Kōwhai Team Year 3-4

Friday, 26 May 2023

Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 5

Kia ora whānau,

We have had a busy couple of weeks and it is so good to see the sun again. Unfortunately, school photos were postponed due to sickness. The children looked so gorgeous and smart!

Strike Schools for Percussion

We were lucky to have a group of performers from Strike School in Wellington last week. This was a stunning performance ending with a percussive fire experience! The performers had trained for weeks with Weta Workshops for obvious safety reasons.

Industrious Learners

We are constantly amazed with the focus and creativity our students display when engaging in Discovery. Charlotte has been teaching a group how to knit and how to make fabric bookmarks and one of our students has even been teaching herself how to crochet! Construction is always popular. Thank you to those of you who have sent along empty boxes and materials. This has been a huge help.

It is always great to share our knowledge and skills.

Donations of Art Shirts

Our students love painting and it would be helpful if we could have more art shirts. If you have an old shirt you no longer require, could you please send it along to school. We try hard to avoid paint on uniforms!

Cross Country

Thank you so much for coming to support our tamariki on the day. It was fantastic to see everyone participating and rising to the challenge. Nau mai te wero! Congratulations to those who got through to the Hillview Cross Country Challenge which will take place at the end of this term.

Migration

As part of the New Zealand history curriculum, we are studying early migration to New Zealand. Our students are fascinated by this topic and we have planned lots of engaging fun activities. This will culminate in designing and making a model of a waka. We would love donations to support our waka creation, especially recycling and natural materials, such as:

bark or small pieces of wood (not sticks etc. though)
unwanted pumice or driftwood
bamboo, harakeke or other foliage that might be useful
small boxes, such as biscuit, toothpaste, tea boxes
unwanted bubble wrap, corks or other materials that float

If you have or can access (e.g., through your work) any other materials that you think might be useful, we would love to know about these...just email your class teacher.

Reading Folders

This is just a reminder to make sure your child is returning their reading folder and book to school daily.

Thank you for all your continuing support. Have a wonderful weekend!

From the Kōwhai team

Friday, 12 May 2023

Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 3

Kia ora whānau,

We are now well into Term 2 and we are quickly getting used to being spread over two venues. We are really enjoying the space and the children are adapting brilliantly to the new routines involved in this change.

We welcome Kathryn to the team this term. She is teaching maths and literacy for the rest of the year so we are better able to cater to the rising number of children in Kōwhai.

Inquiry

This term, our inquiry focus is on migration and specifically the migration to Aotearoa, learning about how Kupe and his people navigated their way to New Zealand using the stars and the ocean currents as their guides. This will culminate in the children creating a model waka of their own using a choice of media.

Percussion Concert

On Monday, there will be a Strike To Schools percussion performance at the school and in preparation for this, we have been watching lots of clips of various percussion performances and joining in with some of them too. The children have been very enagaged with this and are all very excited about the upcoming event.

Cross Country

Unfortunately, Cross Country had to be postponed last minute on Tuesday as there was a sudden downpour of rain! Our postponement date is next Tuesday 16th May, starting at 2:15 with the Year 4 children going first, followed by the Year 3 children. You are welcome to come along and support your child in this event. Fingers crossed that the weather holds out!

Covid

We have had a rise in the number of Covid cases at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto so if you would like your child to wear a mask at school, please feel free to encourage this. We continue to ensure that the classrooms are well ventilated and that the children are washing their hands regularly. If your child is at all unwell, we do advise that you keep them at home. Thank you so much for your support with this.

Polar Fleeces

Please make sure your child brings a named polar fleece to school. If your child does happen to bring the wrong fleece home, can you please return it to the homegroup teacher as soon as possible. Thank you!

Discovery

We are in search of construction material for Discovery. Smaller boxes such as toothpaste boxes and cereal boxes would be ideal. If you have anything else that you think would be suitable for creating, please do bring it in.

Coronation Tree Planting Ceremony

Today we had a tree planting ceremony in honour of the coronation of King Charles. The youngest and the oldest child at Beckenham planted a Kōwhai tree in the junior playground and everyone at the school attended. It will be exciting to see it grow over the years!

Have a great weekend!

Ngā mihi,

The Kōwhai Team

Friday, 31 March 2023

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 9

Kia ora whānau,

Week 9 over and out! It’s hard to believe we are approaching the end of term 1 already. We want to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work of our year 3 and 4 students. They have all done an excellent job at settling into the new school year, adapting to routines and have made the most of opportunities to learn and build connections within the hub.

Science

As part of our innovation focus for the year, over the past few weeks, the Kōwhai children have been exploring simple machines and their functions. It has been a great way for them to learn about some of the basic principles of physics and engineering, inquiring into simple machines, such as levers, pulleys, and inclined planes. By understanding how they work, they have begun to develop an appreciation for the everyday technology that surrounds them. The children have particularly enjoyed working with their peers to build a functional ramp and experimenting with different materials. It has been great to see them all so engaged in the scientific process and thinking critically and creatively about their ramp design.

