Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 8 (B)

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 In this post:

  • Cantamath
  • Phones
  • Sport

Cantamath

The latest victim on our current Level 2 status is Cantamath. We heard yesterday that this event will be cancelled. The children who attend maths club had been working hard towards the teams event and the creativity, precision and maths content in many of the Cantamath projects are evidence of many hours work. We know there will be lots of disappointed children. This morning we have marked all of the Cantamath projects and decided which work we would have sent through to Cantamath and what we believe would have earned a highly commended or excellence award.

Work by these children would have been sent to the Cantamath competition, had it gone ahead:

Abby, Ava, Ben, Caleb, Connor I, Cooper, Devina, Erik, Eva, Fergus, Frances, Grace H, Henry M, Holly, Ilia, Isla, James, Kate, Layla J, Layla W, Lexi, Lurandt, Mac, Mahli, Marcellus, Meara, Mia, Morgan, Rosie, Ruby, Tabea, Thomas, Walter, Zara M, Zoë C

We have given these children a highly commended award:
Holly, Meara, Henry M, Ava, Grace H, Erik, Eva and Lurandt

The projects completed by these people were of a very high standard and we have awarded them an excellence:
Devina, Ruby, Caleb, Abby, Kate, Zoë C, James, Mia and Mac

All Cantamath projects are currently on display in Sth Hangere - the building that is closest to the old dental clinic by the river. You are welcome to come in and take a look between 8:30 and 9am or 3 and 3:30pm this week. 


Phones

We are now collecting phones in a tub each morning and sending them to the office for safe-keeping during the day. Since we started doing this a week ago, there are less phones being handed in. Here is a photo of the tub today. If your child brings their phone and it is not in the tub photo, please have a conversation with them about following this rule. If you think your child would benefit from a daily reminder, please let us know.  



Sporting Events in Week 9

Volleyball

Tuesday 15th September
The three Koru Games volleyball teams will be playing in a one day tournament at Hillview Christian School.
Meet: 8:00 in the Kauri Hub
Children should be dressed in a black BTKP polo top
Children need:
  • Water bottle
  • Morning tea and lunch
  • Any personal medication such as an inhaler
  • Children may bring a book, sketchbook or small game for between games

There will be an optional after school practise on Monday next week where we will be joined by some Year 9s and 10s. This will go from 3:15 until 4:15. If children need to leave early for other after school commitments, that is fine. 

This event will go ahead in Level 2


Mixed Sports Tournament with St Martins


Wednesday 16th September
Children who wanted to participate will play in a fun focused one day tournament with St Martins in the sports of football, ultimate frisbee and touch. 
This is being held on the Beckenham Park.

This event will go ahead in Level 2, weather permitting.


Canterbury Winter Tournament - This event will only go ahead in Level 1


Jule’s hockey team and Anna’s netball team from weekly winter sport have qualified to play in the Canterbury Winter Tournament. 
Hockey - Nunweek Park
Netball - Hagley Netball Courts
Meet: at school at 9:00
Children will be travelling to these venues by car. If you are able to support by providing transport, please email Jenny. 
Children need:
  • Water bottle
  • Morning tea and lunch
  • Any personal medication such as an inhaler
  • Children may bring a book, sketchbook or small game for between games

Weekly Winter Sport


We would like to acknowledge the following children from our weekly enter sport programme. Our adult coaches were asked to select a person from their team for each of these two awards.

Most improved Player - recognising children who showed coachability by taking on feedback and putting exceptional effort into improving their skill level over the course of the season.

Mia, Mila, Tabea, Eddie, Eli, Sachit,

Sportsmanship - recognising children who showed exceptional respect for their opposition, their ref and encouragement of their team.
Henry M, Eva, Lurandt, Syesha, Olive, Layla W

All coaches commented on how difficult it was to choose three awards. We recognise the commitment and effort that all children have demonstrated over the season. 


Koru News Term 3 Week 8

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 Kia ora e te whanau,

What a lot of interesting and fun Learning Through Play has been taking place over the past couple of weeks!
The children continue to be reminded about why we call it Learning Through Play ("because while we're playing, we're learning") and the kinds of things we might be learning and practising during our play. This is especially as we have new children starting school, and we're noticing that many of our older children are really stepping up to model these behaviours for our 'newbies'.

Using these images, the children were asked to relate the relevant ideas below to the school values which were being displayed.

The children brainstormed these ideas about their Learning Through Play.

