Category Archives: Koru

Koru: Week 10 Term 1

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Koru Whanau: Learning Together! 
Our tamariki have spent the first term of the year getting to know each other, getting to know the teachers and learning the essential routines of school life and learning. Great work everyone! 



Collaborating
Tricky puzzles with friends


Creativity 

Celebrating and sharing 

Making new friends
We get there together! 

Friendship List  
With the school holidays fast approaching now is a great time to fill in your details for the Koru Friendship List. Your information will only be shared with other families who fill in the form and they will only be able to see what you enter. To fill in the friendship form follow the link: Koru Friendship List 2018


News from the Koru New Entrant hub (Pūkaki)

Maths problem Solving:

Our problem was: Mother Bear has 5 bear cubs. She makes a new jacket for each bear cub, and each jacket will need 3 buttons. How many buttons will Mother Bear need altogether?

We work together to solve our Maths problems. We need to listen to each other, share the pen and the whiteboard, take turns, and make sure we both understand. This problem was: At a birthday party 4 children were each given 2 little prizes. How many prizes were there altogether?
Teaching Mrs Bear to count to 100.
Sharing the pen!
Working with a buddy to join sets together.

Here, we are working on solving the bears and buttons problem.
Counting acorns: 8 + 5 = 13
REALLY sharing the pen!
Starting to think about the concept of subtraction.


Buddy Time:
We love Friday mornings, when our big Year 7 and 8 buddies come over to spend time with us. We work on our poetry together, and they help us reread familiar poems from our poetry books, as well as read and illustrate the new poem for each week. We also see our big buddies out in the playground, as well as in whole school assemblies. We love seeing our big buddies when they go up on to the stage in assembly!

















At the End of the Day:
Sometimes at the end of the day, we like to get into a circle and give our friends a massage. We pretend that our fingers are like the different parts of a storm: raindrops, hail, lightning, thunder... it feels baeutiful on our backs! At the end, we all gently lie backwards and close our eyes.











Discovery Stations (learning through play):
Teaching the bears how to sing the alphabet song.

Playing schools.

Guess who?!

Building with the little blocks and animals.

Some clever balancing happening here...

Love that rabbit!!

We are all so careful and caring towards Peter Rabbit.

What a complex set up - well done, boys.

More careful balancing.

Playing the Count the Ducks game.

Colouring at the writing table.

Using a 'home made' pointer to play schools with the teddies.

Playing with one of our new little visitors on his school visit day.

Colouring, cutting and writing together.

Teaching Bounce and Skip how to write.

Clever building with the dominoes and animal counters.

Kings and Queens day:
In our hub, we like to have a Discovery Stations theme each week. On the Friday of Kings and Queens week, we all dressed up as characters related to kings, queens and castles.












Here are some handy links which you might like to check out with your children. The children are very familiar with these songs:

All best, everyone, for a very relaxing and happy holiday! The children have all participated fully in activities throughout their first few weeks at school, and most are showing that they are very tired and definitely ready for a lovely, relaxing, family break. We hope you have a glorious two weeks, and we look forward to seeing all those bright and enthusiastic little faces back at school on Monday, April 30th.

Elizabeth & Rowe (Koru/NE - Pūkaki)
Amber, Caitlyn, Charlotte, Dorinda & Kristika (Koru Year 1/2 - Tahaki)

Koru Year 1/2 Swimming Term 2

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Kia ora whanau, 


In Term 2 the 
Year 1/2 ​
Koru students 
​in ​
will be attending 2 weeks of lessons at Aqua Gym starting on 28th of May to 
​Friday
 1st June and then again from the 5th to the 8th of June. 

We 
​do ​
expect all our tamariki to participate in swimming lessons and if your child already attends lessons outside of school our school based lessons will enhance the learning and skills they
​ are getting.
 


​The cost of providing this instruction is 
$105
​ per child​
. This 
​will 
cover
​ both​
 the lessons and the transport cost. We are applying for 
​grant​
 funding 
​to try and​
 bring this cost down
​.
 
​A request for your contribution to this will be in the Term 2 accounts.


We do appreciate that this is not a cheap exercise. We also know that learning to swim is a fundamental skill for our young children. ​ 


Koru Teachers: Amber, Dorinda, Caitlyn, Charlotte, Kristika

Koru Term 1: Weeks 5 & 6

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Kia ora whanau!


Bounce and Skip
Some of you may have had the pleasure of meeting our class friends, Bounce and Skip. These two monkeys are experts at handwriting and have been teaching us how to strengthen our hands, fingers and core so that we can become neater, quicker writers. We are now experts at these exercises so please ask us to show you. The more we practice, the stronger we become! 

