Discos! Discos! Discos!

Identity

You may have noticed a whole lot of waka going up in our homerooms. Tamariki (children) have been working on a hoe (oar) that expresses how they contribute to class. This shows our school value of Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe, 'We Get There Together'.

Salt painting

Sarah and Quynh’s homeroom explored salt painting. This process involves the pulling (osmosis) property of liquid on salt. It was challenging to get the picture you wanted as you were limited by the materials. Our tamariki showed patience working together and demonstrated our school value of Nau mai te wero, 'We Love Challenge'.

Arts- Music

Last Friday some of our tamariki (children) enjoyed a music session with Ferndale ākonga (students). Both parties had a brilliant time - we are so lucky to spend time with our Ferndale friends

Cyber Safety - Gaming

LiteracyEncourage your tamariki on their reading journey through reading and storytelling. Every child is given reading books to take home for home reading.

Mathematics

We are currently exploring and developing an understanding of time through a unit of work called How Long Now?

Dear parents and whānau,

This week we have been exploring time and learning to tell time to an hour and a half-hour. We have also been looking at different sorts of clocks. Please support your child in drawing pictures or taking photos of clocks in your home and community (for example, watches, appliance clocks, novelty clocks, clock radios). Another way you can support your child's learning is by talking about the time when certain things happen, especially if it is on the hour or half hour. For example: "Look! It's 8 o'clock, time for bed" or "It's 5:30, time for tea".

In addition to this, we always appr

Also, we are always helping our children to consolidate their number knowledge. Any card and board games are a fun way to reinforce this learning. For example memory, fish, old maid, snap, stop the bus. 

ResilienceThis week uur PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) focus has been on Resilience. Here are the links from our daily notices:

Resilience Song

Building Resilience: Character

Teaching Assistant 

We are fortunate to have a trainee Teaching Assistant joining our team. 

Sanduni

Hi everyone 

My name is Sanduni and I’m from Sri Lanka. We moved to 

New Zealand 8 years ago with my husband Harsha and my 6-month-old son Sedas. My son is now 9 years old and studies at Beckenham School in year 5. I have another daughter too. I love to dance and teach traditional dancing to Sri Lankan kids in Christchurch. 

I will start studying a teacher aide course this year 

because I love to help children like you improve their 

learning skills. I'm so excited to start my first day next week. Thank you very much to all the teachers who have allowed me to visit their classrooms. See you all on Monday morning. 

Sanduni 

 Tena Koutou Katoa, 

The cooler weather is now here and rainy days too! Thank you for naming rain jackets, coats, hats etc and checking in the hub to locate your child's belongings at the end of the day. Each home group has at least one large tub for school jerseys and jackets and we encourage children to check all of these if they have lost something. 

School Uniform 

Teachers have been reminding tamariki about the correct uniform items that they should be wearing to school. The following list is taken directly from our school website: 

Clothing

Plain black culottes

Black and white gingham culottes

Black and white gingham dress

Black track pants

Black drill shorts

Red polar fleece jacket

Red polo shirt (long or short sleeved)

Red fleece sweatshirt

Plain red zip Merino top

School Footwear

Black school shoes

Plain white or dark runners

Black school sandal, preferably with a closed in toes

Black or white socks

Hair Accessories

Plain black/red headbands, ties, ribbons or clips.

Cyber Safety 

All You Need to Know About TikTok

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media apps. It’s a platform for creating, sharing and discovering short videos – and many young people love it! From new dance crazes to funny clips to animal videos, TikTok can inspire creativity and bring joy.

But parents and whānau must help their tamariki navigate Tiktok safely. Today we’re sharing the Netsafe Tiktok Family Safety Toolkit Netsafe Tiktok Family Safety Toolkit so you can help guide your whānau to a fun and safe digital experience.

Pink Shirt Day & Learning Through Play

Have a lovely weekend everyone! 
Team Kahikatea 

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a fantastic term we have had in the Kahikatea team! Ngā ākonga have settled in beautifully with their 2024 home groups, and it has been wonderful to see friendships grow and rich learning taking place. Thank you for your ongoing support as we 'fill our kete for the journey.'

Katie and Amber have enjoyed co-leading the Kahikatea team during Term 1. Amber will be the Acting Team Leader from the beginning of Term 2. She is very excited to be stepping back into this role for 2024 while Katie continues working in her Acting Deputy Principal role for the remainder of the year.

Identity

Teddy Bears Picnic

Kia ora whānau,

The end of Term 1 is just around the corner and our tamariki have worked so hard. It is wonderful to see friendships blossoming, resilience growing, and a determination to achieve learning goals. To celebrate and to acknowledge the wonderful work of all our tamariki we will be having a Teddy Bear Picnic/Pajama Day on the 11th of April. Your child/ren is warmly invited to bring: 

A teddy or cuddly toy (no hard plastic toys please) 

1x small blanket (to sit on or snuggle up in) 

their usual packed lunch

and 

wear their pyjamas! 

Communication

Word of the Week:

Our word of the week is cooperation. Cooperation is all about teamwork and the ability to work well with others.  Our school values, 'We Get There Together ' ('Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe') and 'We Care' ('Arohaina te tāngata ma te taiao') are shown when tamariki cooperate well with others. Below is a short animation and a song about cooperation. 

https://childrenslitlove.com/2020/02/26/fantastic-reads-to-build-teamwork-and-cooperation-skills/ 

Netball:

We have thoroughly enjoyed our netball sessions this term. Tamariki have worked hard to develop their movement skills of running, jumping, throwing, catching, coordination, and teamwork. 

House Games: 

A big thank you to the Year 7/8 House Captains who organise such fun activities during House Games. 

Library: 

Just a reminder that Ella and Amber's homegroups visit the school library on Tuesdays to change their books and Quynh and Sarah's homegroups visit on Thursdays. Tamariki must have their library folders at school on these days so that books can be changed. Also, if your child is not bringing a library book home, it may be because books are overdue on their library account. It would be wonderful if these books could be returned to school. If these books have been misplaced, please contact the school office. 

Resources

Thank you so much to the whānau who have donated toys, cardboard boxes, and craft supplies to support learning through play. It is very much appreciated and the children love having these new resources to inspire creativity. Lots of these items do get used quickly so it would be wonderful if you can collect and bring in any of the following items. 

• Craft and construction (wool, boxes, buttons, milk lids, containers, toilet roll tubes) 
• Magazines, coloured paper or card, posters, old calendars
• Stickers/labels 
• Good dress-up costumes (including hats, accessories, shoes) 
• Wrapping paper
• Ribbon or string
• Boxes for box construction (cereal boxes, biscuit boxes, small paper bags, egg cartons etc

We also want to make a really cosy reading space in the hub. If you have any top quality cushions, fabric, rugs or blankets that are no longer needed, please let your child's kaiako know. 

Photo Gallery: 

Reminders: 

• Please name your child's belongings
• Please remind your child/ren they do not need to bring toys to school
• Hats are to be worn during break times (Term 1 and 4)

 If you need to korero with your child's teacher please remember you can email us: 

sarah.angelo@beckenham.school.nz

ella.rainbow@beckenham.school.nz

quynh.nguyen@beckenham.school.nz

amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz

lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz

Arohanui, from Team Kahikatea 

Amber, Quynh, Lisa, Sarah, Ella & Katie