Category Archives: Kowhai

Kowhai News Term 2 Week 1

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Welcome back to Term 2. We have really enjoyed hearing about all the fun filled activities the children have been able to experience over the holidays. What a lucky bunch!
Here are the essentials for the week ahead...


TRIP TO THE CITY AND THE MARGARET MAHY PLAYGROUND:
We are continuing to explore ideas about the concept of Identity with a particular focus this term in art. We have planned a wonderful trip to the city to investigate the transitional art that has evolved as a response to the earthquakes. We will travel to the city by bus and walk through the city, taking pictures of artworks and participating a city scavenger hunt. We will then make our way to the Margaret Mahy Playground for lunch and a play before taking a bus back to school.

The trip will take place on Wednesday 17th May. We will leave school at 9.30am and will return to school at 2.30pm. There will be a small cost of $3.50 per child to cover the buses. This amount will be added to your school account.

to enable this trip to go ahead, we do need parent helpers for this trip. If you are able to assist us, please let you child’s home group teacher know. Thank you very much.

MAD Time

We have started our first session of MAD time (Make A Difference time). The children have selected an area they are particularly interested in for the term. The different MAD projects include Woodwork with Mike, Passion Projects with Paulette, Sketching with Anna, Italian with Susan, Korean Dance with Rebekah. We also have a small group of children going to Thorrington Resthome to visit the residents.



Pizza Making- Parent Help Needed
This term, the children who receive certificates will be given the opportunity to make pizzas for lunch. This is one way that we can utilise the kitchen in our team. We will notify you either via the phone or email to let you know if your child is making pizzas. As a school, we will provide the pizza dough and sauce and your child will need to bring along the toppings they want on their pizza. We do need the lovely assistance of a parent each week to support the children with making the pizzas. This will be from 11am-12pm. If you are able to help, please add you name to the roster here.

Term 2 Inquiry Focus  
Our Inquiry focus for Term 2 sees us continuing to 'dig deeper' into the concept of Identity exploring it with a scientific lens with the children learning how environmental change can affect our identity. Over the course of this inquiry, we will be learning to make comparisons between living and non-living things, think about what living things need to survive and how changes in environment(s) can have an effect on living things. We will also be looking at roles and responsibilities in human and animal communities and what it means to be a citizen. We can wait to see what action the children want to make with their learning.

Learning Conferences 
Next week, school will close at 2pm on Tuesday 9th May and Thursday 11th May as we have Learning Conferences. As a school, we highly value this opportunity for the children to share their learning with you, celebrating their achievements and identifying their next steps. If you are yet to make a booking, please go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and use the code b5qec
We look forward to seeing you all next week.

Hockey
Next week we are lucky to have coaches from Canterbury Hockey coming to school to teach the children basic field hockey skills. The programme is called Small Stix and will consist of 4 skill based sessions and will culminate in a hockey festival to celebrate the children's learning on the 6th of June. 


Rhythm Interactive


On Monday, we are are very fortunate to be experiencing Rhythm Interactive at Beckenham School. Due to the hall being out of action, the Methodist Church on Malcolm Ave are kindly hosting the whole event. The children will not only be listening to the percussive skills of the Rhythm Interactive team as they get banging and beating on their drums, but they will also get stuck in themselves, filling the hall with their own rhythmic sounds. It is so exciting! If you want to know more about it, have look at the following YouTube clip from a previous visit to Beckenham School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziyo8Zk4eOg.


That's all for now. Have a wonderful weekend with your whanau!
Kowhai Teaching Team

End of Term Class Parties

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Hi,
Just a reminder that tomorrow (Thursday 13th April) we are having our class parties across the team. Your child is able to wear mufti and needs to bring along a piece of fruit to help make some yummy fruit kebabs.
We have all worked really hard in our Hubs to get to have our class party!
Don't forget the PTA are also having their hot cross bun fundraiser tomorrow. $2 for a delicious hot cross bun. All money made will go to our outdoor spaces fund.

Kowahi Teaching Team

Kowhai News Week 10 Term 1

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Hi everyone,

What a wet week we have had. The children impressed us all this week by demonstrating wonderful manners even though they had to spend most of the week inside. We are all pleased to see the sun shining once again!

