Author Archives: Dorinda Hampton

Kahikatea Newsletter Week 6

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Exploring Shapes during Discovery Time

Making a friend for Robot and a house for a dog and a mouse. So creative and a great way to make new friends.



How does learning make us feel?

Learning can feel so different, like when you think you are learning one thing, but you're actually learning lots of other things as well. - Aaria and Isabelle

I feel excited when I learn new things. - Vida

It depends on what kind of learning I am doing. Learning can be fun, exciting and challenging. - Taylor

When you get mixed up you sometimes feel challenged, but you can be creative and still do it. - Jayde

I normally get frustrated when something is hard and I sometimes panic, but I am learning to calm myself down. It helps because when I calm down, I can keep on going. - Katya

I normally get frustrated when I really really want to be able to do something. Today there were lots of people using the glue so I tried something different to make my spider and that worked really well. - Emma

Learning Conferences

Thank you to our families for coming in to school last week, to share in celebrating the children's learning ... and congratulations to the children themselves for stepping up to the challenge of leading their own Learning Conferences. Well done to you all - we're very proud of you!

Discovery Stations

Discovery Stations continue to be a big hit with the children, many of whom are doing their utmost to be at school by 8:30 a.m., so that they can embrace their learning as early in the day as possible! 
As the weeks progress, teachers will add in or withdraw different station activities for various reasons. This week, stations relating to Position and Orientation (our current Maths Strand focus) have been added in to the mix. The titles of some of these stations are: Direct Me, Turns and Maps, Robot Hands, Amazing Mazes ... very enticing! Other stations may be added as a result of student interest, for example, Paper Engineering, which has been an area of great interest in recent weeks.

Wednesday afternoon

A reminder to our families that we are requesting children be picked up at 12:30 tomorrow as teachers will be off-site at an NZEI Union meeting. If you are unable to pick your child up at this time please enter their details into the following document: http://bit.ly/2cA9Qsq. Thank you. 

Kahikatea Newsletter Week 5

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Cricket 

We all had a great time playing cricket on Wednesday afternoon. We played a fun warm up game called 'Snowball' and then got into a real game. We had to hit two balls off their stands as hard as we could and then run around the wickets until the fielding team replaced both balls back in their starting position.



Amazing Asia

A range of cultural immersion activities have been occurring across the team. We have been making sushi, learning to count in Japanese, making friendship bracelets to celebrate Raksha Bandhan (Brother and Sister's Day), learning mandarin and playing the madal (a traditional drum from Nepal).






Sign Language Lessons

Hub 1 and 2 are lucky to be learning Sign Language each Thursday - the children not involved in Kapa Haka are learning about how to communicate without talking out loud. Thank you to Cheryl and Benazier from Van Ash for their knowledge and willingness to share their expertise.




Our Ideas About RESPECT

Levi - A group of friends
Isaac - being kind with our words
Blake - respect is caring for people
Arthur - being, like, nice to each other
Juri - caring about people
Ally - reading to someone can show respect
Charlotte - you being nice to other little students at school
Bobbi - looking after people
Claudia - take people to the sick bay when they are hurt
Stella - trusting people
Lakiehsa - shaking someones hands when you meet them
Alexandra - making new friends
Cian - handshaking and hugging and sharing can show respect
Tahere - by not breaking someone's things
Torun - shaking peoples hands
Louie - picking people up when they have fallen over
Luigi - sharing with other people, coming back to class with each other
Petal - sharing with other people
Taylor - Culture is something that deserves respect
Emma - When I go to the office I wait patiently and say "Excuse me."


We are enjoying learning about RESPECT and showing everybody what respect can look like and sounds like.

Library

The library is currently being packed into banana boxes to re-locate in the dental clinic over the next 2 weeks. So, there will be no issuing of books over this time. 
Great work, Anne! Have a look at the progress:


Stationery Request

We are asking that all children have an A4 plastic pocket folder in which they can store 'work in progress' in and 'finished work' from Discovery Stations. If you already have a folder at home please bring it school before the end of Week 6 (next Friday). If you do not have one, your child's teacher will organise it and add it to your account.  


