Category Archives: Koru

Happy holidays 2017 / 2018

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Kia ora koutou whānau,

What a fabulous year we have had.  Thank you for all your support and the phenomenal feedback we have received.  We have appreciated both positive and constructive feedback which helps us reflect on our practise and reinforces the parts of the programme that are working well.
We are looking forward to 2018 and a full year in our learning spaces.

Te Whatu Manawa Māoritanga o Rehua
Before we visited Rehua Marae on Thursday, some of our children were treated to amazing Marae presentations that had been created by the Year 3 and 4 children in Kowhai hub.
The children used all sorts of resources and media to teach our children about what to expect when we visited the marae. 



















We had a fabulous trip to the Marae on Thursday.  A great big thank you to all the parents who came along and enjoyed the experience too.  The children were great ambassadors for Beckenham School.
Have a look at some of the photos we took over the day.














  
Discovery Time Photos from Monday Week 10


The challenge was to make a tent out of just tarpaulins and large blocks that could withstand a heavy downpour. The children were excited when it started to drizzle so they could test out it's waterproofing!




Amazing collaborative structure complete with hidden treasure and secret rooms.



A Few Holiday Ideas and Tips

  • Loose Parts Play - at Christmas time, there will be plenty to occupy your lovelies. Keep any packaging / boxes / wrapping and set these up on a table with a 'provocation' (challenge). e.g. Make a house for a mouse, make a bridge that can hold a toy, make a tent for a pet or toy, make a boat that can float a toy - you will be amazed at the creativity that will abound.
  • Screen time - Have a balance of time on a screen and time doing other activities - this will change the demands needed for young brains and help with energy levels. Find APPS that encourage creativity and learning. Here are just a few. Puppet Pals, Scribblenauts, GarageBand, Bitsboard, Memory.
  • Pinterest - when you are really stuck for ideas - use this wonderful tool to become inspired.
  • Reading - enjoy self selecting books to read for fun. We have wonderful libraries in Christchurch. Reading together or enjoying a favourite book can be a great way to spend some quiet time at any part of the day.
  • Maths - encourage children to help with cooking or measuring - helping out with any DIY jobs. Telling the time, baking, measuring, solving puzzles, taking a family vote, are all ways we can show our children how we use maths everyday.
  • 'I'm Bored' - welcome this statement with a hearty - "Fantastic! I wonder what you are going to do next!" Allowing children to create their own play is not only extremely valuable - it also takes the pressure off adults. Children can be incredibly innovative, given the right level of 'boredom' and downtime. Having a 'switch off day' where no outing or anything is planned is a great way to recharge young batteries.
  • Top Five Toys of All Time for Children

    1. Stick
    2. Box
    3. String
    4. Cardboard Tube
    5. Dirt


Useful Websites
Remember children need supervision when on the internet



Have a very, very happy, relaxing holiday.  It will be great to see everyone back in 2018 for our student conferences.
We are all looking forward to 2018 and a full year in our new spaces.

Merry Christmas.



Term 4 End of term

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Kia Ora koutou whanau,

What a wonderful last few weeks we have had.

Hedgehog fun
'We Love Challenge'  ....... We Get There Together' and sometimes we read a book at reading time that offers us opportunities for challenge and working as a team. 'Hedgehog Fun' was one of those books.  Some of our children made 'hedgehogs' for the whole of the West Wing.  Great teamwork, great sharing and generosity.













Beautiful weather and our learning environment.We have been making use of our outdoor classroom spaces this term and including outside hut and tent making, construction, reading, drama and science.  Here are some pictures we have taken in the last few days.





















 Children & anxiety: what parents can do.
A highly insightful talk by Nathan Makere Wallace excellent - well worth 20mins. Listen here



Similes and Metaphors
A couple of language features we explore in writing are similes and metaphors. Adding a simile to a descriptive piece can make a real difference in the level of interest for our readers.

Watch this video with your child and learn all about similes and metaphors together.





Some of the children wrote some poems using similes and metaphors.  






We would like to have all reading books back at school asap so we can sort and do a stock-take all ready for the new year.  Please would you check behind the couch, in toy boxes and children's bookshelves to make sure you have returned all books to school.
If you are able to come and help with the stocktake on Thursday or Friday afternoon please email Sue or Charlotte.  We would all really appreciate your help.

