Category Archives: Kahikatea

Kahikatea News Term 3 Week 7

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 Kahikatea Team News - Term 3 Week 7

Kia ora koutou,

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the Kahikatea team! Read on to find out more about what we have been up to.

Kete Focus: We Love Challenge!

The student council organised a fun STEM activity during 'We Love Challenge' week. We were given a selection of materials and had to design a bridge that could hold a tin can. We made changes as we went when we realised that something didn't quite work, and persevered when it was tricky. We did so well!










Learning Through Play

It is always a joy to watch our children interact, discover, negotiate, and problem-solve during Learning Through Play. Here are some recent photos of us in action!


















Te Whare Tapa Wha

During our home group time, we are learning all about how we can support our wellbeing (hauora) using the Te Whare Tapa Wha model. We have a fabulous new poster that illustrates how important it is to take care of all of the different aspects of our lives to support our wellbeing. 






That's all for now!
Team Kahikatea

Kahikatea News Term 3 Week 5

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Tēnā koutou!

It is incredible to think that we are entering Week 6 already! So much amazing learning has been happening in our hub.


The word of the week

Our word of the week in Week 5 was KINDNESS. 

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

Some of our beautiful tamariki demonstrated kindness this week by creating a card for a friend or loved one. It was wonderful to see the thoughtfulness that they used.

A video that has a kindness song is below...



Te Reo Māori focus

Over the past two weeks, we have been working on different ways to greet people and also how to say how we feel. During our waiata, we have been singing the 'Ata mārie' song, which has been wonderful to support our tamariki in learning Māori greetings. 

Here it is so you can sing along at home...







Book Character Day

Book character dress-up was held on Friday 19th of August and it was amazing to see all of our tamariki proudly strutting their stuff in super fun costumes. Even the teachers dressed up!

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from Sandy. She was dressed in her 'Guess How Much I Love You' pajamas and she read us the story. 


Toys at school

We have had a number of toys (including bag toys) make an appearance at school this term. We ask that all toys stay home. We know how special they are to you and we don't want to see them broken or lost. There are lots of awesome things for you to play with at school, including amazing outdoor spaces that the school has. 

Shoes

The Kahikatea teachers have been noticing a lot of students walking around the school without shoes on. Shoes are important for keeping our feet safe and clean. Kahikatea students are not to be outside in the playground without their shoes on. When in the hub, the expectation is that the students have shoes on (or slippers) unless their shoes are very wet or dirty.

Cultural Presentations

As part of our fortnightly celebration assemblies, children have an opportunity to share with the junior school their culture via a presentation. These presentations are done in the form of a slideshow, in which the family receives a template to fill in. They require adult input and support. 
If your child is interested in getting up and presenting a cultural presentation, please contact your child's homegroup teacher for more information. 


Photos

Here are some photos of our amazing tamariki hard at work.


















Ma te wa, 
Amber, Krystal, Emma, Katie, Lisa, Kerilea, Kate & Jan

Kahikatea News Week 3 Term 3

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Kia ora whanau, 

Welcome to Term 3. We hope you were able to have some quality time with your tamariki during the school break and that you are all keeping well. 
Our literacy and maths programs are well underway again now. Katie and Amber are working together during maths time and Krystal and Emma are working together during maths time. 

Katie now has her homegroup in the Nook, Amber is in the Breakout Room and Krystal is in the Atrium. 


New Library Days 

Tuesday- Amber and Katie 
&
Thursday- Krystal and Emma 



Introducing...

Jan Malcolm 


In team Kahiaktea we have so many wonderful teachers and staff who work with our tamariki. 
Each week the lovely Jan Malcolm works with Amber's Home Group. Sometimes she is here for the whole day or part of the day. Jan works in other teams across the school too, including Kowhai and Pohutukawa. 
⭐Welcome Jan!⭐



Kauri Buddies

Every afternoon on Friday/Rapare our team welcomes students from the Kauri hub (Year 7/8). These children are self-selected, they opt into buddies. They love working with younger tamariki and sharing their skills with them. It is all about building that tuakana-teina relationship. They gain a lot from this experience - organisation skills, communication, greater understanding of group dynamics and being a leader. There is also a lot of gain for the younger children - forming bonds with older children, having an older friend to recognise in the playground. 





Playground Time 

Train Construction

Monkey Bars 

Play Dough Fun

Showing Respect 

This week we have had a focus on understanding what Respect looks like, feels like and sounds like: 

Respect is an attitude of caring about people and treating them with dignity. 
Respect is valuing ourselves and others. 
We show respect by speaking and acting with courtesy. 
When we are respectful we treat others as we want to be treated. 
Respect includes honouring the rules of our family or school,
which make life more orderly and peaceful. 

Congratulations! You are practising Respect when you...

