Kia ora, e te whānau,

A very warm welcome to Fin and Greyson who have both joined our team recently. You've made a wonderful start to school, tamariki - well done!

It's been a very busy time for Koru team members, as we spread out to include our new learning space, Kōmanawa. Elizabeth's Home Group is starting and finishing the day there, and some Literacy groups are also being taught in Kōmanawa. The tamariki have fully embraced our new space, and are treating it with great care and respect. Welcome to Finlay and Greyson, who have started school and joined our Koru team.

• Boxes, please - a request from us to, please, save any boxes you might normally put out in your recycling bin and send them into school instead - the children are loving creating and decorating in the Maker Space in Hangere and we find that we're always in need of boxes, generally small to medium in size, although shoe boxes and even those slightly bigger can also be turned into homes for fairies, dioramas and so on. We'd also love any little bits and bobs such as ribbon, lace, buttons, small pieces of fabric, feathers, etc., for decorative purposes. Many thanks if you're able to help out with any of these items.
• Beckenham's Got Talent - your children may have been talking with you about the Beckenham Talent Show which is traditionally held at the end of Term 3. A member of our School Council will be coming to the Koru team soon to explain what is involved. There will be more information coming out shortly however, in the meantime, if your child has a particular 'talent' (for example, it might involve singing, dancing, gymnastics, hula hooping, telling jokes, performing magic tricks, etc.) they could be practising at home, in readiness for the Koru team show which will take place prior to the whole school Talent Show. One 'performance' from the Koru team will be selected to be performed at the whole school show. Children are welcome to join up with some friends and enter the Talent Show as a team. Please note, there will be more information to come very soon.

Staying Safe Online: Bullying

One in five young people in New Zealand have been the target of online bullying – it can happen to anyone, and it can be hard for parents and whānau to deal with. Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto takes online bullying seriously and would encourage you to chat to your tamariki’s teacher if you have any concerns about online bullying.

Visit Netsafe’s Online Bullying Advice for Parents to read more.

Maths Whānau Evening:

What a fabulous and enlightening evening this was. Rob Profitt-White has been working with kaiako (teachers) here at Beckenham Te Kura over several years now and how fortunate we were to have been able to have him presenting to whānau last night! It was great to see so many of our Koru team families present and we do hope that you found the evening enormously valuable.

An update on Maths in the Koru Team:

In the Koru team, as you know, we just LOVE Maths! Here is a reminder about aspects of Maths and the different forms Maths takes in our programme:

• a weekly problem-solving session
• Hot Spot warm ups, with a focus throughout each week on developing number knowledge, Move and Prove and Notice, Think, Wonder (see below for descriptions of these activities)
• small group lessons, during which the children are taught to use their number knowledge in order to strategise to solve number problems
• at times throughout each term, a focus on other Maths strands (aspects of Algebra, Geometry and Measurement and Statistics)
• a Maths game lesson
• and once a week on Fridays our handwriting lesson is devoted to specifically learning and practising the correct numeral formation.

     

 Kia ora e te whānau,

Wow time is really flying by!! As we come into Week 4 of Term 3, we would like to say a massive well done to our Koru tamariki for a positive transition back into the term over these last few weeks, as well as to our new tamariki who have successfully started school! We welcome Gray and Hannah who have started during the last two weeks! We are so excited to have you and your whānau in our Koru team! 

Reminders:

• Staff Only Day: On Monday 26th August, staff will be having a Staff Only Day. School will be closed on this day. 
• Kiss and Drop: As we have more children starting in the Koru team, our hub can start to feel a little overwhelming at drop off times. Please ensure you are "kissing and dropping" your child off at the door, rather than entering the hub with them. This will help set your child up for a calm, quiet and successful transition in the morning. We also have separate doors for home groups to use when entering in the morning, as well as separate lunchbox/drink bottle shelves. Thank you for your support with this! 
• Literacy folders: We have our small Literacy group times throughout the day from Monday to Thursday. Please ensure the Literacy folders are at school for these days. We know during the week it can be a busy time, and trying to fit in Literacy practice can be tricky! We are more than happy for you to keep your child's Literacy folder over the weekend, to give your child more time to practice! Please make sure the Literacy Folders are back on the Monday, so that your child's Literacy teacher has these ready for group time. 
• Lunchboxes: Please ensure your child is only bringing water to school (no juice or other drinks). We would also love if we can refrain from having lollies/candy in your child's lunchboxes as well. It is important to help teach your child how to open and close their lunch boxes, so they can do this independently at the start and end of eating times. It would also be amazing if you could either pre-cut or teach your child how to open packets in their lunchboxes (for example potato sticks, chip bags, twisty yoghurt pouches, muesli bars etc.) Thank you for your help in this!

