Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 8 – Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto

Kia ora e te Whānau,

Welcome to the Week 8 Kōwhai blog - it is hard to believe that we are approaching the end of Term 3. This week, we have welcomed spring and the warmer weather with open arms!

Gymnastics

On Thursday, the Kōwhai team was lucky to attend a gymnastics session at the Christchurch School of Gymnastics. It was wonderful to see students embracing our school value 'We Love Challenge - Nau Mai Te Wero’ and stepping outside of their comfort zones to try something new. We were very impressed with the way tamariki (children) represented our school and upheld our kete values during the trip. We are looking forward to our second session next Thursday!

If you are interested in learning more about the Christchurch School of Gymnastics or enrolling your child for sessions, follow this link:

https://www.chchgymnastics.com/

PB4L

Over the last couple of weeks, Kōwhai has been learning about how to strengthen our frustration tolerance as well as how to be proactive and assertive when asking for help.

As part of the learning experience about frustration, students were tasked with the challenge of building a card tower. It was great to see how students persevered through the activity, calmly communicated their feelings, and then problem-solved as they tried new strategies.

Asking for help

In this sequence of learning, students have been learning to reframe their thinking to view asking questions as a strength. Homegroups discussed that by asking questions, students demonstrate a curiosity to deepen their understanding, and as a result of gaining new knowledge, students are then able to build new connections and apply this to their learning

Here is a link to the ‘asking for help’ slideshow that we have been working through, which includes some activities that you could try at home .

Performance/Inquiry

This term, we have been exploring the concept of ‘Change’ by delving into the wonderful world of dance and music. As a team, we have inquired into a range of musical genres from different eras and cultures, with a focus on how this was influenced by the current events of the time. The genres have included Rock n Roll, Disco, Futuristic, Ragtime, and Ancient Egyptian. Students have now opted into one of these genres, and with support from one of the teachers, will be working on developing a short performance. Our goal is to put these together and showcase them in a Kōwhai production. It has been fantastic to see ākonga (students) embracing this learning opportunity and letting their creativity shine through. As we progress into next term, we will keep you updated on how our performances are coming along!

Maths

Over the past two terms, students have been learning about the 5 Math Talk moves. They have been developing strategies to support them in communicating their ideas and sharing their processes in math. It has been fantastic to see how the tamariki (children) have embraced this learning opportunity. The teachers have been very impressed with the way students have been openly sharing their ideas, listening actively to others, and then responding thoughtfully. As a team, we have all been learning that there is immense value in listening, asking questions, and understanding other people's perspectives and ways of thinking. He Taonga Te Ako! - We Love Learning!

Here are some photos of Anna M's Math class. Students did a beautiful job creating patterns in nature.

Discovery

Below aere some photos of Discovery from the last 2 weeks:

Private and Social Media

Actively managing your tamariki’s privacy settings on the social networks they use can go a long way towards keeping control of their personal information.

Any information that is easily available online, whether it’s an email address, date of birth, or pictures, could end up causing harm if it gets into the wrong hands.

To help you navigate privacy on social media, Netsafe has put together a guide on How to Use Privacy Settings on Social Networks.

We hope that you have a wonderful, restful weekend.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kōwhai Team.