  • Treat others as you want to be treated
  • Speak courteously to everyone
  • Take special care of other people’s belongings
  • Respect the rules of your family, school and nation
  • Expect respect for your body and your rights
Copyright 2000, 2004 by The Virtues Project, Inc.

Healthy Lunches


School is a busy place to be and there are a lot of different activities and learning tasks that required our students to be ready for learning and ready to participate and contribute. 
Feeding your child a healthy, filling lunch helps our tamariki to get through a busy school day. 
During these colder winter days we know children are wanting a bit more kai in their lunchboxes. 

Tips for a fabulous lunchbox: 

wraps, sandwiches, scrolls, filled rolls or buns,croissants, pizza bread, pizza,scones, yoghurt, hummus, olives, fruit (sliced and ready to eat), proteins (vegetarian and meat), crackers, cheese, pasta, rice, egg (boiled or in a sandwich).  Treat foods like chocolate should be included very occasionally. 

For more ideas you can check out Nutrition Foundation NZ or Kidspot NZ 


Morning Routines 

We know that getting kids to school each day can be a challenge, especially on these cold and frosty mornings. 
Here are some useful affirmations to use in the morning to help if your child is showing reluctance to go to school: 
💛It may feel hard now, but it won't feel like this forever
💜Today is going to be a great day!
💙At anytime I can stop and breath
💗I can be kind to others and they will be kind to me 
💗I have people who care about me



Te Reo Maori 


Our focus this week has been learning colour names


Many of our tamariki are already very confident and can correctly name colours in tea reo maori. 
If you and your child would like to learn more you can check out this link to TVNZ (you may need to login): 

TVNZ Te Ao Maori




Kahikatea Singing



This term we have started singing again! Each Monday morning our team gathers in the theatre and Emma leads singing. 
We are learning to: 
Sing with expression and in tune
To sing with a correct singing voice 
To use different rhythms to stay in time  

We are learning the following waiata:
- E Tū Kahikatea
- Koromiko 
- Āta Marie
- Sprinkle A Little Sunshine



Creative Kids 

So many of our gorgeous tamariki demonstrate their creativity through play. Here are just some of their amazing creations: 





















Reminders...

Calendar Art 

Our tamariki have been working on beautiful calendar art these last two weeks and we look forward to sharing these with you soon! 

Book Character Dress-up Day 

Friday 19th August 

Ma te wa, 
Amber, Krystal, Emma, Katie, Lisa, Kerilea, Kate & Jan. 



 

Team Kahikatea SLT Trainees

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Kia ora e te whānau,


We are lucky to have two University of Canterbury speech-language therapy students with us this term, Lilly and Sarah. They are on their final placement before joining the workforce! Lisa Collier is a registered Speech-Language Therapist (SLT) as well as a teacher, and will be supervising the students. 


Lilly and Sarah will be working with many of our Kahikatea learners over the course of the term, in varying capacities. If Lisa currently works with your learner, then it is likely the students will also be part of their learning programme.


Please see a brief introduction from Sarah and Lilly, below.


If you have any questions, please contact lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz


Ngā mihi nui,

The Kahikatea Team

Sarah & Lilly


Kia ora everyone, 

I am Sarah a speech-language student in my fourth and final year of study. I am looking forward to working with Lisa, and meeting many learners during this experience. 

Before this placement, I have most recently had the opportunity to work with adults and children who have voice and fluency disorders, which allowed me to grow my knowledge and develop interest in areas that I did not have previously. 

I have great interest in working with children with complex needs; specifically, autism, and individuals requiring an AAC device. I look forward to the time that I will be spending at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto, and everything that I will learn and take away from this experience, which will allow me to grow as a speech-language therapist.

Ngā mihi,

Sarah Keppel


Kia ora,
 
My name is Lilly and I am a 4th Year speech and language student at the University of Canterbury. I have experience working in a variety of different areas with both children and adults. I am very excited to be doing my final placement at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto and working alongside the team. 
 
Thank you, 
Lilly




Kahikatea News Week 9 Term 2

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Kia ora kōutou,

It is amazing to think that we are halfway through the year! We are looking forward to meeting with you all next week at our mid-year learning conferences. 

We had an incredible trip to the International Antarctic Centre last week and learning about Antarctica, its climate, and the animals that live there. Thank you so much to our amazing whānau helpers for coming along and supporting us with our trip - we couldn't do it without you. 






































Learning Conferences

We are looking forward to meeting with you and your child/ren at learning conferences on either Monday or Wednesday next week. Please remember that school finishes at 2 pm. Please go ahead and book a learning conference with your child's home group teacher if you haven't already... it's not too late.

Belongings

We have noticed that there is quite a collection of belongings that are being left behind at the end of each day, including jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, etc. Please feel free to pop in and collect these items the next time you are on site.