Literacy:

This weeks blog post is on Literacy! At Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto, we follow a Structured Literacy approach. Sounds are broken into stages, and these stages have heart words and books that align with each stage. As children move up through the stages, they will receive different letter sounds, heart words and Pip and Tim books that use the sounds currently being learnt. Below are some photos of the wonderful Literacy learning that is taking place:

How can you help your child at home?

The emphasis in teaching spelling is to focus on the sound, as opposed to the letter name. Making the phoneme (sound) - grapheme (letter shape) connection is the first step in literacy learning.

Ensure that both you and your child are saying the ‘pure’ sound without an ‘uh’ sound on the end, for example, ‘lllll’ rather than ‘luh’. Please refer to this Youtube clip, The Sounds of New Zealand English, for more information on the sound that matches each of the letters.

Here are some ideas about ways you might use the letter cards/heart words at home with your child: 

Speed Sounds: use the cards as flash cards - your child can look at each letter card and say the sound it represents. See if your child can do this at speed.

‘I Spy’: You can play games such as ‘I Spy’, using the letter sound (not the name).

Stepping Stones: Place the cards on the floor with the letter facing up, as if they are stepping stones across the river. Explain to your child that they have to cross the ‘river’ without falling in the water. Your child steps on each card and says the corresponding sound.

Fish or Memory: You could make up a matching set of letter cards, and use both sets to play Fish or Memory together, by placing both sets of cards face down on the table or floor. Each player has to be able to say the sound, if they are to keep a matching pair of cards.

Writing the graphemes: you might make the letter sound and ask your child to write the matching grapheme (support your child as much as is needed with this activity)

Cyber Safety

The HDCA for Parents and Whānau

The Harmful Digital Communications Act (or HDCA for short) is an act passed by the Government back in 2015 to help people dealing with serious or repeated harmful digital communications. It covers anything digital like text, emails or social media content.

The most useful thing for parents to understand about the HDCA is the way the 10 communication principles define what is good or bad behaviour online.

If you’re ever concerned about your young person (or you just want to brush up on your knowledge!) visit Netsafe’s Guide to the HDCA. 

It's NZ Maths Week this week!

We have a Maths Fanily Whānau Evening coming up soon. Information below:

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and stay warm!

Kia ora e te Whānau,

Welcome back to Term 3! A very warm welcome to our new children who have started school in our Koru team: Leah, Parker, Elijah, Ethan, Stevie and Aubree. We look forward to lots of new children coming for visits and starting school in Term 3. We are also welcoming Nicola to join our teaching team. For the first 4 weeks of the term, Nicola will be at school in the mornings and will finish at 12:00pm. The children in Nicola's homegroup will be with Elizabeth in the afternoons. Nicola will be working fulltime from week 5 onwards this term.

Thank you so much to everyone who has noticed our 'Kiss and Drop' zone for families to say goodbye to their child at the classroom door. Our learning space has been so calm and quiet with children who are settled and happy in the mornings, a massive thank you for helping us with our morning routines!

Friendship list: if you would like your name and contact details to be added to our Koru Friendship List, please email Georgia by Wednesday 7th August. Georgia will update the list and share it with you. If your name is already on the list, please don't worry about contacting Georgia again. georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz

A reminder about routines:

• Literacy folders need to be returned to school every day and put into their group Literacy box every morning
• It's great if your child is able to independently carry their own bag into school, unpack it and put their lunch box and drink bottle on the shelves
• We ask that caregivers avoid bringing children into school through the staff car park, rather, if entering off Sandwich Road, please come in up near the flagpole, or in through the gate down near the corner of Eastern Tce/Sandwich Road

What are we up to in Term 3?

