Last Minute J-Rock Reminders

Thanks to all the families who have filled in the end of night pick up form. Just 10 to go. Please click and respond if you have yet to do so.

The children have worked exceptionally hard over the past weeks to create, refine and perfect their performance. We are very proud of them all. For a number, just being on stage is a huge deal, with some anxiety involved. These children will probably get the most out of the experience. Tomorrow is a huge day, so an early night would be appreciated.

Reminders (some of these items are new, so please read carefully):
  • Children are to come to school in their black base, with their school jacket over the top. I have most of the costumes in my car. Some children, mostly those with just one costume, have theirs at home to bring tomorrow. A number of children need a red school shirt for their performance. Please ask and make sure they pack this.
  • Bring: a full water bottle, a large lunch including morning and afternoon tea, a small game or book, as there will be lots of downtime to fill. Optional; rug or cushion to sit on. 
  • Dinner is an American hotdog, a muffin and a piece of fruit. If you think your child will need more, please pack extra food in their lunch box. Vegetarian and gluten free are also being catered for. A big thanks to the team of mums who are helping to feed the troops.
  • Electronic devices may be brought, however there will be times when these will be left in our changing area, unattended. During our performance, we will lock all children's phones in a staff car. It is up to you as to whether you are happy for your child to bring their device. 
  • Today we talked with the children about makeup. The children are welcome to bring this. A small mirror would also be handy. No pressure if they haven't got any; I'm sure their will be plenty of sharing happening. 
  • Girls' hair: Old school children in pigtails or plaits. All other girls with long hair in a high ponytail, except Maddi who will need a bun, which we can do late afternoon.
  • At the end of the evening, please come into the arena foyer to sign your child out. We have been asked to bring the children to the foyer in groups of ten, so it may take a few minutes for your child to show up. 
If you need to get a message to your child during the day, you can send Nicky a text 0276229403.

I think that's it. Can't wait for tomorrow! Kauri Whanau rock!!

Kauri Whanau: Term 2 Week 3 Weekly Update

It was great catching up with so many of you at learning conferences last week. We now have enough transport for our ski trip next term: thanks to Liz, Terry and Bryan. This week is a very busy one with J-Rock on Thursday and winter sport starting on Friday. Please find in the post information about J-Rock, cross country, winter sport and collaborative writing.

J-Rock:

Only two more sleeps until we hit the big stage! Yesterday, Monday, we had a very good dress rehearsal at Hillview. We are hoping to have one more dress rehearsal tomorrow at the Beckenham church hall on Martin Ave, but this is still to be confirmed. Just to be sure, please collect your child from Beckenham, not Champion Street tomorrow afternoon. Below are important messages about Thursday.
  • Children are to come to school in their black base, with their school jacket over the top. They will either bring their costumes with them, or these would have been loaded into Nicky's car on Wednesday afternoon.
  • Bring: a full water bottle, a large lunch including morning and afternoon tea, a small game or book as there will be lots of downtime to fill. Optional; rug or cushion to sit on. 
  • Electronic devices may be brought, however there will be times when these will be left in our changing area, unattended. During our performance, we will lock all children's phones in a staff car. It is up to you as to whether you are happy for your child to bring their device. 
  • Below is an outline of how our day will look. We will not know our performance time until Thursday morning. 
  • At the end of the evening, children will be collected from the Horncastle Arena foyer. 
  • We need everyone to complete this form, so that we know the collection plan for your child.

8:30  Board buses at usual place. 

9:00  Check in at Horncastle
10:15 - 10:45   Morning production meeting for everyone
11:15  Student co-host meeting (Jordan H)
1:15 - 1:45 Our rehearsal time
Auditorium out of bounds between 1:45 and 2:45
2:45 - 3:15 Student rep meeting (Juliette and Sadie)
4:45 - 5:05 Afternoon production meeting for everyone
5:10 Dinner: one hotdog, muffin and piece of fruit per child. If this won't be enough, please pack extra.
5:05 - 5:30 Student co-host briefing (Jordan)
7:00 Show starts 
7:05 - 8:15 Our performance will start some time between these two times
9:00 Collection of children from foyer

During down time the children can go in and watch other schools rehearse; there will also be games to play in the foyer. We encourage them to bring coloured pencils to finish their pixel art and also to bring a book or small game. 

