All posts by Sonya McIntyre

Sonya was born in Lower Hutt and went to Rata Street Kindergarten and Petone Kindergarten. A qualified ECE, she studied at Victoria University in Wellington and has worked with home-based educators, in community-based childcare and in kindergarten. With childhood memories of reading books and writing stories, combined with her passion for all things social media, Sonya segued into her role with us at Storypark as social media manager.

adult and child walking through forest

Learning in Nature – 5 Tips to Get You Started

Learning in Nature For young children, learning in nature can take place without an extensive collection of specific outdoor equipment and resources. In order for children to play and learn through nature play, they just need space, time and adults who are able to support them to take risks. When children have the opportunity to explore nature, they are able...

/ October 4, 2021

Daily Routines Updates

Daily Routines Updates The daily routines feature on Storypark has been an invaluable tool to educators in all corners of the world. We have been overwhelmed by the love and positive feedback you’ve shown for it. It not only makes sharing important information with parents easier, but it also saves you paper, and most importantly, TIME! To highlight how popular...

/ September 21, 2021
teacher sitting at computer to message families

Communication With Families During COVID-19

Communication With Families During COVID-19 Communication with families during COVID-19 restrictions is challenging to say the least! Preparing for and teaching through restrictions is something that educators all across the world are experiencing. An essential part of the work that you do is having open and trusting relationships with a child’s parents, but when there are barriers to communication (such...

/ September 1, 2021
care routines a child sleeping

Sharing children’s care routines with family

The importance of sharing children’s care routines Let’s talk about children’s care routines. A key component of working effectively with children and their families is the exchange of information and communication which is essential for you to truly work in partnership together. Over time you have no doubt found strategies and ways to share with each other by: Sharing learning...

/ August 30, 2021
play resources

Building Trusting Relationships with Families

Building Trusting Relationships with Families 2020 and 2021 have presented us with many challenges, due to Covid-19. Although each of our challenges have been unique to our learning communities, there are some that are faced by many learning services all over the world. We caught up with Nicola and Dan from The Learning Enrichment Foundation in Toronto, to hear about...

/ August 29, 2021

Settling children back into your learning service after lockdown

Settling back into your learning service Having a strategy and procedures in place for transitioning children (and their families) back into your learning environment is of utmost importance right now.  Many children will be straight back to business as if they had never been away. They may have had a great time, living their best lives at home in their...

/ August 10, 2021

Making teaching visible

We talk a lot about how documentation makes children’s learning visible and the importance of this, but have you ever stopped to consider what else is made visible? It makes teaching visible too! As teachers, it seems to be a common feeling that parts of the work we do with children are not recognized. That is not to say that...

/ August 9, 2021
two teachers talking

Documenting Professional Growth in ECE

Documenting professional growth in ECE Documenting professional growth in ECE is an essential element and indicator, of quality practice. But finding the right system for collecting examples of your learning, relating this evidence to your work with children, reflecting on and using your learning to enhance your practice can be challenging to say the least.  In the central North Island...

/ July 7, 2021

Educator Portfolios – Nurture the Growth of Your Team

With so many administrative tasks to do, you find that working on your professional growth, development, and appraisal sometimes has to wait. Good things take time. It is challenging to find an effective system of gathering evidence of your progress, linking it to professional requirements, connecting it to your practice, and reflecting on it as well.   If only there was...

/ May 19, 2021
teacher using digital technology

New! Digital Documentation Learning Modules

Storypark and Early Childhood Australia launch a series of digital documentation learning modules that support best teaching practice for educators and maximum impact for young children In 2019, Storypark embarked on a new project with Early Childhood Australia (ECA), to develop a suite of three digital documentation learning modules. The modules are titled “Engaging with digital documentation and technology”. After...

/ April 20, 2021