Kia ora, e te whānau,

We've had another busy and brilliant fortnight in the Koru team, with our newbies settling in beautifully and our children who are having their visits before starting school, showing lovely confidence as they become familiar in their new setting. A very warm welcome to all of our new tamariki and their whānau, and thank you to our older children who are ensuring that the new children are feeling safe and secure at school! You are showing 'We Care' and 'We Get There Together'.

Athletics Day:

What a fun and fabulous time the children all had at our Beckenham te Kura Athletics Day on Thursday! The Koru team children participated in a range of games and activities, including throwing, running and jumping, incorporating a wide range of movement skills and using a variety of equipment. The children displayed the full range of our school values throughout their athletics activities, including: 'We Care', 'We Make a Difference' and 'We Get There Together' (our focus value last week) as they looked after their brand new friends who had only had a short time at school; 'We Love Challenge' as they took part in activities that really stretched them physically; and 'We Love Learning' throughout the lead up to their Athletics Day, as they practised and displayed new skills, in order to join in as best as they were able on the day itself. Well done, to our tamariki - we loved seeing you try your best and participating fully at our school Athletics Day! Tino pai tou mahi. Please scroll down for a selection of photos taken on the day.

Literacy:

Children are continuing to make great progress in their Literacy learning, and we know that you'll find it very exciting to witness this as your children share their resources and books with you at home. 

When children first start school, they will bring home a little letter and heart word pack in their Literacy folders. As they become confident with their sounds, their heart words, and they learn how to blend sounds together, they will begin to bring home their first reading books.

At all stages of the children's Literacy learning, your help at home is incredibly valuable. You can use both letter cards and heart word cards as flash cards and children can practise reading them at speed. Another great way to support your child's learning is to help them to practise writing the letters and their heart words. Being able to write the letter for each sound and spell the heart words, is important at all stages of your child's learning.

Here are some links to short videos which we hope you will find helpful. Some families of older children may have viewed some of these videos earlier in the year, however, we thought it valuable to share them again, not only for the parents/caregivers of new children, but also as a refresher for those of older students:

• The Sounds of New Zealand English
• How To Help At Home (All Stages)
• Stage 1 Structured Literacy
• Stage 2 Structured Literacy
• Stage 3 Structured Literacy
• Stage 4 Structured Literacy
• Stage 4+ Structured Literacy
• Stage 5 Structured Literacy
• Stage 6 Structured Literacy

Kia ora e te whānau, 

What a wonderful, mostly sunny start we have had to our Fourth Term! We have had lots of fun, playing outside, soaking up the sunshine, and digging away in the sandpit. Everyone is settling back in well with the routines and showing lots of curiosity, kindness, and enthusiasm for learning. 

Athletics

We have started practising for our Athletics Day, which will take place on Thursday, the 30th of October. We are practising our jumping, running, and throwing. It has been wonderful to see everyone give it a go and cheer on their friends! Nau mai te wero! We love challenge!

Social Sciences - Our Kura, Our School

This term, our Social Science focus is Our Kura, Our School. We began by taking a walk around our school to visit all our favourite spaces around the grounds. We had a korero (discussion) about our cultural narrative and about what the name 'Beckenham te Kura o Pūroto' means. We will continue to learn all about our school, and the people in it, and what makes us so diverse and special. 

Sunflowers

The lovely teaching assistant, Lucy, took a group of students out to plant the sunflowers that had sprouted over the holidays. Tamariki enjoyed learning about how to plant them and are excited to watch as they grow into beautiful flowers, which will brighten up our kura. 

Earthquake Drill

On Thursday, we had a school-wide earthquake drill to practise keeping ourselves safe. We learned to drop, cover, and hold. Everyone did an amazing job staying calm and following instructions. We are proud of how sensible and confident ākonga were during this important practice. 

Literacy Reading Books

Please have a hunt around the house and return all Pip and Tim books to school. We love to look after our resources, and they are very expensive to keep buying and replacing. 

Hats and Sunscreen

A quick reminder that hats are required at school every day this term. Please ensure your child's hat is clearly labelled. Hats are kept in your child's bag (or blue cubby) and sent home each day.  Students without hats play under the hall veranda during break times. Please apply sunscreen to your child each day before they come to school. We have a bottle in the hub for reapplication in the day if needed. If your child requires their own sunscreen, please bring it to school in a named bottle that can be kept on the teaching station. 

