Father's Day 2017

Happy Father's Day 2017 to all our Dad's of Apii Potiki!

To our Dad's & Papa's who were able to attend our special Father's Day BBQ...thanks for coming & we hope you enjoyed the kai that our staff prepared especially for you! You guys are worth it:)

A special thanks to our father's, Ricky (Clayton's Dad) & Maru (Heavenlee's Dad) for taking on the role of 'BBQ Kings' for the occasion...well done guys!

Thank you also to our teachers & management for all the planning, kai prep, and execution of a great event!

Meitaki Maata xox

Crazy Hair Day

Tamariki & teachers demonstrated their creative flare today when they arrived at apii looking rather different than normal...

Meitaki maata to all our tamariki & whanau who participated in our crazy hair day. In doing this, we are showing our tamariki that their interests are being listened to, and that their teachers do plan for ways in which children's interests can be explored further (Empowerment, Belonging, Contribution).

Before home time, we gathered to vote for who we thought had the best hair of the day. After the nominations were tallied up, the results showed to be a very close!

Overall, a great fun day was had by all. Meitaki whanau & teachers for supporting the interests of our tamariki!

Kiwi Harvest Smoothies

Today we made banana & yoghurt smoothies with the kai that 'Kiwi Harvest' brought in for our tamariki. We made special soy milk smoothies for our friends who do not drink cow's milk:)

This was such a healthy way to start our day. Many tamariki were asking if we could do smoothies again tomorrow. We also discussed ideas of other things we could make using our box of bananas...

"How about banana cookies?" (Jasmine)

"I know...a banana monkey!" (Bronson)

"What about some banana milks" (Liku)

Tomorrow, he have agreed to try and make Banana Bread.

Ura Ura with Maggie

Today was the first day of 'Cook Island Dance' sessions with our beautiful tutor/parent, Maggie.

Maggie is kindly offering her time to come into our apii every Wednesday morning to strengthen the island dance skills of our tamariki and staff...

Once the music starts, our tamariki quickly gather around Maggie like bees to honey. From start to finish, Maggie's instructions encouraged the group to get involved. Songs from the Moana soundtrack, and Tu tere mai nga iwi were very popular with our tamariki.

Meitaki maata Maggie! Thank you for doing this with us! We can't wait for next week!

Whats coming next at Apii Potiki.....

Long hair, straight hair, curly, wurly, fuzzy hair

Shining hair, gleaming hair, streaming flaxen, waxen hair

Knotted hair, polka-dotted hair

Twisted, beaded, braided hair

Flowered hair, and confettied hair

Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied Hair!!

Hair hair HAIR HAIR hair hair!!

Our latest craze going on at Apii is our tamariki enjoy doing their hair! So why not follow this interest with a..

CRAZY HAIR DAY! Check out our flyer below!!

We look forward to ALL the crazy hair styles walking through our doors next week!!

Sea Life Interest

Over time, many of our tamariki have been interested in creatures of the sea...

Some recent experiences our teachers have provided include: a turtle visit (kindly arranged by teacher Pamella & her sister Rose), fish faces (face painting by teacher Faith), fish ornaments (baking soda dough), star fish cookies, shark masks...and many, many more...

In supporting this on-going interest in sea life...an excursion to Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium was planned for, and executed on Monday 21st August 2017

What a fantastic turnout we had...we are very grateful to our parents/whanau who got involved through fundraising & supporting with required adult to child ratios on the day. The day was only successful because of our awesome whanau!

Tamariki enjoyed their time through being curious, exploring, and asking questions. 

On return from Kelly Tarlton's, staff and whanau came together to evaluate the trip...well done everyone, great teamwork!

So...what's next?

A trip to the local fish shop saw Toko & Papa Apii return with three fresh fish. Papa Apii went on to demonstrate for tamariki, the procedure of scaling, gutting, and cleaning fresh fish. Tamariki had the opportunity to participate in the scaling process.

After cleaning our fish, Papa Apii made some ika mata (raw fish). Tamariki got to eat the ika mata during lunch, with some delicious taro cooked in the oven by Mama Tere.

Cook Island Language Week 2017

Kia Orana & welcome to our Cook Island Language Week for 2017. 
So many exciting things happened for us this week. We had parent involvement with our cooking & arts & crafts, and when we were invited to Panmure Library, Esther happily transported our little team of performers.

We are very grateful to have whanau support...Meitaki (thank you) to Mataora, Mama Tere, 

Mama Kau and Esther.

Our spontaneous Fashion/Talent show encouraged tamariki to get involved. Here, tamariki showed confidence, and flare as they walked the catwalk, posed, danced & sang proudly at the top of their lungs.

Some Cook Island inspired arts & crafts were a big hit as usual...Ei Katu (headbands) are always a favourite with our tamariki. 

Dress-Up Day was how we ended our Cook Island Language Week for this year, and of course we had to have our favourite Cook Island music beats playing throughout the day...

We hope you enjoyed our little snippet of one of our favourite weeks of the year...