Category Archives: Koru

Koru Team News: Term 3 Week 3

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 Kia ora, e te whānau,

Wow! What an incredible first few weeks of the term we have had! There has been a lot happening in our hub, across all areas of school life. We have had different themes for our Learning Through Play, such as transport and vehicles, and cafes and restaurants. The children's imaginations have been running wild with these ideas and this is evident in the games they have been playing with each other, and the creations they have made.

Our tamariki are becoming very knowledgeable about the different school-wide "Words of the Week" we have had. We have talked a lot about the first three words we have had this term:

  • Upstander: Standing up for others in situations that aren't right, and supporting others who may need your help
  • Honesty: Being truthful in what we say and do 
  • Inclusion: Making others feel a part of something and including others in your activities/games. 
Disco:
On Friday, we had our PTA School Disco. There were so many awesome outfits and dance moves being shown off. Have a look at the pictures of some of our tamariki below to see the fun we had:















Reminders:
  • How is the Readathon going at your house? We can't wait to see all the books you have been reading together with your whānau at home. Keep up the great work and remember to bring the forms back into school on Friday, 11th August (Week 4).
  • Next Friday, Friday 11th August, is Book Character Dress-up Day. Your child can come dressed as their favourite story book character. This is a day to celebrate the end of the readathon and all the amazing books there are out there. We cannot wait to see the creativity!
  • A reminder to return Literacy folders to school each day, as we use these during our Literacy sessions. Also a reminder for your child to take really great care of the books that are sent home in these folders, as these books are very expensive to replace and are used within the whole hub. We appreciate and thank you for helping your child to be responsible  and to take great care of our school equipment. 
  • Friendship List: Please remember that if you would like to be on the Friendship List, this will be sent out on Thursday, 10th August to all those who have asked for their details to be included. It is a great way to get in contact with other families and to organise play dates with your child's friends. Please send your details to Georgia's email by Wednesday, 9th August. (georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz).
We hope you are all having the most wonderful weekend and keeping warm!

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
The Koru team teachers: Georgia, Elizabeth, Stacey, Sarah and Denise

elizabethgail.drummond@beckenham.school.nz
stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz


Koru Team News: Term 3 Week 1

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Kia ora, e te whānau,

It was so wonderful to see all our Koru children and their wonderful smiles, back at school after the holidays. We have had a brilliant first week back filled with excitement, learning and fun times. A warm welcome to Elias and Aelara who started school this week! What a wonderful job they are both doing settling in!

This term you will see Elizabeth at school; Monday, Thursday and Friday. You will see Stacey at school; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

We have an exciting term ahead of us including Calendar Art, Keeping Ourselves Safe programme, Firewise, book character dress-up day and a trip to the Art Gallery!

Upcoming events: 

  • Whole school PTA Readathon 25 July - 11 August (forms and information will come home)
  • PTA meeting Wednesday 26th July 7.30-9.30pm in the Green Room (next to the Hall foyer), all are welcome, this can be a great way to meet other parents and support our children and school.
  • Disco, Friday 4th August. Koru disco is 2.00-2.45pm (during our school day)
  • Book character dress up day: Friday 11th August
  • End of term 3 trip to the Christchurch Art Gallery
PTA mid-winter breakfast:
A huge thank you to the PTA and Student Council for organising and making breakfast for everyone to enjoy in the Hall before school on Wednesday. Thank you to everyone who brought in a can of food, to donate to the City Mission Food Bank Collection. 'We Make a Difference'. It was also wonderful to see the children come to school in non-uniform clothes, pyjamas, dressing gowns and onesies!

Stacey and Georgia in their pyjamas!

