Kia ora e te whānau,

As we start to get to the end of term 4, we look back on and celebrate the awesome year we have had in the Koru team! The tamariki have settled into school beautifully, formed wonderful connections with their peers, and have adjusted well to school life. These last few weeks of term will be rather busy, but full of lots of fun!

We welcome Jasper, Kanoa, Olena, and Max who have started over the last few weeks, to our Koru team. They have all made a positive and happy start to school! Well done, tamariki!

Life Education

This blog post is focused on our time in the Life Education classroom that we have had over the past few weeks. We had two sessions which focussed on Big Emotions and the Qualities of a Good Friend. In these sessions, our tamariki met Harold the giraffe, and spent time with Helly, the educator in the special Life Education van. In our Big Emotions session, our tamariki learnt about the different emotions we feel and some strategies we can implement to try to move out of being in a 'stuck' feeling back into a 'stay' feeling. In our Qualities of a Good Friend session, our tamariki focused on "growing" a friend, and discussing the different attributes a good friend needs. We also heard some funny jokes from Harold, as well as having an awesome Disco party to finish our last session. 

The sessions were really enriching and engaging for our tamariki. Below are some photos of our time in the Life Education classroom.

Reminders:

• Our last day for school this year is Tuesday 17th December. School will finish at 12:30p.m. on this day.
• Reports have gone out on Hero, so please check this out if you have not done so already. A reminder not all children will be receiving an end of year report. 
• We're loving this warmer weather! Thank you so much for sending your children to school with sunblock and their hats. Remember - no hats, no play!

 Kia ora e te whānau,

Wow we have reached the end of Term 3! What an awesome term it has been! We asked the tamariki what their highlights from this term have been and they said:

• "Learning everything"
• "Being in Kōmanawa"
• "When you come in and the teachers say a warm welcome"
• "Coming to school"
• "Playing with my friends"
• "Having lovely teachers"
• "Everyone being kind to everyone"
• "Bounce and Skip Handwriting"

• Karawhuia - Give it heaps!
• Wananei - Wicked!
• Kia tau - Relax
• Ka mau te wehi - That's amazing!
• Nāu āno i mahi - You did it!

Here are some photos of what are tamariki have been up to lately:

Reminders for Term 4:

• Sunhats: In Term 4, children need their sunhats every day. If these are not brought to school, your child will stay under the veranda in the shade during Little and Big play. These will be kept in your child's bag and taken home and bought back each day. Thanks for your help with this!
• Sunscreen: Please apply sunscreen to your child before coming to school if you wish for them to wear this. We will have a bottle in the hub for children to reapply throughout the day if needed. If your child needs their own sunscreen, this can be bought to school in a named bottle, and will be kept on the teaching station. 
• Lunchboxes: Please ensure for next term your child is only bringing water to school (no juice or other drinks). We would also love if we can refrain from having lollies/candy in your child's lunchboxes as well. It is important to help teach your child how to open and close their lunch boxes, so they can do this independently at the start and end of eating times. It would also be amazing if you could either pre-cut 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 in this!
• Literacy Folders: Please bring these back every day
• Library Folders and Poetry Books: These are needed on Fridays for our new poems, and also so that new library books can be issued. 
• Changes to contact details - If there has been any change to your contact details, or those of the emergency person you have for your child, please advise the office so they can be updated.

We hope you all have a fabulous, safe, and relaxing school holidays, and we can't wait to see you all refreshed for a wonderful Term 4!

 Kia ora e te whānau,

Wow time is really flying by!! As we come into Week 4 of Term 3, we would like to say a massive well done to our Koru tamariki for a positive transition back into the term over these last few weeks, as well as to our new tamariki who have successfully started school! We welcome Gray and Hannah who have started during the last two weeks! We are so excited to have you and your whānau in our Koru team! 

