News Filter:

Kahikatea News Term 4 Week 9

Posted on 10 December, 202310 December, 2023 by Lisa Collier

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a wonderful and action-packed couple of weeks we have had!

Transition Visits

With 2024 around the corner, we had the first of our transition visits this week. Our year 2s visited Kōwhai, and our year 1s made new connections with our Koru visitors in the Kahikatea hub. There were lots of creative activities on offer and many smiles seen.

Cinderella

An absolute highlight of our week was seeing the Southern Ballet performance, 'Cinderella'. What a fantastic experience. We went on the bus to the beautiful Isaac Theatre Royal, were shown to our seats by the ushers, and watched an amazing range of dances.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of the performance, but following are some pictures of our adventure, and words about our favourite parts.

What was your favourite part of the Cinderella performance?

"All the gowns!" - Maya

"The drama of the stepsisters!" - Sandi

"Cinderella!" - Alexa

"When Cinderella was dancing with the prince." - Mia-Grace

"The part at the end and all of the cool ballet moves." - Nellie

"They had a lot of dances. The finale!" - Casey

"The bit at the end when they gathered around and did lots of cool stuff." - Reuben

"Cinderella was pretty!" - Ivy

"When she was cleaning the floor." - Freddie

"When Cinderella danced with the prince." - Maeve

"When they went up the stairs." - Maeve

"The dancer with the white tights - they had great moves!" - Jackson

"The acting!" - Henry

"When there was the ending - the last song was nice." - James

"All of it!" - Aya

"The dance with the tassels." - Ethan

"The black costume dance." - Florence

"The start because it was funny." - June

"When the boy and girl danced together." - Ellie and Heidi

Notices/ Reminders

This was the last week of the year for decodable books to be sent home for the year. Please send any books (including library books) back to school
Please send your learner along to school with a reusable bag so that we can start sending workbooks home next week
You are most welcome to attend our final Celebration Assembly for the year. This is at 9:45 on the 15th December
Our last day of the year is Tuesday 19th December- finishing at 12:30

What a pleasure it has been to work with our amazing Kahikatea tamariki this year. We have really appreciated all of our whānau support too. Have a wonderful summer break, and we look forward to seeing all of our fabulous Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto learners back in 2024!

-Team Kahikatea

Katie, Krystal, Amber, Quynh and Lisa

Kahikatea News Term 3 Week 9

Posted on 16 September, 202316 September, 2023 by Lisa Collier

Kia ora e te whānau,

We can't believe there's only one more week of Term 3 left. We have been really enjoying the warmer weather and far fewer wet days indoors. This is a good reminder to dig out those sunhats ready for term 4.

Well done to our learners who auditioned for the talent quest which is being held next week. We loved seeing the joy you had in performing. Thanks for sharing your talents with us!

Cricket Awareness Skills Sessions

Last week we were lucky to experience cricket sessions with Southern Districts & South East Ōtautahi Cricket Club. Each home group had time over at the hall, learning new skills, such as batting and bowling. If your child came home buzzing, check out the brochure and information below, with how to access further cricket lessons.

"At Beckenham Park, we not only deliver cricket for all ages, but a quality, engaging sport and physical activity program that we deliver through play, using our natural environment and varied equipment. We aim to improve the physical literacy of our community and encourage them to stay physically active. We would love to see more of our Beckenham whānau join us for a summer of cricket.

We have teams from Friday afternoon Smashies, Year 1-2 Cricket through to Year 6 Hardball, and then for our female only players we have teams from Year 3-4 through to Year 8-10." - Cat Quinn, Kids in Action Christchurch

Beckenham's Got Talent

Auditions for team Kahikatea were held on Wednesday afternoon. We were so impressed by the confidence shown, the range of talents, and the willingness to give it a go. Ka pai everyone, Nau Mai te Wero!

Mathematics

This task sparked lots of discussion and thinking. In Lisa and Quynh's homegroup, we voted using tally marks, on which dog was the odd one out. Then we were set the challenge to find a second answer. Most people thought that the top right dog was the odd one out. Here are some of our reasons.