Writing by hand engages the brain in learning and especially activates the “reading circuits” of the brain. Using the results of modern brain imaging techniques, research suggests that writing by hand plays a substantial role in the visual recognition and learning of letters, a foundation for both reading and writing. Through studies using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to probe how the brain processes stimuli in real time, researchers have demonstrated that there is a distinct system in the human brain that is recruited during reading that is also recruited during writing. The reading network develops as a function of handwriting (printing) experience. Handwriting (printing), and not keyboarding, leads to adult-like neural processing in the visual system of the preschool child. Findings like these suggest that self-generated action, in the form of printing letters by hand, is a crucial component in setting up brain systems for reading acquisition.

One of the things Bounce and Skip has been teaching us this week is how to correctly pick up and hold a pencil. Below is a graphic we are using that we encourage to look at together at home to. Is your pencil grip up to scratch?  This way of holding the pencil is comfortable and allows children to write fast and legibly.




School Fair Art Auction Pieces

Dorinda's Home base has been enjoying creating our piece for the School Fair Art Auction - we love wondering who will be successful in buying it! Here is our writing about our butterflies.


  • My butterfly is really cool and I love the colours. It has cool wings. HETTIE
  • My butterfly is colourful. It is going to be on a canvas. How much do you want it to be? It is going to be beautiful. I love my colours of my butterflies. It even has mixed colours. FINN
  • My butterfly is a Monarch. The money is going to be $10. My Mum is going to buy it and I will make a magic potion so it can be real. QUINN
  • We painted our butterflies for the School Fair because the school wants to make money. My butterfly has black spots. He is really colourful. I like my butterfly. OLLIE
  • Our Butterflies. My butterfly is blue. It's got silver and green and black and it's pretty. ARCHIE
  • My butterfly is a rainbow colour. I like that it is really colourful. GEORGIA 
  • I love how my butterfly is coloured and I really like the colour of the canvas. I really like the book pages at the bottom. KJ
  • The butterflies like playing with their friends. JONTAI
  • I want my butterfly to fly off the page. ZEKE
  • i made this butterfly. I love my colours. They are blue, pink and silver. I love Bounce and Skip too because they are cute. CAMMIE
  • I am a butterfly and I can fly. JAKE
  • I like my butterfly and I want it to fly off the sky. KARDA
  • We painted our butterflies for the School Fair. My butterfly is black and red. I did it those colours because red is for Christmas and black is for Halloween and I love both of them. BREE
  • This is my butterfly. He is a Monarch. He has black rain drops on his wings and he is blue and red. He has a big smile. Annabelle
  • Our butterflies are awesome. I love our butterflies. They are super. STELLA
  • I made a butterfly. It has flashes on it and it has cool patterns on it. I love it. It is a Monarch. I think it is nice. It has blue around the edges. JACK
  • Do you know why I like butterflies? It is because they can fly and my butterfly's colours are black, red and blue. CORTANA
  • Our butterflies are lovely and we like the butterflies so much. We like to see them. GABRIELLA
  • I like butterflies. My butterfly has black and dark blue on the wings and black spots and red on the head. KAWA
  • We did class butterflies for our School Fair. Mine has some gold, blue and red and orange colours with black dots. I feel great about my butterfly. AYLA
  • My butterfly is like candy. She needs water to drink. Her name is Twinkerbelle. I like butterflies because they are really beautiful. IRIA-MARIA
  • I love my butterfly. it is black and golden, blue, pink, light blue and a tiny bit of white. I love the colours. CHELSEA

Kristika's home base tamariki developed their pride and sense of belonging through creating their own piece of Koru art.  These were all put together like a puzzle and 'mod podged' into place.
We discussed the meaning of what is 'koru' and how we as team Koru are the like the young koru of Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto school. 


Discovery - Play Based Learning

Koru have been inspired by our Year 7 leaders in making obstacle courses all week. Some great ideas, co-operation and leadership came out of our sessions. We also had child-led art workshops, maze drawing and lego construction Enjoy these photos. 














Koru Term 1: Week 3-4

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Team Koru 
A Note About Home Learning It Can Be Fun!!!!
At this early stage in a child’s education, it is very important that home learning is fun, that it doesn’t take a long time and that it can be completed successfully.
Reading a book with an older person is a good way for children to practise reading strategies, and to enjoy sharing what they know.
We send a reading book home in a book bag four times a week.  A library book, for you to read to your child, will also come home once a week. Please…

  • Make reading the book a fun sharing time
  • Choose a time when your child is not tired
  • Read with your child if your child is reluctant to read to you
  • Remember that some books become favourites, and may came home more than once
  • Let us know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Spelling is important, and we want even our youngest students to learn to spell ‘high frequency’ words correctly. At school your child uses a ‘spelling notebook’ to record their words and/or word family (cat, sat, hat).
In your child’s Home Learning book you will find the Essential Spelling List words. As your child learns to spell these correctly, please just give them a tick or highlight the ones s/he knows. Children can practise on a whiteboard, paper, coloured pens and spelling/saying the words out loud.
Alphabet Knowledge and Sight Words 
For some children, teachers may send home alphabet and/or sight words for your child to learn. Please support your child as they learn the letter sound, name and identify a word which begins with the letter. Sight words are learnt by sight, they are not ‘sounded out’. 