Kahikatea Newsletter Week 4

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Cricket in Week 5

Christchurch Cricket Association will be here next week to run cricket lessons with our Kahikatea children. Please send your child / children to school in appropriate footwear and a warm top layer on Wednesday 24th August.

Session 1:   12:00 - 12:30      Hub 1
Session 2:     1:30 - 2:00        Hub 2
Session 3:     2:00 - 2:30        Hub 3
Session 4:     2:30 - 3:00        Hub 4

Amazing Asia

As part of our learning about Asia we are very lucky to have Felicia come to Kahikatea and teach our children some Mandarin every Wednesday for the rest of the term. What a great way to explore culture through language.

Learning Conferences

Your children are very busy at the moment preparing for our Learning Conferences, reflecting on their learning goals and practising leading their conference. Please remember to book a time to see how far the children have come and celebrate their successes.

Assembly Friday Week 5

Team Kahikatea are proud to host School Assembly on Friday 26th August at 9:15 - 9:45 in the hall. Come along if you can.

New Blogging Routine

So that we can celebrate our learning and also save you from getting too many notices, we have changed how we blog to you. From this week, we will be blogging just once a week. These posts will include the news you need plus any learning to share from the team.

Riding Scooters after School

Please be aware that there is no riding of scooters around the school grounds before or straight after school. This is to keep us all safe as children, parents and younger siblings are walking through school grounds. Children are welcome to scooter before 8:30am and after 3:30pm.

Discovery 

Here are some photos of Discovery this afternoon. The children were given a setting (rainforest) and a plot outline (meeting each other, something good or bad happens, finding their way home) and in groups of 3-4 they created a play which they performed to their audience.
Here are our some of our groups:







Kahikatea Team 2016-07-29 18:16:00

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We Love Challenge!


From Friday Creative Art Workshop in Hub 2 with Dorinda and Amber - Movable fish! Dorinda had wanted to display them in the classroom but they were soooooo popular - they just had to go home!
All Hubs in Kahikatea will get a chance to make these creative pets!











Some photos from this week's Discovery Stations







Make a bridge with Lego Challenge


Make a Lego dinosaur


Kahikatea Newsletter Week 8

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Week 8 Newsletter

Maths

We have enjoyed learning about shapes, symmetry and patterns these last two weeks with geometry. We are also enjoying using Numicon equipment to help us understand numbers.

What a great way to show the number three!


Sumdog has also proved to be very popular for many of you - it is a great way to practise our maths skills and it's so much fun!

Here is the link for our Shapes Song - it's a great way to learn the different shapes this term. See if you can notice what happens to the shapes' eyes at the end of the clip!
SHAPE SONG


Discovery Dome

Science Alive came to school on Monday with their fantastic Discovery Dome. It was a great way for us all to see the constellations and planets up close. 

Matariki Show

This Thursday we were lucky to see the Court Theatre's Matariki Show. Wow! So many fabulous things happening all in one week. We are blown away by how our Kahikatea children are soaking up their learning, definitely demonstrating 'We Love Learning'.

Disco

The School disco is on this Friday night. It's all go here at Beckenham School! Get on your dancing shoes and break out those moves!

Circle Time - Respect and Upstanding

Our Circle time has focused on how we can demonstrate respect. Talk at home about what respect looks like, sounds like and feels like. What are ways you all show respect to each other at home?
We also have been talking about not just standing by and watching if someone is in trouble, but stepping in or seeking help. By looking out for each other, we build a strong, responsible community.
Great conversation topics for around that dinner table!

What's On Next Week? 

Week 9 and we're feeling fine!

  • This week sees the children taking Financial Literacy lessons - ask them about how they will invest their hard-earned pocket money!  
  • It's the second last week of school and time has certainly gone too fast. Start thinking about ideas for the school holidays. Sumdog can help keep their maths skills humming along. Below are some links you may also find educationally rich and fun for your children. We use these sites at school.