Waltham Pool/Park Parent Helpers

Kia ora whanau,
Parent helpers, please meet Jules and Amber in the Kahikatea theatre at 10.30am on Monday 16th December to go over the Safety Action Plan.

Upcoming Events

We are nearing the end of term and it is a busy time for us all! Here are the upcoming events for the rest of the term:

• Tuesday 10th December - Helpers' Thank-you Coffee and Croissants 8:30am
• Wednesday 11th December - Sherrilee's Farewell Assembly 9.30-10:30am
• Friday 13th December - Final Assembly 9:15-10:30am
• Friday 13th December - Kahikatea end of year Performance 2:15-2:45pm
• Monday 16th December - Kahikatea Waltham Park and Pool Day 11am-3pm
• Tuesday 17th December - House Games and School Picnic 12pm (Beckenham Park)
• Thursday 19th December - School finishes for the year 12:30pm

Over the next week and a half, the children will be bringing home their books and any artwork or writing which has been displayed. 

We are all looking forward to our day at Waltham Park and Pool. It is going to be an amazing day. Here is a link to the social story for Waltham Park and Pool. Please take the time to look through it with your child and go over the expectations. We look forward to a successful and fun day! If you are able to help out on this trip, we are looking for more parent helpers. Please, can you let your homegroup teacher know as soon as possible. Thank you!

Kahikatea Celebration Friday 13th December

Kia ora Whanau,
We warmly welcome you to join us in the hall on Friday the 13th of December at 2.15.
We will have an end of the year celebration, performing our Sasa and singing Christmas songs and our dance group will perform.
All welcome. Meet us in the school hall.

Kahikatea End of Year Picnic and Swim

Kia ora whānau,

On Monday 16th December, the children in Kahikatea team are going to Waltham Park and Pool. 
Matou tamariki will be leaving school at 11:00am and walking to the park.
After playing games and having time in the playground.
Then we will eat our lunch before cleaning up and walking to Waltham Pool at 1pm.
After our swim, we will be leaving Waltham pool and arriving back at school by 2:50pm.  

The contribution of $2.90 per child would be appreciated.
This is to cover the pool entry and swim. 
This can be made at the office or via your school account. 

We will need up to four parent helpers per home group for this trip.
If you are able to assist, please email your child’s teacher as soon as possible.  
Our whānau helpers are needed to assist children to change into and then out of their togs.
We do not expect whānau helpers to swim as we have arranged for extra lifeguards
to be on duty on the day

Noho ora mai

Jules, Amber, Charlotte, Anna & Lisa

Kahikatea News Term 4 Week 6

Christchurch Sympathy Orchestra (CSO)

Last Wednesday we had a fantastic trip to the newly opened Christchurch Town Hall to watch the CSO. Highlights for many tamariki were the inclusion of songs from Harry Potter, Star Wars and Frozen. Thank you to all the parent helpers who helped make the trip a successful one.

Ben the Bunny

Some of our Kahikatea team had a visit from a rather large bunny named Ben. Ben lives at home with one of our lovely support team members. 

Writing Journals at Home

We have noticed lots of our tamariki at school are using their own writing journals at home. Does your child have one?

A writing journal can be a place to draw, practice writing spelling words or even a place to write your thoughts down.

Toys to stay at Home

More and more toys seem to be making their way to school. Just a timely reminder that no toys are allowed at school. This includes trading cards, fidget toys, figurines, toy cars, dolls or games. Toys are expensive for parents and we would hate for them to get lost or broken. We have lots of fun things at school to play with so students do not need to bring anything themselves!

Kahikatea News Term 4, Week 4

A huge thank you for all your support...

As ever, we really appreciate all of the whanau support we are receiving. We are especially grateful to those dedicated parents who kindly put away books each week, and to those who volunteer for reading time. 