Thank you for your help – it does make a difference!
Koru Teachers

Supporting Your Child's Independence

We are thrilled to see so many of you supporting your child towards independence. Throughout the day we encourage and support our tamariki to:
  • Carry their own school
  • Keep track of their own clothing (shoes, jersey, hat)
  • Manage the unpacking and packing of their school bag.
When your child is ready we would also encourage you to:
  • Practice saying goodbye at the hub door in the morning 
  • Meet your child outside on the playground or at an agreed place-perhaps the library veranda or on the hall steps at the end of the day. 
These are fundamental and valuable skills for successful self management and as children develop confidence doing these types of tasks for themselves they are in turn able to transfer these skills into  a learning context. We encourage you to work with your child at their pace. When your child demonstrates independence it is hugely affirming for them to hear kindness and praise for their effort and successes.

Developing Communities of Inquiry in Maths (DCIM)
Massey University: DCIM
NZ Maths Website information
As mentioned in an earlier school newsletter, teachers are using a problem-based approach to Maths this year. This model requires children to work in pairs or small groups to solve Maths problems based on the key Mathematical ideas in the NZ Curriculum.
Working together allows the students to develop their mathematical reasoning, their mathematical language and to explain their thinking and strategies to others. The teacher facilitates and ensures that students have the skills they need to develop deeper understandings of  the key mathematical ideas at hand



For example, a recent launch problem was: 
'There were 6 ducks in the pond and 4 more came along. How many ducks are there in the pond now?'
Key Mathematical Ideas 
* Abstract units that can be partitioned and recombined (level 2) * Numbers can be re-arranged and added to reach the same idea (commutative property) * Subtraction is the inverse of addition * Numbers can be counted by one or counted all (Level 1) * Compensation from known facts: For example, to solve 7 + 6; 6 + 6 = 12, so 7 + 6 = 13. (level 2)
This is a great resource with lots of simple, fun dance and relaxation routines. All of these are connected to learning. Try the science category (water cycle is a great one!) or the mindfulness categories.
Library
We are so lucky to have the library back up and running in its beautiful new home. It is open at morning tea and lunchtime and students will need their library folders if  they want to issue on the day when their class is not scheduled to visit.
Each home group also has an allocated library time:
Charlotte: Thursday
Dorinda: Thursday
Kristika: Tuesday
Caitlyn: Monday
NE Year 1: please check with your child teacher(s).
Community Change Inquiry Project : would you like to help? 
We have been approached by a local engineer who will work with Charlotte and around 15 Koru students on a community inquiry project. If you would like to help students over this three day project, please contact Charlotte at charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz. Helpers will be required only for the afternoons of Tues 12th - Thurs 14th March (pending weather). Thank you.

Koru Term 1 Weeks 1 & 2

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Welcome Back!

Learning Conferences

It was wonderful to have such a large turnout to our Learning Conferences held earlier this Term. We appreciate your time to connect with us at school - setting our children up for a great start to the year.

Fill your Cup

We have enjoyed seeing the cups return, overflowing with some wonderful sharing. it is not too late to bring your cup - it is a great way to get to know each other.

Paint shirts 

Do you have any old, large shirts or t-shirts at home? We are hoping to have a collection of paint shirts for art. Please send in any spare old shirts that you don't need to be returned. Please don't name. Thanks.

Your Help 

Do you work or dabble in art, design or advertising?  Would you be interested in helping design our wellbeing definition? This will be central to our student wellbeing strategy this year....and beyond! Please contact me if you can help. Many thanks, Charlotte (charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz)

Reading 

We are excited about starting our reading programme from Wednesday next week. (New Entrant may be arrange differently). We have working through shared big books or poems to familiarise the children with our reading protocols and allow for assessment. Please enjoy reading these with your child, supporting them as they need. Your child will start bringing take-home books at their level after week 3.

Home Learning

We are in the process of a school-wide review of our Home Learning protocols. In the meantime your children will bring their reading book and Home Learning Book home every day in their reading folder. There is a tip sheet to help with the reading as well as a reading log that you can complete. 

Discovery Learning - Play Based

Our tamariki have embraced learning through discovery. They are getting to know other children in their group as well as to feel settled as they start the school year.
The following link provides some great information for parents and caregivers about our children's play-based urges (schema).  Nature Play

Would you like to come and share an aspect of your profession or an interest during Discovery Learning, e.g. yoga, art or an outdoor activity? Sessions run between 9.15 and 10.15, and we can support you with materials and resources. Please email Charlotte if you are interested. Thankyou.

Enjoy these photos of our children - doing what they do best!

We need your help!

Koru West Wing would love to start up a wood working play area. If you any tools like hammers, saws, hand held drills, nails, screws and screwdrivers - we would love to gather these in to create the area. Also any off cuts of timber and plumbing that are spare at your place. Dorinda will be collecting these donations.







































Fairness

We have had wonderfully rich talks about this picture - see what things your children notice - it's really fascinating! What 'box' does your child need to learn?