Click here to order your photo book.
Dunedin photo book order link now working.
Jolly heck, sorry about the link to the Dunedin photo book order form that I sent out this morning. I have now fixed the settings and it should be good to go...
News Filter:
Everything
All Posts
Newletters
Schoolwide News
Outdoor Spaces
Outdoor Spaces
Koru
NE News
Kahikatea
Year 1/2 News
Kowhai
Year 3/4 News
Pohutukawa
Year 5/6 News
Kauri
Year 7/8 News
Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 2 Week 5
Thanks for your support with our comedy evening fundraiser. The evening was a roaring success, full of hilarity and good times. Many thanks to Leigh for overseeing the event and to everyone who donated, baked and helped out on the night. We raised $3300! $2000 of this goes towards camp and $1300 towards our ski trip next term.
We are now taking orders for our Dunedin camp photo book. This will cost $25 and payment will be required before June 8th. Please click here to order your copy.
We are now taking orders for our Dunedin camp photo book. This will cost $25 and payment will be required before June 8th. Please click here to order your copy.
Treaty of Waitangi Workshops:
We are learning so much from Sharon in our treaty workshops. Last week we learnt about some laws that were passed after the treaty was signed and the history of Parihaka. We also learnt a couple of fun games, practising our Te Reo Maori. We finish off with two more workshops this week.
40 Hour Famine:
We're less than two weeks away from Famine Weekend. By now, students will hopefully have already gathered some sponsorship and will be looking to collect a few more sponsors before their weekend of going without. Roughly 3.7 million people have been forced to seek refuge from the civil war raging in South Sudan, many of whom are children forced to flee without their parents. The conflict has had a major impact on food resources, with 50% of crops destroyed and wartime conditions causing food prices to skyrocket. Any support is greatly appreciated!
If you haven't already been approached for sponsorship by a student, Beckenham has its own fundraising page here - https://my.worldvision.org.
If you haven't already been approached for sponsorship by a student, Beckenham has its own fundraising page here - https://my.worldvision.org.
Congratulations:
Well done to Maria, who has qualified for the national aerobic gymnastics competition in Tauranga later this year. Maria scored an outstanding result in the regional competition in Balclutha last weekend.
A brisk morning turned into a beautiful autumn day out at Halswell Quarry last week for our zone cross country event. Our competitors embraced the challenge of a muddy course, covering three km in their two laps of the park. As usual, our zone brought a high level of competition that encouraged our runners to push their limits. The tamariki showed our kete value ‘We get there together’, sometimes quite literally, by crossing the finish holding hands but also by encouraging and supporting others in their race.
A huge congratulations to all our runners. We noticed fantastic dedication by many tamariki in preparation for this event and this commitment to training showed during the race.
The following children have qualified for Canterbury’s on the 20th of June, which uses the same course at Halswell Quarry.
- Roxy Murphin (4th equal)
- Sophia Brown (4th equal)
- Charlotte Grey (6th)
- Tilly Harris (3rd)
Passions:
Thursday afternoons are a real highlight in our hub. The children have opted to learn about one of the following: coding, theatre sports, volleyball, following their own passion, felt making and working with younger children. Below are some photos of wet felting last week.
Kōwhai News Week 4 Term 2
Hi everyone,
What a busy two weeks we have had at swimming. It has been wonderful to see the children demonstrating the school value, ‘We love challenge' in the way they have listened carefully to the instructors and worked on improving individual swimming skills.
A huge thank you to all the parents who came along to assist us at the pool. We appreciate the time that you have given!
Sleep Sleuths
While we have been swimming, the children have been, 'Sleep Sleuths' researching facts about the importance of sleep. The children brainstormed a variety of questions (wonderings) they had about sleep. We have used a variety of methods to research the answers to our questions, including watching YouTube clips, reading books, reading websites online or articles and texts created by the teacher.
For many of the children, they have grown their understanding about the importance of sleep, the sleep cycle, dreaming, how animals sleep to name a few. Communicating and sharing this learning will be our next focus.
For most of the team, the teachers have taken an integrated approach by teaching reading and writing at the same time instead of giving the children separate reading books and writing on an unrelated topic. This has enabled us to clearly show the link between reading and writing.
