Category Archives: Kahikatea

Kahikatea News Week 7 Term 3

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Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to Spring! It has been wonderful to have warmer days and to see the sun shining this week!


Keeping Ourselves Safe

This week Kahikatea students have learned about:

Unwanted Behaviour or Touch

  • Students need to know that they can stop touching or behaviour that is inappropriate, that worries or confuses them, or makes them feel unsafe.
  • Students need to be able to say “no” confidently, move away, and report what has happened.

Secrets and Tricks

  • Identify the difference between good surprises and bad secrets
  • Identify the adults they trust about bad secrets
  • Explain safe practices for trick situations, including online.
This Brian and Bobby video has been a really helpful resource for our tamariki.

Last week during our lessons with Constable Meg we all watched this video about Consent (link). We encourage you to watch this too when you have time.

Word of the Week: Friendship

This week we have been learning about friendships and practicing being a good friend. Good friends have several common character traits. By intentionally practicing these qualities, you can help your child learn to be a better friend. 

Here are some friendly character traits you can work on:
  • Taking turns
  • Offering encouragement
  • Sharing
  • Being patient
  • Including others

Mathematics

This week teachers have been completing the JAM test (Junior Asssessment for Maths) so classes have been combined. Some of the topics we have covered during this time include Skip Counting, Time, and Mathematical Art.

Here are some photos of our tamariki enjoying some different maths this week:















Chess Fun! 

Every morning a group of Kahikatea students gather in the nook to play games of chess. Anyone is welcome to play and we encourage those of you whose children like to play or would like to learn how to play chess to check out this cool link: ChessPlus


We hope you are having an enjoyable weekend.

Team Kahikatea



Kahikatea News Term 3 Week 5

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 Kia ora koutou!


Wow, it is incredible to think that we are at the halfway mark of the term! Some fantastic things have been happening in our hub. 

Word of the week - Respect


Maths Week

Last week was NZ maths week. Our tamariki enjoyed many maths activities designed to engage and promote maths within our schools. We created giant graphs and even Mondrian Style artworks - linking maths with art. 

Here are some photos:
















Book Week 

Last week was book week, so to celebrate and share our love of reading we had an awesome whole-school book character dress up day. Can you guess who some of us dressed up as?



















Calendar Art

Kahikatea has been busily working away on their calendar art creations. We can't wait for you to see them! The order forms and the link to your child's artwork will be sent home soon.

































Have a wonderful weekend,

Team Kahikatea

Kahikatea News Term 3 Week 3

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Kia ora e te whānau,

We all had such a great time at the disco today! Thank you to all of the parents/caregivers who came along and joined in with the fun, and to our wonderful PTA for organising such an enjoyable event.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

The Kahikatea team will be participating in the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme during Weeks 6 and 7. Your child's homegroup teacher will teach six sessions and Constable Meg will teach two sessions.

What will children learn?
They will learn:
- to work out when their safety is at risk
- how to keep safe when they meet and mix with other people
- who and how to ask for help if they, or someone they know, is being abused
- to go on asking for help until someone does something to stop the abuse
- that it is important to make and follow personal, family, and school safety rules

Children will have some short activities to work through at home with you. Thank you for your support with this.

Please click on this link for more information about Keeping Ourselves Safe.

 

Lunchboxes

Just a reminder to please not send lollies, chocolate, or drinks other than water to school. Our food-at-school policy aligns with national food and nutrition guidelines. 

"Good nutrition is essential for the healthy growth and development of children and young people.  Children and young people eat much of their food each weekday at school. Good nutrition affects students’ behaviour, learning, concentration and energy, as well as their physical health. When students eat a nutritious diet, they find it easier to learn. Teachers report improvements in students’ attendance, attention, behaviour and levels of concentration in schools where healthy eating is accepted practice." (Ministry of Education Healthy Food and Drink Guidance 2020)



Friendships

With inclusion being our word of the week, it might be worth checking in with your child about their friendships at school. In Kahikatea, we always encourage our tamariki to make new friends and get to know other children in the hub and at school. That way, they don't feel like they have to stick to one friend every playtime. Below are some videos you and your child can watch and discuss together.



Gymnastics

The Kahikatea tamariki have been enjoying doing gymnastics at Olympia! We have seen our school values of 'We Love Challenge' and 'We Love Learning' on display during each session. Next week will be our last week of gymnastics. Here are some photos from our sessions.























































Have a lovely weekend!

