Our choir performed at the South Music festival tonight and they were fabulous. A big congratulations to Jarred and the choir. All of that hard work paid off; we were so proud of you all. A special well done to the talented comperes and beautiful soloists.








This Thursday is our Showcase evening for Year 5 - 8. All children performing need to be at school, in the hall, by 6:50pm. Groups performing are: Te Whanau Mahi Tahi, the choir, Jarred's Passion Friday drama group and the Friday youth band. Ailie and Oakley will be our comperes and Marco and Lennox will be managing the tech support. There will also be groups from Year 5 & 6 performing, as well as a video about Year 7 & 8. All families are most welcome to join us for what promises to be an entertaining evening.

Science Fair is occupying lots of our time at school at the moment. It was reassuring to hear many children have completed their experiments at home. If you have not seen your child working on their experiment at home, please ask questions and encourage them to get busy on this today. Display boards, which are being worked on at school, need to be finished by Thursday.

Ski Trip: On Thursday August 18th (week 4), we will all be at school bright and early (6:45am), ready to jump on the buses and head up to Mt Hutt, for an awesome day of fun and learning on the slopes. For this day to happen, we need the support of parent helpers. Please click on this link if you are interested in joining us for the day.

Week 7! Hard to believe, but we have three and a half weeks left of this term. Here are some important messages for this week.

Korfball: A huge well done to our korfball team who came third in the Christchurch competition at Cowles Stadium on Monday. They did so well, only losing one game. A special congratulations to Jaxon, who was named in the tournament team.


World Vision Famine: It was great to hear about the children's experiences of doing the 20 or 40 hour famine over the weekend. Please encourage your child to collect in their sponsorship money as quickly as possible.

Creating gourmet pizzas last Friday.

Clocks get their first layer of papier mache.

Taping the clock box together.

Science Fair Projects: Over the past four weeks we have been scoping the topic of energy with the children in science. We have looked at different types of energy, how energy can transform from one form to another, renewable and non-renewable energy, and yesterday we had a visit from Eugene, an energy efficiency engineer.

Yesterday we introduced the idea of science fair projects to the children and they started browsing selected websites for ideas on which to base their projects. Please ask your child to show you their science fair document in Google Classroom, which has the outline of the process they will be working through. Here is a youtube clip which explains the process; start it at 2:50. This week their goal is to decide on a topic, a focus question and a hypothesis. It is really important that their questions is specific and something that can be measured and tested through an experiment. We will be looking at this in class on Wednesday or Thursday. Your support with discussion and ideas at home would be very much appreciated. This is an individual project. While we will be working with the children on their projects at school each week, we expect them to be putting in some time at home as well. We will update you each week on where they should be up to.

Writing: This is the final week to work on recount writing. The majority of the children are well underway and we are impressed with the quality of their writing. This writing needs to be finished by Thursday. Please ask your child to show you their writing and encourage them to work on this at home if required, so that they can have this completed on time. Each child will have 60 - 90 minutes of writing time over Wednesday and Thursday.

Sport: During the week, most children have lunchtime sports practices. If these are on the field, they will need to have a spare set of clothing to change into for this practice. Please remind your child to be prepared for this. On Friday when we travel for winter sport, every child must have a drink bottle. If they don't they don't go. Last week we had several children without drink bottles. All children should have water bottles in their buckets, so this shouldn't be an issue. Please check your child is prepared with a drink bottle at school.

Choir: Last week notices were sent home about purchasing tickets for the South Zone Music Festival on June 28th. If you have any queries about this, please contact Jarred. jarred.skelton@beckenham.school.nz

20/40 Hour Famine: It is less that two weeks until the Famine weekend. If your child has signed up for this, please encourage them to keep going with their collecting of sponsors, so that they can make a difference for the refugees in Syria.

Staff Student Netball Match: On Monday the Year 8s challenged to the staff to a game of netball. While the students had speed on their side, the staff had the height advantage. This time the game went to the staff. The students are already plotting their next challenge.

Looking great in our new basketball uniforms. The Beckenham Blazers are a very enthusiastic team, who are improving their game each week.

The Beckenham Ballers have had a great start to their season, with two wins so far.

Writing Motivation: What an epic time we had at the Margaret Mahy Playground on Monday. Thanks to the slightly inclement weather, we practically had the place to ourselves. The children had a blast! Lots of good experiences to draw on for writing over the next couple of weeks. The task will be to write about a memorable activity / event that the child has been involved in recently. It could be Monday's outing, or it could be something else that was memorable. Brainstorming and planning happens on Tuesday and writing will begin on Wednesday. Talking about experiences at home would be really helpful. The exemplar is copied below the photos.




































Tracy's exemplar:

• Writing is in chronological order

• Write in the past tense
• Include strong verbs
• Use first or third person
• Include details to add interest to reader
• Use time connectives; next, meanwhile, within hours, soon afterwards
• Link the conclusion to the introduction

Hi everyone,

We have had a really good start to term two in the intermediate hub. Next week, we are looking forward to catching up with you all at learning conferences. Remember the early finishes, 2pm, on Tuesday and Thursday.

Cross country was a great success yesterday, with many children really challenging themselves. The top six place-getters in each race were given a notice about zones today. If you haven't seen it, please ask your child. This event is at Halswell Quarry on Wednesday morning. If you are able to help out on the course for the morning, please contact Tracy.

20/40 Hour Famine: On Tuesday, Harley, from World Vision, came to talk to us about how we can help the Syrian refugees by getting involved in the 20 or 40 Hour Famine this year. Having studied this last term, the children were particularly engaged in what he had to tell us. Many children have already signed up for the Famine, and have been given their packs to collect sponsors. If your child would like to be involved, but hasn't got a pack, then they need to see Jarred.



Water Bottles: Many children are now organised with water bottles at school. By next Monday every child needs to have a named water bottle in their bucket. Please check with your child to see if they are sorted.

Hillview School have invited us to the dress rehearsal of their production of 'Joseph and his Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat' next Thursday morning. We will walk to Hillview, leaving school at 10am and returning by 12:30. We would like some parents to accompany us and stay to watch the show. Please email Nicky if you can come along. Each child is to bring a gold coin donation.

Maths home-learning is due tomorrow. Your child should nearly be finished their dream accommodation writing. We have 40 minutes of scheduled writing time for this assignment next week. Please ask them to show you what they have written so far.

Next week sport gets underway. The Breakers first basketball game is at 4:30pm on Monday, children will need to be at Pioneer by 4:15. The Ballers and the Blazers draw is yet to arrive, but their first games are next Friday. Winter sport also starts on Friday, May 20th. Children will need to be prepared with water bottles, and sports specific equipment such as mouth guards (rugby, hockey) and shin pads (football, hockey).

We have been learning two songs in sign language. The children have done really well with this.