Group+8

=__**How Can We Make a Positive Difference to the Community We Live In**__=

== = = = = = = =__**id's Care**__=

The Issue we have chosen is Early Childhood. We hope to help children at Day Care/Kindergarten age

__**Names**__

 * Tim
 * Joanna
 * Joanne
 * Riki

__**Brainstorm - What Can We Do To Help**__

 * Organise a Fun Day
 * Donate toys to kindergartens/Day Care
 * Teaching them to share
 * Come to where they are and entertain them
 * Do Art with them
 * Make Christmas Cards with them for their parents

[|http://www.times.co.nz/] (keywords: plunket+issues, early childcare+issues, etc.) || One of the issues is that the waiting list for childcare centers is very long. (so long that kids sometimes has to wait till their 4th birthday) Also, Plunket (an early childhood charity) needs donations. || Riki || (article title:Fears children missing out on early education) || The childcare centers in Manukau has this problem (waiting lists being long). 41 new services are needed in different areas of Auckland city, 7 of the 'high priority' ones being in the East. The shortage is SO huge, that there are more than 100 names on the waiting list for Dannemora Kindergarten. Plunket has an annual appeal, where they go around homes to collect money. You could also donate money or become a volunteer. There is a Plunket office in Mt.Albert. || Riki || [|html#trips] [|http://www.unitec.ac.nz/?37A69345-591] [|B-47C3-AE6E-6A9B0EAA50C4] [|http://www.waimatedc.govt.nz/Waimate] [|/Education/waimatechildcarecentre.htm] || The ratio varies from place to place. At some it was 1:6 for over 2yrs and 1:4 for under. Also, for trips it is 1:4 but if under 2 yrs are near water it is 1:2. Other places say that they have a favorable staff-child ratio but do not specify what it is. || Tim || [|layout=document&documentid=9637&data=l] [|http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1181086] || Child care centres/kindergartens do get money from the government (see first link). Also usually parents also have to pay but the government did introduce a scheme in June for 20 hour free care. However the second link is saying that this scheme does not fully cover costs, so you have to pay anyway. Plunket creches also get funding for maintenance from Plunket fundraising. || Tim || [|org/parent/fitness] [|/safety/playground.] [|html] [|http://www.][|phac-aspc.] [|gc.ca/dca-dea/allchildren_] [|touslesenfants/she_] [|main_e.html] || There are tons of ways to make the childcare centre safe. The most important is to make they are in which the children play in is safe. We can: · Teach the children how to climb on and off equipment safely · Make sure they go down slides feet first as children aged between 2 to 4 suffer 40% of all slide injuries · Cover swing chains with plastic to prevent their fingers being caught in there · Supervise all games · Make sure the area is covered with shock absorbing surfaces · Make sure there are no broken glass · Make sure there are no broken equipment · Teach them the reasons of why we need sunscreen and make sure they wear sunscreen || [|http://www.womensrefuge.org.nz/] [|http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/] [|http://www.southernstars.org.nz/wehelp.asp] [|http://www.kidneykids.org.nz/] [|http://www.makeawish.org.nz/home.htm] || We can contact lots of places that involve young children. Make-A-Wish foundation in New Zealand is a good one too since people work together to donate money to grant a wish of children that are sick. Kidney Kids is another good one, you help donate money to children that have kidney disorders. || Joanna ||
 * ==Questions== || Hypothesis || Reference || Answer || Person Responsible for this question ||
 * What are some of the issues in early childcare? || I think that one of the issues might be that childcare centers don't have enough funding or help. || [|http://www.kiwifamilies.co.nz]
 * Where are some of the places with this issue in Auckland? || I think that there are lots of child care centers in Auckland with this problem, and Plunket provides free/cheap service, so I think that they need funding wherever they are. || [|www.times.co.nz]
 * What is the legal ratio for staff : kids in childcare centres around NZ. || I think that it will be somewhere between 1:3 and 1:5 || [|http://www.frogpuddles.co.nz/policy.]
 * Where do early childcare places get their money from? || I think places get money from:
 * Government
 * Pay from clients I am not sure about other sources of money. || [|http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?]
 * What are the things we could do to help them? || I think we can help by
 * donate some toys.
 * volunteer to help.
 * look after the children for the day. || [|http://www.plunket.org.nz] || Plunket says on the website people can help by sponsoring them or donate some money to them to make a difference || Joanne ||
 * What is Plunket, and what do they do? || I think Plunket is an organisation that helps children with their health needs and helps mothers with new-born babies. || [|http://www.plunket.org.nz] || Plunket has been helping many families for over many years now, today almost 91percent of the babies born are Plunket babies. Plunket helps families with their newborns to the ages of five. || Joanne ||
 * How can we make childcare centres in Auckland safe? || I think that we can make the childcare centre safe by teaching them about the fire procedure. We can also pick up broken pieces of glass and make sure that dangerous items (e.g. methylated spirits) are out of the young children's reach. || [|http://www.kidshealth.]
 * Where can we contact to help? || I think that we can contact any organizations that helps young children in need, or organizations that need funds or volunteers, e.g. Plunket, Family First, Woman's Refuge, etc. || [|http://www.plunket.org.nz]

