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News Update from Koru, Term 3 Week 2

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Kia ora e te whanau,

What a wonderful start back to school we've all had. The children have settled beautifully into their routines and our new hub setups. 
We're really impressed with the way in which the children are saying their goodbyes, entering the learning spaces, managing their belongings and settling into their Learning Through Play. Thank you so much for your support with this. Having the children able to say goodbye at the door has certainly helped with that smooth transition and start to the day.
It's wonderful watching how independent the children are becoming with their morning jobs and developing responsibility and self-management.

The Three Little Pigs:
Our Learning Through Play 'theme' for the past two weeks has been The Three Little Pigs. The children have been very creative: building, performing, retelling (with a twist!), writing and puppet-making. Here are just a few photos of some of the activities they have been engaged in.

Demonstrating cooperation and teamwork: We Get There Together

Showing creativity and imagination by working collaboratively on our challenge

Heading from the house of sticks to the house of bricks...

...safe at last!

Problem solving and collaboration, in order to extend the project.
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Next week, our Learning Through Play focus is going to be Vehicles. It would be great if you were to talk with your child about the different types of transportation that there are, and what they're for. You might like to have a go at constructing a vehicle together. It might be fun to discuss and design some sort of magical, mysterious, fun, wacky, creative vehicle together!

Measurement - Maths and The Gingerbread Man:
We read The Gingerbread Man together and used the ideas in the story to develop our thinking in relation to Measurement. Some of the words we used are: long, longer, short, shorter, tall, taller.
Some of the activities we:
  • we cut and ordered by height a gingerbread family of five
  • we used mathematical language to describe their heights in order
  • we designed, planned, built and modified our bridges in order to rescue the gingerbread man from his fate in the fairy tale
  • we described our bridges again using mathematical language
  • we collected objects from around our learning spaces to estimate and compare the height of each item against the gingerbread man
  • we discussed the importance of measuring from a baseline in order to accurately measure the heights of the gingerbread man and these items.
We each worked together with a buddy to meet a challenge.
















Readathon:
The Readathon is coming up. This is a chance for your child to work on their reading mileage. Please see the school newsletter for details. Your child's Readathon card has come home in their school bag today.

We hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend and we look forward to seeing the children back, bright and perky, next week!

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Jo, Sophie, Sari, Stacey and Elizabeth









Term 2 Week 9 update from the Koru team

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Kia ora e te whanau,

A very warm welcome to those families whose children have started school over the last few weeks. The children are to be congratulated for the very happy and smooth way that they have transitioned (back) into school life. Congratulations to all for showing such amazing resilience and independence!

Learning Conferences
Please note that we will be holding Learning Conferences here at school in Week 12 of this term. In the Koru team:
  • for those children who started school prior to and including March 6th, parents please make a Learning Conference booking (at which time we will be discussing your child's literacy and numeracy goals in particular)
  • for those children who started school on or after March 9th, parents please also book a Learning Conference time, and this time will be used for a transition to school meeting with your child's teacher (at which time we will discuss your child's transition, also getting your perspective, along with initial goals)
  • please note that children attend these meetings with you.
For more information and instructions on how to book a time with your child's Home Group teacher, please refer back to last Friday's school newsletter.

Morning Routine
You will have all read Sandy's newsletter about Level 1 at school and the morning routine. We continue to be so very proud of the tamariki, in how they are starting each day at school. They are confidently walking from the gate to the hub and are independently unpacking their bags and sorting out their belongings, ready for the day. They are spending that first part of the day before the bell, connecting with their teachers and classmates, and settling calmly into the school day. Over the coming days, we shall continue to have a teacher at the gate to welcome the tamariki and support the drop off. Please feel free to pass on any messages to the person at the gate, and they will then pass the message on to your child's Home Group teacher.

Just a reminder that reading folders need to be returned with the reading books every day, while library folders and poetry books need to be returned by the following Friday morning, as Friday is the day we visit the school library and focus on poetry during our Literacy time.

Learning Through Play
Our current Learning Through Play 'theme' is Space, and this theme the children are finding highly motivating. This theme also ties in with what the children have been writing about last week, and again this week.

















Sight Word and Alphabet Practice
It is really valuable to put regular time aside to support your child with their alphabet and sight word practice. For our new children, parents please check this link which will take you to some resources on our school website: New Entrant Resource Pack. Please print off the alphabet and number resources which will be of most value for your child. Feel free to contact your child's Home Group teacher if you are unable to access a printer. We hope you have fun with your child as they learn, using these resources. And remember... praise, praise, praise. It's crucial that these learning times are kept positive.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, and keep warm!
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth






Term 2 Week 5 update: Back to School!

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Kia ora e te whanau,

We're are really looking forward to seeing you all again on Monday! It's been such a long time. A special, warm welcome to all of the children, who are going to be starting school with us this week.

We're also welcoming Sophie Mulligan, who is our new teacher in the Koru team. Sophie will be the Home Group teacher for our newest children. We are so lucky to have you, Sophie, and all of the children are going to love getting to know you, and work with you this term.



