Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 4

Kia ora e te whānau,

What an awesome and busy first 4 weeks of the term it has been! We have celebrated Book Character Day and our Whole School Cross Country, and we also had an awesome performance from the Strike Percussion group. Our tamariki have been doing an excellent job in their Literacy and Maths groups, and we have really been enjoying our Miro Art and our Technology unit. 

Book Character Day

Last Friday, 16th May, we celebrated the end of our Readathon through our Book Character Day. We loved seeing the children embrace the theme, and come in some amazing costumes! We managed to get a whole hub photo with our wonderful Principal Cade. I wonder if you can spot "Where's Wally?"

Cross Country

Today, our tamariki competed in our Whole School Cross Country. Our tamariki have been practising for this day for the last few weeks. It was absolutely fabulous to see our tamariki showing our school kete value 'We Love Challenge' by giving the race a go, trying their best, and accomplishing their running goals!

Pizza Friday

We have begun our Pizza Friday afternoons. These have been going really well, and our tamariki who have been chosen have really enjoyed spending time with our teaching assistants to celebrate their amazing work of showing our school kete values each and every day. Just a reminder that if your child is chosen, they will be sent home with a letter on the Wednesday which will give some extra information about the day. The school will provide the ingredients for the dough, and then we ask each child to bring their own topping or toppings of their choice. These will be kept in the staff fridge until they are ready to be used. This has been a fun and educational way to celebrate success in our hub, and we can't wait for this to continue!

Strike Percussion Performance

On Thursday, 15th May, we had the wonderful Strike Performance Group come in and share some amazing percussion music with us. The performances were exceptional, and showed a wide range of ways that percussion can be performed. Below is a video of one of the amazing performances!

Ferrymead Trip - Parent Help

On Tuesday 24th June and Wednesday 25th June, the Kōwhai team will be heading to Ferrymead Heritage Park for a school outing. This expedition relates to our school-wide curriculum focus of "Change". We will be looking at how different things have changed over the last 100 years. More information will be coming out at the end of Week 5 (next week). 

We can confirm which day each homegroup will be going, if you are able to be a parent help on these days.

Tuesday 24th June: Anna M, Anna R, and half of Hazel's Home Groups

Wednesday 25th June: Rowe, Georgia and half of Hazel's Home Groups

Please note: If your child is in Hazel's Home Group, a letter will come home to let you know what day your child will be attending our outing. 

If you are able to be a parent help, please email Georgia (georgia.mckenna@beckenham.school.nz) to let her know you are able to attend. Thanks for all your support!

Reminders

• Winter bugs: We are encouraging our tamariki to cough and sneeze into their arms, and washing their hands constantly. This will help stop the spread of winter bugs that might arise. 
• Head lice: Just a heads up that we have a case of head lice in the hub so please be vigilant of scratchy heads! If your child has long hair, we recommend that they have their hair tied up to prevent the spread of head lice. Thank you!
• Lunchboxes: We love seeing the delicious lunch boxes that our tamariki are provided with! We have had a few students who finish their food early, leaving them still a little hungry at lunch time. We are asking if you could have a chat with your child, and see if they need an extra snack in their lunches, to help sustain those growing bodies!

Cyber Safety

The HDCA for Parents and Whānau

The Harmful Digital Communications Act (or HDCA for short) is an act passed by the Government back in 2015 to help people dealing with serious or repeated harmful digital communications. It covers anything digital like text, emails or social media content.

The most useful thing for parents to understand about the HDCA is the way the 10 communication principles define what is good or bad behaviour online.

If you’re ever concerned about your young person (or you just want to brush up on your knowledge!) visit Netsafe’s Guide to the HDCA. 

Kia pai ngā rā whakatā! Have a great weekend!

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kōwhai Team 

Kōwhai News Term 2 Week 2

Kia ora whānau, 

A big welcome back to school for Term 2! We have begun the term in full force with the extreme weather last week. Our students managed very well being indoors for a longer period of time. Here is an update on what has been happening in the last two weeks.

