Kōwhai News Week 3

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Hi everyone,

What a busy first three weeks we have had. It has been great to see the children so happy and growing their friendships across the hub. Here are the essentials for this week.


Life Education - Inquiry into IDENTITY

Next week, each home group will have two lessons with 'Harold' in the Life Education truck. Our focus during these lessons will about friendships and how to care for our body. These lessons will help the children to learn more about their identity and how our actions impact on others as well as the importance of looking after ourselves.

As part of our inquiry learning into identity, the children have been making connections with each other through games and activities looking for similarities and differences. Here are some examples of their learning using art and wordle.






Literacy- Reading

This term we are teaching in teams for literacy, with Rowe and Paulette's homegroup working together and Nick and Laura's homegroup working together. We have begun to introduce the routines for our reading programme with the children now having reading lessons during the week with a teacher.
The children reading level 21 and below will bring a book home from their browsing box to read each night. The aim of these books is for the children to develop their reading fluency and expression. They should be fun and easy for the children to read.
If your child is reading level 22 and above, they should be reading a self-chosen chapter book.
Each night, we would like the children to record the book or chapter(s) they have read in their home book (this is kept in their home learning folder) and for you to sign that they have read at night. Daily reading is so important for children to become proficient readers, so your support is greatly appreciated!


Water- Drink bottles

It is really important that each child have a water bottle at school EVERY day to enable them to stay hydrated.  Kathleen Liberty' s research has shown that it is important to drink water because...
1. Water helps you to think
2. Water helps your body to grow
3. Water helps you to learn
4. Water helps you to stay calm.

We actively encourage the children to drink water throughout the day. You can support us by making sure your child has their named drink bottle at school.

DMIC- Maths

We have begun our DMIC (maths) programme and have been very impressed with the mathematical conversations the children have been having so far. This week we have begun to set up student access to a study ladder account. Next week, the children will bring home their login and password details for them to be able to access their account from home. This will be found in their home school book. The purpose of using this online took is for the children to develop their mathematical fluency.  Please note: this is an optional activity for home learning.

Discovery- Learning through Play

Learning through play is a pedagogical and neurological approach to learning – where children can explore, experiment, discover, and solve problems in imaginative, playful and agentic ways.
Each day, we provide the children with the opportunity to learn through play. It is one way we are able to meet the requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum by developing confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners. Almost all of the values and key competencies in The New Zealand Curriculum can be developed by learning through play regardless of the age of students.  Connections across learning areas and to the wider world are able to be explored.

Through play children develop;
* cognitive skills such as creativity, problem-solving, deep and variable thinking, mathematics, and language (oral, written )skills
* social capabilities, establishing and fostering relationships, regulating emotions, and control their own behaviours
* fine and gross motor skills

We actively ask what the children are learning at this time to encourage them to take their thinking to the next level. Here are some of the children in action this week.
Making miniature food out of playdough for a cafe

Learning how to signal

Constructing and replicating castles

Learning to draw by following instructions in books


Well, that's all for now. Have a wonderful weekend ahead!
Kōwhai teaching team









Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 1 Week 3

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This week we are full on into our regular programme, having spent the first two weeks running workshops to set up for the year ahead. We were so impressed to see that so many of the children are keeping up to date with timeframes for completing tasks.

Life Education

You will have noticed the Life Education trailer in our car park. Year 7 & 8 home-groups will have four sessions each at Life Ed over this week and next, learning about the impacts of the things that we put into our bodies, with a focus on food, drugs and alcohol.

Maths Whizz

This year we will continue using the online programme Maths Whizz to help students consolidate their maths skills. This is an excellent tutorial programme that will enable students fill any gaps and progress further in their maths learning. As this is new to Year 7's, we want to share the following information so that you can understand how Maths Whizz works. On the link below, you will find several important resources to help you support your child with the curriculum when used at home. Students will get time to use Maths Whizz at school and will most likely earn the required 4 progressions, but some students may choose to continue their progress at home. Please see Megan if you have any queries. Thank you in advance for your support with this.
Maths Whizz Parent Resources

Leadership Week

Our leadership week is just around the corner.

For Year 7 this is a full day of leadership activities on the Monday (March 2) and a day leading in a junior hub on the Thursday or Friday. Year 7 can wear mufti on the Monday.

