Winter in Aotearoa

Yesterday we celebrated Matariki at my youngest daughter school. Matariki is the Maori name for the group of stars known as the Seven Sisters. In the northern hemisphere this group of stars is known as Pleiades. Matariki appears in Piripi/June, and marks the start of the Maori New Year. It is celebrated as a time of new beginnings, a time to pause and reflect on what has been and what is to come. Matariki marks the start of Winter in New Zealand.

At our preschools we have noticed other signs that Winter has arrived. A few days ago we had our first frost with the pond at Tawa Montessori having a thin layer of ice. The fruit trees have all but lost their leaves, the grass has stopped growing and the garden looks bare and empty.

The lambsear in our garden, usually a fervent grower, has slowed down, its silvery foliage is covered in dew or frost in the mornings, making it look even more silvery.

The chilren are always very excited to discover a frozen pond upon arrival in the morning. Touching and feeling the frost, the crispiness, coldness and wetness of it is a very different experience.

Throughout the year, the garden provided us with plenty of food. We have harvested carrots, beans, lettuce, herbs, courgettes, and tomatoes, to name a few. We have used these to make curry or soup. It is even more rewarding to make a big pot of soup when the cold and wetness keeps us more inside then we prefer. A nice hot cup of soup nourishes the body and the soul, especially when made with love!

Not all trees in New Zealand lose their leaves during Winter. Most native trees retain their leaves as our Winters are mild, but the poplars at the back of Tawa Montessori always lose their leaves during Winter.  Our new earth flag brings a bit of colour and vibrance to our garden!

We are lucky with our new bird feeder, both at Tawa Montessori and at Little Earth. With the colder weather there are less insects around and less berries and nectar, available. The birds are happily visiting our feeders. Our children love feeding the birds. They clean the bowl, fill it up with seeds and some fruit or some nectar water and place it on the feeder at the back of our garden. Then they retreat back to our deck, to sit down and watch the birds visiting, which is very rewarding!

For New Zealanders, Winter is the time to visit the mountains for winter sports with the north island volcanoes covered in snow and of course the Alps in the south island. It is the time to take your child up the mountain to introduce them to the snow, and, if lucky, a beautiful sunset at the end of the day!  Winter gives us new opportunities to introduce our children to the magic and wonder of another season!

- Anja

Autumn in Aotearoa

Autumn in Aotearoa is knocking at our door. Officially Autumn in New Zealand starts on the first of March. The sun is still shining abundantly, and the days are still comfortably warm, but the poplars at the back of our garden at Tawa Montessori have started to drop their leaves, and the paradise geese at Little Earth are back. We counted 15 geese today. A sign that Autumn is around the corner.

During Autumn the days are getting shorter, and the temperature drops considerably in the evening. The weta is an insect endemic to New Zealand, and is more seen during Autumn, when the temperature is a little bit cooler. Weta are nocturnal, they like hiding during the day under rocks, leaves and branches. We counted five weta in our weta hotel the other day.

Autumn is the season with more rainfall. And more rainfall means more puddles. Gumboots go hand in hand with autumn. Who can resist a puddle of mud after a short autumn shower?

Nuts are a composite of the seed and the fruit of a plant. Nut trees drop their nuts during Autumn. Acorns, chestnuts, and hazelnuts are fun to collect. When I was young we would make special visits to the forest during Autumn, to collect the nuts. At home we would then use matchsticks or wooden cocktail picks to create little puppets, spiderwebs or animals. We have an acorn tree in our drive at Tawa Montessori and every year we collect the acorns. The children like to plant the acorns around our garden and we have little acorn trees sprouting up in all kind of places! Some years are better then other years for collecting acorns, and it needs to be seen what this year will bring.

Autumn is always a very busy season at our preschools with lots of harvesting and yard work that needs doing. It is the season that the apples and the pears are ripening and getting ready to be picked. Although unfortunately this year seems not to be a good year with not many apples or pears to our trees for unknown reason. Autumn is also the time we get busy with raking the leaves dropped by the trees. The children make a heap of leaves, put them in a wheelbarrow and transport them to the compost. We always leave an area untouched with leaves, so little creatures can make their homes hiding under the leaves and the soil can do its composting work.

Toadstools call to children's imaginations as they are seen as the home of the fairies. Especially the amanita with its red cap and white spots. Colder and wetter Autumn temperatures increases the likely hood of fungus turning up on your lawn or in your forest. Many of these mushrooms are beautiful to look at, but may be poisonous. Be careful, no touching, just looking!

Puddle jumping, collecting nuts, picking fruits, raking leaves, watching mushrooms, what do you have planned this Autumn?
- Anja

Summer in Aotearoa

Although the Summer Solstice in New Zealand takes place around the 21st of December, Summer down-under officially starts on 1st December. In less then three weeks our schools will be out for summer break.

