Curriculum Plan – October 2026

Dear Mums and Dads,

After our amazing journey through SPACE, we are ready to bring our learning back down to Earth and turn our curious eyes towards the skies, trees and gardens around us!

Our next exciting project is BIRDS! 

We are going to investigate the wonderful birds that we see in our own local community, discovering where they live, what they eat, how they communicate, and what makes each bird special. We are particularly excited to explore the incredible native birds that live right on our doorstep at Shakespear Regional Park, where the protected environment provides a home for many of Aotearoa New Zealand's beautiful native species.

We will begin our bird adventure by getting to know one of New Zealand's most treasured and fascinating birds – the kiwi! We will discover what makes a kiwi so unusual, where it lives, what it eats, how it finds its food, and why protecting our native birds is so important.

As our project develops, we will follow the children's interests and investigate other birds we see around our preschool and local area. Who knows what wonderful discoveries we will

make!

Our Learning Programme

Dream Team – led by Paris
Paris will support children to develop their early literacy and numeracy skills through engaging bird-themed experiences. Including cut-and-paste kiwi worksheets and bird identification games. Children will explore letter sounds, phonological awareness, counting, patterning and early writing, using birds and their fascinating characteristics as inspiration for learning.

Art Team – Sue, Kerryn, Genna and Marianne
The Art Team will provide a variety of exciting bird-inspired art experiences, encouraging children to observe birds closely and represent what they see in their own creative ways. We will explore feathers, colour, texture, printing, painting, collage and mixed media. Children will be encouraged to use their imaginations rather than simply copying a picture, developing their own ideas about the birds they discover.

Outdoor Play – led by Genna
Genna will encourage children to explore birds within our own preschool garden. We will look for signs of birdlife, listen for bird calls and investigate where birds might find food, water and shelter. Your little ones will also have opportunities to create ‘bird habitats’ and think about how we can make our preschool a welcoming place for birds and other living creatures.

Meeting Times – led by Marianne
During our group learning times, Marianne will introduce the children to a variety of local and native birds. We will begin with the kiwi and explore some of its amazing features, before extending our investigations to other birds found in our community and at Shakespear Regional Park. We will use books, photographs, videos, discussions and children's questions to guide our learning.

Literacy – led by Aimee and Kerryn

Aimee and Kerryn will bring our bird project into our literacy learning with wonderful bird-themed stories, phonics games and opportunities to explore new vocabulary. We will listen for bird sounds, learn interesting bird words and discover stories about birds from Aotearoa and around the world.

Our Local Bird Adventure

As our project progresses, we hope to discover some of the birds that are familiar to us in our own community, as well as some of the special native birds found at Shakespear Regional Park.

We will be asking questions such as:

• What birds can we see around our preschool and at home?
• Where do different birds live?
• What do birds eat?
• How do birds communicate?
• Why do birds have different types of beaks and feet?
• How do birds build their nests?
• Which birds can fly, swim, run, or even not fly at all?
• What makes New Zealand's native birds special?
• How can we help to look after our local birds and their environment?

We are sure the children's questions will lead us in some wonderful and unexpected directions!

Links to Te Whāriki

Through exploring birds in our local environment, children develop working theories about the natural world, noticing patterns, asking questions, making observations and developing an understanding of living things.

(Exploration – Mana Aotūroa, Te Whāriki 2017).

Children develop confidence as they share their ideas, knowledge and discoveries with others, learning alongside their friends and contributing their own experiences.

(Contribution – Mana Tangata, Te Whāriki 2017).

Our bird investigations will also encourage children to develop a growing sense of kaitiakitanga – caring for and respecting the natural environment and the living creatures within it.

How can you support your child's learning at home?

• Look and listen for birds in your garden or local area
• Talk with your child about the birds you see
• Visit Shakespear Regional Park and see which birds you can spot
• Share books about birds from home or the library
• Listen to bird calls together and try to identify them
• Send along any bird-related books, photographs or interesting resources
• Encourage your child to tell us about a bird they have seen or something interesting they have discovered

We would especially love to hear about any little bird experts in our preschool community! If you have particular knowledge about birds, bird watching, or conservation, we would love to hear from you.  We are so excited to begin this new adventure and discover the amazing birdlife that is right here in our own backyard. From the extraordinary kiwi to the birds we hear and see every day, there is a whole world of feathers, beaks, nests, and bird calls waiting for us to explore!

Let the great bird adventure begin! 

With love,
Marianne and Lynda xxx   

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