Top left: "That dog is facing the other way."

Top right: "It is the only one with spots. It must be a dalmation!"

Bottom left: "It's smaller than the others."

Bottom right: "It is long and flat, like a sausage dog!"

We have been enjoying exploring fractions as well as using materials to understand place value.

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

We have been celebrating Māori language this week, through a range of activities and waiata.

Here are some waiata you might want to enjoy with your tamariki at home:

Here are some phrases your whānau may want to learn together:

Here are some images from our wiki:

Literacy

We have noticed so much progress in our handwriting over the course of the year. Bounce and Skip, the monkeys, have had many fantastic adventures with our learners and we have loved seeing all of the pictures of what they've been up to.

Handwriting is such an important part of our literacy programme. Check out this video discussing the research and evidence surrounding the impact of handwriting fluency.

Learning to use the conjunctions 'because', 'but', 'so':

Some of our eager writers and illustrators enjoyed sharing their books with Sandy on Friday:

We have really been enjoying the sandpit in this lovely weather. Sometimes our water and sand play can get a little messy, so please provide a change of clothes for your child if they are a keen sandpit adventurer!

Over the holidays we will be moving homegroup spaces. Quynh and Lisa's homegroup will move to the breakout space, Krystal's HG to the Nook, Amber's HG to the theatre, and Katie's HG to the atrium.

Our last day of the term is Friday 22nd of September (the same day that calendar art orders are due).

Have a wonderful holiday break and we look forward to seeing you all back on Monday 9th October.

Ngā mihi nui,

Team Kahikatea

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz

amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz

lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz

quynh.nguyen@beckenham.school.nz

Kahikatea News Week 9

Posted on 24 June, 202324 June, 2023 by Lisa Collier

Kia ora e te whānau,

It has been wonderful to connect with our community during Learning Conferences last week, and with our Matariki Whānau Rōpu hui this week. Thanks for coming along!

Matariki

We have been learning about Matariki through story telling, craft and singing. Our learners loved having whānau in the hub and joining in with the Matariki activities on Wednesday night.

Here are some photos:

Mathematics

Our learners have been so engaged in our 'Notice, Think, Wonder' prompts. Here are some of the thoughts that we came up with for the following image:

"It's a pattern!"- Cara

"It's not complete."- Charlie

"It repeats the pattern". - June

"There are 3 colours. The whole picture is a rectangle." - Finn

"There are 10 squares." - Aya

"There's a red line... a rectangle... with squares attached." - Hunter

"There are 4 rectangles." - Felix "5 with the green!"- Hunter

"There are 3 blues and 3 yellows." - Henry

"It's like hopscotch - 1 foot, 2 feet, 1 foot, 2 feet..." - Jace

Matariki Maths:

Word of the Week: Cooperation

We have explored cooperation this week. We have listened to stories, shared examples, and done some activities which have required cooperation/teamwork.

One of the activities that some of our learners were involved with was working in teams to create human objects. It was pretty chaotic when we were first working in teams to complete the tasks! People were trying different things and we weren't all communicating effectively. The second try was so much more successful. We reflected on how we were successful when working cooperatively.

Here are some images from that activity:

Another activity involved some collaborative colouring. Chunks of a puzzle were given out, that needed to be coloured in as a group. Some groups sat so that everyone could access the puzzle at once, to colour, and some took equal turns. It was fabulous to hear the conversation and problem-solving. We then worked collaboratively to put the puzzle together.

Kapa Haka

Our learners have really enjoyed singing a new waiata this term with Whāia Cath. It makes us giggle. Here are the lyrics, if your child wants to share this with you at home:

Parent Supervision Roster

We have a number of spaces on the parent supervision roster for Term 3. Please email Katie if you would like to support us in the playground during lunch playtime.

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

Spare Clothes

With the wintery weather upon us, it would be fantastic if you can send your learner along with a spare change of clothes. They can also bring gumboots to avoid wet/muddy shoes. Tamariki are welcome to bring slippers along to school too!

This is the last blog of term 2, with just one week left of school! Have a wonderful holiday break!