Across the team, the children have been given greater agency with their learning by working in a variety of ways. This has looked liked working individually, with a buddy, in small groups, and using a variety of resources.
Next week, we will be exploring sleep spaces and how people sleep around the world. Here are some images which were taken within one literacy block this week which show how we differentiate learning.
Maths
We have been so impressed with the children during maths time this term and it has been wonderful to see the children working together and sharing their ideas and strategies when solving our maths problems. During these sessions, we are actively encouraging the children to extend and share their thinking by using the maths talk moves. These ways of talking are enabling the children to think really critically about the strategy they are using to solve a problem and reflect on its effectiveness.
Alongside the maths problems, the children are continuing with their MMM to help extend their basic facts knowledge and we are still teaching the children about number knowledge (place value, reading and writing numbers etc.) as well as teaching strategies so the children are extending their proficiency when problem-solving.
Here are a couple of examples of the problems and the strategies being used.
Thorrington Village
Cross Country
We had a fantastic day for our whole school cross country, it was great to have everyone out on the park in their house colours. All of the children did an amazing job, putting in so much effort and really challenging themselves to run faster. The top four children from each year group will be asked to represent Beckenham School at the Hillview Year 0 - 4 cross country challenge in Week 10. We will be sending home information to these students in the coming weeks.
That's all for now. Keep warm!
Kōwhai Teaching Team
What a busy two weeks we have had at swimming. It has been wonderful to see the children demonstrating the school value, ‘We love challenge' in the way they have listened carefully to the instructors and worked on improving individual swimming skills.A huge thank you to all the parents who came along to assist us at the pool. We appreciate the time that you have given!
Sleep Sleuths
While we have been swimming, the children have been, 'Sleep Sleuths' researching facts about the importance of sleep. The children brainstormed a variety of questions (wonderings) they had about sleep. We have used a variety of methods to research the answers to our questions, including watching YouTube clips, reading books, reading websites online or articles and texts created by the teacher.
For many of the children, they have grown their understanding about the importance of sleep, the sleep cycle, dreaming, how animals sleep to name a few. Communicating and sharing this learning will be our next focus.
For most of the team, the teachers have taken an integrated approach by teaching reading and writing at the same time instead of giving the children separate reading books and writing on an unrelated topic. This has enabled us to clearly show the link between reading and writing.Across the team, the children have been given greater agency with their learning by working in a variety of ways. This has looked liked working individually, with a buddy, in small groups, and using a variety of resources.
Next week, we will be exploring sleep spaces and how people sleep around the world. Here are some images which were taken within one literacy block this week which show how we differentiate learning.
Maths
We have been so impressed with the children during maths time this term and it has been wonderful to see the children working together and sharing their ideas and strategies when solving our maths problems. During these sessions, we are actively encouraging the children to extend and share their thinking by using the maths talk moves. These ways of talking are enabling the children to think really critically about the strategy they are using to solve a problem and reflect on its effectiveness.Alongside the maths problems, the children are continuing with their MMM to help extend their basic facts knowledge and we are still teaching the children about number knowledge (place value, reading and writing numbers etc.) as well as teaching strategies so the children are extending their proficiency when problem-solving.
Here are a couple of examples of the problems and the strategies being used.
Thorrington Village
We have been offered the opportunity to appear on the What Now television programme showing what we do when we visit the residents at Thorrington Village and how we show that ‘We Care’ about our community and how ‘We Make A Difference’. The What Now TV crew will be accompanying 15 of our children to the village on Friday 1st June and filming us while we are there. The children will be talking, reading and playing games with the residents and then we will all sing for them at the very end. It is all very exciting!
Cross Country
We had a fantastic day for our whole school cross country, it was great to have everyone out on the park in their house colours. All of the children did an amazing job, putting in so much effort and really challenging themselves to run faster. The top four children from each year group will be asked to represent Beckenham School at the Hillview Year 0 - 4 cross country challenge in Week 10. We will be sending home information to these students in the coming weeks.
That's all for now. Keep warm!
Kōwhai Teaching Team
Team Koru, Term 2 Week 4- 5
Kia ora whanau,
We are moving quickly into cooler mornings and muddy grounds. It is greatly appreciated when your child has gumboots for these wet rainy days and warm jackets. Everyone is welcome to bring a pair of slippers for inside if they wish even though we do have lovely warm floors.
