Koru News: 15/03/2024 Term 1 Week 7

 Kia ora, e te whānau,

Wowzas! We are already at week 7! We have been very busy with all of our learning. Thank you to those who met with Georgia for your child's 6 week transition meetings this week. It has been so lovely to catch up and chat about your child's start to school. 

Parent Playground Helpers

Last year, we had a wonderful group of parents and caregivers who came along to school during lunch play to support our tamariki in the junior playground. We will be restarting this again from the beginning of Term 2. The benefits of being on the parent playground roster include being involved in the school day, and getting to know other parents and your child's friends. Please email Katie if you would like to offer your help for Term 2. 

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

Literacy

This week's Blog is about our Literacy learning. 

At Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto, we follow a Structured Literacy approach. Sounds are broken into stages, and these stages have heart words and books that align with each stage. In our Literacy learning at the moment, we have been focusing on learning our stage 1 sounds and characters. We have been working on learning the characters' names and the sounds that go with them, as well as learning some heart words. 

Below are some Literacy videos, which will be really valuable to have a look at to help with your tamariki Literacy learning at home. The Speech Sounds of New Zealand English is a great video to watch and listen to how we pronounce our sounds. The Stage 1 video was created by a kaiako from school, Lisa, and talks about how we teach our sounds and heart words for Stage 1. The last video is about activities you can do at home to help support your child.  

Here are some photos of our Literacy learning:

Move it, say it boards

Practicing our letter formation

"What sound matches this character?"

Heart Word writing practice

Heart Word writing practice

Heart Words

If you have any questions about our Structured Literacy approach, please let us know.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend, see you Monday!

Ngā mihi nui,
Georgia, Stacey and Paul












Koru News 16/02/2024: Term 1 Week 3

 Kia ora, e te whānau,

What a wonderful start to the year it has been in the Koru team! The tamariki are doing a great job at independently completing their morning jobs of putting their lunchbox and drink bottle on the shelf, sliding their name up on the board and settling into a quiet activity before the bell, learning our school routines, and getting used to school life. Over the last two weeks we have been very busy! We have learnt some of our new Milo the Monkey sounds and characters (Little Learners Love Literacy), explored some different areas of Mathematics, completed different types of artworks, played with a range of equipment within our hub, and have started creating relationships with others in our hub. Our tamariki have settled in beautifully and we are so proud of the progress they have made already in the first few weeks of school. Some photos of what we have been up to:








What our year will look like: In the Koru team, we learn lots of amazing new things. Here is an overview of some of the things we will learn in our different learning areas:

Literacy: We will learn about our sounds, how to use these sounds to make words by segmenting and blending, and using our skills to read Sam, Pip and Tim books. We will also read different picture books and big books, and will look further at the different elements these stories have (sentence structure, vocabulary, grammar, big and exciting words, punctuation etc.)

Maths: In Maths this year, we will be looking at a wide range of elements within mathematics. We will explore problem solving, rapid routines, addition and subtraction, equal sharing strategies, counting, statistics, measurement, patterns, time and sequencing and much more. We will also practising writing our numbers.

Kinetic Letters: For handwriting, we follow the Kinetic Letters Handwriting Programme. We teach the children about different movements, strong body positions, and letter families. The letter families contain different letters that have similar movements, to help support the child in writing these. Once the children have learnt the different letters in lowercase, they then go on to learning uppercase.

The Arts:  We will be looking at a range of aspects of the Arts this year such as Visual Art, Dance, Drama and Music. In Visual Arts, we will look at different styles of Art such as painting, collage, pastel and crayon work, drawing, and will use one of these styles for our Calendar Art. In Dance, we will look at different ways to move our bodies in the time to a musical beat. In Drama, we will look at story telling and role play and this will be incorporated into our Learning through Play. In Music, we will explore different rhythm patterns, and finding different ways we can make sound using different objects/things. 

Te reo Māori: We will explore different aspects of Te reo Māori including learning our mihi, the words for colours, body parts, numbers, days of the week and months of the year, different instructions, and lots of waiata. 

Wellbeing/Health and PE: In Wellbeing/Health, we will learn about Hauora through Te Whare Tapa Whā, exploring the physical, emotional, spiritual, and whānau aspects of our wellbeing. We will also be taking part in Life Education this year. In P.E, we will learn different movement skills through games, ball skills, and fitness. We will also be partaking in our whole school Cross Country and Athletics.

Science: In Science, we will be looking at Planet Earth and Beyond and will learn about our Solar System, our Earth Systems and will explore their natural features and resources. 

Social Sciences: In Social Sciences, we will be looking into our school wide concept of Identity. This will be interlinked through our other curriculum areas, as well as learning about Matariki, who we are, and our stories. 

Technology/Digitech: Later on in the year, we will be exploring different concepts of Digitech. We will learn about coding, looking at what it is and how we can explore it through using unplugged and plugged resources. 