Enjoying breakfast

Georgia and her Home Group

Stacey and Elizabeth's Home Group

Friendship list
  • If you would like your name and contact details to be added to our Koru Team Friendship List, please email your information to Georgia: georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz
A reminder about routines:
  • It's great if your child is able to independently carry their own bag into school, unpack it and put their lunch and drink bottle on the shelves
  • Your child's Literacy folder needs to be returned to school every day and put into their group Literacy box every morning
  • On Fridays, your child will bring home their poetry book and library folder. Poetry books and library folders will need to be returned to school by the following Friday
  • 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 Easter Tce/Sandwich Road
Gumboots and slippers
We hope you are managing to keep warm and dry this weekend. Gumboots (named) will be welcomed as footwear at school tomorrow, with extra socks and slippers or shoes in school bags. 

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
The Koru teachers, Elizabeth, Stacey, Georgia and Denise

elizabethgail.drummond@beckenham.school.nz
stacey.mclachlan@beckenham.school.nz
georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz


Koru Team News: Term 2 Week 9

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 Kia ora, e te whānau,

Here we are at the tail end of Term 2 and 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 Learning Conferences, our Matariki hui, several children having their transition to school visits and a big focus for our wee ones on the curriculum area of Science at the moment, specifically Electricity.

Firstly though, Friday was tinged with sadness for us all, as we farewelled Sonya, our teaching assistant. The children had made some beautiful cards for Sonya and these we gave to her, along with their very sweet messages about what the children were going to miss about her. Sonya has been a pillar of support in the Koru team, over the past two terms, and we will certainly miss her love, care, skill and talent, along with her creative flair and, as one of the children put it, her amazing tidiness!


We wish Sonya all the very best in the future - we know she'll be treasured by her new colleagues and the children she works with.
At the same time as farewelling Sonya, we have also been welcoming Denise, who is taking over the role that Sonya has held. We're really looking forward to having Denise with us in the Koru team, we can't wait to get to know her well and we welcome her with wide open arms into our whānau.


Junior Park Explorers:
We were really sorry to have had to postpone our Junior Park Explorers excursion on Friday, however we're all looking forward to a warmer, drier outing once we're able to set a new date some time in Term 4. We'll be looking for more parent helpers at that point! The children coped with the disappointment very well, and are to be congratulated for doing so.

Science:
We have been taking a dive into 'Electricity' last week and will continue with this focus in the week ahead. We are having great fun as we hypothesise and experiment, share our ideas and make connections with prior experiences.
Last Monday, the children discussed:
  • What is electricity?
  • Where does electricity come from?
  • Have you ever felt an electric spark from something or someone?
  • Have you ever had a power cut and not had any electricity?
  • Have you ever seen an electric car?
On Tuesday, the children learnt about what energy is and where it comes from, as well as having a look at renewable and non-renewable energy.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the children were introduced to the word 'circuit'. We looked at open and closed circuits and learned that a closed circuit is required for electricity to flow. We experimented to find out what electricity would flow through and what it wouldn't flow through. The children predicted that electricity wouldn't flow through plastic, but that it would flow through metal. Using an 'energy tube', we tested our predictions and found out that those predictions were right!
When the energy tube is 'turned on' the circuit is closed and that's when the tube flashes and makes an eerie fluttering noise. We discovered that our bodies conduct electricity, so as long as we had a hand on the metal ring at each end of the energy tube, the circuit would be closed. We even tested, if we were to sit in a big circle and all hold hands, whether the circuit would be closed and the energy tube would light up and make its eerie fluttering sounds, and ... yes, it did!!














One final thing:
A plea from Jossi's family - might Jossi's polar fleece have gone home in the wrong bag, by chance? It's been missing for several days now. Would you please check the names on your child's polar fleeces, just to be sure that you don't also have Jossi's by mistake. Many thanks :)

We hope you are all having a wonderful weekend with your whānau - stay warm, dry and cosy, and we look forward to seeing those beautiful, wide smiles again tomorrow morning!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Elizabeth, Stacey and Georgia


Koru Team news, Term 2 Week 7

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Kia ora, e te whānau,

Important dates:

Learning Conferences. Learning Conferences are this Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th of June, and school finishes at 2pm. Please complete THIS FORM to let us know what you want to happen for your child at 2pm. Every family needs to complete the form, thanks.