Reminders:

• Staff Only Day: On Monday 26th August, staff will be having a Staff Only Day. School will be closed on this day. 
• Kiss and Drop: As we have more children starting in the Koru team, our hub can start to feel a little overwhelming at drop off times. Please ensure you are "kissing and dropping" your child off at the door, rather than entering the hub with them. This will help set your child up for a calm, quiet and successful transition in the morning. We also have separate doors for home groups to use when entering in the morning, as well as separate lunchbox/drink bottle shelves. Thank you for your support with this! 
• Literacy folders: We have our small Literacy group times throughout the day from Monday to Thursday. Please ensure the Literacy folders are at school for these days. We know during the week it can be a busy time, and trying to fit in Literacy practice can be tricky! We are more than happy for you to keep your child's Literacy folder over the weekend, to give your child more time to practice! Please make sure the Literacy Folders are back on the Monday, so that your child's Literacy teacher has these ready for group time. 
• Lunchboxes: Please ensure your child is only bringing water to school (no juice or other drinks). We would also love if we can refrain from having lollies/candy in your child's lunchboxes as well. It is important to help teach your child how to open and close their lunch boxes, so they can do this independently at the start and end of eating times. It would also be amazing if you could either pre-cut 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 in this!

Literacy:

This weeks blog post is on Literacy! 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. As children move up through the stages, they will receive different letter sounds, heart words and Pip and Tim books that use the sounds currently being learnt. Below are some photos of the wonderful Literacy learning that is taking place:

How can you help your child at home?

The emphasis in teaching spelling is to focus on the sound, as opposed to the letter name. Making the phoneme (sound) - grapheme (letter shape) connection is the first step in literacy learning.

Ensure that both you and your child are saying the ‘pure’ sound without an ‘uh’ sound on the end, for example, ‘lllll’ rather than ‘luh’. Please refer to this Youtube clip, The Sounds of New Zealand English, for more information on the sound that matches each of the letters.

Here are some ideas about ways you might use the letter cards/heart words at home with your child: 

Speed Sounds: use the cards as flash cards - your child can look at each letter card and say the sound it represents. See if your child can do this at speed.

‘I Spy’: You can play games such as ‘I Spy’, using the letter sound (not the name).

Stepping Stones: Place the cards on the floor with the letter facing up, as if they are stepping stones across the river. Explain to your child that they have to cross the ‘river’ without falling in the water. Your child steps on each card and says the corresponding sound.

Fish or Memory: You could make up a matching set of letter cards, and use both sets to play Fish or Memory together, by placing both sets of cards face down on the table or floor. Each player has to be able to say the sound, if they are to keep a matching pair of cards.

Writing the graphemes: you might make the letter sound and ask your child to write the matching grapheme (support your child as much as is needed with this activity)

Cyber Safety

The HDCA for Parents and Whānau

The Harmful Digital Communications Act (or HDCA for short) is an act passed by the Government back in 2015 to help people dealing with serious or repeated harmful digital communications. It covers anything digital like text, emails or social media content.

The most useful thing for parents to understand about the HDCA is the way the 10 communication principles define what is good or bad behaviour online.

If you’re ever concerned about your young person (or you just want to brush up on your knowledge!) visit Netsafe’s Guide to the HDCA. 

It's NZ Maths Week this week!

We have a Maths Fanily Whānau Evening coming up soon. Information below:

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and stay warm!

 Kia ora e te whānau,

Woohoo!! What an amazing term we have had!! We cannot believe it is already the end of Term 2! Your tamariki are doing so well, as they strive to keep up the momentum with their learning! It's been a very busy fortnight, including our Matariki hui, our Art Gallery Trip, and several children having their transition to school visits. We welcome Millie who started in Week 9, and Audrey who have started on Monday of this week. We are so thrilled to have you in our Koru team!

We also welcome Nicola Reddecliffe to our Koru teaching team. Nicola will be the home group teacher for our third homegroup, as more tamariki (children) start throughout next term. We are so excited to have her back in our Koru hub!