather for morning mat time, here the day ahead is discussed and roll call occurs, here the star of the day is decided by drawing a name from the hat. This is followed by the karakia. The child who is chosen as star of the day becomes the bell ringer for the day and teacher assistant, they also get to sit on a chair/cushioned stool at mat times. Children are released to wash their hands and bring their lunchboxes to the mat where they sit and eat while listening to a story or two.
9.50am: Enquiry children can resume inside and outside activities and experience with and alongside their peers and teachers.
11.30pm: The star of the day rings the bell and the Enquiry children help tidy up their class environment before partaking in a mat time. Here a teacher will engage them with either or a combination of these :-action songs/nursery rhyme/music and or a literacy based activity-experience, and or a physical skill based activity, these are influenced by the class project/theme an or concepts of the week.(letter/number/shape/concept eg opposites, colours, measurement etc)
12.00pm: Lunch time. Children wash hands and take their lunchbox and drink bottle to a table, where they are encouraged to be independent mindful eaters. Teachers sit with children.
12.30pm: Teachers facilitate an environment for planned and spontaneous activities and experiences. Inside and Outside.
2.00pm: Enquiry Children are called in for Read and Feed afternoon kai, after washing their hands children sit at the mat with their lunch box and drink bottle and listen to stories. After this kai time children put their lunchboxes in their bags and have them ready packed for home time or moving over to the Discovery Class at 3pm.
2.20pm: Enquiry children resume facilitated inside and outside activities. From 3.00pm enquiry children take their packed bag over to the Discovery class until it is their home time.
4.00-4.15pm: Late snack time. (Sometimes this is shared fruit/crusketts or toast)
5.30pm: Active Explorers Close
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