Kia ora,

As Term 3 comes to a close, we would like to take a moment to celebrate all the learning, growth and achievements that have taken place throughout the term. Thank you to our students and whānau for your continued support and commitment. We hope everyone has a safe, relaxing and enjoyable break, with plenty of time to rest, recharge and enjoy time with family and friends. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for an exciting Term 4!

Reminders:

A couple of reminders:

Athletics Day is coming up in the second week of Term 4-more info to come

Swimming sessions: Our two-week block of swimming sessions is coming up in weeks 5 and 6 of next term. If your child is not an independent dresser, now is a good time to encourage your child to dress and undress independently and quickly. Click HERE if you would like to help.

Please remind children not to bring any toys (large or small) to school. We are noticing an influx of small items coming in. This can cause great distraction throughout the day.

Hats-Please remember each child will need a sunhat in Term 4.

Maths-Symmetry

We have been learning all about symmetry! We have explored what symmetry means, looked at lines of symmetry, and discovered lots of shapes and objects that are symmetrical. We’ve had fun spotting symmetry all around us and learning how to identify it. We have been using our Numicon resources to create some amazing symmetrical shapes and patterns.

Heritage Dress Up Day!

Heritage Dress Up Day was a huge success, and it was so wonderful to learn more about each other and our cultural heritage. We managed to raise $280 for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Life Education:

Our Life Ed sessions were so interesting and informative, and we loved meeting Kirsty and Harold. We discovered more about our body systems and learnt about how good physical activity is for our bodies.

Here are our class pics with Harold:

Farewell to Toto:

Toto has been with us for six weeks and has made a huge impression on our tamariki. We wish her all the best for her future career as an educator; we know she will be brilliant and make a difference to many!

 Kia ora whanau, 

We are thrilled to see the warmer days arriving and, with them, the opportunity to get outside and begin some athletics practice! Our whole-school athletics event will be held early in Term 4, alongside some other exciting activities, including swimming lessons. Keep an eye out for further notices with more information about these events coming your way soon.

While we are enjoying the signs of spring, winter illnesses continue to affect both students and staff. We are working hard to support the health and wellbeing of our school community by maintaining good hygiene practices, including regular handwashing and covering coughs and sneezes. We are also encouraging everyone to keep warm, get outside into the sunshine and fresh air, and take good care of themselves as we head into the warmer months.

Upcoming Event From Our Student Council

On Sept 18th, next Friday, the Student Council has organised a Heritage Day to celebrate our diverse cultures. Children are invited to come to school dressed in something to represent their family's heritage. This could be a costume, something special about the country, or simply wearing the colours from the country's flag. Please bring a gold coin for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Life Education Trust Visit

Kahikatea Talent Show Auditions 

Congratulations to the very talented tamariki who have practised and prepared for this wonderful event! We had so many fabulous performances, and here are some photos from the auditions, which were held in our theatre space on Friday. 

Our judges: Lisa, Toto and Sarah Congratulations to the following students who have made it through to the Beckenham's Got Talent Final:  Eleanor Vincent & Max Sadie, Marnie & Elsa Elodie & Frankie Ma te wa, Team Kahikatea: Sarah, Amber, Sarah & Talia

 

A Visit from Dr Dan

As part of our Inquiry learning about body systems, we were very lucky to have Dr Dan, Elsie’s dad, come in to chat to us about his amazing job as a neonatologist in the Christchurch Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

The tamariki were super engaged and loved learning about what Dr Dan does to care of babies. He brought along life-size dolls, real medical equipment, photos and videos, which gave us a fantastic insight into his important work.

A huge thank you to Dr Dan for taking the time to come and share his knowledge with us!

Shapes!

We have been learning all about 2D shapes in maths and will be moving on to 3D shapes next week.

We have been exploring the different parts that make up shapes, learning about polygons and non-polygons, and investigating what makes different shapes unique.

We also got to have a go with the geoboards, which were a huge hit! It was so cool to see how many different shapes we could create and how many sides we could give our shapes. We definitely got creative!

Here are some photos of our shape investigations!

Disco Time!

Last Friday, we had our school Disco and what a fun afternoon it was! We loved seeing all the colourful outfits, impressive dance moves and, of course, popcorn all over the floor!

There was lots of dancing, music, a limbo competition and even an outfit parade. Everyone had a fantastic time!

