Kahikatea News Term 1 Week 3

Posted on 19 February, 202319 February, 2023 by Katie McFarlane

Kia ora e te whānau mā,

It has been lovely to see our children continuing to settle into the new school year! 'We Love Learning' has been a value that the teachers have noticed in action, with children enthusiastically approaching their learning. Nau mai te wero, bring on the challenge!

Hats

Students are required to wear hats outside in Terms 1 and 4. Please make sure that your child has a clearly named wide-brimmed or bucket hat. We recommend leaving hats at school in your child's home group hat tub. This helps minimise the possibility of losing or forgetting hats and it supports us in ensuring smooth transitions to breaks during the day.

Toys at School

We have noticed that some children are bringing toys (including soft toys) from home to school. We have reminded tamariki that their toys need to stay at home. We find that if children bring a toy from home it can become a distraction during learning, and sometimes these special items become lost or broken during the day. If your child needs extra support with settling into school, please speak to your child's home group teacher, and together, we will come up with a plan.

Celebration Assembly and Team Hui

We had the first Celebration Assembly and Team Hui of the year last Friday with many parents/caregivers joining us. Congratulations to Kahikatea children who received a Kete award or a certificate for showing our school values.

Sharing our Learning

We had some special visitors in the Kahikatea hub this week! It is butterfly season, so we were thrilled to get the chance to learn about the life cycle of butterflies this week when a learner brought their chrysalises in to share. Even more exciting were the obvious changes in the chrysalises throughout the day and then the appearance of butterflies.

Literacy at home

Your child's literacy teacher will send home resources to support your child's structured literacy learning at home by the end of this week. These resources align with your child's current structured literacy stage. As your child moves through the stages, these resources will be updated. Please keep an eye out for them in your child's reading folder and let your child's teacher know if you have any questions.

Maths

In Kahikatea so far this term, we have been working on an NZ Maths unit called ‘All about us’. We have explored:

Different ways to count groups of objects
Creating and interpreting picture graphs
Features of 2D shapes
The language of position
Ordering objects by mass (weight)
Creating sequential patterns

Here are some photos of some of the fabulous mathematical thinking that our tamariki have displayed...

That's all for now!

Team Kahikatea

quynh.nguyen@beckenham.school.nz

lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz

krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz

amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

Kahikatea News Term 1 Week 1 2023

Posted on 5 February, 20235 February, 2023 by Lisa Collier

Kia ora e te whānau,

Thank you for taking the time to attend Learning Conferences this week. The opportunity to touch base with each whānau prior to starting the new school year is invaluable. We really enjoyed hearing about each child's holiday break and share in their strengths and next steps.

We had a wonderful first two days back at school! The air conditioning kept us cool as the sun blazed outside. It was wonderful to connect with our home group learners and get to know each other as a team. What really stood out to us was the positivity in the hub. The children were excited to be back at school and keen to give new things a go!

Play Areas

We went on a boundary walk on Thursday to show children the areas that they can play in during break times. The following was also shared with children...

Nuts at School

The following information went out to whānau on Friday via Hero. Just in case you missed it, here it is again...

We are aware that the Kahikatea team have multiple students with nut allergies. One of these is life threatening. Therefore, we are asking that nuts and nut-based products are not brought to school by your child. Nut-based products include items like Nutella, peanut butter, muesli bars containing nuts etc.

The team is also aware that some children may have other dietary requirements. Please talk with your child’s Homegroup teacher if this is the case so that they are aware and we can create a specific plan to support your child if need be.

Our policy at school is that children only eat their own food and not share. Teachers are reminding children about this, along with reminders about handwashing and putting food wrappings in their lunch boxes to take home.

If you have any questions please contact your child's Homegroup teacher.

Thank you for your support as 'We Get There Together'.

Photos

Here are some photos to give you a snapshot of some of the things we got up to this week...

We hope that you are having an enjoyable long weekend, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday.

Kind regards,

Katie, Krystal, Lisa, Amber, and Quynh

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz

lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz

amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz

quynh.nguyen@beckenham.school.nz

Kahikatea News Term 4 Week 9

Posted on 16 December, 202216 December, 2022 by Katie McFarlane

Kia ora e te whānau,

One final post for the year to say a huge thank you to you all for your support this year. We have had a wonderful year of learning in the Kahikatea Team. We have been honoured to work with your tamariki as they fill their kete for the journey ahead.

Bubble Fun & Ice Blocks!

We had a fabulous time celebrating a successful year on Wednesday. We surprised the children with an afternoon of bubble fun and ice blocks. The delight on the children's faces and the squeals of glee were priceless. A common phrase we heard around us was, "This is the best day of school ever!"

Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday break!

Katie, Krystal, Lisa, Emma, and Megan

Kahikatea News – Term 4, Week 7

Posted on 2 December, 20222 December, 2022 by Emma Hayes-Smith

Kia ora e te whānau,

Wow, these final weeks are just speeding by! We have been having a lot of fun in Kahikatea and we hope that you are all well.

Word of the Week

This week, we have been focusing on Empathy.

We have been discussing with the students that:

Empathy is being able to know how someone else is feeling, even when you aren't in the same situation. Sometimes, in more simple words, we explain that empathy is being able to "put yourself in someone's shoes" and see things from their view.

Transitions

On Tuesday and Friday afternoons this week, our students have been taking part in some transitions to help prepare them for next year.

Current Year 1 students --- 2023 Year 2 Students in Kahikatea

Current Year 2 students --- 2023 Year 3 Students in Kōwhai

During these transitions:

The 2023 Year 2 students remained in Kahikatea and were joined by the Koru Hub for a Learning Through Play session. These sessions allowed 2023 Year 2 students to meet some of the tamariki that will be in their hub next year.

The 2023 Year 3 Students went through to Kōwhai for some fun. This allowed them to begin to make connections with some of the teachers and students that will be in their hub next year.

Arts Rotations

We are still enjoying our arts rotation! By the end of this, all home groups will have had two lessons in each of the arts strands; music, visual art, dance, and drama. The kids have been having so much fun during these lessons and we have all loved teaching these areas!

New Junior Playground

We have had so much fun exploring the new junior playground over the past couple of weeks! We are loving seeing the kids enjoying it during break times, as well as after school!

More photos from the week:

Ngā mihi nui,

Team Kahikatea

Katie McFarlane

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz

Emma Hayes-Smith

emma.hayes-smith@beckenham.school.nz

Krystal Hunt

krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz

Megan Harris

megan.harris@beckenham.school.nz

Lisa Collier

lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz

Kahikatea News – Term 4 Week 5

Posted on 19 November, 202219 November, 2022 by Krystal Hunt

Kia ora e te whānau,

Week 5 already, what fantastic fun we are having!

Word of the week

Our word of the week is kindness.

Kindness is "the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate" (Oxford Dictionary)

Te Reo Focus

This week, our Te Reo Maori focus has been how to ask someone what their name is and how to tell someone your name. The following video has been helping our tamariki learn this knowledge:

Art Lessons

Over the next few weeks, our tamariki will be participating in a sustainable art rotation of 8 different lessons. These lessons cover all four art strands of the curriculum (visual art, drama, dance and music)

They had their first two lessons this week.

Reading Books

Please ensure all Little Learners Love Literacy books are returned to school by the end of week 6. This will allow us to do a stocktake and work out what new resources we need to purchase to support literacy learning next year.

Toys

We ask that our students leave their toys at home when they come to school. We have plenty of fun activities and things for them to play with whilst at school. When toys from home come to school they can get lost or broken. We know how special our toys are, and the best way to keep them safe is to keep them at home.