=**__Action Plan__**=

**Issue**
==

Helping Childcare Centres

What are we going to do?
we are going to help needy childcare/kindergarten centres by going to help and organising some activities so that the staff can have a break.

**How are we going to do it?**

 * 1) Ring Plunket and ask if there are any centres that need our help (write phone script)
 * 2) If there are no such places then ask plunket if we can help them in any way
 * 3) Organise some activities/whatever needs doing
 * 4) Organise transport so that we can get where we need to go.
 * 5) Go and help the centres/plunket

Plunket Phone Script
Hi/Hello. I'm Tim and I'm calling from Bucklands Beach Intermediate. For our Inquiry learning, our topic is to solve issues in our community. Our group decided to do Early Child care. We have researched all about the issues in early childcare, but we're still missing some information. We were hoping you could answer them. (Let the Plunket organisers answer here)

Our first question is, ' //What does Plunket do? How do you help the young children/newborns?// ' (Let Plunket answer here)

Our second question is, ' //Where do you get your funds from?// ' (Plunket answers here)

Our last question is, ' //Does Plunket need any help such as volunteers or funding?// ' (If Plunket says ' **yes** ', read the word in bold, if the say ' __no__ ', read the words underlined.)

' **How can we arrange a way to help you?** '

' __Do you know any places such as child care centres that need help? We can only help for 1 day but we could organise some activities__ '

(Let the Plunket organisers answer here)

__Do you have contact details for these centres?__

Thank you very much, we really appreciate your help.

Ph: (Plunket Auckland) - (09) 849 5652

Childcare Phone Script
Good morning/afternoon, I'm Tim and I'm calling from Bucklands Beach Intermediate.For our Inquiry learning, our topic is to solve issues in our community. Our group decided to do Early Child care. We have researched issues in childcare and we were hoping you could answer some questions. (Let the childcare people answer here)

'Is this a convenient time for you? Should we call a bit later?' (Let them answer here)

Our first question is, 'What are some of the issues in early childcare?' (Let them answer here)

Our second question is, ' //Where do you get your funds from?// ' (childcare people answers here)

Our last question is, ' Do you //need any help such as volunteers or funding?// ' (If they say ' **yes** ', read the word in bold, if they say ' __no__ ', read the words underlined.)

' **How can we arrange a way to help you?** '

' __Do you know any places such as child care centres that need help? We can only help for 1 day but we could organise some activities__ '

(Let the them answer here)

__Do you have contact details for these centres?__

Thank you very much, we really appreciate your help.


 * Remember to ask for their names

**Who will be responsible for which jobs?**

 * Job || Person/People ||
 * Writing the phone script || Riki + Joanna ||
 * Speaking on the phone || Tim ||
 * Organising Activities || All ||
 * Organise Transport || Joanne ||
 * Go and help || All ||

**Time-Line**

 * Started the page.
 * Made title
 * Typed up Aim
 * made table for questions, hypothesis etc.
 * Typed up Questions
 * Typed up hypothesis's
 * Researched
 * Fixed Table
 * Typed up answers and references
 * Did Action Plan
 * Typed up phone script.
 * Called Plunket
 * Wrote new phone script
 * Found Childcare no.
 * Rung Childcare Centres
 * Picked 1
 * Organised for us to go there
 * Wrote notice for transport
 * Organised activities
 * Confirmed transport
 * Went to frog puddles half moon bay
 * Came back
 * Reported to the class
 * Finished Wiki