Ngā mihi nui, 

Niquita, Katie, Stacey, and Elizabeth

 Kia ora e te whānau,

Wow! We have reached the end of Term 3! What an awesome term it has been! We have celebrated Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week). The tamariki have been looking at new kupu (words) and kīwaha (phrases). These have been pasted below, have a go at trying these out at home over the holidays! 

Our Beckenham Values:

• He taonga te ako - We love learning!
• Nau mai te wero - We love challenge!
• Mā tātou katoa te waka e hoa - We get there together!
• Nā mātou he rerekē te ao - We make a difference!
• Arohaina te tāngata me te taiao - We care!

Kīwaha (phrases): 

• Marama keke - a piece of cake, easy as!
• Kei runga noa atu koe! - you're awesome!

Kupu (words): 

• Kōanga - Spring
• Mīharo - wonderful!

Reminders for Term 4:

• Please ensure your child is only bringing water to school (no juice or other drinks). 
• Do not pack lollies, candy or chocolate in lunch boxes.
• It is important to help teach your child how to open and close their lunch boxes, so they can do this independently at the start and end of eating times.
• Thanks for remembering a spoon for yoghurt, as we do not have spare spoons to offer at eating time.
• Please pre-cut, pre-open or teach your child how to open packets and yoghurt in their lunch boxes (for example, chip packets, twisty yoghurt pouches, museli bars, etc.)

Literacy folders

Please bring literacy folders back every day. New books usually go home on Thursdays for a week.

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to the Koru blog for Week 8. We have been enjoying the sunshine and warmer days this week... Yay for Spring! 

Inquiry (Change) - Digitech

Keeping Ourselves Safe

We concluded our Keeping Ourselves Safe sessions this week with a focus on 'Unwanted behaviour or touch - Kore e hiahiatia te whanonga me te pā kino'. We learned that we can stop touch or behaviour that is inappropriate or that worries or confuses us, or makes us feel unsafe. We practised saying NO confidently, and discussed how we can move away and report when things happen that we don't like. We also learned the difference between good and bad secrets. We were very excited to have a look inside Constable Meg's Police car! We even got to try on her Police hat!

Sunflowers

Te Reo Māori

Kia ora koutou,

It’s been another exciting and busy fortnight in Koru! Here’s a quick recap of what we've been up to.

Celebrating Maths in the Koru Team

Last week was Maths Week, and we had so much fun with numbers! We tackled tricky problems, solved clever riddles, and practised counting to 10 in Te Reo Māori. This week, we've shifted our focus to telling time, learning to recognise the big hand and the little hand on a clock and what they tell us.

Disco Fun!

We had a fantastic time at the PTA disco. A big thank you to all the whānau who came along. The children all looked amazing, and their dance moves were incredible!

Unlocking the World of Coding

We’ve started a new unit on digital technology, where we're learning all about coding. We discovered that coding is just another way of saying programming or instructing. 

We talked about the similarities and differences between humans and robots.

• We both have a brain: Our brain tells us what to do and where to go, and a robot has a 'brain' (a CPU or Central Processing Unit) that tells it the same thing. 

• We both need food: Humans need food for energy and to help our brains think. A robot's 'food' is the code we give it, which tells it what to do.

There are some big differences, too. A robot can do many things, but it needs a human to programme it. And unlike humans, a robot can't show kindness or care.

We've been using special arrow cards to help us code. An up arrow means forward, a down arrow means backward, and left or right arrows are for turning. We've learned that a turn card needs to be followed by a forward or backward card to make our bots move.

We’ve also been introduced to the bug card! We hold this up whenever our code doesn't work the way we planned. Finding a "bug" is a great way to learn, as we have to use our problem-solving skills to debug and fix our code.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

This week, we started our Keeping Ourselves Safe unit. Tamariki have been learning some important personal information, including their full name, home address, parents’ names, and their phone numbers. They drew pictures of their homes to help describe them and talked about what makes each of them special and unique.

We had a special visitor, Constable Meg, who taught us how to identify a police officer and the correct names for our body parts. It's so important that we know the proper terms for our bodies to help us stay safe.

Just a Few Reminders

To help our mornings run smoothly, please remember to:

• Have your child bring in their literacy folder and put it in the correct box.

• Give your child a happy "kiss and drop" at the door.

• Please check your child’s lunchbox to make sure there are no lollies or chocolates.

• Pre-open packaging or pack snacks unwrapped. It's a huge help for the teacher, who is often reading a story to the class during this time.

Thanks for your continued support! It's wonderful to see the children learning and growing every day.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Niquita, Stacey, Katie and Elizabeth