Kowhai Team News Week 8 Term 1

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This week started off with a a highly engaging show by Elgregoe, using magic and ventriloquism to entertain and teach us how to be caring citizens. He discussed ways that we can each be a HERO at Beckenham School.
Being a HERO

H - Honesty
E - Empathy
R - Resilient
O - Opportunities

You might like to reinforce these concepts at home with your child. We will be revisiting these key ideas and relating them to our School Values here at school.



YEAR 7 LEADERS


On Friday, we were lucky to have the Year 7 students on the Beckenham site to work with children across our team. The focus for the day was to plan and teach a variety of sessions to the children in our hubs as a means of developing their personal leadership skills. We were highly impressed with their organisation and and engagement for all. 




PARENT HELP


We love having parents and caregivers in the classroom to support the children with their learning. This may include reading a book of your choice with an individual or group of children, baking, playing games to help children to learning words or numbers. All these jobs make a huge difference and are an excellent way to show the children how we really do get there together! If you have some free time on a Monday to Thursday between 9:00am and 12:30pm, and would love to get involved, please let your child's point of contact teacher know by either sending us an email or coming in and having a chat. Any help would be greatly appreciated!




GROWING INDEPENDENCE

We believe in having a strong home / school partnership and know that we are lucky to have such a supportive parent community. 
Helping each other with learning
We have been discussing the responsibilities that we all have that help to make our families a great place to be. Many children have commented on the fact that they each have different jobs to do at home, e.g., loading the dishwasher, making their bed, packing their school bag to picking up the dog poo! All of these responsibilities enable us to contribute in meaningful ways.
In Year 3/4, we know the importance of growing student self-management skills to enable children to be successful both at home and at school.  Promoting:
  • Home Learning folders coming to school everyday. We use these folders on a daily basis and it is important for them to be at school so we can monitor home learning, send notices home and set up and celebrate home learning achievements.
  • Water Bottle and Hats. Having our hat and water at school everday so we can play outside and stay hydrated for learning!
  • No Toys. Only bringing items for our learning. We will let you know if your child needs to bring along anything extra. 
Maths Ideas for Parents-  Here is a useful website to understand what we cover in Year 3 / 4 along with  useful maths website link. Make sure you check out the tabs on your bog for useful literacy and numeracy websites.
Year 3 Standards
Year 4 Standards
Maths at Home- Ideas and useful links to websites


CELEBRATING LEARNING

In Hub 5/6, the children have been working on what it means to be a 'Thinker' We decided good thinkers: Focus on what they are doing, they think about options and alternatives, they use a Growth Mindset, 'I can do it!', they use resources wisely and choose activities to extend their understanding or to grow new ideas. This week we have been constructing roller coasters using straws, solving puzzles, investigating patterns and writing poems to name a few. Here we are in action!

Roller Coaster Construction


Solving Addition and Subtraction Problems using Imaging (in our heads)


Completing Design Challenges using Lego

The children in Hubs 7,8,9 have been busy with a poetry competition which was shared with other classrooms. We have written some lovely poems about ourselves. The post cards we have published have created a lovely message.


Putting the Postcard Puzzle Together- Team Work
Problem Solving
Working Together to Solve Addition and Subtraction Maths Problems

KORU HIGHLIGHTS: Term 1 Week 8

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This week started off with a WHIZZ and a BANG! We were joined by Elgregoe, a magician and ventriloquist, who had a special message to share with us about how to stop bullying and be a HERO at Beckenham School.




H - Honesty
E - Empathy
R - Resilient
O - Opportunities






Here are some helpful tips to ensure your child has a successful day at school:

  • Make sure they arrive at school between 8:30am and 8:45am. This ensures they have time to do their morning jobs and say goodbye to you so that they are settled before the bell goes. It is also important that no children are being dropped off at school before 8:30am, unless they have an older sibling who catches the bus to Champion Street.
  • Reading folders need to come to school everyday. Sometimes we need to send important information home and this is the best place to put it to keep it safe on its journey home to you. Having your reading folder at school everyday also ensures children can read their books both at school and home. Increasing your child's reading mileage has a proven positive effect on their reading ability. You can record what books your child is reading at home in the back of their home learning books.
  • Check your child's school bag regularly. Quite often books can mysteriously come out of folders and end up squashed in the bottom of bags or in the more extreme cases, rotten fruit! It's important to check that no nasty surprises are taking up residence in your child's bag for too long.
  • Library folders and library books only need to come to school on a Monday and Friday. This saves you having to remember to pack it each day and ensures you and your child have exciting new books to read together each week.




Koru Whānau will be presenting Beckenham's Celebration Assembly in week 10 - Thursday 6th April 2:15pm





Can you read? Do people often tell you that you're a natural with a pair of scissors? Then this could be the job for you!
We love having parents and caregivers in the classroom to support the children with their learning. This may include reading a book of your choice with a group of children or gluing poems into books. All these jobs make a huge difference and are an excellent way to show the children how we really do get there together! If you have some free time on a Monday to Thursday between 9:00am and 12:30pm, and would love to get involved, please let your child's point of contact teacher know by either sending us an email or coming in and having a chat. 
Any help would be greatly appreciated!