See you at the flagpole:
Children, on Monday, Jo will be waiting at the flagpole to meet you, so once you arrive at school with your parent, you can give them a big kiss and a hug goodbye there. Jo will then make sure that Elizabeth picks you up and then helps you with your bag, and finding a cubby hole when you reach the veranda.
Parents, if you have to come on site for any reason during the day, there is a requirement that you sign a Contact Register, so please report to the school office for that. This includes any whānau who are bringing or collecting children for their school visits. Before leaving, please make sure that you sign out.

Please, if you haven't already seen this little video clip on Seesaw, view the Welcome Back to School video below, with your children. It's better to watch this clip, and the following clips, in full screen (click bottom right).

Here, also, are the two videos which Sandy sent out via our school newsletter yesterday.


A few little 'housekeeping' items:

  • please ensure that your child brings a named drink bottle to school every day, and this drink bottle needs to be taken home and cleaned again every day after school 
  • If your child has an older sibling here at school, it's absolutely fine for that brother or sister to bring their younger sibling to the veranda each morning, if that helps with the daily drop off
  • a reminder that for our Koru children, they will be ready to be picked up at the flagpole each day at 2:45 p.m. Once again, if you have an older child at school, or if your child is booked into BOSCO, then the school day will finish at 3:00 p.m., and they will wait in the hub until this time
  • our handwashing and hand sanitising routines have been very clearly outlined in Ministries of Health and Education guidelines. Please let your child's Home Group teacher know if your child has a reaction to hand sanitiser, and we shall ensure that they wash their hands rather than use hand sanitiser.
Our theme for next week:
You may have heard on our little video clip that we're going to be having a 'Superhero' theme next week. This will culminate in a 'dress up' day on Friday, so your children can be thinking about what they might like to wear on Friday. This can be as simple as a handtowel for a cape, or alternatively, as complex as your child wishes to make it!

We trust you all have a wonderful weekend, and we're really looking forward to seeing all of the wee ones on Monday!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth


Week 2 Holiday update

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Kia ora e te whanau,

How was Week 2 of your holiday, everyone? We see that you have been incredibly playful, creative, active, and, as well as all of that, there’s been some very interesting construction going in your homes!

Top quality colouring here.

What a very cool wee desk and chair set up!

Cloud dough, made from cornflour and hair conditioner - this looks very therapeutic...

What wonderful creativity and construction skills - does this character have a name?

More creative construction skills being displayed here! Does this character have a name, we wonder?

Beautiful Easter egg colouring for the window; a lovely soft toy line up for our national teddy bear hunt; and chalk-drawn games for passers-by - oh, what fun!

More creativity and construction, here combined with Science, to result in this electric car - fabulous skills!

The family night walk around the neighbourhood - what a cool idea.

An ice cream shop! Wonderful thinking...

"Oh, I'll have that delicious-looking chocolate ice cream, please!"

What an incredible amount of hard work went into this puppet show. Wouldn't we all love to know the story that goes with these characters?

Mmmmm... what could possibly be in that bowl? Yum, yum, yum.

A Mad Hatters' Tea Party - oh, what fun!

Up a ladder and helping with papier mache...

...early days in teaching the exuberant puppy to sit calmly while the cryptic crossword is underway.

We've loved catching up with you all, via the photos that you've been emailing us. What great fun we've all been having in the second week of our holiday.

The teachers have also been getting together (virtually!) to work on our Term 2 learning, and we are really looking forward to communicating with you on our new Seesaw platform. We’re all very excited!

Sandy is going to be sending out a newsletter later this afternoon. It will contain important information about your Learning From Home, so please make sure that you check for this and get in touch with us if you have any questions.

Let’s have a great Term 2 together, everyone!
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey and Elizabeth

Holiday Greetings 31 March 2020

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Kia ora, dear tamariki and whānau in the Koru team,

We wanted to check in on you all, and find out how you're doing, and what you've been up to.

We hope you all had a great first day of the holidays yesterday, albeit a day spent, no doubt, mostly indoors because of the miserable weather. Didn't that just make today's glorious weather even more so, though?!

Jo's been fitting in lots of yoga, and who's that there on either side, with their own little yoga mats set up?!
How cute is that?

...and little Vito is finding the new intensive training and exercise regime to be extremely rewarding!
Am I a good boy? Am I? Am I? Yes, you are, Vito!


We would love to find out what you've all been up to over these past few days, so we thought it might be fun if you were to email a photo through to us, showing something that you've enjoyed doing, then we could add these photos to our next Blog post. That way, all the children would be able to see what their Koru friends have been up to.
These photos would need to be sent to either Jo or Elizabeth by the end of Friday this week (April 3rd).
Jo's email: jo.smith@beckenham.school.nz
Elizabeth's email: elizabethgail.drummond@beckenham.school.nz

We can't wait to hear from you!
Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Jo and Elizabeth