Cross Country

The children embraced our school values last Friday afternoon as they ran in our school cross country event. It was great to see the children supporting each other and competing with enthusiasm. All the children ran a race they can be proud of. Many children have commented on the benefits that they experienced through regular running in the lead up to this event. We encourage the children in continuing this healthy habit.




The Year 7/8 results are as follows:

Year 7 Girls
Year 7 Boys
Year 8 Girls
Year 8 Boys
1st
Tilly
Joel
Kaia and Millie
Alex
2nd
Bonnie
Ayden

Fergus
3rd
Hannah W.
Gabe
Rosie and Daisy
Joe
4th
Bella
Santi

George
5th
Jess
Rohith
Hannah S.
Mitchel
6th
Portia
Tom W.
Juliette
Ayan
Good luck to the children competing at our South Zones Cross Country on Wednesday morning. We are still in need of a few parent helpers to ensure that our children are adequately supported during the event. Please email Jenny asap if you are able to join us. We are in particular need of helpers willing to course marshall.

Winter Sports

Our weekly Winter Sports start this Friday.


A huge thank you goes out to our  dedicated coaches and managers who have dedicated their time to up-skill the children and referee their games. We couldn’t offer this opportunity without your time, effort and expertise.


The children will leave Champion Street at 12.30 to travel by bus to their game location. Netball and football games will be held at Hagley Park, while the hockey players will be competing at Nunweek Park. All games start at 1.15.


Please make sure that the children bring the following things to school each Friday.
Football
Netball
Hockey
Beckenham football shirt
Shin guards
Football boots
Water bottle
School jersey/jacket
Beckenham netball dress
Water bottle
School jersey/jacket
Black Beckenham sports top
Mouth guard
Shin guards
Water bottle
School jersey/jacket

For safety reasons, all children’s nails should be kept short for the duration of Winter Sport. Jewellery cannot be worn while playing and it is preferred that these items are left at home on sport days to eliminate the risk of a treasured item being lost. Small studs earrings can be taped over.


The weekly draw can be found online through the following link.


From time to time the teams will incur a bye. When this happens the children will still travel to their game location and have a practise session with their coach.


Collaborative writing:

Over the past week, the children have been writing collaboratively, in twos or threes, to describe a photo. We have been so impressed with their levels of collaboration and the quality of their writing.

Elise and Nathan:
One move. One move and I could win. The look on my opponent’s face says it all. Suspense hangs in the air like a bad smell. Make a wrong move, they win, and then it's all over. My heart is beating a steady rhythm, in time with my breaths. A bead of sweat rolls down my already damp forehead, begging to be wiped off, but the uncertainty makes it impossible to look away, even for a second.


My opponent’s face is in anger. I can see the lights get brighter. It is very quiet in the library. All eyes are on our game, no one could look away. Our pieces are standing still. Everyone is silent and no sound in the room could interrupt our tense moment.


Glancing around, some of the library staff have stopped their work to watch the tight game. I hear faint arguing outside. You could hear a pin drop, it's so silent. Even in this quiet, you can tell that everyone around us is practically bursting to say something. Books are piled miles high around us, threatening to topple under the weight of suspense.


Anxiety levels are very high in the room. Every single face in the crowd have their eyes on us. My body has started to feel very warm, like I’m boiling in my skin. It is so close that it is just going to take forever to decide my final move.


As my hand starts to move, the watchers lean in, closer and closer as my hand move closer and closer to the chessboard. Only a few pieces left, a few soldiers still battling. My pieces are very close to capturing the king. Slowly, I place my last piece, my last move. I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Checkmate.”


KORU HIGHLIGHTS: Term 2 Week 3

Kia ora whanau,

What a busy start we have had to Term 2!

