The focus at Hobsonville Kindergarten this term is manaakitanga – showing kindness, respect, generosity and caring for all people at kindergarten, at home and in our community. Pink Shirt Day was the perfect opportunity to talk to our tamariki about bullying, being kind, what to do or say if someone hurts us with words or actions and where we can go for help.

We asked the tamariki to share with us what being a good friend looks like and how they feel and what they do if they are scared. We also listened to the Ministry of Education resource about a monster called Moe who was unkind to his friend Fern the Fairy.

We coloured in pink t-shirts and a manaakitanga bear where each tamaiti shared what being a good friend looks like. We hung these on the wall.

Kaiako are already seeing tamariki displaying manaakitanga towards their friends, looking after each other and standing up to unkind friends so the learning is happening at kindergarten.