Maths: We are focussing on Number Knowledge: counting, ordering, numbers before and after, reading and writing numbers up to 10 and beyond. Number Strategy: we are learning different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems using numbers up to 10 and beyond. We are also looking at number patterns, symmetry, time and sequencing events, and measurement: volume.

Literacy: We are learning to read and write the letter sounds and heart words for each literacy stage. In our writing time, we are looking at different parts of sentences and the information they give us like: who, do, where and what.

Te Reo Maori: We are learning to greet others and introduce ourselves in Te Reo Maori.

Social Sciences: Our Kura: Our School. Our schoolwide focus this year is 'Identity' and we are looking at what makes Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto special to us and our community.

The Arts: Calendar Art is a fabulous way for us to get creative and is also one our PTA's main fundraising events. All the children (in Elizabeth and Georgia's home groups) will create a piece of art for you to look at and purchase as a calendar or card (more information to come from the PTA).

Learning Through Play: this is a time when our children can explore our learning space, play with friends, be creative and have fun together. We talk a lot about our School Values (We Love Challenge, We Love Learning, We Make a Difference, We Care, We Get There Together) and the 'Word of the Week' during Learning Through Play, these help us make great choices and show ways that support us being a good friend to others.

Maths Family Whānau Evening: We are excited to offer a Maths Family Whānau Evening, Thursday the 29th of August, 5.30-7.30pm in our School Hall. 

Here are some fabulous photos from our first 2 weeks back at school:

Have a wonderful weekend,

Stacey, Georgia, Elizabeth and Nicola

 Kia ora e te whānau,

Woohoo!! What an amazing term we have had!! We cannot believe it is already the end of Term 2! Your tamariki are doing so well, as they strive to keep up the momentum with their learning! It's been a very busy fortnight, including our Matariki hui, our Art Gallery Trip, and several children having their transition to school visits. We welcome Millie who started in Week 9, and Audrey who have started on Monday of this week. We are so thrilled to have you in our Koru team!

We also welcome Nicola Reddecliffe to our Koru teaching team. Nicola will be the home group teacher for our third homegroup, as more tamariki (children) start throughout next term. We are so excited to have her back in our Koru hub!

Kia ora e te whānau,

The time really seems to be flying by with just a fortnight now until the school holidays, the last day of term being on Friday, July 5th. We have some exciting events planned for the final part of the term, including our Art Gallery trip on Monday, the Matariki evening on Tuesday next week and some Matariki baking on Thursday of next week just before the long Matariki weekend. Please see below for reminders about the dates on which these events and some others will be taking place.

We warmly welcome Aylah who has had her first full week at school (what a wonderful first week you've had, Aylah!), and we're also excited to be welcoming Millie who is going to be starting school on Tuesday next week. We're so glad to have you both in the Koru team, tamariki!

Important dates to remember:

• Monday, June 24th, 9:00 - 12:00 Koru team Art Gallery outing
• Tuesday, June 25th, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. our whole school Matariki evening
• Thursday, June 27th, Koru team Matariki baking (we'll be baking plain scones with jam on them - please do let us know if you'd prefer that your child doesn't have a scone)
• Friday, June 28th, school is closed for the long Matariki weekend
• Friday, July 5th is the last day of Term 2

Cyber Safety at Beckenham Te Kura ō Pūroto:

In this Blog post, we have a focus on being Aware of Online Harm.

Many parents didn't grow up with the internet, so it can be hard to imagine how tamariki may use it. But these days, digital technology is a key part of our young people's lives. They use it for learning, communicating and entertainment.

Netsafe has released research that looked into parental awareness of children's experiences of online risks and harm. The research found a mismatch between parents' awareness and their children's experiences of upsetting online content.

To check out the research, and other Netsafe resources, visit this link.

Maths in the Koru Team:

In the Koru team, we just LOVE Maths! Our Maths takes the form of:

• a weekly problem-solving session
• Hot Spot warm ups, with a focus throughout each week on developing number knowledge, Move and Prove and Notice, Think, Wonder (see below for descriptions)
• small group lessons, during which the children are taught to use their number knowledge in order to strategise to solve number problems
• at times throughout each term, a focus on other Maths strands (aspects of Algebra, Geometry and Measurement and Statistics)
• and once a week on Fridays our handwriting lesson is devoted to specifically learning and practising the correct numeral formation.