Friday Waiata sessions: We are so lucky to spend some time with Whaea Cath on Friday's singing waiata and learning some te reo Māori. It was such an awesome session, we can't wait for Whaea Cath to come back!


Friday Buddies: On Friday afternoons, we are very fortunate to be able to have 4 big buddies from the Kauri team come down and hang out with us. We have had two sessions with our big buddies so far which have been awesome! We have created some butterfly art, read lots of stories, played with the vehicles, and built really all towers with our Duplo. We had so much fun, we can't wait until next Friday!







Library: On Fridays during the middle block, the Koru tamariki get to go down to our school library and have a look at the different books there are on offer. In our team, we get to choose 2 books to take home that have a yellow dot in the top right hand corner. We get to keep these stories until the following Friday, where we can bring them back in to swap them for 2 more new ones. If we forget to bring our books back, that's okay, we just keep them for another week. If the Library books are forgotten a couple of times in a row, we will get an email from Anne to say these books are overdue and we need to bring them back. Here are some photos of what our Library looks like, the types of books we can get out, how we wait in the line to get our books issued from Anne, and where we wait with our folders once they have been issued. 

This box is where your child will put their Library Folder when they bring them back



Some Reminders:

Friendship List: On Friday 9th February, Georgia sent out the Koru Whānau friendship list to all families who wished to be on it. This will be updated every term as new tamariki start school. If you have not received this yet, please check your spam/junk folder as sometimes these emails end up there. Any questions, don't hesitate to email or ask.

Lunchboxes: A few reminders about your child's lunchboxes:

  • Please ensure your child is only bringing water to school in their lunchboxes/drink bottles (no juice or other drinks). 
  • It is also important to help teach your child how to open and close their lunchboxes, so they can do this independently at the start and end of eating times. 
  • It would be great if you could also either precut or teach your child how to open packets in their lunchboxes (for example potato sticks, chip bags, twisty yoghurt pouches, muesli bars etc.)
Thank you for your help and co-operation with this!

We hope you have a lovely weekend ahead, and we will see you on Monday ready to go for another fantastic week!

Ngā mihi mahana,

Georgia and Stacey

Koru Team News: Term 4, Week 10

 Kia ora, e te whānau,

As our year is coming to an end, we have some exciting things coming up! We have lots of fun things planned for our last week and a bit! A reminder that on the final day of school, Tuesday, 19th December, our tamariki will meet their 2024 Home Group teacher and school will finish at 12:30p.m. 

Teddy Bears' Picnic:

On Monday, December 18th, we are planning to hold a fun Teddy Bears' picnic, followed by games, out in Beckenham Park.

At 1:20 p.m., children will wash their hands, put their hats on, collect their lunches, drink bottles and soft toys, and we'll head out to have lunch under the big trees near the Big Adventure playground. 

Once they have finished eating, children will be able to choose from a variety of games options: parachute games, Duck, Duck, Goose or playing on the Big Adventure playground. Games will be organised by some of our Year 7 students.

Please ensure that your child has the following items on Monday, December 18th:

  • their lunchbox (it would be better not to order lunch for your child that day)
  • their drink bottle
  • their hat
  • their favourite soft toy (teddy bear or other).

We're looking forward to a lovely, fun afternoon on the second to last day of the school year! 

Kapa Haka performance:

On Friday of Week 9, our children put on a performance to showcase some waiata we have been learning with Whaea Cath. Below are some photos of the wonderful afternoon showcase. Thank you to all those who attended!








Have a wonderful week ahead!

Ngā mihi mahana, 
Georgia, Stacey, Elizabeth and Sarah


Koru Team News: Term 4, Week 3

Kia ora, e te whānau,

It has been a busy first three weeks of term in the Koru hub! We have had our Junior Park Explorers trip, our whole school Athletics day, and our tamariki have been working really hard in their Literacy and Maths groups. We are so proud of the amazing job they have all done in returning to their school day routines, and we thank you for helping to support your children in settling into their mornings, with your quick goodbyes, at least five minutes before the bell rings.

Some important dates for this term are as follows:

  • Staff Only Day - Thursday, 16th November (school is closed)
  • Canterbury Anniversary Day - Friday, 17th November (school is closed)
  • Reports go live - Week 6
  • Celebrate Diversity and Culture Dress up day - Friday, 1st December
  • Tamariki meet their 2024 teacher and final day of school for the year- Tuesday, 19th December

Junior Park Explorers Trip:

On Friday, 13th October, we were fortunate enough to finally go on our Junior Park Explorers trip down at the Beckenham Ponds, after two previous postponements, due to inclement weather. Thank you once again to all the amazing parent helpers we had on the day, for dedicating your time to be with us. We couldn't have done it without your help!

