Monthly Archives: August 2017

Te Whanau Koru Highlights Weeks 3 and 4

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Kia ora whanau,

Spring is in the air, and the children are loving being out at break times in the glorious sunshine!

New Entrants:
A very warm welcome to our new children and their families. The children have all settled beautifully, and have made a great start to the next phase of their learning.
Parents of new children, if you feel that your child is feeling extremely tired at the end of the day/week, touch base with Gail Turner to make a temporary arrangement - you know your children and their needs best of all!

Spellathon:
Spellathon testing took place last Friday, and now comes the business of collecting all of the sponsorship money back in. No pressure, but...! There is a prize for the whole class which has all of its sponsorship money back into the office FIRST!
Congratulations to the children who have worked so hard to learn their Spellathon words.

Baby photos:
Many thanks to you for hunting out all of those very cute baby photos. They have proven to be highly valuable as we focus on our topic, Change. Check out some of the Youtube clips relating to babies and their first experiences!

Film Festival:
What a wonderful outing - the 13 short films we saw were each, both fascinating and entertaining. The fact that we were able to view them in the most splendid of venues, was the icing on the cake.



Excited anticipation...

Discovery Stations:
Hub 10 have been focusing on fairy tales, as a motivation for both Discovery Stations and writing. There was a lot of hilarity and creativity displayed as children put time, thought and effort into setting up the Three Billy Goats Gruff 'small world'. We love seeing the children follow their passions and take the lead, as they feel able. The Key Competencies exhibited throughout these sessions are wonderful, including: Thinking, Relating to Others, Managing Self and Participating and Contributing! Have a browse through the photos below. Many thanks to the parents who help to support these activities, and particularly by recording the children's discussions and contributions at the time.

Setting up the 'goats' with their horns

Creating the river...

...and a bridge which would hold the three goats

More work on the river

Ta da!! Horns for one of the goats



And finally, a stable bridge, complete with festive tinsel!
We Love Numbers!!
Michelle loves dropping in to visit, and the children take great delight in explaining to her, their learning and how it relates to numbers.
As we look around the room, we are always amazed at the levels of self-management, engagement, and enjoyment that the children are showing. It's gorgeous to see even the very young children so highly engaged and motivated, and at the same time, directing their own learning. Well done, Hub 10 children! Every day, you display the Beckenham value of We Love Learning.

Guess how many teddies will fit on the sofa and in the bed!

And how many teddies will fit in this big bed?

Can you count?

Ollie the Orca and his little penguin friend need to learn their tens frame patterns!

8 + 3 = ?

Making up equations using dominoes, number tiles and unifix cubes

Dots plus spaces equals ten

More equations to show our learning about addition

The apple tree playdough mats

Writing addition equations by throwing the 'dice within the dice' (each large dice has a smaller dice within)

More dots plus spaces


Skip counting in twos

Let's make the tallest tower we can



Wow - how many gems are there sitting on this big octopus?

'The animals went in two by two...'

Skip count in twos to work out how many animals altogether on these blocks

Practising writing addition equations

I know the groupings with numbers up to 10

Addition equations using the dominoes, the number tiles and the unifix cubes

...and more!

Addition equations up to 10 and doubles up to 20

Give Your Friend a Massage!
At the end of the day ...






... aaaahhhhh!







Click on this link - we love it!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Have a wonderful Week 5, everyone!

Ski Day Rescheduled

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We have rebooked our ski day for Wednesday August 30th. Many thanks to the parents who have quickly made themselves available to help with transport and support on the ski-field.

Unfortunately Mt Hutt did not have any days left this term with lessons at 10:30am. Therefore our lesson time will be 9am. This means we will need to depart school by 6:30am! (... and the kids were complaining about 7am) Set the alarms early that day, as we will need everyone on Eastern Tce by 6:20am.

If you have any questions, please flick us an email.


Kauri Whānau Update: Term 3 Week 4

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Ski Day, this Thursday:

While the heavens opened and dumped lots of lovely snow on Mt Hutt over the last couple of days, unfortunately the forecast for Thursday is for strong winds. Please check https://www.nzski.com/mt-hutt/mt-hutt-weather-report after 6am on Thursday to check if the ski field is open. If open, we will be going, if not, it will be a normal school day. In the case of a closed day, we will reschedule the trip.

Key reminders:

  • Be at school, Eastern Tce, by 7am
  • Come dressed is: thermal top and long-johns, long woollen socks, warm top, weather-proof pants and ski jacket. We can take off layers in the bus / car.
  • In a day pack: gloves, goggles or glasses, large bottle or water, large lunch and inhaler / medication as required.
  • In jacket pocket: some energy food for snacking on the slopes.
  • Optional: activity for bus / car trip, camera, $5 to spend at cafe.
  • All children will be provided with a helmet, skis, boots and poles.
  • We will return to Eastern Tce by 6pm.

Cantamath, next Wednesday: 

Next Wednesday, August 23rd, we will be taking all of Year 7 & 8 to Horncastle Arena at 8:40, to view the Cantamath project display. We will be back at Champion Street by 10am. A $3.50 transportation contribution will be added to your next account.

We were blown away by the high standard of work that the children produced for their Cantamath projects. Many thanks to the parents who helped with ideas, encouragement and support. Congratulations to the following people whose work has been selected to go through to the Cantamath competition:

  • Publicity Motif: Jessie, Caleb, Joel
  • Games and Puzzles: Alex
  • Static Model: Georgie, Tilly, Rosie, Fynn, Santiago, Saraya, Constantin, Marlonique, Isla, Miriélle
  • Dynamic Model: Kaia
  • Written Project: Sadie, Adam, Daisy, Isaac, George, Gabriel, Hannah W, Luke, Christopher, Bonnie
  • Photography: Juliette

Next Wednesday our Cantamath teams will compete against the best mathematical talent in Canterbury, in the problem solving competition. Best of luck to:
Year 7: Santi, Adam, Gabriel and Tom, with Hannah as reserve.
Year 8: Isaac, Rosie, Alex and Kaia, with Amelia as reserve.