Any good used toys?
We run a fabulous play based Discovery time each morning throughout our Junior School. In the middle school the programme is extended and broadened to cater for older children’s interests and developmental stages. Both programmes provide authentic, rich opportunities for the children to explore, discover and investigate whilst strengthening their essential skills and skills in many areas of the curriculum. We would like to supplement and build the resources that are available to the children at these times. If you have any good, used toys we would really appreciate them at school. The types of things we are looking for are things such as tea sets, dinosaurs, crafting equipment, puppets, trains, cars, blocks, lego etc.  We can give these toys new life and they will certainly make a difference to our children. Please drop the toys into Hub 3 so we can sort and organise storage. Thank you very much for your support.

Pohutukawa Team Newsletter Term 1 Week 8

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Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Race

On the 18th March, Jenny went to compete in the Hanmer 4 Hour Mountain Bike Race with 3 of our Pohutukawa students. It rained, they got covered in mud, but the smiles kept coming and they kept going. They all had to dig deep at some point during the event, really showing a love of challenge and some real grit. Here are some photos of the day:




Winter Sport: Coaches Required

With Term 2 fast approaching, we are starting to organise coaches and managers for our Winter Sport teams. As always, Beckenham School enters teams into the Friday Winter Sports competition, and look forward to travelling to Hagley Park to play against other schools in rugby, football, netball and hockey. To enter as many teams as possible we rely on our supportive community to volunteer to coach/manage sports teams, alongside our staff. If you are keen to support us in this we would love to hear from you. Please email expressions of interest to Jenny at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz. We look forward to hearing from you!
At the beginning of Term 2 we will be holding trials. Children who do not make a team or who choose not to participate will remain at school.
Jenny and Gayle

Huxter Mountain Bike Relay

The Huxter Mountain Bike Relay event is being held at Mcleans Island on Friday the 7th of April. While this event takes place during school hours, the children will remain the responsibility of their parents for the duration of the event. We know of a few children already entered for this event by their parents and a few more children seeking a racing partner. If your child is interested in this event, please email Jenny to be put in touch with another family who are looking to enter. Please also let Jenny know when you have made an entry so that we can provide a Beckenham sports top and mark the child appropriately on the school roll.

Alpine Ice - Reminder

As you will be aware we are planning a trip to Alpine Ice as part of our learning about our school values.  This trip will take place on Monday 10th April (week 11).  Thank you to the parents/caregivers that have volunteered to come along to help make this trip possible, we really appreciate it! If you are able to help us, please email your child’s teacher before Monday 3rd April 2017. Please indicate if you have sufficient ice skating experience to be able to help children on the ice or not. Lack of experience won’t rule you out, however we would like to take some parents who are able to assist children on the ice.

Art - Supplies needed

For art this term, the children have been working hard on sculpting clay totem poles. Each child is currently making three sculptures, each representing aspects of their identity. What amazing artists we have in the Pohutukawa Hub! The care and attention to detail the children show when using clay is impressive. Next week, we will begin painting the totem poles. If you have any old shirts, newspapers or egg cartons at home it would be hugely appreciated if you send them along to school with your child next week.

SPCA - Bake Sale

Starfleet Academy is a much anticipated learning opportunity in the Pohutukawa Hub.  It is a time when our students have the opportunity to follow and realise their passions in learning.  Two of our students have used their initiative and have held a bake sale to raise money for the SPCA. Cupcakes and muffins were on sale for a for a gold coin and demand was high! Congratulations on supporting this awesome cause.


P.E. - Striking and Fielding

Our current focus in P.E is striking and fielding alongside team work and tactics. By practising these skills and playing these games, our children are learning the key skills and tactics for games such as Baseball, Cricket and Softball. Here are some of our children in action:



Writing 

In writing our children have produced interesting information reports on a topic of their choice.  Here is a piece on Tui's:

Tui
Do you know that male tui weighs more than the female tui. If you want to know how much both tui weigh then you should read this article. If you do read this report then you will learn lots about tui. You will learn things like what tui eat, what tui look like and what the enemies are. Tui are amazing birds and by the end of this report I think you will agree with me.

 Tuis like to eat lots of different foods. They like to eat nectar from flowers and flax. They also like to eat insects, fruit and small seeds.

 They are lots of different colours depending on the light. They are mostly green, blue, purple and sometimes shades of bronze. The male tui weighs 125g and the female weighs 90g. The tui also have two white tufts on their neck under there chin.

 Stoats, ferrets, rats and possums climb to where the tui have made their nest and steal tuis eggs then eat them. The pests eating the eggs is bad because then New Zealand will have less of these beautiful birds, because the eggs won’t hatch.

 I’ve been writing about tui and I hope you have learned some amazing facts.You’ve learned what tui eat, what their enemies are and my favourite, what they look like! Tui are amazing birds, don’t you think?