Learning Conferences
Heartfelt thanks to those of you who were able to participate in Learning Conferences last week. This is a very special time for children as they share their learning with their families. Your feedback written on the Celebration Stars is very much appreciated, and will mean a great deal to the children.
Talking about my Maths learning in Hub 3

Sharing my learning with Dad!


Rhythm Interactive experience
Last week our children were treated to an outing to the local Methodist church hall, where John and Lucy (Rhythm Interactive) taught everyone how to drum, keeping time as one!
In 2002, Rhythm Interactive was born in a garage in Queenstown. The interactive drum shows are such that each student is given an African-styled hand drum to play along during the show. Rhythm Interactive shares its unique teaching methods, such as "If you can say it, you can play it" to demonstrate how children can learn rhythm, music, singing and dance in a fun way.






Small Stix
On Tuesdays over the next few weeks, the children will all be involved in junior hockey lessons, which are led by specialist hockey teachers. Please ensure that your child is wearing sensible shoes and warm clothes, as these lessons will be outside (weather permitting).

Self Portraits
Some of the children have been working on making their own self portraits, and have modelled their work on Picasso. We're sure you'll agree they're fantastic!



Book Review
The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers


This gorgeous story, about a Belfast boy who eats books to absorb some smarts, is so charming that it makes you want to join Henry on his culinary literary journey. Henry loves eating all sorts of books – story books, dictionaries, atlases, joke books, books of facts and even maths books.


Amazingly, as Henry gobbles, his knowledge bank increases and increases until he starts to feel a little ill. Is it all the paper and cardboard stuffing his belly? It seems so. Poor Henry is subsequently reduced to learning from books the old fashioned way – by reading.

Numeracy Links:


Reminders:

  • Please ensure that children arrive at school any time from 8:30 a.m. onwards, as prior to this time, teachers may be involved in meetings and/or will be setting up Discovery Stations for the morning. BOSCO is open from 7:30 a.m. for families who need to have children at school before 8:30 a.m.
  • It is very important that children bring their reading folders back to school every morning. Reading folders are a crucial part of hub reading routines.
  • As the weather cools, please ensure that your child has a school polar fleece (named!) each day.

Toy Donations:
Many thanks to those of you who have been able to donate toys and games to Te Whanau Koru. We appreciate your generosity enormously! If, by chance, any of you have any of the following items, they would also be gratefully received:

  • jigsaw puzzles
  • matchbox toys
  • sandpit vehicles (diggers, tractors, cranes, fire engines, trucks, concrete mixers!!)
  • lengths of plastic piping (left over from plumbing jobs)
As always, we appreciate your help and support very, very much!


Kowhai Team Newsletter Week 2 Term 2

Wow! What a busy week!

Firstly, thank you all so much for coming along to our Learning Conferences this week. We were so impressed with how the children confidently shared their learning with you all. It is always so exciting to have the opportunity for us to celebrate the achievements of our tamariki and identify next steps. Having a strong home and school partnership is essential for our children to feel truly supported and able work towards their learning goals. As a team, we really appreciate being able to work with such a caring and committed parent community. So thank you!

Rhythm Interactive

We had an amazing visit from Rhythm Interactive on Monday. Due to our hall being out of action at the moment, we took a short walk to the Methodist church hall just one block away from the school where we experienced a rhythm extravaganza. There was a drum for every child and there were 2 rhythm experts who took us through the whole experience. They taught us all sorts of different rhythms and they managed to teach us using only facial expressions and gestures - no talking. It was brilliant and the children absolutely loved it. It was a real test of their ability to watch and listen carefully and also to mirror which rhythms they were playing. The sound the children made resonated around the whole hall and everyone was into the groove. Fantastic!




Inspiration Stations
For our inspiration stations in  Hub 7/8/9 we have had a focus on living things. We have had many crafty activities involving observation drawings, collages, researching living things we are interested in, life cycles, creating pamphlets and a naming plants challenge. It has been wonderful to see the high level of interest and the questions that have been sparked because of this intriguing topic. We look forward to finding out more in our inquiry.




