• include others
• share our toys
• help our friends when they are hurt
• show 5
• try our best
• are a good friend
• use our walking feet inside
• say please and thank you
• show good teamwork.

We are Mathematicians in the Koru Team!

We have had a big focus on basic facts in the past two weeks. We know that learning our basic facts takes a few steps:

1. Conceptual understanding: Knowing what operations like addition and subtraction mean.

2. Strategy use: Applying strategies such as counting on.

3. Mastery: Recall through practice.

This week, we focused on learning our number combinations to 5, 6, and 7. Tamariki learned that if they know these combinations, they can easily solve bigger number problems. For example, if we know that 2 + 3 = 5, we also know that 20 + 30 = 50, and 200 + 300 = 500 and so on!

Our Wednesday activity focused on 7. We shared all the things we knew about the number 7, e.g., 7 in te reo is whitu, some children have a sibling who is 7, 7 is 3 less than 10, 7 is one more than 6, etc. We also discovered that there are eight addition facts for 7.

0 + 7 = 7         7 + 0 = 7

1 + 6 = 7         6 + 1 + 7

2 + 5 = 7         5 + 2 = 7

3 + 4 = 7         4 + 3 = 7

Children had two icebergs and seven penguins, and their job was to show the combinations of seven by grouping the penguins. It was great to hear the mathematical language as tamariki worked with their buddy.

Chickens!

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been excitedly awaiting the arrival of our baby chicks. An incubator with eggs arrived in the office, and we were really lucky to go and visit. Sue explained the incubation process and what to expect next...

Then, on Tuesday, the 11th of November, staff received an early morning birth notice from Cade. Our clever chicks had begun to hatch!

Once they had some time to adapt to the real world, they were transferred to their new home. Mama Sue taught the chicks how to eat and drink by tapping a pencil on their food and water bowl.

Learning Through Play

We love Learning Through Play in the Koru hub! It is incredible to see the types of play that children come up with. During these sessions, one teacher is the intentional teacher, talking with children, prompting thinking, encouraging pro-social skills, and supporting the learning, while two teachers take small-group literacy sessions. It is so much fun!

Wishing you a happy and safe long weekend ahead,

The Koru team,

Katie, Stacey, Elizabeth & Niquita

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to the Koru blog for Week 8. We have been enjoying the sunshine and warmer days this week... Yay for Spring! 

Inquiry (Change) - Digitech

Keeping Ourselves Safe

We concluded our Keeping Ourselves Safe sessions this week with a focus on 'Unwanted behaviour or touch - Kore e hiahiatia te whanonga me te pā kino'. We learned that we can stop touch or behaviour that is inappropriate or that worries or confuses us, or makes us feel unsafe. We practised saying NO confidently, and discussed how we can move away and report when things happen that we don't like. We also learned the difference between good and bad secrets. We were very excited to have a look inside Constable Meg's Police car! We even got to try on her Police hat!

Sunflowers

Te Reo Māori

Kia ora koutou,

It’s been another exciting and busy fortnight in Koru! Here’s a quick recap of what we've been up to.

Celebrating Maths in the Koru Team

Last week was Maths Week, and we had so much fun with numbers! We tackled tricky problems, solved clever riddles, and practised counting to 10 in Te Reo Māori. This week, we've shifted our focus to telling time, learning to recognise the big hand and the little hand on a clock and what they tell us.

Disco Fun!

We had a fantastic time at the PTA disco. A big thank you to all the whānau who came along. The children all looked amazing, and their dance moves were incredible!

Unlocking the World of Coding

We’ve started a new unit on digital technology, where we're learning all about coding. We discovered that coding is just another way of saying programming or instructing. 

We talked about the similarities and differences between humans and robots.

• We both have a brain: Our brain tells us what to do and where to go, and a robot has a 'brain' (a CPU or Central Processing Unit) that tells it the same thing. 

• We both need food: Humans need food for energy and to help our brains think. A robot's 'food' is the code we give it, which tells it what to do.

There are some big differences, too. A robot can do many things, but it needs a human to programme it. And unlike humans, a robot can't show kindness or care.

We've been using special arrow cards to help us code. An up arrow means forward, a down arrow means backward, and left or right arrows are for turning. We've learned that a turn card needs to be followed by a forward or backward card to make our bots move.

We’ve also been introduced to the bug card! We hold this up whenever our code doesn't work the way we planned. Finding a "bug" is a great way to learn, as we have to use our problem-solving skills to debug and fix our code.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

This week, we started our Keeping Ourselves Safe unit. Tamariki have been learning some important personal information, including their full name, home address, parents’ names, and their phone numbers. They drew pictures of their homes to help describe them and talked about what makes each of them special and unique.

We had a special visitor, Constable Meg, who taught us how to identify a police officer and the correct names for our body parts. It's so important that we know the proper terms for our bodies to help us stay safe.

Just a Few Reminders

To help our mornings run smoothly, please remember to:

• Have your child bring in their literacy folder and put it in the correct box.