Congratulations:

Three of our Year 8 students were interviewed for scholarships at Cashmere High School earlier this week. We were very excited to hear that Jordan H has won a leadership scholarship. Tino pai Jordan!

Inquiry Learning:

The children are currently completing their inquiry resource project to conclude our learning about diversity. These should be completed by the end of this week. If your child is not finished by the end of the week, we will let you know, as this will need to be completed at home.

Speeches:

We start speech writing season next week. On Monday we be looking at what makes a great speech and will start brainstorming topics. This year all children need to write and deliver a persuasive speech on some aspect of change. This topic is very broad. The speech is to be 3-4 minutes in length. We will be writing these at school. Discussion about possible topics, at home, would be extremely helpful. The speeches will be presented to home groups on Monday and Tuesday of week 8, 12 and 13 of September. Our hub final will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday Sept 14, in our new hub at Beckenham.

Te Whānau Mahi Tahi:

Last night, Te Whānau Mahi Tahi opened this year's cultural festival. They were stunning! They exuded power and mana on stage. From the moment they stepped on stage till when the last poi exited, our performers gave of their very best. Beckenham supporters in the audience were very proud. Tu Meke Te Whānau Mahi Tahi!









Ferrymead Heritage Park Trip

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Dear Parents/Caregivers,


Pohutukawa Whanau are arranging a trip to Ferrymead Heritage Park this term as part of our conceptual learning around ‘Change’. The purpose of this trip is for the children to experience life as a child in the 1900’s in an authentic township and to allow children to see the technological progress that humankind has made to improve our lives.


The trip to Ferrymead will take place over two separate days.
  • Year 6 children will attend on Thursday 24th August. Year 5 children will bus to Champion Street as per usual.
  • Year 5 children will attend on Thursday 14th September. Year 6 children will bus to Champion Street as per usual.


On both days the bus to Ferrymead Heritage Park will depart from Eastern Tce at 9.00am and will return to school by 2.30pm. Children will need to meet their teachers in the East Hub by 8.45am on the day of their trip. When we return to school, we will have some reflection time in the East Hub before heading home for the day.


Students will need to bring:
  • Water bottle
  • Lunch and morning tea (no lunch orders on the day of their trip)
  • A warm layer of clothing
  • Comfortable shoes for walking
  • Any medication they will need i.e inhalers for asthma


We will need parents who are willing to travel with us to and from Ferrymead and who are happy to be responsible for a small group of children while they are there. Please contact your child’s homeroom teacher if you are interested in attending.


To cover the cost of the lesson and bus, a contribution of $15 will be added to your school account.


Kind Regards,


Nice Bruce nick.bruce@beckenham.school.nz

Kowhai Team Week 3 Newsletter

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Here is the latest update from Kowhai Team...

Learning About Change

This term we have been learning about how to look after our bodies and what to do to ensure our body stays fit and healthy so it can grow and learn. We have investigated the importance of food, sleep, exercise and water along with how to care for our body and teeth. Our next step is to examine cause and effect. This will look like us asking and answering questions like: What happens if we don't brush our teeth or eat healthy food? We will extend this to looking at what actions we need to do to keep our hub tidy and appropriate for learning. We will also look at how our behaviour choices can affect other people's learning. You might like to talk with your child about cause and effect in different settings too to extend their understanding.


Toys
We have started to notice the children starting to creep some non essential items like toys to school. It is important that the children keep these items at home as if they come to school, we are unable to guarantee their safety and would hate to see any precious items get damaged or lost. We would love your support with this to ensure that the children only have the necessary items for school at teach day. These are:
Lunch
Drink bottle
Home learning folder
Jacket



Reminder Shoes and Change of Clothes
Due to the very wet state of our grounds, we are actively encouraging the children to bring along a change of clothes and footwear if they intend on playing in the park. If your child likes to play football or games on the grassed areas, please make sure they have a spare pair of old shoes and clothes to change into at school as the park is still extremely boggy at present. 

Library Visits

This term we are lucky enough to be able to go to South Library to read and to issue books. This is a great opportunity to encourage lots of reading while our school library is out of action. The children will be going once every 2 weeks so if your child has a library card, do make sure they take it with them along with their reading folder. We do also encourage you to pack a raincoat on that day as the weather can change very quickly at the moment. If you would like to come along with your child, parent help is always welcome. Just add your name to the following document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xohSV9hfkG48Y5hLUvNfkDipbZJrzBLjZHy5zsK5za4/edit#gid=0

We are also in the need for parent help for Anna and Susan’s home groups. The dates and times are all included in the document link above
We have had extremely successful visits this week, orientating ourselves around the library and finding interesting books to read. Just look how engaged they all are!
This coming week:
This Monday Hub 6 will be going to the library and on Tuesday Hub 9 will be going. If your child has a library card, please send it to school so they are able to issue out books. 





Jewellery MAD Group
We are requiring some extra materials for next Friday's jewellery MAD time group. If you have any of the following you would like to donate please bring it into Rebekah in the East Hub. You you have any donations of fine wire, toothpicks, wool, ribbon, fine elastic, loom









Kowhai Teaching Team
x





bands, sequins or anything crafty that might contribute to us making awesome jewellery would love your help.

Short Film Festival
Many thanks to all the parents who have emailed to offer their help on Thursday when we go to the Isaac Theatre Royal to see some of the the NZ Short Films. We know this will be highly entertaining for the children and we hope it will spark some enthusiasm for movie making too!
That's all for now