Koru Team News Term 1 Week 6 – Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto

Kia ora e te whānau,

It is incredible to think that we are into the second half of our first term together... and what a fantastic term it is! The tamariki are well-settled into school life, including our routines, timetables, and expectations. It's a joy to listen to them referring to our school values at both mat time, and during their learning and play. Their ability to articulate their thinking and their reasoning is second to none, and we're very proud of the way that they are already 'living our school values' (in particular, 'We Care' and 'We Get There Together' which are our focus values for Term 1)!

Kotahitanga (Getting On Together):

Throughout this first term, we have been focusing on the importance of making connections, forming, maintaining, and sustaining relationships.

Over the term, our work has (and will be) related to:

personal identity and self worth (feeling good about ourselves)
belonging
talking about ourselves, including about our feelings and expressing our opinions
enhancing relationships (working cooperatively)
communication
friendship (defining friendship, establishing friendships, maintaining and sustaining our friendships)
social environments and, in particular, our class (aroha; what it looks like, feels like, sounds like; and making good choices in our happy hub!)

Check out our Stone Wall, on the right as you enter our learning spaces. The children have put a great deal of work into completing this display, and we're sure you'll agree that this work truly represents each of our wee ones, and the values that we hold dear at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto!

Maths in the Koru team:

Our Maths programme in the Koru team is made up of several different components:

Warm ups
A sequence of lessons focusing on a particular strand, or strands, of Maths (e.g., Maths and Statistics, Geometry, Algebra, etc.)
Problem solving
Maths games

Warm ups:

These take place at the start of each Maths lesson, and can take the form of an activity we call Notice, Think, Wonder, another activity we call Move and Prove, or a focus on number knowledge.

'Notice, Think, Wonder' will begin with a photograph which is designed to stimulate thinking and questions. Some examples might be:

What do you notice?
What do you think?
What do you wonder?

What do you notice?
What do you think?
What do you wonder?

We absolutely love the children's thinking, observations, and confidence to contribute during this warm up time!

'Move and Prove' asks the children to consider 3 or 4 options and select the one that they think answers the question (or doesn't belong).

An example might be:

The letters 'a', 'b', and 'c' (and also 'd' as the children become familiar with the activity) are positioned on corners of the mat. The tamariki are given thinking time and then might be asked to 'turn and talk', to discuss their thinking with a learning buddy. They are then asked to move to the letter which represents the option that they have chosen. The 'prove' part of Move and Prove asks children to justify their thinking - why did they choose the answer which they chose?

As with Notice, Think, Wonder, Move and Prove supports us all to be able to acknowledge and compliment the children on their thinking, as well as their confidence to participate and contribute. And, as you can imagine, it's incredibly endearing to hear the tamariki complimenting each other in these situations!!

Lesson sequences:

Following our Warm Up, we move into our lesson sequence for the week. The topics we have covered so far this term include:

All About Us (a 3-week topic, focusing on Number, Geometry, and Algebra)
Pattern Makers (Algebra)
Counting One to One (with a focus on Number Structure and Operations)

A selection of photos taken during these topics follows, and these will provide a glimpse into the learning the children have been engaging in during these topics.

Problem Solving:

Once a week, we have a problem-solving activity, during which the children are presented with a Maths problem to consider. They will generally work with a learning buddy and will have access to a range of equipment, including materials to help with their thinking and a whiteboard and a whiteboard pen for recording (one of each of these, between two children, encourages sharing and turn-taking).

An example of a possible Maths problem

Maths Games:

On Fridays, our big buddies from the Kauri team spend time with us and, during this time, the children are provided with a Maths game which they will play in small groups, each group supervised by one of the Kauri team students.

On the last two Fridays, the game the children have played is the game called '21'. (This might also be a fun game to play at home.)

This is a strategic counting game where players take turns to add 1, 2, or 3 numbers to a running total, starting from 1. The objective is to not be the player who says "21"!