Ngā mihi nui,

Team Kahikatea

Kahikatea News Week 9 Term 1

Posted on 30 March, 20231 April, 2023 by Lisa Collier

Term 1 Week 9

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a busy couple of weeks we have had! A highlight, of course, was our team trip to Ferrymead. It was a successful day, with our learners getting to experience a range of activities and transport themselves back to the 'olden days'. Another big thank you to our whānau helpers, you were wonderful.

Student Voice

"My favourite part was making an olden day toy."- Thalia

"We got to go on a tram! It was the only tram I've been on in my whole entire life that doesn't have walls!" - Neasa

"I liked the chickens, dressing up, and the river." - Sarah

"I liked the chickens 'cos they were fun to look at! My favourite thing to play with was the yo-yo." -Jace

"I liked having activities and the playground. I liked the horse toys and the skipping ropes." - Finn

"I liked the toy babies and the bikes!" - Maryam

"I liked the costumes!" - James

Home Spaces

On Thursday, we moved home spaces. Each teacher moved clockwise around the hub which means that:

- Katie's home group is in the Theatre

- Lisa and Quynh's home group is in the Atrium

- Krystal's home group is in the Breakout space

- Amber's home group is in the Nook

Making this move before the end of the term has allowed all of our learners to know where they will be when returning to school at the start of Term 2.

Uniform/ Lost Property

As summer draws to a close and Term 2 and 3 are ahead, sun hats are no longer a requirement at school. We will send home all hats on the last day of term. We will need them back at school for Term 4.

Over the holidays please ensure that all of the uniform items that belong to your child are clearly and accurately named. In some cases, there is a sibling's or previous owner's name on labels, which makes it tricky to reunite the items with their owner.

For Terms 2 and 3, your child is welcome to bring gumboots and jackets to school. We have shoe racks and clothing racks to use for these items. Please make sure these are also clearly named.

Innovation

We continue our focus on innovation into Term 2, where the main focus is going to be on following a design process to make an instrument. We will explore different types of music and instruments, listen to a live percussion performance, learn about the technology design process, and make our instruments.

We are looking for items to create these instruments with, such as...

- clean tin cans (with no sharp edges)

- clean plastic containers or bottles (not milk bottles)

- glass jars

- lids (tin or plastic)

- tissue boxes

- other small boxes

- cardboard tubes

- balloons

- thick cardboard

- rubber bands

Ferrymead Photos

Reminders:

- Last day of school for Term 1 is Thursday 6th April

-The first teaching day of Term 2 is Wednesday 26th April

Have a wonderful holiday break with your whānau.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kahikatea Team

Kahikatea News Term 1 Week 1 2023

Posted on 5 February, 20235 February, 2023 by Lisa Collier

Kia ora e te whānau,

Thank you for taking the time to attend Learning Conferences this week. The opportunity to touch base with each whānau prior to starting the new school year is invaluable. We really enjoyed hearing about each child's holiday break and share in their strengths and next steps.

We had a wonderful first two days back at school! The air conditioning kept us cool as the sun blazed outside. It was wonderful to connect with our home group learners and get to know each other as a team. What really stood out to us was the positivity in the hub. The children were excited to be back at school and keen to give new things a go!

Play Areas

We went on a boundary walk on Thursday to show children the areas that they can play in during break times. The following was also shared with children...

Nuts at School

The following information went out to whānau on Friday via Hero. Just in case you missed it, here it is again...

We are aware that the Kahikatea team have multiple students with nut allergies. One of these is life threatening. Therefore, we are asking that nuts and nut-based products are not brought to school by your child. Nut-based products include items like Nutella, peanut butter, muesli bars containing nuts etc.

The team is also aware that some children may have other dietary requirements. Please talk with your child’s Homegroup teacher if this is the case so that they are aware and we can create a specific plan to support your child if need be.

Our policy at school is that children only eat their own food and not share. Teachers are reminding children about this, along with reminders about handwashing and putting food wrappings in their lunch boxes to take home.

If you have any questions please contact your child's Homegroup teacher.

Thank you for your support as 'We Get There Together'.