Category Archives: Kahikatea

Kahikatea Team News Term 2 Week 4

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Kia ora e te whānau,

Over the past few weeks, our tamariki have been busy with some incredible learning experiences, and there are lots of exciting updates to share from the Kahikatea Hub!

One of the highlights was our trip to Ferrymead. Our ākonga had an absolute blast exploring toys and stepping back in time. We know many of you are eager to see what they got up to! 


Reminder - Staff Only day

On Friday, the 30th of May, the school is closed.


A Fantastic Day at Ferrymead!

We had an amazing day exploring Ferrymead, and our tamariki absolutely loved the hands-on learning experiences. Our ākonga were split into small groups and rotated through five exciting stations, each highlighting a different aspect of life and play in the past. These included:

  • The Science Behind Toys – Exploring the mechanics and physics that make toys work.

  • Puppets – Learning how puppets were used for storytelling and play.

  • Indoor and Outdoor Games – A chance to try out traditional games from the past.

  • Exploring an Old Classroom – Our tamariki stepped back in time and even created their own thaumatrope – a simple optical illusion toy from the 1800s! (Want to try it at home? Check out this video: How to Make a Thaumatrope)

  • Wandering the Ferrymead Township – A chance to explore the buildings, vehicles, and streets of Ferrymead.

The trip was not only fun but also a great learning opportunity. Our ākonga discovered how toys and games have changed over time, the perfect lead-in to the next phase of our inquiry: designing and creating our very own toys!

We can’t wait to see the creativity that comes next!



















Welcome Georgie!

We’re excited to give a big, warm welcome to Georgie Jones, who is joining our literacy sessions each day!

Georgie has been working in Pōhutukawa as a Literacy and Numeracy Support Teacher and brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to our team. She will be working with a few small groups from Talia and Amber’s classes during our reading block.

This is a fantastic opportunity for our ākonga, as it means smaller group sizes and more focused time with a teacher each day.

Georgie also specialises in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and brings a fresh perspective on English language learning. Her expertise will be valuable not just for our ESOL learners, but for all tamariki as we continue to grow our literacy skills together.


Cross Country Highlights – Embracing the Challenge!

Cross country was an awesome event! Every single tamaiti gave it their all, showing determination, resilience, and a fantastic attitude from start to finish. It was great to see our kura come together and celebrate one another. 

A huge thank you to all the whānau who came along to tautoko (support) our tamariki, and to those who helped out on the day, we couldn’t have done it without you!

This event was a wonderful example of how we show our school value  ‘We love challenge’.
























Money, Money, Money!

This week, our tamariki have been diving into the world of financial literacy and what a fun and engaging unit it's been!

We’ve been super impressed with how much our clever ākonga already know about money. Throughout the week, we’ve focused on:

  • Identifying New Zealand coins and notes

  • Understanding their value

  • Solving simple money equations using addition

It’s been fantastic to see our students making real-world connections, asking thoughtful questions, and enjoying hands-on activities with pretend money.

Kōrero about money at home

We encourage you to talk to your tamariki about money in everyday situations. For example:

  • Explore coins and notes together
  • Look at prices when you're at the supermarket
  • Compare costs or count change

These simple conversations will help build their confidence and understanding of money in real-life contexts!

Here are some pics of what they’ve been up to this week!




























Kahikatea Team News Term 2 Week 2

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 Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to Term Two, and a special welcome to our new tamariki and their whanau. It's a pleasure getting to know you all! 

We are looking forward to our visit to Ferrymead Historic Park next week. 

  • Your child will need to wear their school uniform
  •  A warm jersey or jacket
  • A packed lunch, 
  •  A drink bottle
  • No lunch orders, please 
Children don’t need to unpack their school bags when they get to school. 

School Cross Country 

This will be held on Friday, 23 May. Our children will run in their year groups. Teachers will walk their classes onto the big field for a warm,-up and then each year group will line up ready for their run. 
Year 1 will run at 11.20am (approx)
Year 2 will run at 11.30am (approx) 

We have daily practice runs to prepare for this event, including running on the big field and during our daily fitness sessions. Thank you for sending your child to school in appropriate footwear for running. 

Fraction Fun (MATHS) 

For the last two weeks, we have focused on fractions for our maths learning. Next week, we would like our kids to make Fairy Bread as a celebration of the end of this learning focus. If your child has specific dietary requirements (dairy/gluten), please email your child's homegroup teacher to let them know. 

Dear family and whānau,
This week, we learned about fractions as numbers. We explored the meaning of the top and bottom numbers in a fraction. Ask your child about the meaning of the numbers in a fraction like three-quarters or seven-eighths.
We used two types of material to explore fractions, circles, and rods. Challenge your child to divide circles up into equal parts and to draw a number line showing the size of fractions.


Learning Through Play 

Our beautiful tamariki still enjoy our Learning Through Play sessions with our whole hub. This week included the dress-ups and some disco dancing too! 


























Word of the Week: Honesty 


Honesty means that we are truthful in what we say and do. 

When we are honest, people in our lives know that they can trust us. Trust is an important part of positive relationships with our family, friends, and teachers.



Ferrymead Heritage Park - social story 

Here is the social story we have shared with our tamariki in the daily notices. You are welcome to go over it with your child/ren at home too. 