Fairytales!

Lots of our literacy classes have been exploring fairytales, and it has been a super engaging focus.

Talia and Sarah J’s classes even performed their very own role-play of The Three Little Pigs! We were so impressed by how quickly they worked together to put their performance together.

The tamariki did an amazing job showing ‘We Love Challenge’ and being brave enough to perform in front of the class. We didn’t realise we had so many talented actors and actresses in our hub!

Big Buddies

We try to catch up with our Big Buddies every few weeks for some fun activities and a chance to practise tuakana-teina, learning from and supporting one another.

Last Friday, which was also Disco day (hence all the colourful outfits!), we teamed up with our Big Buddies for a scavenger hunt around the school. We had to work together to find lots of different things, such as:

🔎 Something with the letter B
🔎 Something smaller than your hand
🔎 Something older than your Year 2 buddy
🔎 And lots of other tricky challenges!

It was so cool to see everyone working together, thinking carefully and helping each other along the way. There were some very creative answers and lots of great teamwork!

Life Education Van

We are very excited to welcome Harold the Giraffe and our Life Education teacher back to Beckenham from Monday 7 September – Thursday 17 September.

Each home group will have two sessions in the mobile classroom, with both lessons supporting our current Science and Inquiry learning about our bodies and body systems.

Session 1: Why is physical activity good for our bodies?
Session 2: What are body systems and how do they work?

We are looking forward to some fun and interactive learning with Harold!

We hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and fingers crossed we get some more sunshine to enjoy! ☀️

Ngā mihi,
Talia, Sarah S, Amber and Sarah J

 Kia ora Whānau,

Welcome to another exciting fortnight in Kahikatea! We have had a lot happening, and we would love to share some of our wonderful learning and special moments with you.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and encouragement. We hope you enjoy keeping up with what we’ve been doing!

Cricket:

This week was our last of three cricket skills sessions; these were thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was a great introduction to cricket, and many are keen to play next season.

For the past two weeks, we have been learning how to add and subtract using 10s. Look at these clever kids! Next week we will begin a statistical investigation unit of learning.

Beckenham PTA Disco

How wonderful to have the disco to look forward to on Friday, the 21st of August! We are very excited and can’t wait to see the children all having a boogie.

 Disco Times:

• Koru and Kahikatea: 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Please feel free to send your child to school wearing their disco outfit at the start of the day. If you feel that their outfit may get damaged, please send it along in a named bag. The teachers will help your child to change into their dancing clothes after big play.

Teachers will collect gold coins at the start of the day. Please note that no food will be sold at the disco; however, your child will receive a small container of popcorn. If you would prefer that your child doesn’t have the popcorn, please contact your child’s Home Group teacher and let them know. 

Please contact your child's Home Group teacher if you have any questions about the disco.

Kia ora te whānau, 

We hope you have managed to stay warm this chilly week!

Term 3 has started off with a flurry of activities and the tamariki have got straight back into the swing of learning. They are so familiar with our routines and daily tasks by term three it doesn't take very long at all for everyone to settle into their roles and begin engaging in their learning. Here are just a few photos of all the wonderful learning which has occurred this week!

Recorder sessions - This term our tamariki have a wonderful opportunity to engage on a weekly basis with Rachel our visiting music teacher. Every Wednesday they get to learn how to play the recorder through tuition, games and playing the instrument. The tamariki really enjoyed this activity, and we look forward to seeing them grow in confidence and skills as the weeks progress. 

Next week, our Kahikatea Team will take part in an exciting Scooter-athlon on Friday 7th August from 1:30 pm – 3.00 pm. Parents are invited to come along and cheer on the tamariki.

The Scooter-athlon will follow a run → scooter → run format, giving students the chance to experience a fun, active, multi-stage race. Students are encouraged to wear their House T-Shirts, bring their own scooter and helmet, wear closed-toe shoes, and follow safety rules. Year 7/8 students will act as marshals to help run the event safely. Please note: If it is raining, the Scooter-athlon will be postponed. Any changes will be shared with parents via Hero.

Please let your classroom teacher know if your child does not have a scooter or if you have a spare one you are happy to lend. Your child will need to provide their own helmet. We can’t wait to see the tamariki scoot, run, and have fun – nau mai te wero! We love challenge!