We hope you have all had a good week. We have been busy bees in our hub! This week, our tamariki enjoyed watching the staff vs students netball game and there was a lot of excitement and cheering. We were also looking forward to a tug of war between the houses today but unfortunately, it was called off last minute due to bad weather. Hopefully, we can rearrange it for another time! 

Beckenham's Got Talent

The student council is excited to be running another talent show this year. There has been a lot of enthusiasm for this and lots of brainstorming amongst the students. At this stage, our students have been given the opportunity to sign up for this during our morning notices. Whānau can also email their child’s homegroup teacher to sign them up if they wish.

When the students are planning their act, it is important to note that the maximum group size is eight people. The maximum performance time is four minutes and we encourage students to be able to perform their act for at least 1 minute. Students will have the opportunity to organise and practice during Discovery time.

The auditions will held in week 8 within our hub. We will then narrow it down to 4 semi-finalists who will perform for the whole Kōwhai hub and 2 acts will be chosen to go through to the finals which will be held in the hall on Friday 19th of September. Good luck!

4 Square Tournament

A schoolwide 4 Square tournament is being held during Friday lunchtimes in weeks 7 and 8. Students have been signing up for the event and are practising diligently in preparation for this.

Maths Week Next Week!

To celebrate Maths week next week, we will have a daily joke and maths problem for you to solve on a whiteboard outside the Kōwhai hub. Please do check them out and see if you can solve the conundrums together. We Love Challenge!

Mathematics & Statistics: Understanding your child's learning

The Ministry of Education Parent Portal is a collection of guidance and resources for parents, families and carers. Here, you will find information about the learning your child is doing at school within their year level, and how you can support them in their learning. Feel free to have a look and explore what you can do at home to support maths learning, while keeping it fun!

PB4L (Positive Behaviour For Learning)

So far this term, we have been: 

• Celebrating how our brains work (learning about the diverse strengths and differing ways that our brains think)

• Learning how to use the S.O.A.R (Stop, Observe, Assess, Respond) strategy to problem solve in the playground

• Learning how to use a set of negotiation steps to express our problems and work with our peers to find a solution and check in with how this solution is working.

Cyber Safety

Staying Safe Online: Snapchat and Privacy

Snapchat is a popular messaging app that lets users exchange pictures and videos (snaps) that are meant to disappear after they’re viewed. Many young people love Snapchat but it’s important that they understand how to protect their privacy on the app.

Check out Netsafe’s Privacy on Snapchat page for some helpful information on Snapchat’s features. You can also find out more information about privacy, security and safety on Snapchat’s help centre.

Have a great weekend!

From the Kōwhai team

Technology Inquiry

This term, we have begun our inquiry learning on how technology has changed over time. We have been exploring the types of technology that we see in our classrooms and this has produced some exciting conversations. Our students have been working on using their imaginations to create illustrations and labeled diagrams of what a classroom might look like in the future with new technology.

In Week 4, we will be hosting our whole school cross country event on Friday 23rd May from 9am until 12pm. In preparation for this, we have been going for regular runs every day, building up our stamina for the actual event. We would really appreciate if you could make sure your child wears appropriate shoes to school for running. Thank you!

Jean Miro Art Project

We are currently learning about the Jean Miro style of art and will complete this unit by creating a sculpture in the style of Miro using recyclable items from Creative Junk. If you have any popsicle sticks, disposable spoons and forks, or any other smaller items such as buttons and bottle tops that we might be able to use, please bring them in!

Library

Just a reminder about library times:

Monday: Hazel and Rowe's Literacy groups

Wednesday : Anna R’s Literacy group

New Zealand Sounds Video

Below is a link to a short video about the sounds in our spoken English language which we wanted to share with you as it relates to the structured literacy that we teach. This video discusses: 

1) What all the consonant and vowel phonemes (sounds) of NZ English are; and 

2) How to say them clearly when you are supporting beginning or struggling learners to hear and use the sounds during phonological awareness, reading and spelling.

Please click on the image below to watch.

Book Character Day

We are now one week into our Readathon fundraiser. We hope you have all been busy reading! Next Friday, we are celebrating our Readathon by having a Book Character Day when everyone can come to school dressed as their favourite book character if they want. If not, can you ensure that your child comes to school in their school uniform as it is not a day for casual dress.

Headlice

Just a heads up that we have a case of headlice in the hub so please be vigilant of any scratchy heads! If your child has long hair, we recommend that they have their hair tied up to prevent the spread of headlice. Thank you!

Random Chat Online

How do random chat websites work? And what are the risks for tamariki using them?

Random chat websites, like Chatroulette, pair users randomly through text or webcam conversations. The appeal is getting to talk to someone new that the user would nev
er meet. But these websites are designed for adults and often allow nudity and other inappropriate content from users.

If you’re concerned that your young person might be exposed to these sites or you want to introduce parental controls, you can find out more on Netsafe’s Random Chat Websites page. 

Have a great weekend!

From the Kōwhai team