PTA Hot Cross Buns THURSDAY 13th April
On Thursday, the PTA are selling hot cross buns as a fundraiser for the outdoor spaces. Hot crossed buns will be $2. 


Circle Time

Circle Time is one of the many things we do to promote well being amongst the students at Beckenham School. Each week for 30minutes, we provide the children with the opportunity to discuss and share how things are going and to provide the time to create solutions to any problems. This week our focus has been around compliments. We discussed how giving and receiving compliments makes you feel. Over the next week we will be continuing to demonstrate kindness to each other and compliment one another when we see great things happening! Hopefully your home will be filled with compliments too!



Class Parties
Each Hub has been working towards individual hub parties this term. The time has finally arrived for them to take place, so here are the details! The parties are all on THURSDAY and the children across our team can wear mufti and bring along a toy and a piece of fruit to make fruit kebabs with. 


Team Learning 
Hub 5/6 were invited to join the children in Hub 3/4 to talk about the future of our Beckenham school playground. The younger children had designed their ultimate playground and written descriptions. We got into buddy groups to share the learning and the Year 3/4 children gave feedback on their work. This was a fantastic opportunity for us to be big buddies and show some leadership. All of the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience. 





Kowhai Top Team Planning
This week we have been working in collaborative groups, planning and designing a Top Team styled event for the children in team Koru. Working collaboratively has provided the children with the opportunity to develop some skills that are necessary for being 21st century learners. 
The children have had to articulate their ideas, listen to each other, acknowledge group contributions, problem solve, give compliments and synthesise ideas. Wow! 
Next week they will implement their game by running a mini Top Team event. At this time, the children will be learning how to be effective communicators, organised, well planned and give positive feedback to the children in team Koru as they participate in their game. We are sure they will do an amazing job!
Group discussion and sharing of ideas
Hub 5/6 Inspiration Stations
This week in Hub 5/6, the children have had the opportunity to make pom pom pets, replicate one of our new learning spaces using lego, design and create marble runs, paint buddy rocks, make certificates for our buddies, creating comic strips to name a few. These activities provide the children with the opportunity to become effective communicators as they discuss their learning, problem solve, share ideas and take on the roles of tutor and tutee. The discussions this week have been incredible. They children have demonstrated deep thinking and a natural willingness to support and help each other. 



Parent Help - We Need YOU!

We would love to hear from anyone who would like to offer their services to help support our Hub programmes. Putting away books, reading with children, playing games are some of the ways you can help. We love having parents in our Hubs and this partnership enables us to add more to our programme to help support our young learners!

THORRINGTON RESTHOME
We have a close relationship with Thorrington Resthome and would love to continue this again this year. We need one parent who would be willing to take 10 children to Thorrington Resthome as a M.A.D Time option each Friday. We are happy for this to be on a roster basis too!

PIZZA MAKING
Each Friday next term, we would love to provide the children with the opportunity to bake pizzas at school. This would involve helping the children in the kitchen to make the pizza bases, create their pizzas and clean up. If this sounds like you, please contact: paulette.newton@beckenham.school.nz

That's all for this week
Kowhai Teaching Team

Kowhai Team News Update Week 9

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Here are the important things to know for next week...

Circle Time

Our Circle time focus this week has been about kindness. We discussed the ways that we show kindness at school, home or in our wider community. Next week, the children will be actively doing acts of kindness for others. Each child has been given a secret buddy. This is to give the children the chance to be kind to people they’re not already close friends with. We discussed ways that we can show kindness, e.g., be friendly, smile, share, give them a note or drawing, encourage them, tell them something they’re good at, give compliments, doing things without being asked etc. 




Stationery At School

At the beginning of the year, everyone purchased the required stationery for the year ahead. These items are the only stationery the children need to have at school. Special stationery is best to stay at home so it does not get damaged or lost. We want the children to have a happy time at school and sometimes these treasured items can end up getting broken, damaged or lost which can make our tamariki feel sad. We will be sending any special items home this week for safe keeping. 


