Hopefully your child/ren came home from school yesterday buzzing about the fun they had experienced during the writing motivation yesterday afternoon. We had such a great time!
At the beginning of the session the students were given a passport to enable them to travel between the four countries. They filled in the details on their passport and then had to answer two questions about each country (Japan, Italy, France and USA - Hawaii) before they received a stamp, which meant they could commence their travel. Whilst at each country, along with finding the answers to the passport questions, the children were able to watch a slideshow, listen to music, make a flag and sample delectable edible delights. There was a fabulous atmosphere in the hub as children learnt, munched and drank, all the while dressed in fabulous outfits or clothing from all around the world. Many thanks to those parents who sent along food, encouraged dressing up and supported the fun afternoon. We are very sure that the interest sparked yesterday will be translated into terrific writing! Most children will have decided which country they are going to research, so should be able to tell you at the dinner table.













Tomorrow is our cross country. This is a whole school event. We will be eating lunch at 12:15pm, and then having lunch play. We will take the roll at 1:10pm and then the students will all assemble on the field at 1:20pm for a briefing. The Year 7 and 8 students will be running first, with the Year 5 and 6 students following and then the Year 3 and 4 students after that. Everyone will be finished running by 3pm.

To prepare for this event it would be great if all children had a drink bottle at school, wore appropriate footwear for running and have with them an inhaler if they require one. They are able to change into sports clothing at lunchtime if they wish. If a student is unable to run the cross country due to illness or injury, a signed note is required from home to explain the situation.

Having the whole school participate in a sporting event is a new initiative. As our school wide focus is on sustainability we support the following school outcomes:

• If we value our physical and mental well being we must act to sustain it. One way to sustain our health and well being is through regular physical exercise. 
• Cross country running exercises the heart and lungs, developing our physical fitness. 
• As we run, the body releases serotonin, a feel good hormone that can improve our mental well being. 
• Cross country running will present a variety of challenges. Success can take on many forms, depending on the goals of each individual. Working to overcome challenge can increase resiliency, which is vital to our mental well being.
• Being a part of something bigger than ourselves can support our well being. 

The desired outcome for this year’s whole school cross country is to:

• Provide a platform for children to experience success in a sporting context - We love challenge
• To promote sustaining a healthy and active lifestyle - We love learning
• To demonstrate our school spirit - We make a difference
• To foster tuakana teina - We get there together and We care

Kia ora and welcome to term 2. Let's hope that the dry, sunny weather lasts for a wee bit longer! Hats are no longer needed this term, so it would be a good reminder to your child to bring it home to throw in the wash!

We have lots of exciting things happening in Pōhutukawa, as always! This week we have been involved with trials for winter sports teams. This can be a tricky time for some children as we often have many children trialling for a spot in two teams. We are restricted to entering only two teams by Primary Sports Canterbury. We are entering teams for football, hockey, rugby and netball. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to help out with our winter sports teams, either as a coach or a manager. To enable us to send as many children as possible to Hagley Park on a Friday afternoon we rely on our community for help, and we really appreciate those adults who are available. Winter sport starts on Friday of week 3, 18 May. The Sushi Factory, which is the lunch supplier on Friday will be delivering orders by 12 noon starting week 3. This will mean that children attending winter sport will still be able to order their lunch and eat it before they leave.

On Tuesday we will be running a writing motivation for the hub. For writing the children will be writing an information report on a country, or place they are keen to find out more about. To kick this off they will be 'visiting' four countries - Japan, Hawaii (USA), Italy and France. Each child will have a passport, and will be required to find out information about each country. There will be opportunities to taste food or drink from each country, and we are encouraging the children to dress up in clothing from any country. The dressing up is optional, and is not an opportunity for a mufti afternoon! If the children would like to dress up they are to bring their clothes to school in their bag, and then get changed at lunchtime. Some children have asked if they can bring items or food from home connected to the four countries they are visiting. So long as they have permission from home, this would be fine. We hope this fun afternoon will promote lots of engaging writing.

We have be training for cross country since last term. It is really great to see the students set individual goals regarding their cross country running. The actual cross country race is next Thursday, 10 May. The whole school will be involved in this event. The students will be eating early at 12:15pm. We have a briefing at 1:30pm. At 1:40pm the Year 8 and 7 students will be running, and then the Year 6 and 5 students will race. Then the Year 3 and 4 students run, in that order. The boys and girls will be running together, and will be recorded separately. Everyone will get a place card for their finishing position. The top six for the year 5 girls, boys, year 6 girls and boys will be representing our school in the zones. Everyone who participates will earn a house point. If a child is unable to participate due to an injury or for medical reasons, they will be expected to have a signed note from home stating the reason. Good luck to all of our runners.

Today after our welcome assembly, a group of Kauri girls promoted the 40 Hour Famine to the year 5-8 students. This year the money raised by this fundraising will go to South Sudan, particularly helping many refugees. One of our values at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto is 'We make a difference'. It was explained to us today that we can make a difference by supporting people doing the 40 Hour Famine, or by taking part. Packs were given out at lunchtime today to interested students. The following information has been taken from the 40 Hour Famine website, where more information can be found:

Thousands of young lives have been affected by conflict, drought and famine in South Sudan. Children have fled for their lives across the border to Uganda, becoming refugees. They have travelled a long distance, many without parents or families. While we can’t rewind the past, we can help restart their future.