The Kahikatea Team

Kahikatea News Term 3 Week 1

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Kia ora e te whānau,

It was so lovely to see the smiles on the faces of the Kahikatea tamariki as they arrived at school on Monday morning! We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday break.

We have an exciting term ahead, with gymnastics, calendar art, House of Science learning, and the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme to look forward to.


Gymnastics

Our first gymnastics session will be next Tuesday, the 25th of July. The following social story has been shared with children. Please take a moment to have a look through it.





















Sharing Our Learning - What is a Scientist?

On Tuesday, Katie asked her home group the following questions:
- What is a scientist?
- What does a scientist do?

Children then drew a picture of how they view science in action. Here are some examples. We think they are fantastic!


"My scientist is studying eggs from a bird." - Jess


"The scientist is sharing his potions with the little kid." - Louis


"The scientist is doing tests on a hedgehog." - Poppy


"My scientist is holding a potion and is going to bed." - Rossouw


"She's making potions. She is called Rosie." - Violet


The scientists are inspecting the dogs and the cats." - Zac


"The scientist is studying the animals." - Sailor

Nuts at School

This is another reminder that the Kahikatea team has 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, 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'.


Literacy Information

Some children have changed into a new literacy group with a different teacher. It has been lovely getting to know our new literacy groups this week! 

Please ensure your child brings their literacy folder to school each day and places it in their literacy teacher's tub. This way, we can make sure that texts are regularly going home for you to enjoy with your child. 

Teachers will be sending home updated materials to support children with home learning by the end of Week 2.


Request for Materials

We love being creative in the Kahikatea team! Please continue to send along recyclable materials to school. 


That's all for now,

Team Kahikatea

katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz
amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz
krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz
quynh.nguyen@beckenham.school.nz
lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz

Kahikatea News Week 9

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Kia ora e te whānau,

It has been wonderful to connect with our community during Learning Conferences last week, and with our Matariki Whānau Rōpu hui this week. Thanks for coming along!


Matariki

We have been learning about Matariki through story telling, craft and singing. Our learners loved having whānau in the hub and joining in with the Matariki activities on Wednesday night. 

Here are some photos:









Mathematics

Our learners have been so engaged in our 'Notice, Think, Wonder' prompts. Here are some of the thoughts that we came up with for the following image:


"It's a pattern!"- Cara
"It's not complete."- Charlie
"It repeats the pattern". - June
"There are 3 colours. The whole picture is a rectangle." - Finn
"There are 10 squares." - Aya
"There's a red line... a rectangle... with squares attached." - Hunter
"There are 4 rectangles." - Felix "5 with the green!"- Hunter
"There are 3 blues and 3 yellows." - Henry
"It's like hopscotch - 1 foot, 2 feet, 1 foot, 2 feet..." - Jace

Matariki Maths:
















Word of the Week: Cooperation

We have explored cooperation this week. We have listened to stories, shared examples, and done some activities which have required cooperation/teamwork.

One of the activities that some of our learners were involved with was working in teams to create human objects. It was pretty chaotic when we were first working in teams to complete the tasks! People were trying different things and we weren't all communicating effectively. The second try was so much more successful. We reflected on how we were successful when working cooperatively.

Here are some images from that activity:




Another activity involved some collaborative colouring. Chunks of a puzzle were given out, that needed to be coloured in as a group. Some groups sat so that everyone could access the puzzle at once, to colour, and some took equal turns. It was fabulous to hear the conversation and problem-solving. We then worked collaboratively to put the puzzle together.







Kapa Haka

Our learners have really enjoyed singing a new waiata this term with Whāia Cath. It makes us giggle. Here are the lyrics, if your child wants to share this with you at home:




Parent Supervision Roster

We have a number of spaces on the parent supervision roster for Term 3. Please email Katie if you would like to support us in the playground during lunch playtime. 
katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz


Spare Clothes

With the wintery weather upon us, it would be fantastic if you can send your learner along with a spare change of clothes. They can also bring gumboots to avoid wet/muddy shoes. Tamariki are welcome to bring slippers along to school too!



This is the last blog of term 2, with just one week left of school! Have a wonderful holiday break! 

Ngā mihi nui,
Team Kahikatea