Bringing Toys/PE Gear to School
We have started to notice an increasing number of children bringing toys and sports equipment with them to school each day. Please be assured we have plenty of sports equipment for your children to play with. When a child's ball or toy goes missing it can be very upsetting. To avoid this happening we are asking that all toys and sports gear stay at home. If your child forgets this rule we will store the item in our "think tank" and it can be retrieved at the end of the day. Thank you for your support on this issue.
Swimming
We are starting the first of our 9 swimming sessions on Monday 28th of May. If you are a parent helper for this please come about 5-10 minutes before hand so we can share pertinent information with you. Our reading and writing programs will continue as usual so do expect your child to be bringing home their reading folders each day.
Lunch Containers
Thank you for checking that your child has brought home their plastic lunch containers. We have quite a collection so do pop in and have a look in the "Maker Space".
We are moving quickly into cooler mornings and muddy grounds. It is greatly appreciated when your child has gumboots for these wet rainy days and warm jackets. Everyone is welcome to bring a pair of slippers for inside if they wish even though we do have lovely warm floors.
Bringing Toys/PE Gear to School
We have started to notice an increasing number of children bringing toys and sports equipment with them to school each day. Please be assured we have plenty of sports equipment for your children to play with. When a child's ball or toy goes missing it can be very upsetting. To avoid this happening we are asking that all toys and sports gear stay at home. If your child forgets this rule we will store the item in our "think tank" and it can be retrieved at the end of the day. Thank you for your support on this issue.
We are starting the first of our 9 swimming sessions on Monday 28th of May. If you are a parent helper for this please come about 5-10 minutes before hand so we can share pertinent information with you. Our reading and writing programs will continue as usual so do expect your child to be bringing home their reading folders each day.
Lunch Containers
Thank you for checking that your child has brought home their plastic lunch containers. We have quite a collection so do pop in and have a look in the "Maker Space".
Term 2 Week 4 in Pōhutukawa
Kia ora koutou
We are well into the swing of term 2 now, and for a winter term we have been pretty lucky with the weather so far. On wet days we ask the students to remove their footwear before they enter the hub to ensure the carpet stays dry for them to sit and work on. Bringing slippers on those wet days is a great idea to keep tootsies warm and preserve socks!
We have had three football sessions with Futa from Cashmere Technical AFC. On a Monday Futa takes half the class for a skill session while the teacher supervises a game and then the groups swap over. As the grass is often wet first thing in the morning, it's a good idea to bring either football boots to wear, or a spare pair of socks and shoes to change into after the football session. The students are learning lots and having fun.
After our very successful writing motivation, the students have been working on an information report on a country of their choice. These reports can be viewed at home through your child's school Google account. The children have been very motivated and are producing some excellent writing.
After the roll call at lunchtime the students are read to. They have two choices of novels to listen to: 'Kaspar Prince of Cats' by Michael Murpurgo and 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl. The children listen attentively, enjoying the quiet time after a busy lunch time.
Winter sport on a Friday afternoon began last Friday. This is often a highlight of the year for the Y5-8 children. We have children going to Hagley Park playing football, hockey, rugby and netball. One football team plays at Carlton Corner. It was great to see excited, enthusiastic students board the buses to Hagley, ready to work as a team and to try their best. To be prepared the children are required to bring to school on Fridays their sports uniform (handed out by the school), any appropriate gear (boots, shin guards, mouth guards, hockey sticks), a water bottle (this is very important) and warm clothes to put on after the game if it's a cold day, as the wind often whistles around the park, making it freezing. This week both of the football teams have a bye, and will still be travelling to the park to support the other teams and to have a training session. The children at school participate in an alternative sport programme. The options at the moment are table tennis, tapuaue and hall battle.
Today 43 students from Y 5-8 participated in the South Zone Cross Country at Halswell Quarry. As always, the students represented our school admirably, behaving beautifully on and off the course. The rain we had last night softened the ground and filled the creek, but the quarry wasn't as boggy as it has been in previous years, so the children came away only splattered in mud, rather than drenched. Our children did exceptionally well, and the official results will be in the school newsletter.