In Hub 5/6 we have had a focus on the children taking more ownership for their learning. Our key competency focus has been on Thinking and Self-Managing.  We have been promoting the children to:
Have their own ideas and follow through with them
Planing ahead and gathering resources Practising until success is achieved 
Make choices that provide a challenge Asking questions to extend thinking and understanding about topics Thinking creatively Making connections with previous ideas
Persisting when things are difficult

The children have been exploring the concept of patterns, where patterns are made, patterns with numbers and letters and patterns in art. The children have also actively explored their own interests into the living world, researching topics of interest and sketching still life images. We have really loved how children have supported each other with their learning and really challenged themselves to extend their thinking and understanding about these concepts. 

Trip to town- Wednesday 17th May
A huge thank you to all the parents who have kindly offered their assistance on Wednesday with our trip into the city. We will send out a reminder email the day before and if the weather looks to be wet, the postponement date will be the following Wednesday 24th May. 



On Wednesday we were very lucky to have Hugh McCarroll (Sophie M’s Grandad), who has been in the news recently for becoming a finalist in a NASA competition to invent a hands free space toilet for astronauts. He was able to teach us about the process of entering a competition like this and teach us more about space. We loved the passion Hugh showed and we hope he can come again to talk about more spacetastic topics, and answer more questions.  Check out the link below to find the article and video of Hugh.
Space Poop Challenge


That's all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend with your family!
Kowhai Teaching Team


Term 2 Week 2

Kia ora whanau!

Welcome back to Term 2. 

We have had an action packed programme for our concept-based learning approach this term, with children involved in either Science, Health or Visual Art. Each teacher is leading in a curriculum passion that they have to ensure that children get amazing experiences and deep learning opportunities. Each home room will have the opportunity to be involved in each of the different learning areas throughout the course of the term.

Hub 14 have started the term off with Amy for Health. They are focussing on understanding:
-what a good friend is
-what a bad friend is
-what bullying is and what to do about it
-what by-standing is
-the effects of negative self-image and tools to change our thoughts.

Hub 15 are starting the term off with a crime scene investigation with Gayle. The children are learning the basics of forensics and DNA.

Hub 21 have been very engaged in their Science lessons, in which they have been learning about identity through dissecting different things such as hearts and eye balls. 

Hub 22 are underway with their learning about 'Cubism', a style of art made famous by Georges Braques and Pablo Picasso. They have learned pencil techniques, had a play with fragmenting their drawings with different lines and shapes, and are now beginning their cubist style artwork.

Reading and Maths Groups

Term 1 provided a great opportunity for us to get to know the strengths and next steps of all of our children across reading and maths. Some reading and maths groups will be changing in the coming weeks to reflect the learning that children have achieved during Term 1. 


Sport updates


Winter Sport


We have now finalised teams for Winter Sport and communicated these to the children. The interest in playing sport was really encouraging and making up teams was a challenging task due to the level of skill and positive sportsmanship displayed by all the children. Unfortunately, we are limited to entering a maximum of two teams per sport in each age group and so can not take all the children who want to go.


Children participating in Winter Sport will have an early lunch each Friday (starting in week 3). They will be bussed to their game location at 12.30. Games start at 1.15 and should be finished by 2.15. On completion of their game they will be bussed back to Sandwich Road via Champion Street, arriving back at Beckenham by 3 pm.


Locations for matches are as follows:


  • Netball, Rugby and Year 7 and 8 football - Hagley Park
  • Hockey and Year 5 and 6 football - Nunweek Park


Children attending Winter Sport should ensure that they bring a warm jersey or jacket and a water bottle to their game. The following safety gear is also required:


  • Hockey - shin guards and mouthguards
  • Football - shin guards
  • Rugby - mouthguards


All players should have short nails and are not permitted to wear any kind of jewellery.


Of the children competing we have a mixture of highly able, competitive players and children who are trying out the sport for the first time. While there is a competitive element to Winter Sport, the primary focus is on participation and good sportsmanship. We look forward to seeing our school kete values on display.