Category Archives: Koru

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

Koru Team news, Term 2 Week 3

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Kia ora, e te whānau,

Koru Team: 

This year Elizabeth and Stacey are co-Team Leaders for the Koru team. We currently have two home groups, Elizabeth and Stacey share a home group and Georgia is the teacher of the other home group. You will see Elizabeth at school; Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. You will see Stacey at school; Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Sonya is the Teaching Assistant for our Koru team. You also might see Megan and Nicola teaching in Koru too.

Elizabeth              Stacey               Georgia

Sonya                Megan               Nicola

Postponement of events: 
Our tamariki have been putting so much effort into our Cross Country training and we know how much they were looking forward to showing us their dance moves at the Disco. Unfortunately, these events were postponed due to the weather and sickness at school. We will update you on new dates for our Junior Park Explorers trip and Disco as soon as we have them.  
We do know that the new Cross Country date is next Tuesday, 16th May, from 2 - 2:50pm.

Cross Country training

Nau mai te wero! We Love Challenge!

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 do have a few cases of Covid-19 in the school again, among staff, students and the wider whānau. We also seem to have had a number of children with tummy bugs. 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.

Coronation tree planting: 
We have been invited by the Christchurch City Council to plant a commemorative Coronation Tree to mark the Coronation of King Charles III. We have received a kōwhai tree, which was planted by the junior playground with the help from the oldest and youngest child at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. You did a fabulous job planting the tree Sylvia!





House Groups: 
Our Koru children have all been allocated a 'House' to belong to: Fisher, Heathcote, Tennyson and Waimea. Children from the same family/whānau are put into the same house. Each house has its own 'chant' and tamariki learn this so they can participate in the house chant at sports and special events, and in Celebration Assemblies, it is their house that has won the House Points for that fortnight. You can find the House Chants here, and there are also videos that you can share with your child to help them learn their house chant. Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe! We Get There Together!


Heathcote, Fisher, Waimea and Tennyson

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








Koru team news, start of Term 2

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 Kia ora, e te whānau,

We hope you are all happy and healthy and had a lovely holiday break! It was such a treat to see all of those wide and happy smiles back at school this week. We would like to give an especially warm welcome to William, Eddie, Reinhold, Sylvia and Henri, who have all started school this week. What a wonderful job they are all doing settling in!

All of our tamariki have happily returned to the routines of school, and are enthusiastically embracing their learning. They have been doing a wonderful job in their Literacy and Maths lessons, and are putting lots of energy and enthusiasm into their Learning Through Play.

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 first thing each morning (children who were at school in Term 1 will already know which container is their group's container; new children will be helped with this by one of the teachers)
  • On Fridays, your child will bring home both their poetry book and their library folder. Both these items need to be returned to school by the following Friday
  • We ask that caregivers avoid bringing children in to school through the staff carpark, rather, if entering off Sandwich Road, please come in up near the flagpole or in through the gate down near the corner.
Friendship List
  • If you would like your name and contact details to be added to our Koru Team Friendship List, please email Georgia your information by Wednesday, May 10th, and Georgia will update the list and share it on the Friday of that week
  • Here is Georgia's email address: georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz
  • If your name is already on the list, please don't worry about contacting Georgia again.
Exciting Koru Team outing:
We trust that you have all received our Hero message pertaining to the outing which we have coming up on Thursday, May 11th.
Just in case any of you haven't been able to access this information, here is a copy of the content of the message:

We have a very exciting outing planned for our tamariki! 

The Christchurch City Council Education Outreach team is booked in to run their Junior Park Explorers programme with our Koru students, at our local Beckenham ponds. The session will address outcomes within the New Zealand Curriculum Science domain. We will be exploring biodiversity & ecosystems in our local area, and will be looking closely at birds, bugs and trees/plant life. 

Children will need to bring the following items: 
  • Gumboots (especially if wet)
  • Rain coat
  • Named water bottle
  • Shoes, spare socks and change of clothes (in school bag)
The programme will take place on Thursday, May 11th and will run from 9:30 - 11:45 a.m.

We will need 10 parent helpers on the day. If you are interested in helping, please email your child’s homegroup teacher, as soon as possible.  

Many thanks for your support.

Thank you very much to those caregivers who have already emailed us letting us know that they would like to help. We will be making contact with all those who offer to help, with more information, closer to the time.

In the meantime, we do trust that you all have a very restful and happy weekend.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,
The Koru Teachers: Elizabeth, Georgia, Stacey and Sonya