Technology Inquiry

This term, we have begun our inquiry learning on how technology has changed over time. We have been exploring the types of technology that we see in our classrooms and this has produced some exciting conversations. Our students have been working on using their imaginations to create illustrations and labeled diagrams of what a classroom might look like in the future with new technology.

Cross Country

In Week 4, we will be hosting our whole school cross country event on Friday 23rd May from 9am until 12pm. In preparation for this, we have been going for regular runs every day, building up our stamina for the actual event. We would really appreciate if you could make sure your child wears appropriate shoes to school for running. Thank you!

Jean Miro Art Project

We are currently learning about the Jean Miro style of art and will complete this unit by creating a sculpture in the style of Miro using recyclable items from Creative Junk. If you have any popsicle sticks, disposable spoons and forks, or any other smaller items such as buttons and bottle tops that we might be able to use, please bring them in!

Library

Just a reminder about library times:

Monday: Hazel and Rowe's Literacy groups

Tuesday: Georgia and Anna M's Literacy groups

Wednesday : Anna R’s Literacy group

New Zealand Sounds Video

Below is a link to a short video about the sounds in our spoken English language which we wanted to share with you as it relates to the structured literacy that we teach. This video discusses: 

1) What all the consonant and vowel phonemes (sounds) of NZ English are; and 

2) How to say them clearly when you are supporting beginning or struggling learners to hear and use the sounds during phonological awareness, reading and spelling.

Please click on the image below to watch.

Book Character Day

We are now one week into our Readathon fundraiser. We hope you have all been busy reading! Next Friday, we are celebrating our Readathon by having a Book Character Day when everyone can come to school dressed as their favourite book character if they want. If not, can you ensure that your child comes to school in their school uniform as it is not a day for casual dress.

Headlice

Just a heads up that we have a case of headlice in the hub so please be vigilant of any scratchy heads! If your child has long hair, we recommend that they have their hair tied up to prevent the spread of headlice. Thank you!

Random Chat Online

How do random chat websites work? And what are the risks for tamariki using them?

Random chat websites, like Chatroulette, pair users randomly through text or webcam conversations. The appeal is getting to talk to someone new that the user would nev
er meet. But these websites are designed for adults and often allow nudity and other inappropriate content from users.

If you’re concerned that your young person might be exposed to these sites or you want to introduce parental controls, you can find out more on Netsafe’s Random Chat Websites page. 

Have a great weekend!

From the Kōwhai team

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 11

Kia ora whānau,

Wow! It is hard to believe that we have got to the end of an 11-week term with lots of highlights to look back on. We started the year with Slip 'n' Slide afternoons and then we also had Top Team come and visit with lots of fun team activities to particpate in. We have been doing lots of amazing chemistry experiments, looking at chemical change and how different substances react in different conditions. We have also been enjoying Discovery, with lots of different activities to get stuck into, such as making your own board game, deconstructing electronic equipment and learning how to play French Cricket. On top of all that, we have been making good progress with our learning in literacy and mathematics and have really got into the swing of things. Your tamariki have been working really hard and I'm sure they all looking forward to a holiday break.

Kōwhai Services Club

Megan has started up a Kōwhai Services Club with volunteers who do good deeds around the school and particularly in the Kōwhai hub. They have special lanyards which they have made and they wear these when they are taking on different responsibilites and carrying out jobs around the school. Their first job has been to sort and tidy all the games and activities in the hub and have done a great job of making everything look neat and tidy. They really have been showing how they care and how they make a difference at the school. Thank you!

Pizza Friday 

Next term, we are going to start up 'Pizza Friday' which will involve one child from each homegroup being chosen to make pizza on a Friday afternoon with our wonderful teaching assistants. This is a special reward for the children we see showing the school values each and every day. The school will provide the ingredients for the dough and then we will ask each child to bring in a topping or toppings of their choice. We think it will be a fun and educational way to celebrate success in our hub.