Summer is always an exciting season at our preschool. It marks the ending of a school year as well as the start of a new school year. With Christmas and New Year in between, it is a time of reflection, and renewal. Here is our new Summer banner.

Summer is a time when the damselflies mate and you can see pairs flying and clinging in tandem. Damselflies reside near ponds and streams and they sometimes visit our pond at Tawa Montessori. They are fascinating to watch and a real source of beauty and elegance.

Who can resist fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden? Summer is the time when we can take stock and pick the fruits of our labour. Eating fresh fruit and vegies, straight from the garden is a real delight. In our garden there is plenty of parsley and other fresh herbs to be cut. Big red juicy strawberries are calling out to us, the lettuces are ripening and the tomato plants are growing every day.

New Zealand coastline is approximate 15000 km with many, beautiful, deserted beaches. Plenty of visits to the beach are part of our Summer culture. Shell collecting is a favourite with many children.

Sunflowers in Summer grow like, well, sunflowers. Last week we planted some seeds, and already they have grown more then 10 cm in a weeks time. Soon we will plant these seedlings out in our garden and eagerly watch these miracles unfold and make their way to the sun.

Who can't remember the days of long swooshy grass? Summer is a time to run and roll through a meadow of long grass, play hide and seek, or pick meadow flowers. At Tawa Montessori we let some grass grow, as we love to run, hide and roll!

While monarch butterflies aren't as abundant as they used to be, they can still be seen fluttering through our garden during Summer. Watching the caterpillars metamorphose into a beautiful butterfly is a summer miracle no child should have to miss out on.

Harvesting, beach visits, sunflowers, long grass and butterflies, what are your plans for this summer?
- Anja

Spring in Aotearoa - a new banner

A new banner, with a Kiwi flavour, marks Spring, a time of new beginnings, as well as our blog first anniversary and our one hundredth post. With the change of each season we'd like to bring a banner that represents the miracles that each season brings at our enviro preschools in Aotearoa, downunder.

A New Zealand iconic bird, the tui is unique to New Zealand and feeds mainly on nectar from flowers. They are important pollinators of many native trees. Spring is the time when the tui sings high up in the trees in the early morning and later afternoon. We are looking forward to more bird watching and listening to the tui in our neighbouring kowhai trees.

Spring is the time to plant swan plants (Asclepias) in our preschool garden to attract the Monarch butterflies. This season, we are creating more suitable insect habitats by planting appropriate flowering plants and providing secure havens for them to lay their eggs.

Our fruit trees are in full blossom. Over the next few months we will closely watch the transformation taking place from flower bud into a juicy pear or apple. We love our edible garden.

The chickens are part of our preschool community, both at Tawa Montessori and at Little Earth. Spring is new life, a time when many animals nurture their babies and raise their young. It is only a matter of time and the first hen will go broody. We will carefully watch and take care of our broody hens and eagerly wait for any chicks to hatch.

The koru is the new unfurling fern frond. In Maori, the koru symbolises new life, growth, strength and peace. The koru reminds us of the New Zealand native bush and the importance of our connection with Papatuanuku, the earth mother. Nature walks, to observe the miracles and wonders that take place during Spring, are a regular item on our "must do" list at preschool.

The scarecrow symbolises the vegetable garden which is now a hive of activity as we prepare the soil and sow seeds or transplant seedlings. With careful nurturing we will see our plants grow and produce food.

What are your plans for the season?
- Anja

Winter solstice, Matariki and an ice experiment

In New Zealand, the Winter Solstice, the longest night and the shortest day, is on 21 June. This is when the Sun is at its most Northerly point in the sky, and reaches its lowest altitude, from the Northern horizon, for the year. We also call this time of year mid-winter although it is not always when the coldest weather in New Zealand starts.

The people of Aotearoa, New Zealand, celebrate the beginning of Winter with Matariki, the Māori New Year. Traditionally, Matariki is the time of the first new Moon after the Matariki, a small clusters of stars known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, appears in the sky. Matariki lies within the Taurus constellation and rises only once a year. This year Matariki is on June 24.

Matariki is a special time for all people of Aotearoa to share, a time to come together and celebrate our unique place in the world. A time to give respect to our mother earth, Papatūānuku. A time to remember our ancestors, those who came before us. Matariki is a time of change, a time of growth and new beginning. Matariki is a time to celebrate the diversity of life, its culture, its language, its spirit, its people.

At our preschool we know Winter has arrived when we find frost on our outdoor tables and ice in the pond. In Wellington, we seldom have snow at ground level, but sometimes we have snow in the surrounding hills. So when we do find our preschool grounds covered in white frost and ice on our pond, we have a moment of magic we don't want to pass on. So outside we go.

