Kia ora, whānau, 

What a wonderful few weeks we have had back at school since lockdown! The children have shown greater independence and many are now happily walking in small groups or pairs from the gate to Hangere and Kōmanawa by themselves. They are also unpacking their bags independently and making sure that lunchboxes, drink bottles and reading folders end up in the right places. Mīharo, tamariki!

Structured Literacy:

We continue to see fantastic progress in literacy groups, and we would love to see some learning continue over the school holidays, where possible. It is an absolute joy to see the children's excitement when they have learnt to read and write a new letter sound, heart word, or have successfully read a new book. We love seeing the children shine with pride when they realise they have made such great progress in their learning. 

We love books!

Learning Through Play:

The children have continued to strengthen their connections with their friends, both within the classroom spaces and out in the playground. They are making impressive connections between their social and emotional behaviours and our school values. They are encouraged to reflect on their social conversations and their relationships with their classmates, and problem solve together wherever necessary. We are constantly impressed by the level of maturity and wisdom they bring to these situations. 

Showing 'We Care' towards one of our little ones on his transition to school visit.

Getting the dolls ready for bed at the end of the day ('We Care' and 'We Get There Together').

Ensuring that all's tidy and organised in the Family Corner before home time ('We Care' and 'We Get There Together').

What a scrumptious looking meal for the dollies (also 'We Care')!

This week, during our Learning Through Play, the children have also been involved in learning about how wheels have made our lives easier. They have created some amazing roads and bridges, both collaboratively and independently. They have incorporated a wide variety of vehicles, road signs and community spaces into their designs.

'We Get There Together' and 'We Love Challenge'.

Wheels galore. How interesting - abstract art! ('We Love Challenge')

An impressive set up here ('We Love Learning').

A collaborative 'community' created here by two possible future town planners ('We Get There Together').

Rocket ships ('We Get There Together').

'We Get There Together' and 'We Love Challenge'.

Dancing down the cat walk!

Wellbeing:

This week we have continued our Te Whare Tapa Wha learning, with a focus on Whenua (place, our roots and the environment). The children showed great enthusiasm for caring for our environment, when they undertook some weeding in various garden areas around our school. They actively engaged in understanding the importance of caring for our whenua. They also learnt how to plant a seed (soaking it first) and then how to care for the seedling once it has sprouted. Today they planted new little seeds and they will bring these home and take special care of them, over the holidays. They have demonstrated the 'We Make a Difference' kete value, by taking action and contributing to our community. We are proud to see some children taking this even further, by volunteering their time during play breaks, picking up rubbish, then putting it in the correct bin. 

Fairy Gardens:

Our Koru tamariki are very excited to be taking on the responsibility for one of the raised garden beds at the front of our school.  Our plan is to turn it into a fairy garden, and some of the children have begun collecting small items to help with this fun little project. One of our wonderful parents has created some beautiful fairy homes (see below) to get us started next term. Other items such as small stones, shells, gemstones, nuts and seeds, little pine cones, a little terracotta pot or two, tiny furniture and maybe a wee statue or two, would be great additions to develop the fairy garden area. If you Google 'Fairy Gardens' you will find lots of other wonderful ideas. All contributions will be greatly appreciated.

Aren't they CUTE?! Thank you so much :)

Literacy and Maths learning over the holidays:

As mentioned above, it would be really valuable if the children were to incorporate little moments of both literacy and maths practice throughout the two week holiday. Please find links below which might help support the children's learning in these areas.

• Heggerty Phonemic Awareness videos (this is just the first of many videos which you are able to access on Youtube, and Heggerty is the Phonemic Awareness programme which we follow at Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto)
• Ideas to help your child learn and understand the difference between 'teen' and 'ty'
• Subitising - finding out about and having fun with this skill
• Numbers 0 - 20
• Maths At Our House (a link we shared with you during lockdown)
• NZMaths Number plans (for Learning At Home, but well worth investigating again)
• More Maths plans using offline activities (these plans can be carried out without access to computers, and include mathematical problems to solve, projects to work on and basic facts to practise, and they also include notes for parents).

We hope you have a wonderful holiday with your tamariki, and we look forward to reconnecting with you all again in Term 4.

Ngā mihi mahana,

The Koru Team: Elizabeth, Nicola, Chelsea, Tracey and Stacey

Kia ora koutou,

We have loved catching up with the children over the course of this week, and hearing all about their holidays! It's been lovely to see all of those happy smiles, and the excitement about being back at school.

Everyone, of course, is extremely excited about our new building which many of you will have had the chance to look around on Monday at the official opening. We are loving the spaces, and feel very lucky to have such a beautiful outlook over Ōpāwaho, and through the trees with all of their birds and wonderful birdsong.

You are welcome to come into Hangere on any day after school, and have your children show you around. 

The children are showing impressive respect for the environments they're learning in, as well as the resources we're using. Their level of tidiness is to be highly commended!

Here is a guided tour for you, in photo form...

Our games and jigsaw puzzle 'shelves'

Soft toys awaiting a good book!

View beyond the al fresco dining area and into one of our breakout spaces

A closer view into the same breakout space

The small group teaching space

The wet area and kitchen

Structured Literacy Home Learning:

Yum, yum!

