Kia ora koutou,
Welcome to Term 3

Bounce and Skip
Kinetic Letters is a handwriting program that teaches us about the formation of letters and numbers. There are four main threads: making bodies stronger, holding the pencil, learning the letters, and flow and fluency.


Holding the pencil
1. Point the pencil at my tummy
2. Pick it up with my Holding Fingers
3. Tip it back to lay across my hand and pop my Pillow Finger underneath


We do our Bounce and Skip handwriting lying on our tummies, resting our elbows with our legs out straight.





When the children learn to form letters, they hear stories about Brave Monkey and Scared Monkey who help them to know where to start their letters. We use special whiteboards to give the children a prompt to remember this.

The 'Jumper Family' all start with a down movement and then back up and over; r, p, n, and m begin at Scared Monkey, h and b begin at Brave Monkey.


The 'Abracadabra Family' all start with a 'c' shape before going 'up like a helicopter' and back down; c, o, a, g, q, and s begin at Scared Monkey, d goes 'up like a helicopter' to Brave Monkey.


Ngā mihi mahana,
Stacey, Kristika, Elizabeth and Jo

Kia ora, whānau,
It's hard to believe, but yes - it's the final week of term! The children are thoroughly enjoying the last few days before their break, and are over the moon to be able to play and explore on the new playground area beside Pūkaki. It's absolutely beautiful and very inviting for the wee ones.





Joining Our Friends From the Ferndale Hub for Play-based Learning:
From time to time, the tamariki from the Ferndale Hub join us for Play-based Learning. This week we were invited into their learning spaces to explore and play. We had so much fun and can't wait to go back!





Reminders:
Tomorrow we're going to be baking Matariki star biscuits. A big thank you to the parents who have offered to help us - we really appreciate you!

...and on Friday, we're going to be making popcorn. If you are able to lend us your popcorn maker, we'd be very grateful. Please see your child's Home Group teacher.

A reminder that there was a notice in our school newsletter on June 14th, about plans for Term 3:
Elizabeth will be returning to full-time teaching in Term 3. Elizabeth will continue to teach her home group in Term 3, and Stacey will work three days a week across the team.

Your children's home group spaces will remain the same in Term 3, and Stacey will begin and end each day in Kōmanawa.

We hope you all have wonderful holidays, wherever you may be. Keep safe and warm!
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Elizabeth, Stacey and Kristika

Kia ora koutou,

Celebration Assembly

Wow! Koru team did a fantastic job performing at Celebration Assembly. They performed three waiata, and the boys, a haka. There were a lot of proud adults in the hall that day. The tamariki utilised all the Kete Values during the learning of the items and during the performance. The smiles afterwards said it all.







Learning Through Play

We are constantly impressed with the connections the tamariki make to the curriculum areas during Play Based Learning. Every day, they are extending their play and learning a lot along the way.



A new habitat for animals (including a T.V. and toys), a home for snakes, the ocean with sand for a shark and a habitat for an elephant

Kia ora i te whānau,

The chilly start to winter at Beckenham te Kura hasn't stopped the tamariki from having fun and exciting days of learning.
The frenzy of interest at learning how to skip during Discovery, has kept many children physically and mentally challenged. What an amazing improvement has occurred with regular practice and perseverance.
Other interests across the hub have been rich with creativity, especially at the Creation Station. Thank you to the parents who regularly contribute bits and bobs for this area. It is amazing what creative minds can create from boxes and empty containers!
With Kōmanawa fully open now, tamariki have enjoyed exploring their new learning space. During Discovery, there are three places to choose from now, Pūkaki, Kōmanawa and the courtyard in front of Kōmanawa.

We look forward to learning and transition conferences with you and your child  next week.



















Ka kite,

Jo, Stacey, Elizabeth and Kristika

Kia ora i te whānau,

We are continuing to make the most of working and playing both outdoors and indoors, as the balmy weather persists.

Long rope skipping: working as a team.

Expert skippers take flight!

Literacy in Learning Through Play:
Our Learning Through Play photos focus on portraying the children as they engage in literacy-based activities. Reading and writing in a play setting ensures that the literacy learning is absolutely authentic in relation to that situation. The Literacy, in such situations, is driven by the children and represents a need that has presented itself in the play.

The children love playing 'schools' (Yes! They come to school, and 'play' schools!) and at one point in the game, the question was posed: " Can we have our own modelling book, please?"

A part of playing schools: practising handwriting...

...and reading.

The children requested their own visual timetable, which they then trimmed and laminated for their own whiteboard easel.

Here we are, awarding house points!

A Focus on Respect:
As a whole school, we have been putting even more of an emphasis on 'respect', beginning 2 or 3 weeks ago. We asked our children in Koru, what this word means, what it might look like, and what being respectful might sound like too. We have discussed who and what we need to show respect towards. Here are some of the thoughts that the children have come up with:

• Tidy as your go (showing respect for our learning environment)
• Be polite and use good manners (showing respect for self and others)
• Be kind and caring (showing respect towards others)
• Work and play quietly indoors (showing respect towards others)
• Be helpful towards others (showing respect towards others)
• Be caring towards, and with, our resources (showing respect for our environment)

Showing respect for our environment

Jacinda visits Beckenham:
What a treat we all had at Beckenham last Thursday, when Jacinda came to visit us. She actually came in order to meet and speak with Lucy Gray, one of our wonderful Year 8 students, and our Strike 4 Climate organiser, and we were all lucky enough to be present when Jacinda arrived, and was introduced to us all by Lucy. You may well have read the full article about Lucy, and her hopes and dreams for our planet, in The Press yesterday.  Our Koru children were incredibly lucky, because they were invited to sit at the very front of the area where Jacinda and Lucy were going to stand. The children all showed Jacinda their brightest smiles and most sparkling eyes (this, they practised beforehand!). Unfortunately in these photos you can't see the smiles or the eyes, but you may recognise the backs of some heads...


Maths Problem Solving:
The children are working extremely well as they challenge themselves and are challenged, at Maths problem solving time (or DMIC, which is the acronym for Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities). During this part of the day, we always place a big emphasis on our 'groups norms'. Our group norms are the ideas the children came up with at the start of the year, being those behaviours and attitudes which they believe they would need to display if they were going to be doing their best learning. Some of these behaviours include:

• smile at your buddy
• use your buddy's name when you are speaking to him or her
• help your buddy to understand
• be kind and caring
• take turns and share
• ask your buddy a question if you don't understand.

Two buddies smiling at each other!

A great way of solving a tricky subtraction problem.

Alex and Chester showed that this same problem could be written as an addition equation.

Kiko and Natsune used the 100s board to help, as they went about solving the problem together...

...and here is their recording.

Handwriting:
We love handwriting time! The children show amazing focus and always put in impressive effort, under the watchful gaze of Bounce and Skip. We begin with finger strength and dexterity exercises, then we move on to practising picking the pen up and ensuring that our grip on the pen is correct, before beginning our letter formation practice. We are very proud of the children's beautiful work, and the progress that they are making in this area of their learning.
















Ka kite koutou. We hope you have a wonderful week.
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey, Kristika and Elizabeth