But Hooray I am done!! ||  ||   || I was wondering if we were organising some activities like Christmas cards then I could probably supply some cardboard as I have lots of strips at home **Once you decide whether that will be an activity you could use some of that cardboard Tim. Mr Read.** || I added some Idea's to the activity list. I think it was a good idea to put that in. || I think when it did not saved it lost it all because when I went on today nothing was there. That is why I had to go to the history and get it back. Could you please do the new phone script Joanna or Riki as **__//IT IS YOUR JOB!!!//__**
 * Daily reflection || 19/11 || 20/11 || 21/11 || 27/11 || 28/11 || 29/11 || 30/11 ||  ||
 * Tim || I tried to look for some sites related to my topic but they are really hard to find and I didn't find any. || I am really really really really really really really really really frustrated with this site. The table stuffed up again and I had to fix it __//**AGAIN!!!!**//__


 * 6/11 How come you haven't written a reflection for so long Tim? Also how's your house assignment going please? Mr Read** ||  ||
 * Joanne || Today i went on the internet at home and researched childcare on wikispaces and i found some information that would be helpful for our wiki. i found some information on Plunket and...? **Well done for going on the internet at home and doing research Joanne. That's exactly what I wanted you to do. Thank you. Mr Read** || Yay!!! I finished my stuff. YAYNESS!!! ||  || **No daily reflection Joanne!!!!???? Mr Read** ||   || it was my brothers birthday today and he took the laptop because our computer died cos he killed it || I couldn't go on cos i wasn't allowed

4/12


 * I don't think the above statement is appropriate or respectful of your mum Joanne. Please remove it! Mr Read**

6/12 Well she was saying all this stuff about me being really really dumb and all this other stuff || What did they say? || (In reply to Tim) I think thats a good idea, and we could also get them to make gifts (something really simple) like finger painting. I'll try to find some interesting games/activities they could do. I'll try put them under a new heading 'Possible activities and games'. **I think that's a good way of organising your possible ideas Riki!** || Yay im the first one to go on.. I'm looking up activities and games for toddlers /preschoolers. Theres some good ones we could do. || 1/12 Sorry, i couldnt go on this wiki page yesterday for some reason.. I cant think of another question, so hopefully, we could discuss it at school.
 * Riki || Well, this afternoon at school, we researched for our answers, and discussed what we should do as our 'action'. We also changed 1 or 2 questions, I think. || Our page looks really good now : ) welll im planning to find the answer to my question and type it up.. lol nice work joanne ||  || I'm so sorry but I couldn't (help) call Plunket because I had to go to the dental nurse..(got my teeth polished(?) )
 * Riki || Well, this afternoon at school, we researched for our answers, and discussed what we should do as our 'action'. We also changed 1 or 2 questions, I think. || Our page looks really good now : ) welll im planning to find the answer to my question and type it up.. lol nice work joanne ||  || I'm so sorry but I couldn't (help) call Plunket because I had to go to the dental nurse..(got my teeth polished(?) )

4/12 er how do you add columns/rows on here? i've been trying to for a while. Other than that, we called up various childcare centers and right now, Im planning to find more games & activities. p.s. familyfun.go.com is a good site. ||  || Well, we called the childcare centres and found out some more answers. Some of the childcare centres were more helpful than others (*coughairheadcough*) but I guess it's because they were newer than most of the staff. We have two places where we could go to. We just need to confirm what we are going to do and call again.
 * Joanna || I've got one of my answers and resource but I don't know what happened to the box and I can't type it up. >.< HMMMMMM. We will have to solve this problem tomorrow. Mr Read || Im the last one to come on... o __O;; Anyway, I'm really glad the table is fixed (thanks Tim) and I've got all my stuff done. I agree with Riki, this page looks really professional! Oh, but eww, my name on the table has stuffed up again.__ || I re-did our script while everyone was playing chairs... T__T__ || We called Plunket and they gave us another number to call. The other number suggested we look up other stuff in the yellow pages... So now we have to call up child care centres. || Replying to Riki: I think that if we do finger painting we'd have to make them non-toxic. We don't want any parents complaining about us poisoning their kids. I think I still have some glitter somewhere. Oh, and I added some ideas to the activity list. **Good thinking Joanna. Mr Read!** || || 4/12

