Author Archives: Stacey

Koru News: 10/05/2024 Term 2 Week 2

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Kia ora e te Whānau,

Welcome back to Term 2! We would also like to warmly welcome Korra, Hailey, Vincent, Archie, Elsa, Sadie, Manaia, Aurora, Marnie, Angus and Alma who have started school this term. We have got a busy term ahead of us with lots of exciting things to look forward to. Below are lots of dates and events for Term 2, there will be more information closer to the time for these.

Term 2:
  • Cross Country; Tuesday 14th May, the junior races start from 2.15pm on the field. Children will need suitable shoes, a water bottle, and they can wear House Tops.
  • Readathon PTA Fundraiser; 6-17th June
  • Book Character dress up day; Friday 24th May
  • Staff Only Day (school closed); Friday 31st May
  • King's Birthday (school closed); Monday 3rd June
  • School Disco; 2:00-2:45pm Friday 7th June
  • Learning Conferences; Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th June
  • NZ Opera; whole school performance in our Hall; Thursday 13th June
  • Koru trip to the Christchurch Art Gallery; Monday 24th June  
  • Matariki Evening at school; Tuesday 25th June 5:30-7:00pm
  • Matariki (school closed); Friday 28th June
Morning routines:
We are so proud to see the children showing We Love Challenge by carrying their own bags; putting their lunch box and drink bottles on the shelves; putting their Literacy folders in the group boxes and then settling down quietly into a game or activity each morning! 
We thank all the Whānau for the quick and calm 'good byes' in the morning. As we get more children starting school, sometimes we notice it feeling very overwhelming and busy with so many people in the Hub before school, it is really helpful when you say goodbye and leave your child with us, leaving them to have some fun with their new school friends.

House Groups:
Our Koru children have all been allocated a 'House' to belong to: Fisher, Heathcote, Tennyson and Waimea. Children from the same family/whānau are put into the same house. Each house has its own 'chant' and tamariki learn this, so they can participate in the house chant at sports and special events, and in Celebration Assemblies, if it is their house that has won the House Points for that fortnight! You can find the House Chants here, and other are also videos that you can share with your child to help them learn their house chant. Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe! We Get There Together!

Some Reminders:

Friendship List: If you would like your name and contact details to be added to our Koru Team Friendship List, please email Georgia by Wednesday the 15th of May. Georgia will update the list and share it with you. If your name is already on the list, please don't worry about contacting Georgia again.
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz

Lunchboxes: A few reminders about your child's lunchboxes:
  • Please ensure your child is only bringing water to school (no juice or other drinks)
  • It is also 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 be great if you could also 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 and co-operation with this!

Science: 
On Wednesday, we had Ben Kennedy, a volcano expert, come and talk to the tamariki in the Koru team. Ben works at the University of Canterbury and is absolutely passionate about his chosen subject! He showed us his 'pet' rock collection, which represented the lava from various types of volcanic eruptions. We passed the rocks around and were able to see and feel many differences between each of them. Ben taught the children about words such as magma, lava, extinct, dormant and active. 



We then all went outside where Ben's student, Jonathan, set up two different experiments for us: one to demonstrate the slow progress that lava makes as it flows down a mountainside and the second, to demonstrate what happens when there is more gas present and lava 'bombs' are created and then shoot up and out of the volcano, often landing some distance from the volcano itself. 





Our first two weeks:
Here are some pictures to show what we have been up to for our first couple of weeks this term, during Learning Through Play and Kinetic Letters with Bounce and Skip.











We hope you have a fabulous weekend and look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Ngā mihi nui,
Stacey, Georgia, and Elizabeth


Koru News: 27/03/2024 Term 1 Week 9

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Kia ora, e te whānau,

Reminders:

Our kura/school will be closed on Friday 29th March, Monday 1st April and Tuesday 2nd April. We will see you all again on Wednesday 3rd April. Our last day of Term 1 is Friday 12th April.

Word of the week:

Our word of the week last week was DETERMINATION. Are you a determined person? In what ways do you show determination? How are determination and resilience the same/different? Determination means the ability to continue trying to do something, although it is very difficult.

Our word of the week this week is COOPERATION. Cooperation means working together to get things done. To be good at cooperating with others, you need to be a good TEAM MEMBER. 

Learning Through Play

We are learning to show determination and cooperation during our learning through play time. Have a look at the photos, how do you think the children might be showing determination and/or cooperating?







Maths: Notice, Think, Wonder

What do you notice? What do you think? What do you wonder? Here are all the ideas our children noticed when looking at this picture in Maths. What else do you notice, think and wonder?



Ngā mihi nui,
Stacey, Georgia and Paul
stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz



Koru News 1/03/2024 Term 1 Week 5

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Kia ora whānau,

Wow! We have been having so much fun in Koru and made it through the first 5 weeks of this term! 

