KORU HIGHLIGHTS: Term 2 Week 3

Kia ora whanau,

What a busy start we have had to Term 2!

Learning Conferences
Heartfelt thanks to those of you who were able to participate in Learning Conferences last week. This is a very special time for children as they share their learning with their families. Your feedback written on the Celebration Stars is very much appreciated, and will mean a great deal to the children.
Talking about my Maths learning in Hub 3

Sharing my learning with Dad!


Rhythm Interactive experience
Last week our children were treated to an outing to the local Methodist church hall, where John and Lucy (Rhythm Interactive) taught everyone how to drum, keeping time as one!
In 2002, Rhythm Interactive was born in a garage in Queenstown. The interactive drum shows are such that each student is given an African-styled hand drum to play along during the show. Rhythm Interactive shares its unique teaching methods, such as "If you can say it, you can play it" to demonstrate how children can learn rhythm, music, singing and dance in a fun way.






Small Stix
On Tuesdays over the next few weeks, the children will all be involved in junior hockey lessons, which are led by specialist hockey teachers. Please ensure that your child is wearing sensible shoes and warm clothes, as these lessons will be outside (weather permitting).

Self Portraits
Some of the children have been working on making their own self portraits, and have modelled their work on Picasso. We're sure you'll agree they're fantastic!



Book Review
The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers


This gorgeous story, about a Belfast boy who eats books to absorb some smarts, is so charming that it makes you want to join Henry on his culinary literary journey. Henry loves eating all sorts of books – story books, dictionaries, atlases, joke books, books of facts and even maths books.


Amazingly, as Henry gobbles, his knowledge bank increases and increases until he starts to feel a little ill. Is it all the paper and cardboard stuffing his belly? It seems so. Poor Henry is subsequently reduced to learning from books the old fashioned way – by reading.

Numeracy Links:


Reminders:

  • Please ensure that children arrive at school any time from 8:30 a.m. onwards, as prior to this time, teachers may be involved in meetings and/or will be setting up Discovery Stations for the morning. BOSCO is open from 7:30 a.m. for families who need to have children at school before 8:30 a.m.
  • It is very important that children bring their reading folders back to school every morning. Reading folders are a crucial part of hub reading routines.
  • As the weather cools, please ensure that your child has a school polar fleece (named!) each day.

Toy Donations:
Many thanks to those of you who have been able to donate toys and games to Te Whanau Koru. We appreciate your generosity enormously! If, by chance, any of you have any of the following items, they would also be gratefully received:

  • jigsaw puzzles
  • matchbox toys
  • sandpit vehicles (diggers, tractors, cranes, fire engines, trucks, concrete mixers!!)
  • lengths of plastic piping (left over from plumbing jobs)
As always, we appreciate your help and support very, very much!


Kowhai Team Newsletter Week 2 Term 2

Wow! What a busy week!

Firstly, thank you all so much for coming along to our Learning Conferences this week. We were so impressed with how the children confidently shared their learning with you all. It is always so exciting to have the opportunity for us to celebrate the achievements of our tamariki and identify next steps. Having a strong home and school partnership is essential for our children to feel truly supported and able work towards their learning goals. As a team, we really appreciate being able to work with such a caring and committed parent community. So thank you!

Rhythm Interactive

We had an amazing visit from Rhythm Interactive on Monday. Due to our hall being out of action at the moment, we took a short walk to the Methodist church hall just one block away from the school where we experienced a rhythm extravaganza. There was a drum for every child and there were 2 rhythm experts who took us through the whole experience. They taught us all sorts of different rhythms and they managed to teach us using only facial expressions and gestures - no talking. It was brilliant and the children absolutely loved it. It was a real test of their ability to watch and listen carefully and also to mirror which rhythms they were playing. The sound the children made resonated around the whole hall and everyone was into the groove. Fantastic!




Inspiration Stations
For our inspiration stations in  Hub 7/8/9 we have had a focus on living things. We have had many crafty activities involving observation drawings, collages, researching living things we are interested in, life cycles, creating pamphlets and a naming plants challenge. It has been wonderful to see the high level of interest and the questions that have been sparked because of this intriguing topic. We look forward to finding out more in our inquiry.




In Hub 5/6 we have had a focus on the children taking more ownership for their learning. Our key competency focus has been on Thinking and Self-Managing.  We have been promoting the children to:
Have their own ideas and follow through with them
Planing ahead and gathering resources Practising until success is achieved 
Make choices that provide a challenge Asking questions to extend thinking and understanding about topics Thinking creatively Making connections with previous ideas
Persisting when things are difficult

The children have been exploring the concept of patterns, where patterns are made, patterns with numbers and letters and patterns in art. The children have also actively explored their own interests into the living world, researching topics of interest and sketching still life images. We have really loved how children have supported each other with their learning and really challenged themselves to extend their thinking and understanding about these concepts. 