• Give your child a happy "kiss and drop" at the door.

• Please check your child’s lunchbox to make sure there are no lollies or chocolates.

• Pre-open packaging or pack snacks unwrapped. It's a huge help for the teacher, who is often reading a story to the class during this time.

Thanks for your continued support! It's wonderful to see the children learning and growing every day.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Niquita, Stacey, Katie and Elizabeth

Kia ora e te whānau,

It has been a fun fortnight in the Koru team, with our first-ever school trip and Matariki evening.

We had a great time travelling on the bus into the city to visit the Christchurch Art Gallery on Monday. The children did an amazing job at showing 'We Care' and 'We Get There Together' by staying together as a group, listening carefully, and participating in the activities. 

On arrival, we met with the educator, who explained that we would be visiting an exhibition and then have the opportunity to create our own artworks.

Fred Graham: Toi Whakaata / Reflections: We were very fortunate to be shown around the Fred Graham exhibition. Tamariki were able to make connections between Māori myths and legends and Fred Graham's sculptures and relief works. We looked for shapes and patterns within each artwork, and children had a chance to draw the shapes and patterns that they could see.

Back in the Art Gallery classroom, children had a great time drawing shapes and koru patterns onto folded paper, which, once folded out, created really effective designs.

Matariki Evening

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to come together as a school community to acknowledge Matariki. 

Here is a song that we have been singing to help us learn the nine stars of Matariki.

Bee-Bots

Recently, children in the Koru team have been introduced to basic coding concepts as part of our maths learning, as well as during Learning Through Play. The Bee-Bots are programmable floor robots that help children learn about sequencing, directional language, and algorithms.  

Cybersafety

Staying Safe Online: Bullying

One in five young people in New Zealand have been the target of online bullying – it can happen to anyone, and it

can be hard for parents and whānau to deal with. Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto takes online bullying seriously and

would encourage you to chat to your tamariki’s teacher if you have any concerns about online bullying.

Visit Netsafe’s Online Bullying Advice for Parents to read more.

Wishing you all a happy, safe and relaxing long weekend.

The Koru team

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz

niquita.dalley@beckenham.school.nz

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

Kia ora e te whānau,

A warm welcome to this fortnight’s Koru Team blog post. Although it’s been a quieter couple of weeks in terms of events, our tamariki have been busy with rich learning across all areas of the curriculum. It has been lovely to see their growing independence and engagement throughout all the activities and classroom routines.

Pathways, Direction, and Matariki – Our Maths Learning
As a start to our learning about Matariki, we shared the story Little Kiwi’s Matariki, which you can watch again at home here:
👉 Little Kiwi’s Matariki - YouTube

This story inspired some wonderful cross-curricular learning. We created Matariki stars through art and craft, and used directional language (such as forward, turn left, turn right) to help Little Kiwi find the stars. We also used Bee Bots to practise our coding skills by programming them to follow a pathway towards the Matariki star cluster. This learning has supported our development of spatial awareness, early coding, and mathematical language, all while celebrating the Māori New Year.

Kiss and Drop:
As the number of children in our Koru Team grows, our hub can feel a little overwhelming for some tamariki in the morning. Please aim to "kiss and drop" your child off at the door, rather than entering the hub with them. This will help set your children up for a calm, quiet, and successful transition in the morning. Thank you so much for your support with this!

Learning Conferences – Tuesday 10th & Wednesday 11th June
Our Learning Conferences are happening next week on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 10 & 11). Please note that school will finish early on both days at 1:00pm. Supervision will be available until 3pm for a small group of children who are unable to be collected at 1pm.

We need EVERY FAMILY to fill in this form (click here) to let us know your plans for your child(ren) on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th June. This includes letting us know if you need your child supervised at school on one or both of the Learning Conference days from 1:00-3pm.

These conferences are a great opportunity to celebrate your child’s progress and talk about next steps in their learning journey.

If you haven’t yet made a booking, please do so as soon as possible:

https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code - use the code: r3wt9

Literacy Folders:
Please continue to send Literacy folders to school each day, and remind your child to unpack them into their group’s box each morning. These folders contain important learning materials used during our Literacy lessons. Thank you for your support in keeping this routine running smoothly.

Matariki Evening – Tuesday 17th June at 5pm - 7pm
We are looking forward to celebrating the Māori New Year with our school community at our upcoming Matariki Evening!
📅 Tuesday 17th June | 5:00–7:00pm

Here’s what to expect:
✨ Welcome in the hall at 5:00pm
✨ Kapa Haka performances
✨ Workshops and activities throughout the evening
✨ PTA Sausage Sizzle – please bring a koha (donation)

It will be a special evening of culture, community, and celebration. We hope to see you there!

We wish you a restful weekend and look forward to another fun and engaging fortnight ahead.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Niquita, Stacey, Katie and Elizabeth

niquita.dalley@beckenham.school.nz

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz