Kowhai Whanau
Top Team
Wow! What a busy week we have been having. Across our team the children have been working really hard on developing their self-management skills throughout all areas of learning as our key programmes take shape.
The Key competencies of: Thinking, Relating to Others, Managing Self and Participating and Contributing were strongly demonstrated throughout our Top Team Challenge. The children displayed many effective team work skills as they solved problems and worked together on challenges. A huge thank you to all the wonderful parents who supported us by running stations. We couldn't have done it without you! We will continue to have team work as a focus over the next few weeks to continue to develop the necessary skills to communicate when working in group situations. 
Future Ferns Netball Coach(s)
We would love to provide the opportunity for children in our team to play netball at Hagley Park in Term 2 and 3. To enable us to do this, we require the willing assistance of some FANTASTIC parents who would like to coach the team. This would involve taking a practise at school during the week (lunchtime or before/after school) and attend games and attend a pre game skill session. If this sounds like you, please contact Anna Reid as soon as possible. anna.reid@beckenham.school.nz
Head lice
We have had a few cases of head lice being reported across our team. This is a timely reminder to take a moment you check your child's head to ensure there are no unwelcome visitors!
PTA Lego Movie Fundraiser
The PTA are about to start their fundraising campaign to raise $115,000 by March 2018 which will go towards developing our outdoor spaces.Their first fundraiser is an advanced screening of the Lego Batman Movie. This is only $12.50 per person and will be a great opportunity for your child see the movie before it is launched to the public. Grab your ticket NOW! The children will take home a flyer about this on Monday.
What 3-7 year old needs to learn
A fantastic parent evening has been organised for parents to learn more about child development for children aged of 3-7 years. It will be a worthwhile event to attend.Elgregoe Show
On Monday 20th March, the children will be treated to an anti bullying show presented by Elgregoe. The focus of this show if to provide the children to 'Have the Power' to say no to bullying. Please remember come in and see your child's point of contact teacher if your child ever experiences difficulties at school, especially if there are issues in the playground. It is essential for all children to feel happy and safe at school as without them, learning cannot be maximised!
Student Librarians
Anne Chin has trained four students from our team to be student librarians. These librarians assist with issuing, returning books, repairing books and helping children to choose books. Next term we will train other children to help assist Anne.
Celebrating Kowhai Learning
In Hub 6, we have been focusing on writing detailed descriptions of a setting. For our writing to be successful we thought carefully about our word choice to describe what the setting: looks, feels, smells, tastes and sounds like. Our aim is to transport the reader to that moment in time. Here are some snippets of our writing...
I look out to the deep blue watery mass once again. I see dolphins leaping in front of the boat like they want to guide us to land. They have heard the creaking floor boards of my old boat moaning for help. Ilia
The water laps over the side of the railings and soaks into my shoes as it tries to lure me into the deep, dark ocean depths. I feel scared. Caitlin
Out of nowhere the sea suddenly became a wild animal. Justine
I feel scared as my old wooden boat creaks like an old woman's bones after working hard for eighty years. My boat starts to creak and I feel cold and hungry. "When are we going to get to land?" I ask. Laya
I am by myself on a pirate ship. I hear the loud sound of music playing telling me we are finally near land. Sophie
Self Portraits
These incredible self portraits will be up on display in the school foyer next week. Make sure you check them out!
Mystery Boxes
Earlier this term, we all created mystery boxes to let people know some special things about ourselves. They were so much fun to make! We decorated them and filled them with interesting and special artefacts. In Hub 7/8/9 we had a special sharing time last Friday. It was so interesting seeing all the boxes - every single one was different - and what a lot of interesting things we learnt about each other!
Throughout the team we have been collecting some incredibly cute baby photos and we have put them up in our hubs. We are holding a 'Guess Who The Baby Is?' competition to find out if we really do know each other that well. It is not too late to join the competition so please do keep those baby photos coming in. The more there are, the trickier it's going to be for us to guess and we do love a challenge in the Kowhai team!Have a great week ahead.
Kowhai Teaching Team