Learning Through Play:
For our topic this week, we have been looking at restaurants, eating out and cooking. During Learning Through Play, we have been amazed by how creative the children have been, building restaurants, 'creating' food, designing menus and taking our orders in their cafes and eateries. We will continue with this theme during this coming week, and our focus will be working as teams to create shops and restaurants, and to problem solve the variety of challenges that can arise as the children play together.

We Care

We Get There Together

We Love Learning

We Love Challenge and We Get There Together




We Get There Together

Wacky Hair Day:
We had so much fun admiring the wacky hairdos that arrived at school on Friday. What impressive effort and creativity families put in that Friday morning - we suspect that many of you were up well before the crack of dawn, judging by the impressive results that walked through the gate, between 8:30 and 8:55! Thank you to all of those who supported the child cancer society and donated a gold coin for this wonderful cause.























Wellbeing and Friendship:
We have been having a big focus on continuing to build and develop friendships in Koru. This week we introduced an activity, whereby the children needed to work together to solve a problem. Using their index fingers only, they had to solve how they could pick up and carry an object. It was great to see the children working together in pairs, communicating, problem-solving, and taking on a challenge, while at the same time having fun.
Some of the objects the children tried picking up were:
  • A pen
  • A glue-stick
  • An eraser
  • A thick book
  • A block
  • A soft toy
All children displayed our kete values of We Get There Together and We Love a Challenge, as they participated with their buddies to successfully pick up each item.










Tricky! How did they manage that?

Talent Quest Auditions:
The teachers in Koru had the pleasure of auditioning the children for our Talent Show, which is going to be held on the last day of school for this term (25th of September). We were delighted to see how confident and talented our Year 0 and 1 children are. As always, it is so difficult to make a choice as we would obviously love to send all children who entered through to the finals, however we are delighted to let you know that Moana, Vienna and Joseph will be going on to the finals at the end of this term. 

Kete Awards:
As we are unable to hold our assemblies at level 2, the Koru team held a hui in Pūkaki on Friday, August 28th. Congratulations to the children below who received kete awards. We are incredibly proud of how you uphold the Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto values.


Peter Rabbit:
It was with enormous sadness that we have had to farewell Peter Rabbit, who has been a faithful and loyal friend to hundreds of children at Beckenham te Kura over the past 9 years. Peter has been cuddled and loved by children, read to, played with, taken out to the park for time on the grass, and has helped children who have been feeling sad or upset by simply allowing them to hold him, and most children at Beckenham will know him really well. Something that Peter did incredibly well was to help children who were having trouble saying goodbye to their families at the start of the school day - Peter was worth way more than his weight in gold.
Peter Rabbit died of old age last week. In human years, he would have been about 85. He will be greatly missed, and remembered by all with enormous fondness.

Peter, aged nearly 9 years.

Have a lovely week, everyone. We look forward to another wonderful week of learning with the wee ones!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Sari, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth

Koru News Term 3 Week 7

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Kia ora e te whanau,

What a lot of interesting and fun Learning Through Play has been taking place over the past couple of weeks!
The children continue to be reminded about why we call it Learning Through Play ("because while we're playing, we're learning") and the kinds of things we might be learning and practising during our play. This is especially as we have new children starting school, and we're noticing that many of our older children are really stepping up to model these behaviours for our 'newbies'.

Using these images, the children were asked to relate the relevant ideas below to the school values which were being displayed.

The children brainstormed these ideas about their Learning Through Play.

Learning Through Play:
For our topic this week, we have been looking at restaurants, eating out and cooking. During Learning Through Play, we have been amazed by how creative the children have been, building restaurants, 'creating' food, designing menus and taking our orders in their cafes and eateries. We will continue with this theme during this coming week, and our focus will be working as teams to create shops and restaurants, and to problem solve the variety of challenges that can arise as the children play together.

We Care

We Get There Together

We Love Learning

We Love Challenge and We Get There Together




We Get There Together

Wacky Hair Day:
We had so much fun admiring the wacky hairdos that arrived at school on Friday. What impressive effort and creativity families put in that Friday morning - we suspect that many of you were up well before the crack of dawn, judging by the impressive results that walked through the gate, between 8:30 and 8:55! Thank you to all of those who supported the child cancer society and donated a gold coin for this wonderful cause.