5/12 We called the childcare centres again for a confirmaton. We have one place to go, Frog Puddles. We'll be going for about three hours and I was thinking about doing 6 activities with about one or two spare just in case. **What activities will you be doing Joanna? Please ipdate your action plan. Mr Read** ||  ||


 * Daily Reflection || 5/12 || 6/12 || 7/12 ||
 * Tim || I updated the timeline. I think that those ideas are good Joanna. || I updated the timeline. || It's kind of funny that we didn't actually use any of our activities while we were there. We just played with the kids and helped them out. We did give the animal cards to the supervisor though and that was nice.

13/12 Whoops I forgot for about the last week. I like the story joanna - after a long and terrible struggle (cough cough) Tim escaped. More like when tim was tired of being buried he got out in 2 seconds flat. I like the pictures too Karen. || I am NOT going to paint the pasta, because it's dangerous for children that age to have something that small with something that //could be// poisonous (my parents reminded me by the way) and if one of the children gets sick, then it's all the childcare's fault as it is their responsibility. As I said in the 'discussion', I think that it's just enough for them to thread the pasta through. And, if we run out of games, etc, we could always help the childcare people make resources as Mr.Read suggested. || 8/12 sorry, forgot to go on yesterday.. We went to the childcare center yesterday, and it was fun! Although we didn't use the activities we organised, I (I don't know about the others) never got bored. I can't believe I was frustrated about pasta in my last reflection XDD
 * Riki || we called up the people at that 2 childcare centers and we're going to Frog Puddles. Oh, and the lady we spoke to, Tina, comes to my parents' shop.**That could be a useful contact to have Riki! Mr Read** || well we oraganised the games and made the 'animal cards'. im a bit worried that we don't have enough activities.. i'll try find some extra activities if i can.

12/12 Same as Joanna, I corrected some mistakes and added things in the blanks. || Sorryyyy, anyways. We finally went to the childcare centre and helped out by looking after them, playing with them and helping with morning tea. Remember the little kid that took four *sniggers* We got some pictures and mainly, just played. We didnt do the activities but did things like, build castles (and had them destroyed T^T), paint, read stories, etc. I never //particularly// liked little kids and I don't think this trip made a difference. But I have to admit that some of the kids were really funny. =P
 * Joanne ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Joanna ||  ||   || 11/12

12/12 One last update, I've done the stories and had a look at the pictures. Thanks Karen! We had a great time and I doubt I'll forget this... or maybe not. ||


 * ==[[image:teddy_bear_copy.gif width="216" height="216" align="left"]]== || [[image:alphabet.blocks.jpg width="234" height="218" align="center"]] || ==[[image:teddy_bear.gif width="219" height="219" align="right"]]== ||


 * ==**Teacher Feedback**== || Student Response ||
 * 19/11 Hi Kids Care. I like your name. Very cool. I like the way you've made such a good start to your Wiki. I'm delighted to see links to various websites put in so anyone can access information. Please record your respective names under your title. Thanks. 19/11 9:01 pm. Thanks for the people who did some work after school etc. That's great. Next time please date your individual and group reflections so they act as a record of your progress.

It's really undergone a lot of changes and those changes reflect a huge amount on your part! You've provided good answers for many of your questions and included the links as references. Spot on!
 * 22/11.** So far so good. I'm very happy with the wonderful progress you've made with your Wiki!

Your daily reflections capture the essence of the process you've been going through and I'm very pleased by their quality. I'm sorry you got so frustrated. I don't blame you. Don't you just hate technology sometimes?

I like the way you've included your Plunket script on your Wiki. That a great idea.

Well, please keep up the good work! I am excited to see such progress!!!!!!!