Trip to town- Wednesday 17th May
A huge thank you to all the parents who have kindly offered their assistance on Wednesday with our trip into the city. We will send out a reminder email the day before and if the weather looks to be wet, the postponement date will be the following Wednesday 24th May. 



On Wednesday we were very lucky to have Hugh McCarroll (Sophie M’s Grandad), who has been in the news recently for becoming a finalist in a NASA competition to invent a hands free space toilet for astronauts. He was able to teach us about the process of entering a competition like this and teach us more about space. We loved the passion Hugh showed and we hope he can come again to talk about more spacetastic topics, and answer more questions.  Check out the link below to find the article and video of Hugh.
Space Poop Challenge


That's all for this week. Have a wonderful weekend with your family!
Kowhai Teaching Team


Term 2 Week 2

Kia ora whanau!

Welcome back to Term 2. 

We have had an action packed programme for our concept-based learning approach this term, with children involved in either Science, Health or Visual Art. Each teacher is leading in a curriculum passion that they have to ensure that children get amazing experiences and deep learning opportunities. Each home room will have the opportunity to be involved in each of the different learning areas throughout the course of the term.

Hub 14 have started the term off with Amy for Health. They are focussing on understanding:
-what a good friend is
-what a bad friend is
-what bullying is and what to do about it
-what by-standing is
-the effects of negative self-image and tools to change our thoughts.

Hub 15 are starting the term off with a crime scene investigation with Gayle. The children are learning the basics of forensics and DNA.

Hub 21 have been very engaged in their Science lessons, in which they have been learning about identity through dissecting different things such as hearts and eye balls. 

Hub 22 are underway with their learning about 'Cubism', a style of art made famous by Georges Braques and Pablo Picasso. They have learned pencil techniques, had a play with fragmenting their drawings with different lines and shapes, and are now beginning their cubist style artwork.

Reading and Maths Groups

Term 1 provided a great opportunity for us to get to know the strengths and next steps of all of our children across reading and maths. Some reading and maths groups will be changing in the coming weeks to reflect the learning that children have achieved during Term 1. 


Sport updates


Winter Sport


We have now finalised teams for Winter Sport and communicated these to the children. The interest in playing sport was really encouraging and making up teams was a challenging task due to the level of skill and positive sportsmanship displayed by all the children. Unfortunately, we are limited to entering a maximum of two teams per sport in each age group and so can not take all the children who want to go.


Children participating in Winter Sport will have an early lunch each Friday (starting in week 3). They will be bussed to their game location at 12.30. Games start at 1.15 and should be finished by 2.15. On completion of their game they will be bussed back to Sandwich Road via Champion Street, arriving back at Beckenham by 3 pm.


Locations for matches are as follows:


  • Netball, Rugby and Year 7 and 8 football - Hagley Park
  • Hockey and Year 5 and 6 football - Nunweek Park


Children attending Winter Sport should ensure that they bring a warm jersey or jacket and a water bottle to their game. The following safety gear is also required:


  • Hockey - shin guards and mouthguards
  • Football - shin guards
  • Rugby - mouthguards


All players should have short nails and are not permitted to wear any kind of jewellery.


Of the children competing we have a mixture of highly able, competitive players and children who are trying out the sport for the first time. While there is a competitive element to Winter Sport, the primary focus is on participation and good sportsmanship. We look forward to seeing our school kete values on display.  

Cross Country

Cross Country

The children have been training regularly in preparation for our Cross Country Sports Event this Friday. We really appreciate your support. On Friday the children will have an early lunch before bussing back to Champion Street at 12.30. Teachers will lead a course walk to ensure the children are familiar with their route. The first race is the Year 6 girls who start at 1.30. Please ensure all children are wearing suitable footwear and have a warm layer to wear for before and after their race. Any children who are unable to compete due to medical reasons should bring a note from home signed by a parent or email the teacher.

Year 6 Girls – 1. 30 pm Year 6 Boys - 1.35 pm

Year 5 Girls – 1.45 pm Year 5 Boys – 1.50 pm

Year 7 Girls – 2:05 pm Year 7 Boys – 2:10 pm

Year 8 Girls – 2:20 pm Year 8 Boys – 2:25 pm

Thank you to all the parents who have offered to be course marshals. Please meet Jenny by the cricket pavilion at 1.15 to be given a high visibility vest and to find out your position.

Time for a Treat!

We all love a treat occasionally, and tomorrow, Thursday, a yummy treats lies in store for Year 5-8 children at Champion Street. It's jelly and ice-cream day! Bring $2 to order your yummy treat, when the 'ticket' sellers visit your class in the morning.

Thanks for supporting Year 7 & 8 J-Rock fundraising.