Kowhai Team Newsletter Week 2 Term 2

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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

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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

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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!

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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.

Kauri Whanau: Term 2 Week 2 Weekly Update

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We are looking forward to catching up with many of you this week at learning conferences. Remember to allow 30 mins for the conference. When you arrive, come straight into the hub. Your child will start sharing their learning and we will join you to discuss progress and next steps. Your child's home-group, maths and possibly reading teacher will spend time with you during the conference. There will be a list of reminders of what to share on the whiteboard, for your child to refer to.

There are a number of important messages below about upcoming events. They are in order of when the events occur. Please read carefully.


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 led 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 send an email to their home-group teacher.
  • 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.


J-Rock:

In just over a week now we will be sharing our J-Rock performance at Horncastle Arena. Children are dancing, sewing machines are whirring and excitement is building! Many thanks to the parents who are helping with costume making and jelly fundraising this week. Later this week I will contact those who offered to help with the evening meal. 

We would like all costumes at school by this Friday, earlier if possible. If your child has more than one costume, they will need a small named box to hold their costumes. This will help quick costume changes run smoothly. If you have offered to lend flouro vests, checked shirts, overalls etc, please name these and send them to school ASAP, so we can match them with children. 

Next Monday afternoon, May 15, we will be having another rehearsal at Hillview in the afternoon. All children will be back at Beckenham by 3pm. 

Next Thursday, May 18th, J-Rock day, all children need to be at school, in uniform, with their costume box, a hearty lunch and drink bottle by 8:30am. We will be spending the day and evening at Horncastle. Please arrange to collect your child at 9pm from Horncastle. You will need to come to the front entry so that children can be signed out. If you are attending the performance, please let your child's home-group teacher know. Two of us will stay with your children, we have seats at the back of the arena, and get them to you at the end of the evening. 


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 Campion 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 mouth-guards
  • Football - shin guards 
  • Rugby - mouth-guards
Mouth-guards can be purchased from the Beckenham office and we have some shin guards available to lend.

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.


Cashmere High Open Day:

On Monday May 22nd, Mark Wilson, the principal of Cashmere High, will be visiting our hub, with two ex-Beckenham Year 9s, to talk about transition to high school. The following day on May 23, Cashmere High will be holding it's open day from 4:30 - 6pm.


Showcase:

On the last Thursday of term, July 6th, we will be holding our annual Year 5-8 Showcase evening, starting at 7pm. As our hall is out of action at present, we will be showcasing in the Hillview Gym on Wilsons Rd.  All children will be involved in this evening, as we will be sharing our J-Rock performance, choir, Te Whanau Mahi Tahi, a band group, as well as Year 5 and 6 performance groups. This will also be a chance to celebrate leadership, with presentation of awards. Please mark this date in your diaries.


Ski Trip: 

Many thanks to the parents who have offered to help on our ski day, on August 17th in term 3. Matthew, Rod, Shaun / Katherine and Glen have all offered to take cars. We need one more parent, who has experience driving on a mountain road, to join us and help transport children. If you are able to help out, please fill in this form.