We examine the frost and discuss what causes the frost, what it is and what is likely going to happen to it:

"Frozen water, it means that the water is so called that is its actually going to freeze. And when it is freezing it turns into ice". - G, 5 yrs

"When the sun gets close to the water it doesn't turn into ice. It makes ice turn into water. Because it is really bright. The sun makes it warmer. The ice starts melting". - D, 4 yrs

Those comments just asked for a spontaneous experiment. Nature never lets you down when it comes to experimenting! It was a glorious typical Winter day in Aotearoa, crisp, clear, blue and a sun making its way up. The children scraped some frost of the tables and took some ice out of the pond and placed it in two separate bowls. One bowl was placed in the shade, and one bowl was placed in the sun. Then we discussed our hypothesis, which we all agreed should be: The ice in the sun will melt first". During the experiment we had several eager minds checking up on the ice in the bowls every so often. To nobody's surprise the ice in the sun did melt first, although we were surprised about how long it took, saying something about the temperature that day.

Ice in the sun --------------- Ice in the shade

Children don't seem to feel the cold as we, adults do. While they do need to be wrapped up warmly with suitable clothes that will keep them dry, here in New Zealand, they should be able to play outside in all temperatures. It is a myth that children catch a cold by being out in the cold -only catching a virus causes colds. Actually being outside might protect them from colds, as the viruses are more likely to pass from child to child when they are all kept inside. At our preschool, we make sure we go outside every day, unless the Southerlies, which in New Zealand come from Antarctica, are too strong.

While Winter time is a quiet time in the garden, each season has got its own charm. Even in Winter there is still enough to see and do in the garden. Many birds are still around and they will be more than keen to visit your bird feeder. We have waxeyes and fantails visiting us in our garden, together with our usual blackbirds, thrushes, and sparrows.

Obviously, snow is a magical component of the Winter season. I do miss the first snowfall of the season, which, as a child, I found magical and exhilarating. I remember waking up in the morning and opening the curtains to find a white blanket of snow had covered the earth. Every child should at least once experience such magic moment. It was even more magical to wake up in the middle of the night, look outside at a world in darkness and quietness, and see silent snowflakes falling out of the sky. If you live in an area where snow is part of your season, share it with your child, even if that means waking them up at night. The magic moments of watching snowflakes drift through the sky, will last a lifetime with your child.
- Anja

Autumn is here, and so is the Wind

Living in Wellington, means living with wind. Most of the time there is at least a slight breeze in the city. Over the last couple of weeks we have had our fair share of wind. This is having an impact on our garden, and the children are noticing the changes the end of the summer season is bringing. The leaves from the poplars are falling, the acorns are scattered across our driveway and even the animals are changing their feathers or their fur, in preparation for the colder weather to come.

Wind is a fascinating factor of nature. There is something about the wind, the air, that stimulates all our senses. Have you ever thought about the connection the wind creates between one person in one place and another person in another place? The wind links people, animals, plants and all things in all places, making us all connected, regardless of distance or location. It very well illustrates the interconnectedness of all things. As part of our Montessori curriculum we introduce the children to the interconnectedness and interdependence of everything on our planet, developing tools for environmental responsibility and ecological understanding.

Wind is moving air, your child can't see it, but they can feel it. At preschool the children may observe the wind in action as it moves against things, trying to determine the different types of wind, a calm wind, a slight breeze, a strong breeze or a gale-force wind, not unusual for Wellington. At our preschool we take a moment to watch the grass swaying, the leaves rustling, and the water in our pond or puddles rippling.

In New Zealand, wind from the South brings cold weather, wind from the North is warm. Wind is produced by the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun. Early Egyptians used the wind to sail ships on the Nile. Today we use wind to make electricity. This introduces another concept of wind, a force in nature. The wind force is making objects move, sometimes creating a sound. Listening to the wind is an excellent activity to do with young children, introducing them to the silence in nature, as well as the silence within themselves.

A windy day is a great day to gaze at clouds. Our children will move their meditation mats down from the deck into the open air, and watch the clouds, observing their shapes, sizes and the direction they move. We use this time for daydreaming and getting lost in imagination. I enjoy these moments with the children as it brings back fond memories of cloud watching as a child. Cloud watching is a great opportunity to bring some quiet time into your child's busy day, as they simply sit, think and imagine.

The wind blows autumn leaves from the trees. Falling autumn leaves introduce the children to the concept of gravity, but also provides great fun when raking and making a heap of leaves. Our compost is currently "glowing" as the combination of summer grass and early autumn leaves nourish the mulch in the compost heap. The children rake the leaves into a heap, fill up the wheel barrow and cart it back to the compost.

With Autumn here, there are new discoveries waiting to be made ...