Let's make a difference for South Sudanese children in Uganda.

While our overarching topic this term is 'Sustaining our wellbeing', our focus for the first part of the term is sleep. Over the next few weeks our classes will be taking part in Yes, I can! Sleep. This is a learning unit based around sleep and finding ways to improve your own sleep. Research has shown that as little as 10 minutes of lost sleep a night can lead to symptoms similar to ADHD. Our school is doing this unit in partnership with the University of Canterbury to try to improve the duration and quality of children’s sleep. We would like to equip children with the knowledge and skills required to make positive changes to their own sleep.

The tamariki will have the opportunity to learn about sleep. They will conduct their own research and present their information in unique ways. Together we will learn about the benefits of sleep and positive sleep hygiene. Tamariki will then be given the opportunity to monitor both the duration and quality of their sleep. They will be given a clock to put near their bed so that they can track the duration of their sleep. During this time, we encourage you to talk to your child about sleep and support them if they would lie to make small changes to their sleep environment and routines.

If you would like sleep support or to share your own knowledge on sleep, please join the parent Facebook group….
Yes, I can! Parent Page

We have loved seeing your little darlings back at school, and look forward to the fun and learning to be had in the rest of the term.

Tracy, Katie, Nick and Gayle

Who can believe that we are in the second to last week of the first term?! My how time has flown, and thanks to Easter we are skipping towards the holidays at the end of next week.

Our writing topic at the moment is a piece of descriptive writing on the school fair, or a similar event. The focuses of the writing are to use present tense, to use the senses, to add detail to paint a picture in the reader's mind and to use interesting adjectives, vivid verbs and other figurative language features (e.g., similes, metaphors). The students have planned, done lots of brain storming on how the senses can be used and are now right in the middle of writing. It would be lovely for you to have a read of what your child has written so far. This is a definite perk of using Google Docs for writing, being able to access and share this writing with home. Have a peek at Max Graham's first paragraph below:

I come into the fair to see a rainbow of brightly coloured shirts of kids blocking the entrance like a wall of people, making it impossible for anyone to cross. I’m feeling stupid wearing my school uniform when other kids looked like the splashed paint on their shirts. I see a farm of kids singing in a circle. The year seven and eights are either selling candy floss, popcorn or walking around with signs that say ‘need help?’ I see a bouncy castle with a picture of Olaf on it. I see the dunk-a-dad hanging over his cold doom, either wishing for his free shower and soup, or wishing next year would be dunk-your-kid. I see people eating inside the hall, while waiting for a refill.
Max Graham

We have had a variety of sports and physical activities happening this term. Within our home groups we have had a focus on tennis, and games involving tennis balls, such as tee ball and cricket. We are very lucky to have had access to the Beckenham Tennis Club, and are very grateful to be able to regularly use the courts, tennis racquets and tennis balls. We have also had Canterbury Basketball providing us with outstanding basketball coaching and lessons. The players from the Rams have been extremely motivating and professional, promoting positive team spirit along with improving basketball skills. We have our last lesson with them on Friday.



Congratulations to the large number of children who have been involved in the sports events representing our school. Mentioned in the last blog post was a group of girls involved in a futsal tournament at English Park. They arrived back at school sporting pink shirts, as they had won best dressed teams, and were very enthusiastic about the game! Last week it was the zones for duathlon. Today there are children in McLeans Island competing in mountain bike races and tomorrow for some it is off to Rolleston to compete in the Canterbury swimming sports. It is fabulous to see so many children taking risks, competing at a high level and showing 'We Love Challenge'. As always, we are very grateful and thankful to our lovely adult helpers who support our tamariki with offers of transport and supervision.





Our inquiry on our sustainability topic is well under way, and the hub is buzzing with lots of research on a multitude of questions and topics. Again, if you would like to have a look at what your child is up to, please ask them to show you what they are finding out. We love Google!





Thank you for your continued support and interest in your child's learning.
Tracy, Katie, Gayle and Nick

Kia ora koutou

Tomorrow is our trip to Rāpaki Marae. The weather looks fine at this stage, so it's all go!

The students are required to wear school uniform as usual. In their school bags there should be a substantial lunch, a water bottle and a waterproof jacket. We will remind the students to put their sunhat in their bag once they reach school. If you are aware that your child does not have a sunhat at school, please pop one from home in their school bag.

We will be visiting the beach at Rāpaki, to explore and have lunch. We will not be going in the water at all. No togs or towel are required.

Adult helpers, I'll see you in the hub at 9:15am, or before if you'd prefer to stay on after the school drop off.

We leave school at 9:30am and leave Rāpaki at 2pm, ensuring we will be back in plenty of time.

We have been practising the pōwhiri process with Sherrilee all term, so we look forward to showing our beautiful voices during our waiata.

We look forward to telling you all about our adventures Thursday afternoon!!