Kia ora and welcome to term 2. Let's hope that the dry, sunny weather lasts for a wee bit longer! Hats are no longer needed this term, so it would be a good reminder to your child to bring it home to throw in the wash!
We have lots of exciting things happening in Pōhutukawa, as always! This week we have been involved with trials for winter sports teams. This can be a tricky time for some children as we often have many children trialling for a spot in two teams. We are restricted to entering only two teams by Primary Sports Canterbury. We are entering teams for football, hockey, rugby and netball. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to help out with our winter sports teams, either as a coach or a manager. To enable us to send as many children as possible to Hagley Park on a Friday afternoon we rely on our community for help, and we really appreciate those adults who are available. Winter sport starts on Friday of week 3, 18 May. The Sushi Factory, which is the lunch supplier on Friday will be delivering orders by 12 noon starting week 3. This will mean that children attending winter sport will still be able to order their lunch and eat it before they leave.
On Tuesday we will be running a writing motivation for the hub. For writing the children will be writing an information report on a country, or place they are keen to find out more about. To kick this off they will be 'visiting' four countries - Japan, Hawaii (USA), Italy and France. Each child will have a passport, and will be required to find out information about each country. There will be opportunities to taste food or drink from each country, and we are encouraging the children to dress up in clothing from any country. The dressing up is optional, and is not an opportunity for a mufti afternoon! If the children would like to dress up they are to bring their clothes to school in their bag, and then get changed at lunchtime. Some children have asked if they can bring items or food from home connected to the four countries they are visiting. So long as they have permission from home, this would be fine. We hope this fun afternoon will promote lots of engaging writing.
We have be training for cross country since last term. It is really great to see the students set individual goals regarding their cross country running. The actual cross country race is next Thursday, 10 May. The whole school will be involved in this event. The students will be eating early at 12:15pm. We have a briefing at 1:30pm. At 1:40pm the Year 8 and 7 students will be running, and then the Year 6 and 5 students will race. Then the Year 3 and 4 students run, in that order. The boys and girls will be running together, and will be recorded separately. Everyone will get a place card for their finishing position. The top six for the year 5 girls, boys, year 6 girls and boys will be representing our school in the zones. Everyone who participates will earn a house point. If a child is unable to participate due to an injury or for medical reasons, they will be expected to have a signed note from home stating the reason. Good luck to all of our runners.
Today after our welcome assembly, a group of Kauri girls promoted the 40 Hour Famine to the year 5-8 students. This year the money raised by this fundraising will go to South Sudan, particularly helping many refugees. One of our values at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto is 'We make a difference'. It was explained to us today that we can make a difference by supporting people doing the 40 Hour Famine, or by taking part. Packs were given out at lunchtime today to interested students. The following information has been taken from the 40 Hour Famine website, where more information can be found:
Thousands of young lives have been affected by conflict, drought and famine in South Sudan. Children have fled for their lives across the border to Uganda, becoming refugees. They have travelled a long distance, many without parents or families. While we can’t rewind the past, we can help restart their future.
Let's make a difference for South Sudanese children in Uganda.
While our overarching topic this term is 'Sustaining our wellbeing', our focus for the first part of the term is sleep. Over the next few weeks our classes will be taking part in Yes, I can! Sleep. This is a learning unit based around sleep and finding ways to improve your own sleep. Research has shown that as little as 10 minutes of lost sleep a night can lead to symptoms similar to ADHD. Our school is doing this unit in partnership with the University of Canterbury to try to improve the duration and quality of children’s sleep. We would like to equip children with the knowledge and skills required to make positive changes to their own sleep.
The tamariki will have the opportunity to learn about sleep. They will conduct their own research and present their information in unique ways. Together we will learn about the benefits of sleep and positive sleep hygiene. Tamariki will then be given the opportunity to monitor both the duration and quality of their sleep. They will be given a clock to put near their bed so that they can track the duration of their sleep. During this time, we encourage you to talk to your child about sleep and support them if they would lie to make small changes to their sleep environment and routines.
If you would like sleep support or to share your own knowledge on sleep, please join the parent Facebook group….
Yes, I can! Parent Page
We have loved seeing your little darlings back at school, and look forward to the fun and learning to be had in the rest of the term.
Tracy, Katie, Nick and Gayle