For Year 8 this is a two day leadership camp on the Thursday and Friday (March 5 and 6). The children sleep over at school on the Thursday night. We will send out a gear list next week. On the Thursday evening we head into town on the public bus. Each child needs to have $2.40 in coins for their bus fare (we will add this to the gear list). We also ask for a food donation:
Te Maunga (Nicky's home-group): a packet of breakfast cereal
Te Awa (Megan's home-group): a bag of fruit
Te Tai and Te Ngahere (Jenny and Hannah's home-groups) some baking

Dunedin Camp

Many thanks to those who indicated they could help out on camp if we were short on numbers. Turns out we have just the right number. The following parents will be joining us on camp: Karen M, Nicola R, Damion T, Miranda K, Belinda M, Juliet L, Katey G, Ewan C and one more to confirm.

Writing

Our current writing topic is to write a description about someone in your Whakapapa. Most children are well underway with this assignment. Over the weekend we will be checking their progress and emailing children (parents will be copied in) who need to catch up. A conversation at home about what to include in their description could be helpful for some.

Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto PTA Newsletter #1 2020

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Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto PTA Beginning of the Year Bulletin 2020

Who is the PTA?

We are a group of caregivers and teachers who meet on the 4th Wednesday every month. Our main
purpose is to support the school. We try to do this not only by fundraising, so we can financially
support the school, but also by organising events that bring us together as a school community. We
have an extraordinary community at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto and because of this, the PTA can
do a great job at supporting the school.
We would love new people to come along & see how we work. Why not pop along to our first
meeting in 2020: Wednesday 26th February at 7:30 pm in the staffroom & check the PTA out? You do not have to be a PTA member to attend and there is no pressure to feel like you need to join just because you attend a meeting (There is often good food and always good chat!).
If you do want to help, rest assured you only have to do as little or as much as you have capacity for.
We are all busy parents with other commitments: jobs, preschoolers, our own sports (even partners
get a look in sometimes), and if we all do a little bit, it is amazing what can be achieved. Having a
broad range of skills and ideas is key to making the PTA work, so don’t be shy, come and say hi :).
Please click on the link Meet your PTA for a breakdown on who we are & what we do. We have a variety of roles, some that can even be done at home.

How does our PTA work?

Each event has a ‘coordinator’ who manages that event with the assistance from other PTA
members & volunteers from our school community. Volunteers are sourced either via the PTA
Survey (which gets sent out at least once a term via the newsletter) or from Google forms sent out
via social media. Please click on the link if you would like to complete the survey: PTA Survey.

How do we decide what to fundraise for?

We listen to your suggestions made via the PTA Survey. We also ask the staff to create a “Wish List”.
This year PTA is organising its largest fundraiser - The Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto Twilight Fair,
which will be held on Fri 20th March 2020. Money raised from the Twilight Fair will be used to
replenish our school sports uniform collection (which is badly needed for the smaller students at
school!) and for funds the school can use to update our digital technology. A new digital curriculum
has been introduced nationwide: children need to learn coding concepts and how to program robots
so that they can become creators of digital technology, not just users. To do this requires expensive
equipment. As a PTA and a community, we are striving to assist the school with this expense.
Planning for the Fair is well underway and we would love new people to join the Fair Team and help us crack the $20k mark!!

What did we get up to last year?

Last year we enjoyed hosting the New Whānau Morning Tea each term, the Kids Masquerade Disco
& co-hosting, with the Student Council, the Shared Breakfast on the Shortest Day.
We ran the Clubbercise classes, which were a huge success – “whoop whoop”!

We organised a Cheese Roll-a-thon and sold some scrumptious Cheese Rolls!
On the last Sunday of each month, the PTA hosted a car boot sale in the school car park, the
Beckenham Booty. This was a great way to clear out cupboards and meet new members of the
community as people hawked their wares.


We co-ordinated our annual fundraisers the Read-a-thon, Calendar Art & the Back in 1969 Quiz.
Our last event of the year was the Annual Leavers lunch, a beautiful way to send off the year 8’s on
their next adventure!
With the money we raised last year, a new Beckenham Te Kura o Puroto Gazebo was purchased to
be used at community events where our tamariki are participating. Another exciting item bought
with fundraising money was the very flash Outdoor Portable Sound System, which was just fantastic
to see in use at athletic sports - goodbye squeaky bullhorn!
As well as this we funded each child to go on a class trip and contributed to the annual Kauri ski trip.
A real highlight has been seeing the new Outdoor Spaces take shape, as all the money generously
given by the community has enabled the Outdoor Spaces Committee to finalise the design stage and
begin to build some fabulous play spaces for our tamariki.

What is coming up in 2020?