Ramadan

Ramadan celebrations have officially begun. Ramadan typically falls on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is a significant month that holds great importance for Muslims all around the world. It is a time for spiritual reflection, devotion, and self-discipline, where Muslims fast from dawn until dusk and engage in acts of charity, kindness, and worship. We have families who observe Ramadan within our school and wider community and we can support them by asking them about how they observe Ramadan because each family will probably do something a bit different.

Covid Cases

There have recently been some positive Covid cases within the Kōwhai hub. Being safe from Covid-19 continues to be important to families, students and staff at Beckenham. In order to minimise the risk of contracting Covid or other viruses, we continue to promote regular washing of hands, especially before eating, and we are continuing to ensure the learning spaces are well-ventilated. This week you may have noticed some teachers and students choosing to wear a mask. This is not compulsory and it is up to your whānau to decide whether this is something you would like your child to do. Please continue to keep your child at home if they are presenting with symptoms or if you are concerned that they may be Covid positive. Thank you for your ongoing support with this.

Jerseys

As we approach the cooler months, it is important that your child/children bring a school jersey with them every day. Unless it is raining, students spend their break times outside and will need their jerseys to keep them warm.

School Houses

We have just posted some information on our houses on the school website. Included on the site, are all the words for the chants and a video link below each one if you would like to take a look at them and practise them at home. Here is a link to the site.

Discovery

As usual, the children have been engrossed in various activities during Discovery over the last few weeks. Here are some photos which show you what some of our tamariki have been up to:

Friday, 17 March 2023

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 7

Kia ora everyone,

Here is the latest news from the Kōwhai hub.

GetWise Visit

This week we learnt about financial literacy with Jeff, a guest educator from ASB Bank.

Jeff was lots of fun and used interactive activities and practical examples to teach the children about important financial concepts such as saving, budgeting, and managing money. The students were actively engaged, asked questions, and participated with great enthusiasm in the lessons.

Emma Nahna Visit

We are fortunate to have the wonderful Emma Nahna, Speech-Language Therapist and Literacy Consultant, coming to run a whānau workshop this term. Emma is extremely knowledgeable and an engaging speaker. Her mission is to support educators and parents “...to grow every child into a successful reader and writer.”

Emma will be running a whānau workshop on Thursday 23rd March at 5:30pm for our Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto whānau. The first hour and a half will cover the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of structured literacy across the school and how you can support your learner at home. The last half an hour of the session will emphasise the importance of continuing to follow a structured literacy approach into the senior levels of the school, and will delve into morphology (the study of the forms of words) and syntax (the arrangement of words to create sentences).

Photo credit: Sound Foundations for Literacy Website
https://soundfoundations.co.nz/about/

Literacy Home Learning

We recently sent home a home learning pack containing spelling booklets and information about our literacy home learning programme. An online version of this information can be found here.

If your child is bringing home Pip and Tim books then they are working through the structured literacy programme. We have recorded some videos to support your understanding of what our structured literacy stages look like and to explain what you can do to support your learner at home. You can access the videos from the links below:

Reading & Library Folders

Finally, we ask that you ensure that your child brings a reading folder to school every day so they can take their literacy books home to read. The folders help to protect our precious books from damage so that we have them in use for longer. Also, your child will need to have a library folder if they want to issue any library books as Anne, our librarian, has a strict policy of only issuing books to those who have a folder. If you are not sure which day is library day for your child, please ask your homegroup teacher.

Thank you so much for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend.

Ngā mihi,

The Kōwhai Team

Friday, 3 March 2023

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 5

What a fantastic fortnight it has been! We now have literacy and maths groups up and running, and the tamariki have been amazing at flexibly and quickly joining their groups. Enjoy reading about our recent adventures and learning.

Things for Discovery

Construction is a hit during Discovery time. Please send in old boxes, egg cartons and anything else that might be useful for us :-)

Wellbeing

Friendships have been our Wellbeing topic over the last two weeks, along with a continued focus on interoception and our school-wide PB4L focus, respect.

With friendships, we have talked about and role-played what makes a good friend and how to deal with problems with friends. Some tips include:

Talk about it
Use ‘ I ‘ statements (model this) and share your feelings
Listen actively
Ask for the other person to share their thoughts or feelings
Think of some ways to solve the problem
Get an adult to help if you can’t agree, or if your friend isn’t listening to you

Interoception

Interoception means sensing internal signals from your body, like when you are hungry, when your heart is beating fast, or when you need the toilet. These are all necessary precursors to positive development and self-regulation and self-management. We use short, fun interoception activities to help everyone find a sense of calm in their bodies, and therefore be better managers of ourselves, our behaviours and our learning.

Maths

After a fun two weeks of learning about 2D and 3D shapes and their attributes, we're now moving into place value and basic facts. You can help your child at home by:

having them read and order numbers, low to high
playing games such as 'guess my number' where children ask if a mystery number is higher than or lower than
quick thinking addition and subtraction games like rolling and adding dice, 24, or other games
identifying how many tens and ones, or hundreds, tens and ones in a number
forward and backwards counting in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, from various start points

Also, log into the school intranet at home to play Nick's maths games...lots of fun and learning to be had!

Top Team

A huge thanks to Anna Reid for organising this, and to parents who helped out on the day. You were amazing at encouraging and supporting the tamariki - tino pai tō mahi!