Inquiry- Top Team Event

As part of our Identity Inquiry, we have decided to celebrate the way in which we live our school values. This coming week, the children will begin to plan a 'Top Team' event. We will be investigating what makes a good game, the value(s) it helps us to grow and how we can modify a game to make it original, challenging and fun. In the last week of the term, the children will run their own, 'Top Team' event with a class from Koru team. We know this will be fun for everyone involved!


Term 2 Parent Help - We Need YOU!

We would love to hear from anyone who would like to offer their services each Friday as part of our Make a Difference (M.A.D) Time. 

THORRINGTON RESTHOME
We have a close relationship with Thorrington Resthome and would love to continue this again this year. We need one parent who would be willing to take 10 children to Thorrington Resthome as a M.A.D Time option.

PIZZA MAKING
Each Friday next term, we would love to provide the children with the opportunity to bake pizzas at school. This would involve helping the children in the kitchen to make the pizza bases, create their pizzas and clean up. If this sounds like you, please contact: paulette.newton@beckenham.school.nz



That's all for now. Have a great weekend ahead!
Kowhai Teaching Team


Kowhai Team News Week 8 Term 1

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This week started off with a a highly engaging show by Elgregoe, using magic and ventriloquism to entertain and teach us how to be caring citizens. He discussed ways that we can each be a HERO at Beckenham School.
Being a HERO

H - Honesty
E - Empathy
R - Resilient
O - Opportunities

You might like to reinforce these concepts at home with your child. We will be revisiting these key ideas and relating them to our School Values here at school.



YEAR 7 LEADERS


On Friday, we were lucky to have the Year 7 students on the Beckenham site to work with children across our team. The focus for the day was to plan and teach a variety of sessions to the children in our hubs as a means of developing their personal leadership skills. We were highly impressed with their organisation and and engagement for all. 




PARENT HELP


We love having parents and caregivers in the classroom to support the children with their learning. This may include reading a book of your choice with an individual or group of children, baking, playing games to help children to learning words or numbers. All these jobs make a huge difference and are an excellent way to show the children how we really do get there together! If you have some free time on a Monday to Thursday between 9:00am and 12:30pm, and would love to get involved, please let your child's point of contact teacher know by either sending us an email or coming in and having a chat. Any help would be greatly appreciated!




GROWING INDEPENDENCE

We believe in having a strong home / school partnership and know that we are lucky to have such a supportive parent community. 
Helping each other with learning
We have been discussing the responsibilities that we all have that help to make our families a great place to be. Many children have commented on the fact that they each have different jobs to do at home, e.g., loading the dishwasher, making their bed, packing their school bag to picking up the dog poo! All of these responsibilities enable us to contribute in meaningful ways.
In Year 3/4, we know the importance of growing student self-management skills to enable children to be successful both at home and at school.  Promoting:
  • Home Learning folders coming to school everyday. We use these folders on a daily basis and it is important for them to be at school so we can monitor home learning, send notices home and set up and celebrate home learning achievements.
  • Water Bottle and Hats. Having our hat and water at school everday so we can play outside and stay hydrated for learning!
  • No Toys. Only bringing items for our learning. We will let you know if your child needs to bring along anything extra. 
Maths Ideas for Parents-  Here is a useful website to understand what we cover in Year 3 / 4 along with  useful maths website link. Make sure you check out the tabs on your bog for useful literacy and numeracy websites.
Year 3 Standards
Year 4 Standards
Maths at Home- Ideas and useful links to websites


CELEBRATING LEARNING

In Hub 5/6, the children have been working on what it means to be a 'Thinker' We decided good thinkers: Focus on what they are doing, they think about options and alternatives, they use a Growth Mindset, 'I can do it!', they use resources wisely and choose activities to extend their understanding or to grow new ideas. This week we have been constructing roller coasters using straws, solving puzzles, investigating patterns and writing poems to name a few. Here we are in action!

Roller Coaster Construction


Solving Addition and Subtraction Problems using Imaging (in our heads)


Completing Design Challenges using Lego

The children in Hubs 7,8,9 have been busy with a poetry competition which was shared with other classrooms. We have written some lovely poems about ourselves. The post cards we have published have created a lovely message.


Putting the Postcard Puzzle Together- Team Work
Problem Solving
Working Together to Solve Addition and Subtraction Maths Problems