Kauri Whanau Update: Term 1 Week 8

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Leadership week started well yesterday. This afternoon we are very excited to have Mark Inglis coming to talk with our team about leadership. There are a number of changes to the usual programme this week, so please take note of the important messages below.


This Wednesday:


  • School photos at Beckenham. All children report to the Beckenham hall at 8:30. We should be off to Champion Street soon after 9am.
  • Those who signed up for HPV injections at school, will receive their first dose on Wednesday.
  • Year 8s bring food donations for leadership camp: Coast, baking; Mountains, breakfast cereal and Forest, a bag of fruit.
  • Year 7s, we need old newspapers and funnels for leadership activities with Tracy on Thursday. Please bring these in if you have them. 



This Thursday:


  • Year 8s come with gear for overnight camp. Jarred's black jeep and covered trailer will be on Sandwich Road. On arrival, please take overnight gear directly to his trailer and then all Year 8s, and their day packs, go to the school hall. Due to a damp start to the day, we will be using the school hall until 10:15am.
  • Please make sure Year 8s have plenty of warm clothing, including a waterproof coat and beanie. A lot of our activities will be based outside and the weather is not looking that warm.
  • Year 7 bring food for a shared lunch. No chips please. It would be great to see some savoury offerings. Year 7s will be working with Tracy on Thursday.



This Friday:


  • Year 7 report to the school hall at 8:50. They will be spending the day at Beckenham.
  • Year 8s will arrive back at Beckenham by 3pm.



Home learning is due this Thursday, due to leadership week disruptions.



University of Canterbury Kiwi Competitions (Years 5-8) will be replacing ICAS tests this year.

The tests, in maths, english and science, are a good challenge for our more able students. Entry forms are available in the reception foyer of Champion Street. Please get these filled out and sent back to the Beckenham office.


Basketball:

We are holding basketball trials this week. Our plan is to enter two teams in the Monday and Friday after school competition at Pioneer, that runs through term 2 and 3. We have a huge bunch of hopefuls; unfortunately only half of them will get into a school team. Those who miss out and are still keen to play, can contact Pioneer Basketball, a club who enter teams in this competition, with children coming from a variety of schools.


Choir:

Jarred has met with the children who are keen to be part of our Kauri choir. They will be getting underway with a couple of lunchtime practices this term. Next term practices will take part during school time, while the rest of the hub will be engaged in other music learning. If your child hasn't let Jarred know they are keen to be part of the choir yet, it is not too late.



The Huxter Mountain Bike Relay:


This event is being held at Mcleans Island on Friday the 7th of April. While this event takes place during school hours, the children will remain the responsibility of their parents for the duration of the event. We know of a few children already entered for this event by their parents and a few more children seeking a racing partner. If your child is interested in this event, please email Jenny to be put in touch with another family who are looking to enter. Please also let Jenny know when you have made an entry so that we can provide a Beckenham sports top and mark the child appropriately on the school roll.  


Winter sport coaches required:

With Term 2 fast approaching, we are starting to organise coaches and managers for our Winter Sport teams. As always, Beckenham School enters teams into the Friday Winter Sports competition, and look forward to travelling to Hagley Park to play against other schools in rugby, football, netball and hockey. To enter as many teams as possible we rely on our supportive community to volunteer to coach/manage sports teams, alongside our staff. If you are keen to support us in this we would love to hear from you. Please email expressions of interest to Jenny at jenny.diggle@beckenham.school.nz. We look forward to hearing from you! At the beginning of Term 2 we will be holding trials. Children who do not make a team or who choose not to participate will remain at school. (Jenny and Gayle)

Alpine Ice – Monday 10th April 2017

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Kia Ora Parents & Caregivers

We are planning a trip to Alpine Ice as part of our learning about our school values and our topic focus of ‘Identity’ this term. Part of our inquiry is focussing on our values of ‘We Get There Together’ and ‘We Love Challenge’. This activity is an ideal opportunity for the students to be in a highly engaging and challenging environment with an individual goal to work towards. They will need to rely on each other to achieve their goals together.

We plan to visit on Monday 10th April, leaving Champion Street at 11:20a.m. and will be returning directly to Beckenham School at 3:00p.m.

Each child will need their jersey, jacket, gloves, warm hat, morning tea, cut lunch, drink bottle and any special items they may require, e.g., inhaler. Please note that there will be no lunch orders available on this day.

The cost of this trip will be no more than $15 per child and a request for this donation will be added to your school account.

We will need 13 parent helpers to make this trip possible. If you are able to help us, please email your child’s teacher before Monday 3rd April 2017. Please indicate if you have sufficient ice skating experience to be able to help children on the ice or not. Lack of experience won’t rule you out, however we would like to take some parents who are able to assist children on the ice.


Thank you
Pohutukawa Team

amy.buick@beckenham.school.nz 
gayle.mcnaughton@beckenham.school.nz 
katie.chapman@beckenham.school.nz 
nick.bruce@beckenham.school.nz