Kia ora e te whānau,
We are halfway through the term already! We have been having a blast in the Kahikatea Hub, and we have some exciting events coming up soon for our tamariki.
Digital Tech with Kate
We have had the amazing opportunity of having Kate, from Digital Future Aotearoa, come and spend some time with small groups. She has been working on building tech and coding skills during our Wednesday Learning Through Play Sessions. Kate and the students have been working with Blue Bots and Spheros. Here are some lovely photos of the tamariki enjoying themselves.
Positive Behaviour for Learning
As part of our school-wide Positive Behaviour 4 Learning (PB4L) program, we have been focusing on a Word of the Week. This week our word is KINDNESS, and all Kahikatea learners have spent time in their homegroups discussing what this words means to them and how they can demonstrate kindness.
Last week the word was RESPECT. Katie's homegroup produced some fantastic writing on what respect meant to them, and some students shared their writing with the students from Koru, Kahikatea and Kowhai during our Junior School Assembly last Friday. They did a wonderful job, and we were all very proud!
Mathematics Focus
This term, alongside our work on number, addition and subtraction, we have been focusing on problem solving during our mathematics lessons. We have been working on solving open-ended problems where there can be more than one solution. We have been working in groups, as well as independently, to solve these problems. Below is one of the problems that we have worked on. We used the visit from Bob Bickerton to form a real-life application to the problem.
Winter Clothing
As the weather starts to get colder, we are seeing lots of our tamariki dressed in lovely warm coats, jerseys, beanies and gloves. This is fantastic and it keeps them nice and warm. Please ensure that all items of your child's clothing are clearly named to assist in the event of an item being lost or misplaced.
Up coming Events:
Cross Country
Our Junior Cross Country is taking place on Tuesday June 14th. It is an event for students in New Entrants up to Year 4.
Some important points about the event:
- parents are welcome to join us at this event on June 14th.
- the afternoon will start at 1:00 p.m., with the oldest year group levels running first, on through to the New Entrants towards the end of the afternoon
- practices will be taking place regularly between now and the Cross Country event: if you wish your child to be exempt from practices due to health reasons, please email your child's HG teacher as soon as possible to let them know
- please send your child to school in appropriate footwear for daily running practices
- please ensure that your child has their water bottle at school each day, including on the day of the event
- children will be able to wear their house T-shirts on the day of the Cross Country
- the postponement date for our Cross Country is Monday, June 20th.
The Christchurch Antarctic Centre
We are very excited to be visiting The Christchurch Antarctic Centre on the 23rd June.
Thank you to all those parent/whanau who have volunteered to assist. We now have sufficient numbers of parent/whanau helpers. Thanks everyone!
Katie and Emma's home groups will leave school at 9am and return by 12:15pm, and Amber and Krystal's home groups will leave school at 11:45am and return by 3pm.
Please ensure that your child is dressed in their school uniform and wear warm, comfortable footwear.
That's all for now,
The Kahikatea Team
amber.donovan@beckenham.school.nz, katie.mcfarlane@beckenham.school.nz, krystal.hunt@beckenham.school.nz, emma.hayes-smith@beckenham.school.nz
lisa.collier@beckenham.school.nz,