Term 3 Learning in Team Pōhutukawa

Posted on 1 August, 20161 August, 2016 by Nick Bruce

This term, the two central themes for learning in Team Pōhutukawa are "Asia Awareness" and "Entrepreneurship". As part of their learning, our students will work in small groups to investigate an Asian culture of their choice. They will then learn to develop an authentic business based on this culture throughout the rest of the term.

In Week 8, the students will open their businesses at a special "Market Day" that families and the other classes will be invited to. During the Market Day, each business will operate a small shop where the children will sell their Asian themed product/service. The money raised from the businesses will go towards reducing the cost of camp in Term 4.

The children will be provided with some start-up resources for their business. They are also allowed to accept donations from family members but this is entirely at your discretion. Please do not feel pressured to contribute anything at all unless you want to. This is an authentic opportunity for the children to develop financial literacy skills and understand the value of money.

The children are very excited about developing their businesses and we are all looking forward to Market Day.

Cultural Studies

Posted on 29 July, 201630 July, 2016 by Caitlyn Downing

Asia Awareness

What an exciting first week back!

The children in Pōhutukawa have dived straight into their learning for this term by exploring a range of Asian countries and cultures. Both hubs have been completing a variety of research and experiences to embrace different Asian culture. Some of these cultures even belong to children in our very own hubs so it has been an exciting opportunity to get to know more about these in particular.

I have been exploring Japan with my group and on Thursday we decided to have a go at making sushi. A very messy, yet exciting task! Below is a video of one of our students completing the 'wasabi challenge'. I gave the challenge a go myself and can confirm it is no easy feat. A big thanks to Fonterra's Milk in Schools programme for the aftercare support for the brave souls who took on the challenge.

Caitlyn

JUNK FREE JUNE

Posted on 23 May, 201623 May, 2016 by Caitlyn Downing

Next month in the Pōhutukawa Whānau we are encouraging children to take part in Junk Free June. This is a campaign run by the Cancer Society to help raise funds and awareness for their worthy cause. Not only will the children have an opportunity to support the Cancer Society, they will also be able to show how they love challenge and make a difference by choosing some 'junk' and giving it up for the month of June. Last year children chose from a huge range including; lollies, ice cream, fizzy drink and even video games!

The children will be tracking their progress in their hubs and you can follow our journey on the Junk Free June website. We hope to inspire other children at Beckenham School to join us in this challenge and would love to hear from any families who decide to tackle the Junk Free June challenge together. For more information head to the Junk Free June website and check out our Pōhutukawa profile below.

https://nz.junkfreejune.org/participants-and-groups/beckenham-school-team-pohutukawa

Human Skeleton

Posted on 16 May, 201616 May, 2016 by Caitlyn Downing

Today some of the children had another action packed afternoon learning about biology. Todays lesson focused on the human skeleton. Children got create their own skeletons and will be learning about all the different bones. We were very lucky that one of our parents brought in REAL HUMAN BONES! Here are the children checking them out.

Eyeball Dissection

Posted on 11 May, 201611 May, 2016 by Caitlyn Downing

We have all been very busy preparing for the upcoming science fair. Both hubs have been exploring different scientific concepts and will soon have to make the difficult decision of what they will focus their science projects on for the fair. One of the sciences being studied is biology and this week on Wednesday a group of children got down and dirty and dissected their first eyeball.

Santiago

"First we cut off the sclera, the fatty tissue, from around the eyeball. We did this so that it was easier to make the first incision. Then Caitlyn made the first incision for us using a scalpel. When she did this some of the aqueous humour was released. We then used scissors to cut around the eye. As we were cutting heaps more aqueous humour spilled out.

When we had finally finished cutting the eyeball in half a mysterious marble-shaped object spilled out. It was called the lens. When you look through the lens the object on the other side is seen upside down. This is because our brains correct the image so that we see it the correct way up. This information is delivered to the rain through the optical nerve. The optical is located at the back of the eye and looks like a small tube. It was very disgusting but amazing!"