Category Archives: Kahikatea

Week 6 Newsletter

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Kia Ora

This week has zoomed past with only 3 days with the children at school. We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. There is a busy week ahead of us next week too.

Cross Country 
On Thursday 16th June at 9:30am until approximately 10:30am we have our Cross Country. Please meet us out on Beckenham Park (the big field) near the benches. It would pay to arrive a bit earlier if possible so you can get a good viewing spot and we can have a prompt start. We will warm the children up in their class groups and bring them out to meet you.

The children will need to have:

  • their house colours 
  • appropriate footwear
  • a drink bottle 
  • a jersey/jacket. 
We will be having a full run through on Monday so the children are well versed in what is happening on Thursday. Please ensure they are wearing appropriate footwear on Monday also. 

Sumdog
Over the next week teachers will be sending home a 'Sumdog login card' in your child's reading folder.   
Sumdog uses educational games to motivate the students in maths, reading and writing. Its adaptive learning engine monitors and guides them as they work. It gets to know each student, leading them through the standards. The skills are aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum and broken into manageable steps. 
You can login at home on this website https://www.sumdog.com/  using your username and password. The school code is beckenham. 

Sun Writing


What is the Sun and why is it important? 

Welcome to the journey of discovering space. 
The sun is a star and it is made out of gas. The sun's name is Sol. The sun is there because if we didn't have the sun we would be in big danger. If the sun wasn't here we would be dead because we need the light for the plants so we can eat and have shade. 
The sun is humongous! 

By Sophie M


What is the Sun and why is it important? 

The sun is huge. The sun is also extremely burning. The sun is important because it gives us light as well as oxygen. The sun gives the plants light for the carbon-dioxide and oxygen cycle which keeps us moving and living. 

By Brynn

Space Discovery 
We were very lucky to have Hugh, Sophie M's Grandad, visit us all the way from Hamilton to answer our questions about space. 
He showed us a presentation to answer our questions:











Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

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We have been learning about constellations today. Oliver described a constellation as, "a group of stars that look like a picture when the dots are joined up." We thought that was a great definition!
Here are a group of Hub 3 children with their Big Dipper constellations. 




What patterns can you see in the night sky tonight? 

Geometry

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We are learning to sort items into groups and explaining our groups using mathematical words like colours, groups, size, shape etc. We need to be able to work as a team with our sorting and listen to each other's ideas respectfully.
"We were stacking them and counting how many there were. We sorted them into size and colours."

"We put them into our own pictures sorting them into colours." 

"First we did our idea of sorting them into groups of animals then we tried out sorting them into colours."

"We put them into their piles of shapes. This is the triangles, hexagons and long ones. We put them into size as well." 

"We sorted into a line in the same colours as every one. Green had the most then blue then yellow then red."

"First we decided to sort them into colours. We decided to put them into shapes too."




Week 5 Newsletter

Posted on by
Talofa 'aiga,

We have had another busy week in the Kahikatea team, with our particular focus on Space (Planet Earth and Beyond). The writing and experimenting that the children have been involved in has demonstrated to us their enormous interest and motivation in this subject. We shall continue to publish samples of writing here on our Blog, but please do check out your children's writing books in the classrooms as well.

Next week is going to be very busy for us all:
  • teachers are involved in a Teacher Only Day on Tuesday, focusing on the teaching of writing
  • on both Wednesday and Thursday, teachers will be involved in teaching and observing each other, as we continue our focus on the teaching of writing
  • on Wednesday, we have our hockey 'festival' session between 9:30 and 10 a.m.
  • and on Thursday, we are having the second of our Arts Extravaganza days, with children rotating through 4 different sessions, which will include Drama/Dance, visual art (2 different sessions), and music.

As a result of not only the above, but also the fact that next week is a short week anyway, our Home Learning is going to have a different look. Teachers will be in touch with you regarding the type of approach that their Home Learning will take.

Blog notifications:
Please note that you are able to subscribe to being emailed whenever a new post is added to our Blog. This is not compulsory, however you may find it quite convenient. To access this, you can find the space to add your email address at the top right hand corner of our home page.

A reminder about upcoming events:
  • Matariki will be starting on June 6th and will run throughout the following month
  • the Koru and Kahikatea teams cross country will be held on Thursday, June 16th (another newsletter reminder will be coming out about this at the start of Week 7); this event will be starting very promptly at 9:30, so perhaps arrive a few minutes earlier!
  • Science Alive's Space Discovery Dome will be coming to Beckenham School on Monday, June 20th - another event to look forward to!
  • the Court Theatre will be coming on Thursday, June 23rd to present their performance of Matariki for us.
The rising of the Matariki star cluster signals the celebration of the Maori New Year in New Zealand
The rising of the Matariki star cluster signals the celebration of the Maori New Year in New Zealand

The Matariki Kite Day celebrates the symbolic connection of heaven and earth
Matariki Kite Day celebrates the symbolic connection of heaven and earth
We hope that you all have a wonderful long weekend, and look forward to seeing the children again next Wednesday.