Maths:

We are starting to learn some Rapid Routines to begin our maths lessons. This term, we have been learning about 'Notice, Think, Wonder' tasks. A photo is shown to the children and they are asked the questions: "What do you notice? What do you think? What do you wonder?" These tasks provide a visual stimulus for tamariki to discuss, notice, think, and wonder about. This could include graphs, puzzles, pictures or graphics. We are learning to act like Mathematicians, which means the children are learning to look for patterns; take a risk and explain their thinking. 

Here is the image looked at, and all the ideas the children thought about. 

  • I notice a big diamond in the middle
  • there is a pattern with the diamonds, they are red and white
  • the triangles go together to make a diamond
  • there are squares
  • the triangles fit into the pattern
  • the shapes are all joined together
  • I think it is a floor
  • I wonder if they are tiles?

What other ideas do you notice, think and wonder about at home when looking at this image? We would love to hear your ideas!
What do you notice?
What do you think?
What do you wonder?

We can find numbers everywhere around us. At the end of Little Play and Big Play, the bell goes and the tamariki come back to Hangare (this is the name of our classroom) and stand on a number. I wonder what numbers you can see? 






Our mornings:
Georgia and Stacey are so impressed with all the children unpacking their bags each morning independently. When the bell goes, the children leave what they are doing and come and sit on the mat. We talk about 'showing 5' when we are doing 'super school sitting!' Legs are crossed; hands are resting; eyes are looking at the front; ears are listening; and mouths are quiet (maybe even with a beautiful smile!) Each morning say good morning and check who is at school, begin with our karakia and sing our National Anthem. Then we look at our Daily Notices, where we find out what flag is flying on the flagpole each day, look at the word of the week and any other notices. 

On Mondays, our first block of learning is Learning Through Play. Then, after morning tea and Little Play, in our middle block, we have whole class and small group Literacy lessons. After Big Play and lunch eating, we have Maths, Kinetic Letters with Bounce and Skip (handwriting), and finish with a shared story. 


We hope you have a wonderful and restful weekend. See you all on Monday.
Stacey, Georgia and Paul

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz

Koru News 1/02/2024 Term 1 Week 1

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Kia ora e te whānau,

We have had the most amazing first day in Koru today! Our team is called 'Koru' and our hub/building is called 'Hangare'. We are so proud of how the children independently unpacked their bags and said their goodbyes today!

Our day has been filled with lots of fun, excitement, getting to know each other and our learning space. We have spent lots of time together on the mat talking about what we do at school, how we do things and where things are. You could ask your child what they do if they need to go to the toilet, or where they go when the bell rings at the end of Little Play and Big Play?

We have gone on lots of adventures to explore around the school and where we can play; like Treemendous and the Junior Playground. We also visited Jacky in the office and looked in the Hall to see where the Welcome Assembly will be tomorrow morning.

We always have a teacher available before school to greet you and support the children in settling into the hub. We appreciate your support in having quick and quiet goodbyes and then we can help the children find something to play with. This is really helpful in creating a quiet and calm space for children to begin their day, especially as more children start school and our hub gets busier. 


















We are super excited for our year ahead in the Koru team!

Ngā mihi nui,

Stacey, Georgia and Paul

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz



Koru Team News: Term 4, Week 8

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 Kia ora, e te whānau,

Some important dates:

  • Celebrate Diversity and Culture Dress Up day: Friday 1st December
  • House Games: Monday 4th December, you can wear your house top if you wish
  • Koru Kapa Haka performance: Friday 8th December 2.45pm at Hangere (our classroom)
  • Tamariki meet their 2024 teacher and final day for the school year: Tuesday 19th December (school finishes 12.30pm)

End of Year Reports 

The end of year summary reports are now available through the Hero portal for children who are in Georgia, Elizabeth and Stacey's Home Groups. The end of year report reflects aspects of your child's learning for the second part of the year. Please take the time to sit with your child and share their report with them, celebrating their learning. 

To find your child's report; open Hero, click on their name, then click '2023 report'. If you need any help accessing the report through Hero, please contact your child's Home Group teacher.

Koru Waiata performance for families

We would like to invite our Koru families and Whānau to come and watch our Koru tamariki (children) perform the waiata we have been learning with Whaea Cath. 

  • Friday 8th of December, 2.45pm; outside our classroom (Hangere)
Helpers

We would love the help of any whānau with sorting resources, cleaning whiteboards, tidying shelves and cupboards. If you are available to help, we would love to hear from you! 'We Get There Together'

We would also love your help to check at home for any Library books and Literacy books to return to school. We appreciate your help with this.

Library
Every Friday, we visit our school Library. This is a time to sit and enjoy some fabulous books, listen to stories and get two books out each week to take home.


Our word of the week is: Determination. Determination is never giving up, no matter what! A determined person decides to do something, and then does it! How have you shown determination today by trying again and again? 

Here are some photos of Koru children showing their determination when learning new things!











Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Stacey, Elizabeth, Georgia, Sarah and Denise

stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz
elizabethgail.drummond@beckenham.school.nz
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz
sarah.junghenn@beckenham.school.nz