Wellbeing and Friendship:
We have been having a big focus on continuing to build and develop friendships in Koru. This week we introduced an activity, whereby the children needed to work together to solve a problem. Using their index fingers only, they had to solve how they could pick up and carry an object. It was great to see the children working together in pairs, communicating, problem solving, and taking on a challenge, while at the same time having fun.
Some of the objects the children tried picking up were:
A pen
A glue-stick
An eraser
A thick book
A block
A soft toyAll children displayed our kete values of We Get There Together and We Love a Challenge, as they participated with their buddies to successfully pick up each item.










Tricky! How did they manage that?

Talent Quest Auditions:
The teachers in Koru had the pleasure of auditioning the children for our Talent Show, which is going to be held on the last day of school for this term (25th of September). We were delighted to see how confident and talented our Year 0 and 1 children are. As always, it is so difficult to make a choice as we would obviously love to send all children who entered through to the finals, however we are delighted to let you know that Moana, Vienna and Joseph will be going on to the finals at the end of this term. 

Kete Awards:
As we are unable to hold our assemblies at level 2, the Koru team held a hui in Pūkaki on Friday, August 28th. Congratulations to the children below who received kete awards. We are incredibly proud of how you uphold the Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto values.


Peter Rabbit:
It was with enormous sadness that we have had to farewell Peter Rabbit, who has been a faithful and loyal friend to hundreds of children at Beckenham te Kura over the past 9 years. Peter has been cuddled and loved by children, read to, played with, taken out to the park for time on the grass, and has helped children who have been feeling sad or upset by simply allowing them to hold him, and most children at Beckenham will know him really well. Something that Peter did incredibly well was to help children who were having trouble saying goodbye to their families at the start of the school day - Peter was worth way more than his weight in gold.
Peter Rabbit died of old age last week. In human years, he would have been about 85. He will be greatly missed, and remembered by all with enormous fondness.

Peter, aged nearly 9 years.

Have a lovely week, everyone. We look forward to another wonderful week of learning with the wee ones!

Ngā mihi mahana,
Jo, Sari, Stacey, Sophie and Elizabeth

Planting Day at the Beckenham Park Ponds

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Kia ora whānau,

Sally Airey (our Healthy Ōpāwaho faciltator) has organised and invited Pōhutakawa to complete planting at the ponds on Wednesday September 16th, supported by local CCC rangers and a river volunteer (and expert). It'll be an awesome opportunity to make a difference to our local environment, and is being held as part of our annual Clean Up Week at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto.

Groups of 30 children and their teacher will attend the ponds, listen to a local plant expert, and undertake planting at these intervals: 

9-9.45am: Group 1
9.45-10.30am: Group 2
10.30 - 10.50 break time (whole school)
11- 11.45am: Group 3
11.45am - 12.30pm: Group 4

We would be very grateful if we could have some parent help volunteers for some or all of this time. At least two parents per time slot would be very much appreciated. Please can you email Anne at anne.batchelor@beckenham.school.nz if you are available for some or all of this time. Thanks very much for your support.

Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 8

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 In this post:

  • Cashmere High testing day
  • Cantamath
  • Cheese Roll thanks and pics
  • Elections learning

Cashmere High Testing

Those in Year 8 who have enrolled at Cashmere High School for next year would have been contacted by Cashmere about the testing day this Thursday. Children arrange their own way to and from Cashmere for this testing morning. We expect to see at children back at school by lunch eating time, 1:20, when we take the roll. This will provide ample time for those who will be walking to get back to school. 

Cantamath

We are waiting to hear from Cantamath about whether the competition will be going ahead this year. It is scheduled for Sept 16th, when we will still be in Level 2. 

We were blown away by the project work that came to school on Friday and are looking forward to seeing the remaining work (for those who asked for an extension) arrive on Monday. We will be setting up a display of all work for the school and parents to view on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I am in the process of confirming the venue for this display. 

Below are a selection of the projects that were handed in on Friday ...








Cheese Rolls

Many thanks to Jaana, Anna and Renata for helping us with our cheese roll making last Thursday. The children love this authentic learning experience. It is a great way to live our school value: 'We get there together'. 






Elections

We have recently started an integrated literacy topic about elections. Last Wednesday we held a mock parliamentary debate in the hall. The PM was in attendance (The Hon Jenny Diggle) and the speaker of the House (H Elliott) controlled the debate. There were numerous speakers who provided eloquent, thought provoking and amusing arguments, both for and against the bill. Following 30 minutes of debate, the bill went to the vote. The results were 67:30 against the bill, so the voting age will not be lowered to 13!

This week the children will be forming their own parties and writing policies with a school, rather than country, focus.