The 'sign in' form

The al fresco dining area, with a very busy kitchen beyond

Orders being taken

Checking the baking in the oven

Queueing at the door into the cafe

The QR code ready for scanning

Opening up for business

A VERY enthusiastic team of chefs

The cafe menu, including orange juice, apple juice, blueberry muffins and strawberries

Kia ora, e ngā whānau,

We do hope that this finds you all at the end of a very happy, warm and 'not-too-wet' holiday.

Welcome back to school for the third term of the year. We are looking forward to a fun term, including lots of further growth and development in all areas of life and learning!

We are very excited to be looking forward to the official opening of our new building, Hangere, on Monday morning. Please remember that if your child is in either of Elizabeth's or Tracey's Home Groups, we would like you to deliver your child to Kōmanawa, where they will be able to take their bags indoors. Once inside, one of the teachers will show the children where they can leave their bags, in the meantime. Children will then be able to settle in and reconnect with teachers and friends in Kōmanawa, before the bell rings at 8:55 a.m. Once the register has been taken, teachers will then bring the children over to Hangere for the official opening.

Have a lovely weekend, koutou, and we look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

Ngā mihi mahana,

The Koru team - Elizabeth, Nicola, Stacey, Chelsea and Tracey

 Kia ora, whānau,

We've had a wonderful fortnight, and once again, we've been very busy and our days have been full of fun.

Nicola and Chelsea's Home Groups have 'moved' over to Kōmanawa, where they are starting and finishing each day. Inbetween times, our Structured Literacy and Maths interchanges are still taking place. The children have embraced our new arrangements with typical flexibility and willingness! Teachers have been enormously impressed with the seamless and sensible way the children have moved between spaces, following the lead of one of their teachers whenever they need to transfer. Congratulations, tamariki - we are all very proud of you.

• correct pencil and pen grip
• finger strength and dexterity exercises
• core strength exercises
• tummy lying, with strong arms and straight legs, to help strengthen the shoulder girdle.

Our monkeys, Skip and Bounce, are always on the look out for those children who are putting great effort into their handwriting. Teachers are always thrilled to see children deliberately transferring their handwriting skills into their Structured Literacy lessons. 

Learning Through Play:

We are always delighted to see the different forms of play which the children engage in. Sometimes the children's play might relate to different curriculum areas (for example, Science and Technology) and sometimes the play might take the form of 'role play'. Some of the children have created a game called 'Puppy School'. This game continued throughout last week, and as the days went by, the children realised that they needed more and more resources for their game, including their own karakia and karakia kai, some toys for the puppies (bones and balls), some stickers (!), and a computer for the puppy teacher.

Structured Literacy Parent Meetings:

We hope that those of you who weren't able to attend one of these meetings held earlier in Term 1, either have (last Thursday) or are able to attend on either Tuesday (7:00 - 8:00 p.m.) or Thursday (9:00 - 10:00 a.m.) this week coming. These meetings are being run by Caroline Morritt, our Resource Teacher of Literacy. Caroline is a mine of information and is very happy to answer any questions which you might have. She is also able to refer you to specific youtube clips and websites which will be of enormous value to you, as your children are learning to read and write. Here is the link to the video of a child demonstrating the pure sounds for each of the letters of the alphabet. We have shared this before, but thought it might be of help for those parents of children who are newer to school.

Have a wonderful week to come everyone! 

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Jo, Stacey, Nicola, Chelsea, Tracey and Elizabeth

Kia ora whānau,

We have had another very busy fortnight, with the children engaging in a range of learning experiences. 

We have explored Space during our Learning Through Play, with the children building spacecraft using a variety of equipment including boxes and tubes. We also followed the Space theme in our Maths, as each child worked with a friend to make up groups of ten astronauts. Each time a group of ten astronauts was formed, they were then able to climb aboard the spacecraft, and some children were even able to make up ten groups of ten astronauts, all of whom were then able to leave the spacecraft, and enter the space station. The children practised their skip counting in tens, and also learnt a great deal about place value as they worked out the number of astronauts in their space craft and added on those who were still waiting to enter the space craft.

The children have also been introduced to a new Maths game called 'Move and Prove'. In this game, they are given a statement, which might or might not be true. Children have worked out that they need to:

• think
• decide
• listen
• talk
• be able to say why they think what they think (we have used the words 'justify' and 'justification' when discussing the 'prove' part of the game).

Our big buddies supporting us on a Friday afternoon

Beautiful concentration here!

Having a great time together in the Gallery classroom.

Very happy to be visiting the Art Gallery.

One excited boy with his Dad on the bus!

Love that focus.

Beautiful use of colour.

Showing 'We Care'.

More lovely focus.

We look forward to finishing our art works and displaying them at school.

Great concentration.

This is going to be wonderful when finished.

Gorgeous attention to detail here.

Great work here too.

Carefully taking the tape from the black background paper.

Practising writing our Heart Words.

Providing friends and teachers with a small concert performance.

Viewing and discussing one of Ralph's works, Black Phoenix.

One of Ralph's works on narrow corrugated iron.

Noticing the way the work changes as you move past it.

Listening carefully for sounds in words.

Showing 'We Care' about our learning.

Getting ready to slide the sounds together.