Book Character Dress-up Day 

Kia ora whānau,
As part of our readathon, we are excited to have a book character dress-up day on Friday, May 16th.
Students are invited to come dressed as a book character or, if they prefer, in their usual school uniform. It is not a casual clothes day.













Kahikatea Team News: Term 2, Week 1

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 Kia ora whānau

Welcome back to Term 2! We have had a lovely first week back, hearing all about the holiday break and reconnecting with our tamariki. The Kahikatea kids have coped really well with being inside all day due to the wet and wild weather.

Welcome Nicky!

A big welcome to Nicky Dunlop who joins our team as our release cover teacher. Nicky has worked at Beckenham te Kura for a long time, mostly in the Y7 and 8 team. She is very excited to be joining the Kahikatea crew. Nicky will cover Sarah's team leader release all day on Tuesdays and she will cover Amber and Talia's release alternating Thursdays. Nicky is super creative and loves arts and crafts and is keen to implement a visual art afternoon once a week for our kids!


We would also like to welcome six new students who have started: Zheng Quan Yeow and Evelyn Lewis have joined Sarah's homgroup. Bhavjot Singh and Maliah Lloyd in Amber's homgroup and Erin Bannister and Ahaan Syam are now in Talia's homegroup. Welcome to Beckenham te Kura.


Fun fractions!
For the next couple of weeks our Mathematics focus is on Number, in particular fractions. Students have been learning about fair and equal sharing and how objects can be divided into parts if needed. They have been learning the symbols for different fractions-ask them about halves, quarters, thirds and fifths! They know that a fraction is part of a whole and that the numerator (top number) tells us how many and the denominator (bottom) tells us how many parts it is divided into. For example 1/3 is saying "one piece out of 3 pieces".
We have been working through some pretty tricky problems involving kiwi birds sharing worms. 












Clothing:
A reminder to please make sure all jumpers and wet weather jackets are clearly named. We are asking children to keep their jackets in their bags/cubbies. Jumpers come off when we are inside during the day and get put into tubs.

Cross Country:
When the weather clears we will continue to have daily practice for our whole school cross country coming up on Friday 29th May. Please ensure your children are coming to school with appropriate footwear to be able to run.


Parent Helpers Wanted!
Are there any parents who would love to come in and sort through our hub dress-up costumes. Some need throwing, some need washing and they all need sorting. There are about 5 boxes of them. We probably need 2-3 adults to sort and cull and some to take home a bag and wash.
If you are keen to help, please email sarah.junghenn@beckenham.school.nz.
Thanks to all of the parents who indicated they would like to help with our Ferrymead trip. We are working through groups, etc and will be in touch next week to let you know the details.

Winter Sport: If you are keen to help out on Thursday afternoons with the Year 5-8 winter sports rotation please let Hugo Weaver know. The sports on offer are: Hockey, Netball, Football and Flag football (NFL). If you are able to support the running of any of these, please email Hugo below.
Hugo.weaver@beckenham.school.nz












Kahikatea News: Term 1 Week 11

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 Phew! We cannot believe how quickly the first term has flown by. You should be super proud of your wee ones, they have worked hard and our recent assessment shows they are all progressing in leaps and bounds.

Amber, Talia, Lisa, Nicola and myself have all really enjoyed getting to know you more this term, thanks for all of your amazing, ongoing support with our tamariki.


Here are a few pics from our Learning through Play sessions this week: We are always astounded by the creativity, problem solving, caring, energy and delighful conversation that occurs during these sessions.
















A few things to keep on your radar for next term:

-School reports will go out mid term

-Whānau learning conferences will be scheduled for later in the term

-No sunhats required next term! (these should have arrived home today).

-We have Cross Country happening in the first few weeks of school and will need some parent helpers to mark out the course and marshall. More info to come.

-Next term both Talia and Amber's homegroups will participate in Kapa Haka sessions. Sarah's class will join back in, in Term 3.

-Our overall theme for Inquiry this year is change. This term we have had a Health and P.E/Art focus. Next term the focus will be Technology. We will be looking at Toys through time-how they have changed and how we could adapt/create a fabulous new toy.

-Please collect cardboard boxes over the break. We will be needing these as part of our Technology sessions next term.

-We have planned a trip to Ferrymead Heritage Park in the third week of term. I will be requesting parent helpers for this via a google form over the holidays so keep an eye out.

Please have a safe, happy and relaxing break! We will see you all rearing to go in a couple of weeks.



Kahikatea Team News: Term 1, Week 9

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 Kia ora whānau,

A lot of exciting learning to share in this week's blogpost. We cannot believe we are nearly at the end of the term. The kids have been working so hard and they are also very tired.

Literacy:

A reminder that book and reading folders will go home on Monday and need to be brought back on Mondays so that books can be changed over.





Picasso Art:

We have been learning about abstract art and looking at the work of Picasso. The children have learned about his use of shape and how the emotions he was feeling influenced his colour choices. They have been so engaged and excited by these sessions, and we are creating some cool art! Watch this space!







Mathematics:
In keeping with Picasso, we have been looking at geometry and 2D shapes in math. We have been creating a lot of artworks using different 2D shapes. Come and have a look in our classes to check out our designs.


















House Games Afternoon:
What a huge success! The first House Games afternoon was very well run by our senior house captains and deputies. Thanks for such a fun afternoon!