Junior Athletics

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Kia ora whānau,

 Next week on Wednesday (22nd November) the Junior Athletics will be held on the park from 11:15am. We encourage children to wear their house shirts to school. These are still available to purchase from Jacky, at the office, if you haven't got one yet. Please ensure your child brings a water bottle, hat and appropriate footwear. Please can you also make sure to apply sunscreen on your child in the morning before school.  We are all looking forward to a fun afternoon celebrating participation and 'We Love Challenge'!


Events
11:15-11:25
11:30-11:40
11:45-11:55
12:00-12:30
12:30-1:10
1:30-1:40
1:45-1:55
2:00-2:10
2:15-2:25
2:30-2:40
2:45-2:55
Long Jump
Charlotte & Alex
Hub 2
Hub 3
Hub 4
B
L
Hub G
Hub E
Hub R
Hub K
Hub 1
House
Hurdles
Amber & Mitchell
Hub 3
Hub 4
Hub G
A
U
Hub E
Hub R
Hub K
Hub 1
Hub 2
R
High Jump
Sue / Dorinda & Joe
Hub 4
Hub G
Hub E
N
N
Hub R
Hub K
Hub 1
Hub 2
Hub 3
E
Relays
Caitlyn & Rosie
Hub G
Hub E
Hub R
D
C
Hub K
Hub 1
Hub 2
Hub 3
Hub 4
L
Sack Races
Gail & Luke
Hub E
Hub R
Hub K

H
Hub 1
Hub 2
Hub 3
Hub 4
Hub G
A
Shot Put
Elizabeth & Shakira
Hub R
Hub K
Hub 1


Hub 2
Hub 3
Hub 4
Hub G
Hub E
Y
Egg & Spoon
Rowe & Fergus
Hub K
Hub 1
Hub 2


Hub 3
Hub 4
Hub G
Hub E
Hub R
S
Stretching
Kristika & Hannah
Hub 1
Hub 2
Hub 3


Hub 4
Hub G
Hub E
Hub R
Hub K

Koru Term 3 Week 2

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Kia Ora and welcome to Term 4.

We have welcomed our Senior Students back to the Beckenham site this term.  It has been wonderful to have them with us again, connecting and reconnecting with new and old friends.

Please remember that children need a hat at school every day in term 4.  We also encourage parents to apply sunscreen to children before school.  We have tubs of sunscreen at school if needed during the day.


Home







Keeping Ourselves Safe  - Information for parents and whanau.
For the next five weeks our school will be engaging in the 'Keeping Ourselves Safe' programme.  Please click on the link above for all the information you will need to know about this programme.

Keeping Ourselves Safe [KOS] consists of a comprehensive range of child protection resources to help students learn and apply a range of safety skills that they can use when interacting with others. 

During weeks 3 and 4 Constable Ross will visit our classrooms and take 2 of the sessions.  We really appreciate the help of the Police in developing these resources and their support in the teaching and learning programme.


If you have any further questions please visit the website or, alternatively ask your child's teacher.




Thank you St.MartinsNew World - Every day a new world
and our wonderful school Community

What a treat to receive gifts of well over 500 Little Gardens from St Martins New World and our school community.  The children have planted the Little Gardens and shared them throughout the school.  We really appreciate your generosity and kindness.  We have a raised bed outside the back of the West Wing that we can use for the seedlings when they are mature enough.  How exciting!  Thank you.
























"Dear New World,

Thank you for giving us so many Little Gardens.  We are so lucky.  We both love you. Our favourite Little Gardens are water melons, swan plants, butternut, sweetcorn and tomatoes.
As always, stay happy!  We love strawberries!


From Isla and Lilian."


Parent help needed please
Are you able to come in and help with Mad Maths Minute or put reading books away?  We would really appreciate an hour a week of your time to help us with these jobs.  Thank you.

Koru Term 3 Week 10

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Thank you
Thank you so much for all your support this term.  We appreciate the parents who come in to help in a variety of ways including sorting and putting books away, helping make and sort resources, listening to children's reading, coming on trips, offering resources that support our prgrammes and all the positive comments you make that help make our days brighter.  We have had a fabulous term in our new learning spaces.

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.




















Our Learning in Mathematics
Measurement
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!'












Making beds for bears and other craft projects in design and technology gives children the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of designing and making functional and creative products.









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.