==1**4/12 Well done for organsing and going on your visit. I was really delighted about the way you had such a great time and obviously had such a positive impact on the kids. It was funny how all the little boys wanted to sit next to Tim. Thanks for writing up an account of your visit. I loved the " myth" version and the real one. Very creative and entertaining. Your Wiki looks great. The pictures add to your written information. Your group grade is A-. What a superb way to finish the year!**== || Thanks for the feedback Mr. Read. I have put our names under our title. ||
 * 29/11.** I've enjoyed reading your reflective statements and the way you've been communicating your ideas over the web. It looks like you've got a good list of possible activities. Joanne, you need to reflect daily on progress made, after all it is part of this weeks homework. I would like to conference with you about your potential field trip.
 * 6/12** Hi Group. I've read all of your reflections. There is no way you can add another column because you have to do that when you make the table in the first place. Check out the Super Senior Savers table. They set theirs out differently. You'll have to make a new table under your old one. I'm glad you're making some progress about which ECC you're going to visit. What you need to remember is that you're going there to make a positive difference. What are you going to do to help that ECC? Would you please be able to update your action plan for me to include the recent developments? Thanks everyone and remember to do the jobs that you agreed to do.

An Evaluation of the Action and the Effect
Overall, we couldn't make a difference, but we learnt what it would be like to work in early childcare centers and all the hard work the staff puts in to let the children learn social skills, etc. We hope that the kids had as much fun as us.

**Peer Reflection**

 * Name || Reflection ||
 * Karen || You have put up really good pictures and have lots of information on your topic. I like it. =] ||

to get your point across. Oh, and thanks to Mrs.Xie (Karen's mum) for driving us there, thanks to Karen for the pictures and to Joanna for the story.. They're both really good ^ ^ || And now I've even finished the stories! Sorry if they sound a little sarcastic, they're not meant to be! =O ||
 * Individual Reflection || Don't forget to update this part daily! ||
 * Tim || It's great that we finally actually went to a place ||
 * Riki || It was fun!! I enjoyed playing with the little kids and reading to them... I learnt that you have to be both firm and kind to them
 * Joanne || YAY!!! we called some childcare centres and this place wanted us to go and help which is good. ||
 * Joanna || It was.... Fun i guess. It was funny how forward the little kids are. XD

Possible activities/games we could organise.
- Treasure hunt. Hide 5-10 things(chocolate coins, big marbles, feather, etc.) around the childcare center. - Make Christmas tree decorations made of stuff like self-drying clay/dough. - The paper snowflake things! (They look really good with cellophane) - Pop-up Christmas cards (cut 2 lines on the fold) - 'Duck duck goose', 'Hide and Seek', etc. - Play or skit - Playdough - I also have some kidzy puzzles that I might be able to bring along.(Tim) - Hand prints-white paint on green paper, draw eyes, Santa hat and its a 'santa claus' christmas card! - Crayons - **I found this easy 'sock fish'. All you need is : a child-size tube sock (1 per person and we could buy cheap ones), dried beans, yarn (wool-theres some cheap ones at the warehouse, I think), marker, glue (non-toxic and keep it out of the children's reach) and felt scraps (optional)** **<--- We could make reindeers with felt antlers too. {Joanna}** All you have to do is fill the tube sock with beans(filling it 3/4 full), tie the end with yarn to make a tail, push in the toe of the sock to form a mouth, glue it to keep it in place, and draw eyes, fins, etc. If we could get scrap felt, we could glue it on for gills. We could play games like 'Piggy in the middle', 'Hot potato', etc. - If we could get some, we could get a HUGE piece of paper and let them draw all over it. (creativity run wild!) - There's this thing called 'popcorn paint' where they glue popcorn on to paper to create a winter scene.. It sounds nice, but I (Riki) think it teaches them to waste food.. -'Alligator Swamp'- throw cloths, socks, etc. around the room and place a beanbag in the center. The children has to 'rescue' the beanbag without disturbing the 'alligators' (the cloths)
 * - Christmas cards. As Tim suggested, we could get those cardboards & let them be creative! (buy glitter, etc.)** **{Joanna}**
 * - Easy bracelets using big beads -we could dip pasta in paint and use them instead of beads--- I could supply some pasta (Riki){Joanna}**
 * - 'Guess the Animal'- Make cards with animal pictures (eg. lion, elephant,) and the child has to act out the animal on the card, then the other children guesses the animal. {Joanna}**

