Specialist coaching at Olympia Gym 
The children  had a fabulous fun filled time at Olympia Gym. They were divided up into stations which included  beam, trampoline, rebounder, mat work and  swinging rings. 
Our children were proud of their achievements and the coaches mentioned how well behaved they were. Everyone showed our school value of "We love challenge" and "We get there together".  A huge thank you to Charlotte Verity who spent many hours organising this trip and to our lovely parent helpers.
















Hub 10 had an action packed measurement  lessons outside last week.  We all drew our own fish and measured how many footsteps long they were. The children made comparisons about the length of their fish.  e.g. Who had the shortest fish? Who had the longest fish? How many footsteps long is your fish? There was a buzz of excitement and laughter as they worked collaboratively.

Statistics and Probability
Hubs 1 to 4 have been looking at statistics and probability.  We began our term with a special challenge from Sandy.  We were asked to Conduct investigations using the statistical enquiry cycle: - posing and answering questions - gathering, sorting and counting, and displaying category data and discussing the results.  Have a look at our statistics slide show which shares the path of our learning.  
Statistics Slide Show

Our probability unit ended with a probability extravaganza.  The children were involved in playing games which explored probability and then making games of their own to share with others where they used everyday language to talk about chance and classify events as certain, possible, or impossible.


Sunhats
A friendly reminder that the children will be required to wear a named school sunhat in term four. It is really helpful to name the hats in an obvious place where the children can easily see their name. We do have sunscreen at school and the children are encouraged to put this on before play and lunch.


Gardening
There has been a lot of planting, growing and watching to see the changes as they come about.  Thanks to the many donations of 'Little Gardens.'  Tamariki have loved the thrill of seeing their efforts result in green shoots popping through the soil or cotton balls.  Gail's new entrants enjoyed trying out some science experiments with growing seeds in light, dark, with and without water.
Discovery times have also included many natural reources.  Chopping, cleaning and eating fresh carrots, making lavender bags and playing with lavender scented playdough.  Next term we look forward to more gardening.




We really enjoyed eating the Micro-greens that we grew from seeds!










Discovery
There has been so much learning and deep thinking involved across our discovery times, some children built bridges with boxes, or towers out of plastic cups.  As the images show, 'a picture speaks a thousand words!'

















Term 4
We are all looking forward to having the whole school back at the Beckenham site next term, having opportunities for tuakana -teina.  The tuakana - teina relationship,  provides a model for buddy systems. An older or more expert tuakana helps and guides a younger or less expert teina. In a learning environment the tuakana–teina roles may be reversed at any time. For example, the student who yesterday was the expert may need to learn from her classmate today.  We are also looking forward to having our mediators, sports monitors and older friends to play with in the playground. 

Last Thursday our junior Kapa Haka groups went to the Christchurch Art Gallery for the Kids in Town event with Thorrington School. The children performed poi, haka and waiata to the huge audience of whānau and did a fantastic job. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it and a HUGE thank you to Sherrilee for all the support and guidance she provides for our tamariki.













Last Friday all the children from Koru  team (and teachers!) brought their favourite teddy bear to school for the highly anticipated teddy bears picnic.  We all sat together on our picnic blankets and enjoyed time together as a whole team. We were blessed with beautiful weather and were able to enjoy our lunches with fabulous company. 









This term we have been doing a lot of learning around the concept of 'change'. Recently in the year one and two hub, we have been engaged in a learning rotation to expose the children to several different areas of learning, all with the common theme of change. 

Caitlyn has taken on a science focus and has been exploring how water changes when added to a plate of skittles, forming scientific explanations and using observational skills. 


Sue and Dorinda are looking at the changes bean seeds go through to become a bean plant.  The focus is 'When scientists carry out investigations they aim to collect adequate evidence'.  The children will all bring some bean seeds in a cup and a bean diary home to complete over the next 6 weeks, ready to bring back to school in term 4 so we can see the progress the beans have made over time.

Charlotte has had a technology and science focus looking at differences in seeds and how they grow and change and technology over the ages and how this has changed. Thank you to Noah's Dad who has brought a pair of working dial phones to add to the children's experience.

Amber has been looking at changing identity using masks. The children explore different ideas for masks, decide on an alternative identity to be portrayed in their own mask and then make their masks. After making masks they all explore their new identity using drama.

Spellathon
Thank you for all your support with our Spellathon.  We have had most of the money and forms back which is great.  Hub 3 was the first to have their forms and money back in this year which meant they won the beautiful morning tea provided by the PTA.  The children in Hub 3 decided that they would like to share this wonderful feast with their friends in the learning space so, last Friday, bears by our sides, we all enjoyed a teddy bears morning tea.
Thank you very, very much to the wonderful PTA for being so generous and putting so much energy, time and love into making the morning tea.  








Whole School Assembly on Monday
Next week on Monday we will be walking the children to Hillview's gym to have a whole school assembly. This is an opportunity for the whole school to reunite and celebrate our learning for term three. Unfortunately, the space does not have the correct seating so we are unable to invite all parents this time.   We are really looking forward to having our hall back in action by the end of the year.  The whole school will be attending from 9:15 - 10:30am.

Thank you to all those parents who attended our Learning Conferences this week and for Hub 10, last week.  It was wonderful to see the children showing you around the learning spaces and to hear the conversations about their learning and goals.  The children were very excited to share their achievements with you - thank you for all your interest and the way you supported and encouraged your child in this process.

