Welcome back to Term 2.
We are called the Koru Team. We are Year 0 and 1 children.

On Monday we had our school cross country fun run. The tamariki were amazing! There were lots of excited children who managed to finish their run with a smile on their face. A big thanks to everyone who came to watch and support our runners.

The children showed all our school values at the cross country:

We love learning - we were learning movement skills and about giving things a go.
We get there together - we cheer each other on and encourage everyone to do their best.
We care - we congratulated everyone not only the people who came first.
We love challenge - we kept trying even if it was tough
We make a difference - we chose a positive mindset. We did it!

Kia ora, whānau,

It's almost impossible to believe that here we are in the final week of term! The children have had a marvellous term together, getting to know each other, their teachers and developing their understanding of our routines and expectations in relation to play and learning at school.

We wish you all the very best for a relaxing and safe holiday with your families. Further on toward the end of this post, you will find some links to Youtube clips which might be fun to use with your children at home over the next few weeks. Some clips relate to Numeracy, some to Literacy and we'll also have a couple of links to songs about kindness and well-being.

Art Gallery outing:
Thank you so much to those parents who were able to accompany us to the Art Gallery recently. We really appreciated your support. The children had a wonderful time and have enjoyed completing their art works in class over recent days. Check out our very own gallery of art works on display in the hub.




















Once again, our sincere thanks for your support with this outing!

The Three Billy Goats Gruff:
This has proven to be a motivating and inspiring provocation over the past two weeks, and has prompted much role play, creativity, and some very inspired bridge building. The children have worked together and problem-solved, and this has required negotiation and persistence to achieve some fascinating outcomes.










When We Were Very Young:
Thank you all for sending in the extremely cute and endearing photos of your children when they were little. The children are currently engaged in writing about themselves when they were young, including the funny, cute and adventurous things they used to do. Keep an eye out for their published writing from this week.
Also, a reminder that Friday is favourite baby toy day. The children will have a chance to share their toys and tell their friends about why this particular toy became their favourite. You could help at home by discussing this with your child, in advance of Friday.

Friendship List:
Please add a tick beside your child's name if you would like other families to have your contact details, particularly for organising play dates over the holidays. We'll have a list attached to the whiteboard tomorrow, and will be sending contact details home with the children on Friday.

Handy Links for holiday learning:

• Subitise with Jack Hartman
• The Big Numbers Song
• Counting Down From 20
• Jolly phonics alphabet plus digraphs
• Nothing Like a Good Friend
• Kindness Is Free

We hope you have a great holiday, everyone!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Stacey, Elizabeth and Kristika

Learning to read is lots of fun! Our reading programme includes reading to children, reading with children and reading by children.

It is wonderful that reading folders are coming to school every day and the children are doing a great job putting them in the correct group box before school. Having your reading folder at school every day also ensures children can read their books both at school and home. Rereading familiar texts provides children with reading 'mileage', and helps enormously in the development of fluency, phrasing and expression.

Our guided reading groups enjoy their books together most days. This provides opportunities for children to learn the skills of what good readers do, like learning to decode unknown words, learning letter sounds and blends, making predictions about what might happen next, having great discussions about the books and asking questions.

In writing, we start with shared writing. This is when we plan and construct writing together. The teacher models and talks through the process of constructing a text. The children contribute their own ideas throughout this process. This provides a supportive setting to model the process of writing, focus on letters, words, and letter-sound relationships, model strategies for checking and improving and demonstrate the use of a range of forms and structures in written language.

There are opportunities in a guided writing group for children to try writing independently, to learn to write high frequency words, and to play literacy games together.

Kia ora to our families,

We have had a wonderful start to the 2019 school year. We warmly welcome families that are new to Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto, and welcome back to those families who have been part of our community for some time now.

Next week, we welcome Kristika Burridge, full-time, into the Koru team. Kristika is going to be the Home Group teacher for our third New Entrant group of children.

• We hope you're all enjoying the reading books that have been coming home this week. This is a great opportunity to share time together with your child and celebrate reading (remember, it's of great value to reread the texts which are still in the folders and which have come home earlier in the week)
• Also remember: Praise, Praise, Praise!
• In class each week we have a shared book which we read and discuss together several times throughout the week. Sometimes a small copy of this book may come home in your child's reading folder. This book may be at a more advanced level than usual and will possibly need more support from you, as you read the book together with your child
• It's important that the children pack their reading folders into their bags, and return them to school every day.

Working together outdoors to make a ball challenge

Test flying our helicopters

Playing with the animals and magnetic shapes

Team work to create an obstacle course

Playing the cat game

Long rope skipping

Railway workers building together

Exploring patterns

REMINDER

Koru Year 1 and 2 Choir Trip

Koru Year 1 and 2 City Trip - Building Focus