=**The Day:**= We are going to Frog Puddles day care (ph. 09 537 5744) 1 Dianne Louise Drive Half Moon Bay Auckland. We are going there on Friday 7th December at 9 am, coming back to school at 12pm. We will organise activities, such as: (please add activities you KNOW you can do and organise.) ~The activities I think we could do are in **bold** {Joanna}

=Permission slip. REMEMBER TO GET THEM SIGNED!!!= 7th December 2007

To the parents of

As part of the Team C's Inquiry, a group of students in Room 12 have been investigating the issue of Child Care in our local community. They have done some research and have found out that assistance is needed at the Frog Puddles Centre in Half Moon Bay, with activities for children. The group have arranged to go and help out on Friday the 7th of December.

On Friday the students will be working from 9am - 12 pm

Mrs. Xie will be transporting the group of five students and she will stay with them while they complete their task. She has enough safety belts in her car for all five students.

To confirm your permission for your child to participate in this community service project, please return the tear off slip below, by Friday 7th December.

Kind regards

Mr. Read Mrs. Parkinson - Deputy Principal

..................................................................................................... Room 12 Community Service Project to the Frog Puddles Half Moon Bay.

My child will / will not be attending the community project work session on Friday 7th December.

My child has / does not have permission to travel with Mrs. Xie to the Frog Puddles Childcare Center

Signed ……………… Date:…………….

Contact numbers: ………………



The Day at Frog Puddles
Once upon a time, five students went to a far away place called Frog Puddles. (Froggies) They were picked up by the big red car. Two of the students sat at the back and had trouble fighting off dragons. The two in the middle discovered how armrests worked and were amazed. And the one in the front had no problem whatsoever.

When the five arrived at the childcare centres, they introduced themselves to the head staff, Tina. Then they introduced themselves to the little kids. They joined in games such as bucket stilts and painting.

The five students helped serve a royal banquet, serving gourmet pastries and exotic fruits. Then they helped clean up with the other servants.

Next, they played in the sand pit. Two of the students made a village of castles, only to be destroyed by the little monsters. O=< They bravely defended the castles, but were sadly defeated. The little munchkins had an idea that it would be fun to bury one of the valiant students alive. Tim was the victim. The other students surrendered and decided it would be better to save their own lives and bury Tim than to join him. During the next 10-20 minutes, Tim was forcefully buried. After a long and terrible struggle, Tim escaped.

Two escaped to the safety of the library and read stories to the children. Others disappeared outside to help out as much as they could.

Later, at midday, they awarded the munchkins with trophies to the best boy and girl. Afterwards, the five students were given the most magnificent work of art; a card the children had made themselves. In the card was the most touching words of gratitude. The five students thanked the staff and children profusely and returned to school

And so they lived happily ever after.

{The real story}
Once upon a time, five students went to a childcare centre called Frog Puddles. (Froggies) They were picked up by a big red car. Two of the students sat at the back and had trouble trying to figure out how the seatbelts worked. The two in the middle were horrified when they realised the armrests were stuck, but discovered how to un-stick them. And the one in the front had no problem whatsoever.

When the five arrived at the childcare centres, they introduced themselves to the head staff, Tina. Then they introduced themselves to the little kids. They joined in games such as bucket stilts and painting.

The five students helped serve morning tea, serving cookies, crackers and fruits. Then they helped clean up with the other staff.

Next, they played in the sand pit. Two of the students made bucket castles, only to be destroyed by the kids. They cried inwardly when their work was destroyed, but voiced no objections. The little munchkins had an idea that it would be fun to bury Tim's feet. The other students decided it would be fun and joined in. During the next 10-20 minutes, Tim enjoyed himself. After an easy lift of one foot, and then another, Tim was free of the measly attempt to bury his feet.

Two went to the library and read stories to the children. Others disappeared outside to help out as much as they could.

Later, at midday, they awarded the kids with two trophies to the best boy and girl. Afterwards, the five students were given the most magnificent work of art; a card the children had made themselves. In the card were pictures and a word of thanks. The five students thanked the staff and said goodbye to the children, and went home, after unpeeling one of the little kids off Riki.

And so, with the true story revealed, the five lived happily ever after.

//A SPECIAL WORD OF THANKS TO KAREN'S MOM FOR DRIVING US THERE AND SUPERVISING US//