Kōwhai News Term 3 Week 9

Kia ora whānau,

We are now nearing the end of Term 3 and we are so happy to be enjoying the lovely Spring weather!

Talent Quest

Over the past few weeks, Kathryn has been auditioning the Kōwhai talent quest hopefuls and it was great to see so many Kōwhai children take part! Kathryn was very impressed with everyone's different talents. This week, we held our own Kōwhai Talent Quest and 3 finalists were chosen to take part in the whole school Talent Quest next Friday afternoon. Congratulations to comedian, Leo Hynes; gymnasts, Chloe Sayer, Lucy Lee and Vienna Aldridge and singer, Meera Verma, also known as Cupcake. Everyone who took part was outstanding so well done to all of you!

Writing

We are currently focusing on writing information reports. The children are learning about the structure of an information report and how to present the information they gather in a clear and organised manner, making it easy for the reader to understand. This will be our focus until the end of term. Please do take the opportunity to ask your child what topic they have been writing about.

Technology

We are approaching the end of our technology inquiry and have been incredibly engaged in designing and creating balloon racers. Students have been testing out their models and making modifications to see if they can get them to travel even further. It has been really interesting to see which features on our balloon racers help or hinder their progress, and how this relates to the key science ideas we covered in our ramps and marbles learning earlier this year. 

Big ideas: 

• Environmental factors can change how an object moves (e.g. wind, moving down a ramp or rough surface etc.), as can changing the materials or shape of an object.

• Forces include pushes, pulls and twists.

• Air can be used to create a push (e.g., a leaf blower) or pull (e.g., a vacuum) force.

• Friction is another force that can slow things down. Wheels help overcome friction. 

• Scientists complete more than one test of a design or experiment to make sure their findings are accurate and can be trusted. Scientists record their results.

PB4L

Our PB4L focus this week is LEARNING and we are particularly focusing on being in the right place at the right time, actively listening and taking pride in our work, making sure we do our best every single time. Our word of the week is CO-OPERATION and the children have been watching various videos on teamwork. We have been talking about how cooperation means working together to get things done. 

Some of the Kōwhai children demonstrating co-operation:

Fleeces/Jumpers

We are experiencing difficulty in returning fleeces and jumpers to their rightful owners as the names are not always legible and sometimes the name of the previous owner is still written on the label. We would love your support with naming all of them clearly. If they are second hand fleeces or jumpers, please score the previous names out and clearly write your child's name in. We also have students who are missing their fleeces and jumpers. Please can you also check that your child hasn't inadvertently taken the wrong fleece or jumper home. We really appreciate your help with this.

Hats

We are now starting to prepare for Term 4 and we are back to wearing hats outside at all times. Please could you ensure that your child has a named hat ready for the first day of Term 4 as they will not be able to participate in outdoor activities without it. Thank you so much for your support with this.

Library Visits Next Term

We are currently organising visits to the South Library next term to learn about our local community, explore the Canterbury Stories exhibit and to hear the story of the South Library, from the days of the Māori up until the upcoming rebuild and the effect this has had on Beckenham as a community. It will be a very interesting and informative experience. 

We would love some parent help for this so we wanted to give you a heads up regarding the dates involved. Each homegroup will be going on a different day. Please see below for the different dates involved:

• Monday 16th October 1:25-2:50pm = Anna R

• Tuesday 17th October 1:25-2:50pm = Anna M

• Wednesday 18th October 1:25-2:50pm = Rowe

• Tuesday 24th October 1:25-2:50pm = Charlotte

• Wednesday 25th October 1:25-2:50pm = Nick

If you are interested in coming, please let your child's homegroup teacher know. We only have a certain amount of spaces so we will get back to you at the beginning of next term to confirm if you will be needed or not. Thank you! N.B. This trip is not suitable for pre-schoolers.

Athletics Day

On Thursday 26th October next term (Week 3) we will be running a whole school Athletics Day to which you are welcome to come and support your child/children. There will be more information to follow next term.

Structured Literacy Books

Finally, we are needing all the structured literacy books that have been sent home to be handed back by the end of this term. Please make sure that all of them are returned as soon as you can. 

Thank You

We would like to take the opportunity to thank your children for all their hard work this term. It has been a busy time but there has been a lot of fantastic learning along the way. Thank you to you as parents and caregivers for all you do to support us and your children. We get there together!