We would appreciate your feedback through the questionnaire that was emailed out this week.  Thank you very much.




We have thoroughly enjoyed hearing the fascinating facts about our children in Koru team and have set up a fascinating facts gallery in our foyer in the West Hub.  We would love you to come in and enjoy all the facts and photos.  We based this learning around the Vogels adds that have been on tv. 
The children have delighted in sharing their facts and guessing who has 3 kidneys, who has been on a plane by themselves, who has 2 different coloured eyes, who ate rat poison as a baby .......  Come and enjoy the wall with your child.

Can you help? 
With the number of bugs that have been around this year we are running short of tissues for the children to use  and would appreciate it if anyone could contribute to our supplies.
We're also in search of things you no longer need at home, to support discovery learning. These include: 
* Construction materials: old clean containers, small boxes, old cotton reels
* Technology & tinkering materials: old phones, cameras, calculators, screwdrivers, allen keys, any old technology
* Nature items: acorns, chestnuts, shells, pebbles
* Craft: wool, string, tape, left over ribbon, wrapping or other paper. 
Please bring to the West Wing and give to any of the teachers.

Circle Time 
Dorinda has been leading us in Circle Time this term, which has provided fantastic learning for teachers and children. The classes work together, learning the routines and rules of Circle Time, and participating in fun games. The games this term have focused on our value of Getting There Together, and allowed us to practise co-operation, turn taking, sharing and listening to others' ideas, and encouraging others. 

Taking New Steps in Discovery Time
We have been impressed with children as they begin to show so much agency during discovery time. Many children are confidently trying new things, by playing with different materials or working with peers they didn't know well prior to our move into the new Learning Space. They have had to solve problems, source materials and work together to get results. It has also been lovely watching creativity spring out into the new space. 





















Honey spread on brown, brown bread
Last week we had our first session "cooking" in our new maker space (kitchen area).  After our poem the previous week, 'Honey spread on brown, brown bread', the children made their own toast and spread it with Honey or Marmite.  It was lovely to use our Maker Space and to fill the hub with delicious smells.  The children loved independently making and spreading their own toast (with a little help from Anne).  The communication skills, self management, language around fractions (cutting into halves and quarters), fine motor skills and problem solving skills involved in an activity like this make it as rich in learning as it is exciting!

Kia ora whanau,

Spring is in the air, and the children are loving being out at break times in the glorious sunshine!

New Entrants:
A very warm welcome to our new children and their families. The children have all settled beautifully, and have made a great start to the next phase of their learning.
Parents of new children, if you feel that your child is feeling extremely tired at the end of the day/week, touch base with Gail Turner to make a temporary arrangement - you know your children and their needs best of all!

Spellathon:
Spellathon testing took place last Friday, and now comes the business of collecting all of the sponsorship money back in. No pressure, but...! There is a prize for the whole class which has all of its sponsorship money back into the office FIRST!
Congratulations to the children who have worked so hard to learn their Spellathon words.

Baby photos:
Many thanks to you for hunting out all of those very cute baby photos. They have proven to be highly valuable as we focus on our topic, Change. Check out some of the Youtube clips relating to babies and their first experiences!

Film Festival:
What a wonderful outing - the 13 short films we saw were each, both fascinating and entertaining. The fact that we were able to view them in the most splendid of venues, was the icing on the cake.

Excited anticipation...

Discovery Stations:
Hub 10 have been focusing on fairy tales, as a motivation for both Discovery Stations and writing. There was a lot of hilarity and creativity displayed as children put time, thought and effort into setting up the Three Billy Goats Gruff 'small world'. We love seeing the children follow their passions and take the lead, as they feel able. The Key Competencies exhibited throughout these sessions are wonderful, including: Thinking, Relating to Others, Managing Self and Participating and Contributing! Have a browse through the photos below. Many thanks to the parents who help to support these activities, and particularly by recording the children's discussions and contributions at the time.

Setting up the 'goats' with their horns

Creating the river...

...and a bridge which would hold the three goats

More work on the river

Ta da!! Horns for one of the goats

And finally, a stable bridge, complete with festive tinsel!

We Love Numbers!!
Michelle loves dropping in to visit, and the children take great delight in explaining to her, their learning and how it relates to numbers.
As we look around the room, we are always amazed at the levels of self-management, engagement, and enjoyment that the children are showing. It's gorgeous to see even the very young children so highly engaged and motivated, and at the same time, directing their own learning. Well done, Hub 10 children! Every day, you display the Beckenham value of We Love Learning.

Guess how many teddies will fit on the sofa and in the bed!

And how many teddies will fit in this big bed?

Can you count?

Ollie the Orca and his little penguin friend need to learn their tens frame patterns!

8 + 3 = ?

Making up equations using dominoes, number tiles and unifix cubes

Dots plus spaces equals ten

More equations to show our learning about addition

The apple tree playdough mats

Writing addition equations by throwing the 'dice within the dice' (each large dice has a smaller dice within)

More dots plus spaces

Skip counting in twos

Let's make the tallest tower we can

Wow - how many gems are there sitting on this big octopus?

'The animals went in two by two...'

Skip count in twos to work out how many animals altogether on these blocks

Practising writing addition equations

I know the groupings with numbers up to 10

Addition equations using the dominoes, the number tiles and the unifix cubes

...and more!

Addition equations up to 10 and doubles up to 20

Give Your Friend a Massage!

At the end of the day ...

... aaaahhhhh!

Click on this link - we love it!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Have a wonderful Week 5, everyone!