Category Archives: Koru

Te Whanau Koru Highlights Weeks 3 and 4

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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!

Koru are visiting the Short Film Festival!

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8th August 2017

Dear Whanau,
On Thursday 17th August, the Junior School have been fortunate to be invited to the Isaac Theatre Royal to attend the International Short Film Festival. The children  will view a variety of short films designed to introduce an alternative Art form and inspire some creative writing over the term. We will need several parent helpers to accompany each class and we hope that you are able to help. We will leave school at 9:30am  and return by 11:30am. The cost of this trip per child is $9.40, including admission and bus.   A request for this donation will be added to your school account.
Please email your child’s point of contact teacher if you are able to help.
Kind regards, Koru Teaching Team
Sue, Amber, Dorinda, Charlotte, Caitlyn, Rowe, Elizabeth and Gail
sue.leadbetter@beckenham.school.nz amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz charlotte.verity@beckenham.school.nz caitlyn.downing@beckenham.school.nz rowena.barker@beckenham.school.nz elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz gail.turner@beckenham.school.nz

Fabulous Phrasing and Fluency. Our Reading Programmes

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Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We have had a really great start to the term in our new spaces.  The children have settled in and it feels as though we have been here much longer than a week.  

Thank you for all your support and the positive comments we have received.  Staff have worked really hard during the holidays to get the spaces ready for the new term and we appreciate your feedback.

This term, as well as the individual learning goals discussed with each child at literacy time, we are focussing on promoting  reading with phrasing and fluency on every book.  
Your child will bring home reading each night.  The reading could include poems, reader books read with the teacher or chosen from their browsing box. This reading will be familiar and enable your child to practise successful reading strategies, reading with expression, phrasing and fluency.

Image result for children reading booksYour child may bring home a book more than once.  This is an important part of learning to read as it enables them to practise all their skills.  Just as we, as adults, return to a favourite film, magazine or book, the children will choose books they are familiar with and give them pleasure.

You can support us by continuing to read with your child each night and praising them using phrases such as
  • I like the way you are reading like talking.
  • You made your voice sound very interesting when you read that piece.
  • Well done you are reading using the punctuation.
  • Your reading is getting more phrased and fluent (fast).

Hubs 1 to 4 have been reading lots of poetry this past week.  Next week the children will bring home a poem and a book from their browsing box each night.  Following this we will begin our guided groups with poetry coming home on Fridays.

Welcome to Term 3 2017

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Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning.  Our new hub is all set and ready to go and we are feeling very excited to welcome you and the children in.
This week, the children will be able to enter the school from the Sandwich Road gate near the West Hub (our learning space).  There will be 2 teachers outside at the beginning of each day to guide you to the right place and show the children their new routines.  We have popped posters illustrating the routines on the entry doors so parents can help with this.

This term we are trialing not having healthy snacks in the middle of the first block, so no need to send along a separate snack box for brainfood / morning snack.  Please can you ensure your child has a good breakfast each morning so they feel satisfied until Morning Teatime.  This term the children will be having morning tea at 10:20 each day and then going out to play afterwards.  Lunch will be at the same time and will follow the play / eat routine.

As the hubs are shoe free please can the children bring a spare pair of named socks to school in their bag.
There is a noticeboard inside the entry door with anything you may need to know about the day.

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
Kind regards

Koru Hubs 1 – 4.

Week 10 in Koru Team

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Koru Team Blog - Week 10

A great big thank you!
Thank you to all the wonderful parents who have helped us this term in so many ways.
We appreciate all your contributions including helping on trips, sorting and putting books away, laminating, culling resources and helping us with our shifting.  

Week 1 Term 3 - Into our new Learning Spaces
During the holidays Hubs 10 and 11 are moving over to Hub 8 and 9.  Thank you to all the parents who have offered to help Elizabeth, Rowe and Gail dismantle and pack their learning space.  The morning routines for Hubs 10 and 11 will be the same.


During the last two weeks of school Hubs 1 - 4 have been visiting and spending time in their new learning spaces.  We are all very excited and really looking forward to next term.







On the first day of next term when the children arrive at school, they will come straight over to the new hub.  The entry and exit doors are at the front of the building.  
The children will 
  • take their bags to the front double doors of the new building and put their bag on the ground where their hub number is. We will eventually be getting cubby holes for the bags in the near future.
  • go to the double doors and enter, taking off their shoes and putting them on the shoe racks provided - these will also be numbered.  
  • put their reading folder on the floor in their home space and pop their lunch boxes in the numbered bins in the kitchen area. 
After doing their jobs the children will be able to go back outside to play (via the front door) or engage in our fabulous Discovery / Play-based Learning activities, just as they have been so far this year.

Shoelaces: please practise doing up laces over the holidays, as children will need to take shoes off and put back on several times a day in the new hub. 

Litter Free Lunches
We are re-establishing our litter free lunch policy, to reduce our school waste. We encourage families to consider using containers or removing wrappers from lunch items. Children will be asked to take any wrappers home in their lunch boxes to dispose of. Many thanks for your support for our eco-friendly school.


Our Chair Friends

It all started from Blake's simple idea then 'went viral'! 
Weeks 9 and 10 saw us creating 'chair friends'. We made them, played with them, sat with them, read to them, looked after them and even gave them a nice place to sleep and a healthy breakfast the next day!
Enjoy the pictures - what fun. You may find this becoming an activity the children take up doing at home! 










Successful learning - What do our brains need?

The Science behind our brains and how they work is fascinating for children.  As they learn about their brain and how they can optimise learning, our children are able to make choices about their environment and what they put into their bodies.  This clip explains how our brain works and the impact we can all have on our learning.

 

Photo Gallery from the Cross Country
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


















Photo Gallery from the Zones Cross Country