Alternative job description for early childhood teachers
You must have a warm, smiling face that makes every child feel special and loved. You must be able to laugh at jokes that you don’t understand, or you don’t find funny. Child humour can be a confusing minefield to navigate. You will preferably have a little bit of quirkiness. If a child requests that you be the captain of...
Mentoring advice part two – Leadership
Recently we asked you to share with us the one piece of advice or lesson learnt from a mentor that has influenced your teaching the most. In the second of our articles on mentoring, we focus on leadership advice. There are some great words of wisdom here, we hope that one or two of them strike a chord with you, and...
Stuck for teacher gift ideas?
There is truth in the old saying “it’s the thought that counts”, and when it comes to buying something for the teachers who hold a special place in your child’s heart, rest assured a gift that has been carefully thought about means more than you can imagine. It’s getting close to that time of the year when we not only...
Avoiding end of year teacher burnout
It’s important to try and enjoy the festivities. Enjoy the celebrations with the children you work with, try to see the magic and wonder of the holiday season through their eyes, but at the same time finish the year without burning out. Here’s 7 tips from experienced teachers to help you at this crazy time of year. Teachers are...
Supporting effective transitions to school for children
This blog post is from Zoe Roles, teacher and preschool dean of St Mark’s Church School. It shares her experience using digital tools to support children’s transitions to school and the exciting results she’s seeing. “Transitioning into school has always been an aspect of teaching that I have found really frustrating. Children walk into the classroom having had very few connections...
10 tips to keep your children safe online
Sharon Carlson of CORE Education is an experienced teacher and specialist in the area of cybersafety and digital learning. This blog post written by Sharon draws on her years of experience and the latest practices in ECE. Internet capable devices have become part of our life, assisting us with so many of our daily tasks. Children are born into this world...
From apprehensive to addicted – Part 2
Part 2 in Hailee’s story about implementing Storypark The Implementation Whilst Hailee did introduce Storypark quickly, it was not without thought into the processes that would make it work for her centre. All stories are approved by Hailee and she keeps a particular eye on photos and videos to ensure that there is nothing inappropriate being posted. “The teacher who...
Transforming the partnership between home and school
Corpus Christi school has focussed a lot of energy on engaging parents in their child’s learning. The school heard about Storypark and were instantly impressed with how easy it seemed to set up and manage and the potential to transform how we share student learning with parents. Storypark was seen as a powerful tool which went far beyond the traditional...
From apprehensive to addicted – Part 1
Lollipops Waiuku teachers have travelled a long way in six months, from nervous novices to absolute advocates of Storypark. The Centre Director, Hailee Minty put Lollipops Waiuku forward to be one of the first Educare centres to adopt Storypark. Hailee was convinced that the community would engage more with electronic portfolios than the paper-based folders that were just sent home...
The impact of Storypark for leading ECE services
I’ve just gotten off the phone with Peter from Storypark and promised I’d write down some of the praise I was giving him in person on the phone. Storypark is amazing. It’s changed the way we’re doing things at LittleWonders and is now a key part of our practice. I thought I’d share some of the key differences Storypark has...