This term we have been doing art on Wednesday afternoons. The children had four choices to opt into. These were kowhaiwhai patterns, digi art, papier mache mask making and pop art (Andy Warhol). The teachers are very impressed at the art the children are producing, and are pleased with the perseverance, attention to detail and creativity being displayed by the students.
Next week each class will be vising the South Learning Centre to participate in a Matariki session.
We are well into the swing of term 2 now, and for a winter term we have been pretty lucky with the weather so far. On wet days we ask the students to remove their footwear before they enter the hub to ensure the carpet stays dry for them to sit and work on. Bringing slippers on those wet days is a great idea to keep tootsies warm and preserve socks!
We have had three football sessions with Futa from Cashmere Technical AFC. On a Monday Futa takes half the class for a skill session while the teacher supervises a game and then the groups swap over. As the grass is often wet first thing in the morning, it's a good idea to bring either football boots to wear, or a spare pair of socks and shoes to change into after the football session. The students are learning lots and having fun.
After our very successful writing motivation, the students have been working on an information report on a country of their choice. These reports can be viewed at home through your child's school Google account. The children have been very motivated and are producing some excellent writing.
After the roll call at lunchtime the students are read to. They have two choices of novels to listen to: 'Kaspar Prince of Cats' by Michael Murpurgo and 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl. The children listen attentively, enjoying the quiet time after a busy lunch time.
Winter sport on a Friday afternoon began last Friday. This is often a highlight of the year for the Y5-8 children. We have children going to Hagley Park playing football, hockey, rugby and netball. One football team plays at Carlton Corner. It was great to see excited, enthusiastic students board the buses to Hagley, ready to work as a team and to try their best. To be prepared the children are required to bring to school on Fridays their sports uniform (handed out by the school), any appropriate gear (boots, shin guards, mouth guards, hockey sticks), a water bottle (this is very important) and warm clothes to put on after the game if it's a cold day, as the wind often whistles around the park, making it freezing. This week both of the football teams have a bye, and will still be travelling to the park to support the other teams and to have a training session. The children at school participate in an alternative sport programme. The options at the moment are table tennis, tapuaue and hall battle.
Today 43 students from Y 5-8 participated in the South Zone Cross Country at Halswell Quarry. As always, the students represented our school admirably, behaving beautifully on and off the course. The rain we had last night softened the ground and filled the creek, but the quarry wasn't as boggy as it has been in previous years, so the children came away only splattered in mud, rather than drenched. Our children did exceptionally well, and the official results will be in the school newsletter.
This term we have been doing art on Wednesday afternoons. The children had four choices to opt into. These were kowhaiwhai patterns, digi art, papier mache mask making and pop art (Andy Warhol). The teachers are very impressed at the art the children are producing, and are pleased with the perseverance, attention to detail and creativity being displayed by the students.
Next week each class will be vising the South Learning Centre to participate in a Matariki session.
The session will introduce students to the key concepts of Te Iwa o Matariki with a focus on Mahinga Kai, the two earth stars, Tupu-a-nuku, Tupu-a-rangi and the wind star, Ururangi. The session is interactive and include a range of fun activities, both digital and craft based. There is an interactive Matariki learning experience using Nearpod on iPads, along with a craft activity. Students will also explore Te Whata Raki (which is Christchurch City Libraries’ Te Reo app about a virtual marae and whare) on the iPads The sessions will end with a story.
Classes are booked in for their sessions as follows:
- Tuesday 29 May, 9.15 am – 10.30 am Tracy - leaving 9:00 am and returning 10:45 am
- Wednesday 30 May, 9.15 am – 10.30 am Nick - leaving 9:00 am and returning 10:45 am
- Thursday 31 May, 9.15 am – 10.30 am Katie - leaving 9:00 am and returning 10:45 am
- Thursday 31 May, 11.00 am – 12.15 pm Gayle - leaving 10:45 am and returning 12:30 pm
There is no cost for your child to go on this trip. If the weather, on the day of your child’s outing, is looking inclement, children will be asked to bring a rain jacket with them, as we will be walking to the South Learning Centre. Thank you to the parents who have offered to accompany us on these learning excursions.
Let's hope this lovely weather lasts for Friday sport this week, and on into the weekend.
Tracy, Nick, Katie and Gayle