We had the privilege of having educators from the Christchurch City Council, Celia and Jen, come in and talk to us about being park explorers, and teaching us some of the ways we might explore the area around the Beckenham Ponds. We learnt and experienced many new things: different bird calls; going on a bird walk, where we noticed and listened to the surrounding birdlife; how birds help the process of pollination and seed dispersal; the different insects that could be living around the pond and the use of magnifying glasses to see what insects we could find; and playing a game known as 'Tumble Tree Forest' where our tamariki were challenged to think about and come up with solutions as to what would happen for our birdlife and insects, when too many trees are cut down.




























Reminders:

  • Sun hats need to be brought to school every day. These will stay in your child's bag whenever the children are indoors. No hat, no play.
  • If you use the sandpit at the end of the day after school, can you please make sure to put the cover back in before you leave. We really appreciate seeing that you are already helping us with this. Thank you!
  • Literacy folders need to be brought back to school and unpacked from schoolbags every day, so that they can be used during our Literacy sessions.
  • Library folders and poetry books need to be brought back on or before Fridays, so your child can get a new poem for their poetry books and some new books from the library. 
We hope you all have a fabulous week ahead, and we look forward to seeing you at drop off and pick up times!

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Georgia, Sarah, Elizabeth and Stacey

Koru Team News: Term 3, Week 9

 Kia ora, e te whānau,

It's been a very busy couple of weeks for us all in the Koru team, as we come close to the end of Term 3. We have had new children start throughout the last couple of weeks, and they have settled in beautifully! Over the last few weeks, we have had some exciting opportunities for our Koru children, including a cricket awareness session, Keeping Ourselves Safe sessions with Constable Meg, and Te Wiki o te reo Māori (Māori Language Week). We have our Beckenham's Got Talent Show coming up on Friday Week 10, and have some of our children performing. The tamariki did an awesome job showcasing their talents at our mini Koru Talent Showcase. 

Mini Koru Talent Showcase highlights:

Three bananas performing...

The bananas escape from the ravenous dinosaur!

Why is 6 scared of 7?

Take a bow!

The 'second hand' shop joke!

Our flexible friends!

Bridges and handstands...



Tricks with hula hoops.


Great spinning skills!


Te Wiki o te reo Māori:

Last week was Māori language week. We have included some cool activities for the tamariki based on different aspects of te reo Māori. This included learning the names of colours and colouring in a rainbow, singing waiata, making bookmarks that had kowhaiwhai patterns on them, and learning new kupu. It has been an awesome week!!


Cricket:

On Thursday 7th September, each home group had an awesome 25 minute cricket awareness session with Cat, from Southern Districts Cricket Club. This was a great opportunity for our tamariki to participate in, and they all enjoyed themselves enormously. The children learnt different skills based on throwing, catching and batting. All the children were engaged and had such a great time! We will be sending out more information soon about skills sessions that are held on Saturdays at the club. 


Keeping Ourselves Safe:

This term as part of our Health Curriculum, teams are teaching the programme called Keeping Ourselves Safe, in Years 0 - 6. In the units, our Koru children have been looking at: 

- describing where they live; identifying things that make them special and explaining when they feel safe and unsafe

- learning to use the correct names for body parts and describing whether a touch is one they like, one they don’t like, or one that is confusing

- learning to say ‘no’ to touch, behaviour and words that worry or confuse them and talking about moving away and seeking help

- identifying the difference between good surprises and bad secrets

- identifying people they trust and understanding family safety rules. 

We have been working with the children these last 2 weeks on our Keeping Ourselves Safe programme and you may have noticed the children have brought home some homework sheets to complete. A reminder that these sheets can stay at home once completed. It has been really awesome to have discussions with the children about their address, their phone numbers, different feelings we may have, and what to do if they get lost. We were also lucky to have 2 sessions with Constable Meg where we discussed what a police officer is, the different body parts, and talking about good touch, bad touch and confusing touch.  If you have any questions about any of this programme, please come and chat to one of the kaiako. 

Reminders:

  • A reminder that we are a water bottle school, and prefer it if the children drink water throughout the day, rather than flavoured milk or juice.
  • Next week is the last week of Term 3. 
  • Calendar Art: We have sent home the information sheets with the code you need to use if you wish to order your child's calendar art. This is only for Elizabeth, Stacey and Georgia's home groups. Please check the photos on the windows to see the awesome work your child has done. 

Some helpful links:
  • Click on these links and join in as your children sing one of their favourite songs, Sprinkle a Little Sunshine (here with the lyrics, and here, without, but with very cute images instead!)
  • For those new families to the Koru team, a link through to the National Anthem which we sing each morning - your children are doing an awesome job with this, participating and trying their very best each morning
  • Clicking here will take you to a variety of links for those of you who would like to read more about The Science of Reading and Structured Literacy.
All best for a lovely last week of term!
Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Georgia, Sarah, Elizabeth and Stacey