Junior Park Explorers: Friday 23 June. This is our new date as we had to postpone earlier in the term due to the weather. 

Matariki Evening and Kapa Haka Performance: Wednesday 21st June. We would like to celebrate with you and your whānau from 5pm onwards. 5pm welcome in the Hall, 5.20pm activities in Hubs, 6.20pm performance in the Hall by Year 3-6 children, and 6.45pm pre-ordered Hāngi available to collect. 

Fun Run:

On Friday, 2nd of June, we had 10 Koru children participate in a student council-organised Fun Run to raise money for Trees for Canterbury. 'We Love Challenge!' Awesome effort everyone!






Learning Through Play
During each school day, our tamariki are involved in Learning Through Play activities incorporating different social competencies, all while the children are engaged in play. Learning Through Play is all about our children choosing and directing their own play, and our job as teachers are to support, nurture and extend them through this journey. 
This can involve:
  • improving social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing, negotiating, and ensuring that things remain fair
  • being aware of; and the use of our school kete values in the classroom environment
  • learning how to work together with others and practise the skills needed to work collaboratively and to be a team player
  • noticing and commenting on how our tamariki are demonstrating the skills we focus on as our 'word of the week' eg. resilience, friendship, kindness, respect, co-operation, and inclusion.













Fun in our sandpit


Sorting shapes together

Working together to hold the hoop steady!

We Love Challenge

'We Get There Together'


Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Elizabeth, Stacey, Georgia and Sonya


Koru Team News, Week 5

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 Kia ora, e te whānau,

We are halfway through term 2, and oh what fun we are having!

We welcome Thomas and Ryland, who began school this week. You have settled really well into our routines, and have done a great job at making friends, following instructions and trying new things. Ka pai, tamariki!

Cross Country:
On Tuesday, May 16th, we had our Junior School Cross Country. It was an awesome event where we saw our tamariki trying their best, giving it a go, and smiling faces when they crossed the finish line! They were superstars at demonstrating our school kete value "We Love Challenge". Below are some photos of the day, and during our practises.








Friday Afternoons with Kauri Buddies:
On Friday afternoons, we do a wide range of activities including Digitech, Yoga, outside play, making creations at the table in the kitchen space, and sometimes completing puzzles.  We are also fortunate on a Friday afternoon to have some Year 7 and 8 students come in and be our big buddies. We do lot of different activities with them, such as: reading books together, playing inside games, doing art, completing puzzles, and playing games outside. It is such a fun time! Some photos below of what we get up to:

Yoga!

Digitech - practising our coding!

Outside play!

Listening to an awesome story!


A few reminders:

Library:
Our Library day this year is on a Friday. Please support your child in ensuring their Library folders and Poetry books are brought back to school either on Friday, or beforehand so they can receive a new poem and can issue out new Library books. 

Literacy Folders:
A reminder to practise reading the sounds, heart words, and books (if your child has been given one) at home, and to bring these in every day so we can use them in our Literacy sessions. 

Carpark: 
To keep everyone safe when arriving and leaving school, do not walk through the carpark. This area is for staff cars, taxis and accessibility parking only. Thanks to everyone who is using the pedestrian gates onto the park, near the flagpole, on Sandwich Road by the PTA uniform room, or onto Eastern Terrace.

Sickness at school: 
We still have a few cases of Covid-19 in the school, among staff, students and the wider whānau. Please do keep children away if they are feeling unwell and do test if Covid symptoms are present. At school, we remind tamariki to cough/sneeze into their elbow and wash their hands regularly, especially after blowing their nose, coughing, sneezing and using the toilet.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend, and we will see you back on Monday!

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
Elizabeth, Stacey, Georgia and Sonya