Our next writing motivation is on Monday. We will share the exemplar with you, to give you an idea of what we are looking for in the children’s writing. Please ask your child to show you their writing later in the week. We encourage the children to keep working on their writing at home.

The children have enjoyed the variety of activities and learning they have been involved in this week. They hung on every word of 'The Good Lie' movie. This gave them a good base understanding of the challenges faced by refugees. Hopefully your child has come home and discussed the movie.

A big thanks to Tracy for her superb organisation of the school swimming sports. Thanks also to the students who helped with media coverage and organisation. Congratulations to all of those who took part. Tracy will be announcing the team for zones once she has processed the results. The south zone swimming sports are on the morning of March 14 at Jellie Park.

Next week is our art week. We are spending every afternoon learning about and creating visual art. The children have chosen from street art, optical art and art using block letter words.

One of the big weekly highlights at the moment are our basketball sessions with the Rams. The children are giving 100% for the full hour and basic skills are progressing really well. Below is a video of the boys' training this week.


Next week we are closing the kitchen, as we have had some issues with children being in the hub at lunchtimes when they shouldn't. Please make sure your child doesn't bring lunch that requires toasting, heating or hot water. All going well, we will be back to normal kitchen operation in week 6.

Dunedin camp is getting closer! We currently have four parents who have offered to join us and we would like two more. If you can be available from April 4 - 8 and would like to spend a week in fabulous company, please let one of us know. The full cost of camp is $315, however the actual cost will be lower than this. We are in the process of finalising fundraising totals and Audrey has applied for a grant to go towards transport costs. As soon as we know the actual cost, I will pass this information on.

A couple of reminders: please check and return contact details sheets if you haven't done so already and  get Year 8 girls' HPV vaccination forms back to the office.

Below is a picture of our Room 16 whiteboard for week 5. This outlines our timetable and may be helpful to have at home for some children, to assist with their organisation. We will include a timetable photo in the blog each week.

Leadership
What a fabulous leadership week we have had, with so many highlights. We hope your child has come home with many experiences to share. We are hearing great things about the Year 7s being leaders in Year 1- 4 classes today. The Year 8s have applied the habits and leadership traits we have been talking about, in a range of ways over the past two days. Many of them have taken great leaps in confidence as they worked together in groups to achieve goals.

On Wednesday the Year 8s watched and discussed a TED talk about redefining leadership. We learnt all about 'lollipop moments'. You may want to view this talk so that you can reinforce the message at home.

As part of our exploration of synergy, we looked at the flight formation of migrating geese, with both Year 7 and Year 8. Here is a link to a slideshow that we unpacked with the children. Again, this would be something good to discuss and reinforce at home.

Social Studies
On Monday and Wednesday next week we will be launching into our study of refugees by watching and discussing the movie 'The Good Lie'. This is a PG movie. Check this review from Common Sense Media.

Remembering February 22nd
You are most welcome to join us on the park on Monday, from 12:30, as we stop to remember Feb 22nd 2011.

A big thanks to Simon, Rod, Elise, Mike and Gloria, parents and grandparents who contributed their time and skills to our leadership week.

Looking back on the week...

James teaches us about leadership in a very amusing way.

Year 7s synergise to draw a smiley face.

Using individual strengths to create a water container.

Supporting each other to scale the climbing frame.

Success!

The flying fox challenge.

Discussing strategies.

'Seek first to understand and then be understood.'

Year 8s 'unlock the grid' using non-verbal communication and teamwork.

More strategising

Aaron shares great ideas about goal setting.

'Sharpening the Saw'

Passion foodies chomp into their yummy stuffed potatoes.

Passion photographers explore take pictures using a variety of camera angles.

Lots and good times, challenge and celebration has been had over the last week for Year 7 & 8. All the very best of luck to those children and families who are moving on from Beckenham. Safe and happy holidays to everyone. We look forward to seeing all of our Year 8s at learning conferences on Feb 1st or 2nd. Contact the office if you still need to book a conference time.