Finally, the Kōwhai team would like to thank you all for your ongoing support this term. We hope you have a wonderful holiday break and look forward to seeing you all in term 2. Happy holidays!

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 9

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to our week 9 blog. What a busy term it has been so far! 

This week, our school-wide PB4L focus has been on Tidying, as well as our words of the week, Co-operation and Responsibility. It has been great seeing our tamariki working together during learning times and at break times, and we are also seeing tamariki taking responsibility for their things and our equipment within the hub. Ka pai koutou!

Library Reminders

We would just like to send out a reminder about library folders. In order to take reading books and library books home, your child/children will need to have a reading folder OR a library folder to put these books into. It is important that your child/children put these folders back into their bags every day after using them at home. 

We visit the library in our literacy groups, and our library times are as follows:

Rowe's Literacy: Monday

Hazel's Literacy: Monday

Anna M's Literacy: Tuesday

Georgia's Literacy: Tuesday

Anna R's Literacy: Wednesday

Thank you for your help and support with this!

Construction Boxes

A plea - if you have any boxes that you would like to donate for our tamariki to use for box construction during Discovery time, this would be greatly appreciated!

Police Officer Visit

On Friday of week 8, the tamariki and kaiako of Kōwhai were fortunate enough to have Police Officer Jo come in and visit. Jo was incredible and answered all questions the tamariki had. Jo showed us the ins and outs of what a police officer carries and needs, as well as letting all tamariki have a look inside the police car. They were also fortunate enough to sit inside! Thank you so much for coming in, Jo. Your visit was absolutely fantastic! Some photos of the visit are below:

House Games

This week, we had our first House Games for the year. It was awesome seeing the tamariki joining in, working together and giving the games a go!

Cyber Safety: Awareness of Online Harm

Many parents didn’t grow up with the internet, so it can be hard to imagine how tamariki may use it. But these days, digital technology is a key part of our young people’s lives. They use it for learning, communicating and entertainment.

Netsafe has released research that looked into parental awareness of children’s experiences of online risks and harm. The research found a mismatch between parents’ awareness and their children’s experiences of upsetting online content.

To check out the research, and other Netsafe resources, visit this link.  

Have a wonderful and restful weekend!

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kōwhai team

Kōwhai News Term 1 Week 7

Kia ora e te Whānau, 

Welcome to the Week 7 Kōwhai blog. 

Top Team 

Last Friday, Top Team came to Beckenham, and the Kōwhai children had a great time trying lots of different team building activities out on the park. They worked in teams of 6-8, competing against other teams as they rotated around a variety of tasks. They showed amazing co-operative skills and really embraced the school values 'Nau mai te wero - We Love Challenge' and 'Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoe - We Get There Together'. It really was wonderful to see, and we are so grateful that the weather turned out so well for us. Have a look at the photos below:

Science 

This term, our inquiry focuses on science, specifically understanding chemical and physical changes. Students have been exploring this concept through hands-on experiments. So far, they have investigated the reaction between Mentos and Coke, and some classes have done a fruity-sweet colour-mixing experiment. Throughout this inquiry process, students will be developing their scientific thinking by forming hypotheses, making observations, recording results, and reflecting on their findings. We look forward to continuing to explore this topic.

NO Nuts Reminder

This is a reminder that the Kōwhai Hub is nut-free this year, so please ensure your child has NO nut products in their packed lunch. Thank you for your support with this.

Online Safety: Gaming

Eighty percent of tamariki in New Zealand aged 8-17 have played games online. Games can have many benefits: entertainment, social opportunities, coordination development, problem-solving and multitasking skills. But, most of all, gaming is popular because it’s fun. 

But games can be tough for parents and whānau to navigate. How much gaming is too much? How do I make sure my tamariki aren’t seeing inappropriate content or chatting in-game with strangers?

Today we’re sharing Netsafe’s Online Gaming Whānau Toolkit so you have all the resources you need to keep your kids safe. 

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/rPN_ev1RSDQ

We hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Ngā mihi nui,

The Kōwhai team