As usual we have lots of things planned for the year ahead! There is no expectation for families to
participate in all the events we provide, anything contributed is always gratefully received. We aim
to offer our families a variety of events to participate in & hope you can enjoy some of them this
year.
Besides our main event the Twilight Fair, we will bring you back the Kids Disco, the Read-a-thon,
Calendar Art, the Quiz, a Top Team Family Fun Day and more!
One of our less known activities is mobilising pastoral care for families who need it. (We always keep
the family anonymous). A helping hand when a family is having a tough time is always so
appreciated. If you think you could cook a meal or bake a cake when we put a shout out, fill in the
PTA survey link.

We Care Range
We love our ‘We Care’ range, products that help us care for our environment & provide practical
assistance in our daily lives. We have Jute Bags, String Veggie Bags & Beeswax Wraps to assist you with your war on plastic. We also have a few Beckenham Tea Towels & Aprons left along with the Beckenham Grid A2 Canvas.


We are excited to be working in conjunction with our local Eatery, The Birdwood, to offer the
following Deal – purchase a $17 Reusable Takeaway Cup from The Birdwood & your first coffee is free. Every time you refill that cup you will receive an 80c discount. Let’s help keep those disposable cups out of the Landfill. These ‘Ideal Cups’ are NZ Made, BPA Free, Leak-Proof, Robust & Barista- friendly.
Contact us to order from our We Care Range at pta@beckenham.school.nz.


Thank you!
Thank you for your ongoing support
Remember to always check the PTA Facebook Page & the PTA Website for up to date information.
Regards
Jody Smith and Liz May (Co Chairs) and the PTA team
https://www.facebook.com/ptabeckenhamschool/
https://sites.google.com/view/beckenham-school-pta-nz/home


Welcome to Koru for 2020!

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Kia ora whānau,

Welcome to the 2020 school year. It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to welcome our 'newbies'.

Our focus for the first three weeks is on building relationships, establishing routines, expectations and focusing on the Kete Values, We Care and We Get There Together.

We are so incredibly proud of how our tamariki are going with these values.  They are using kind words, helping each other out, offering to share and working as a team at tidy up time.









Bucket Fillers

We have been focusing on how we can fill our own buckets and those of others. We have read a book called 'Have you filled a bucket today?'. A bucket filler acts and speaks with We Care towards others and themselves. When they do these things they are filling buckets. Ask your child what filling a bucket might look and sound like.





Outside play

We are making the most of the outdoors for our learning. We are enjoying the play space, Treemendous and using sports gear.



















Maths Exploration

We have had great fun being mathematicians exploring patterns, reading and writing numbers, counting forwards and backwards, and learning to use the equipment in a variety of mathematical ways.












Ngā mihi mahana koutou,
Elizabeth and Jo

Kahikatea News Week 2 Term 1 2020

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Learning Conferences
What a pleasure to have had the opportunity to meet with all of you over our two days of learning conferences. Thank you for taking the time to come along. We appreciate this is a valuable time to share information and to build familiarity with you and your child/children.
If you were not able to make a time please contact your child's homegroup teacher.

Playground Development
The junior playground is currently under construction. There is an amazing team working on this and we are looking forward to seeing the final product!
Because of this our veranda area can be very congested at drop off and pick up time. You can support your child's/children's independence by waiting to meet them by the hall steps or the library veranda or by the flag pole at the end of the day. This will really help to reduce the number of people waiting near our entry and exit points.

Drop-off's and Morning Routines
As the new year starts and our tamariki are forming new relationships with their teachers and getting to know new friends we understand that your child/children may experience some difficulty saying goodbye in the morning. To support you and your child we encourage you to: 
  • Be at school between 8.30 and 8.45. This will allow time for your child to complete their morning jobs and to settle into an activity or task
  • Make contact with your child's home group teacher if you need support to farewell your child
  • Support your child to find something to do. Often doing the same thing each morning with your child (e.g. a puzzle or reading a book together) is very reassuring
  • Let your child know when you will say goodbye (e.g. in 2 minutes I am going to say goodbye, or after I have read a story, or when you've put your bag into the cubby. Sometimes a quick, positive "Have a nice day and I will see you after school" is a good way to share that presupposition and I know you will be fine.   
  • Our tamariki appreciate routine and consistency. Establishing these routines and expectations early on is super helpful for everyone! The hub is often very busy with people coming and going and we appreciate you being mindful of the extra noise so many extra people in this space can make. 


Discovery Time
In team Kahikatea we run our discovery time slightly differently to Team Koru. During the first few weeks of school, we will be exploring learning through discovery most mornings and some afternoons.

Collaboration is an important feature of our teaching and learning programs. Your child's home group will often be working collaboratively with other home groups across the day and the week. We use the hub spaces flexibly and we encourage and support our tamariki to enjoy learning across the hub.