Trip to see the Symphony Orchestra at the Town Hall -  Wednesday 13th Nov, leaving at 9.15

In preparation, we are learning about classical music. We have loved listening to Peter & the Wolf, Peer Gynt and other popular pieces, and finding out about the parts of the orchestra.
On the day, please do make sure your child has their school uniform, a jumper and sensible shoes (no gumboots) on Wednesday.

Digital Learning 

We have a digital literacies expert coming to show us new Apps for learning. We have used Scratch Jnr for programming, and Draw & Tell to share our learning. 

Athletics 

The children really enjoyed participating and trying new skills

Shot Put

6 Year Old Sprints Winners

6 Year Old Sprints Winners

Watching races

Discovery This Week 

Self-directed play 

Salt dough creations

Beebots

Technology challenges

Self-directed play

More Beebots

Athletics, Monday 4th November & CSO Concert Wednesday 13th November

Athletics

Our school athletics days is on this Monday, 4th November.  Please remember to send your child to school with:

• A sunhat
• running shoes
• leggings or shorts
• house t-shirt
• drink bottle

We will have three rotations and these will run from 11.50 - 12.40.
We will resume again at approximately 1.40pm (Kahikatea sprints)
At 2pm the whole school will gather to watch senior sprints and house sprints (2.45)

Throwing

Long Jump

Relays

Long Jump

Christchurch Symphony Orchestra Concert

All of our tamariki were given notices to bring home about this exciting trip which will take place on Wednesday the 13th of November.
The orchestra will be performing a range of classical music and some modern pieces. 
While this is a free event, the school needs to cover the cost of buses to transport us to and from the town hall. A contribution of $4.50 from whanau would be appreciated. This can be made at the office or via your school account.

Kahikatea News Term 4 Week 2

Kia ora Koutou
He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa,
What a wonderful start to Term 4 we have had!  Hopefully, the weather will start to improve soon and we can enjoy consistently sunny days.

Our Kete Values and Tokens

Our wonderful PB4L team has created Kete Value Tokens to reward ngā tamariki who show our values throughout the day.  The house with the most tokens each fortnight is rewarded with exciting activities such as time in the Big Adventure or, for example, using the Bee-Bots.

Calendar Art

This week all the calendar art orders arrived and were sent home.  If you have any queries regarding your order please contact the PTA at pta@beckenham.school.nz
Ngā tamariki artwork is now displayed in the hub. Beautiful!

Calm Space

We are setting up a calm down / chill out space in the hub.  We would love a small collection of quality cushions, soft toys, 2-3 baskets (or similar) for packing toys, blankets etc, old Where's Wally or similar search and find books, fidget spinners or other finger toys.
If you can donate any of these, or have something else that might be useful, please send it to Charlotte. Thank you.  

Sharing our talents

Erina brought along her Cello for us to see and gave a lovely impromptu show.

Sun Hats

During Terms 1 and 4, the expectation is that everyone is to wear a sunhat. We require everyone to wear hats that shade the face, neck, and ears, whenever the children are outside and involved in school activities. Hats must be broad-brimmed (min. 7.5 cm), or legionnaire/bucket hats (min. 6 cm brim, deep crown). These hats provide significant protection to the eyes. If a child does not have a hat at school, they will be asked to stay in an allocated shaded area.

Boxes for craft and construction

Ngā tamariki love making all sorts of wonderful creations using recycled materials.  We would really appreciate donations of any clean empty boxes, egg cartons, milk bottles or other plastic containers to use at discovery time. 

Athletics

Our School Athletics will take place on Monday 4th November.  Ngā tamariki are practicing their running, jumping and throwing. Team Kahikatea students will start our rotations at 11:50am, after having an early brain break snack, and we will finish the day after lunch with fun sprints and the annual House Teams relay.  As ngā tamariki will be out on the field for the duration of the rotations, could you please apply sunblock to your child/children before arriving at school.  We will have sunblock at school to reapply if needed.
After physical activity ngā tamariki often have a larger appetite so please supply a larger lunch on the day as well as a named drink bottle for them to take with them to their rotations.

Whole School Athletics

Kia ora koutou,

This year, Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto are excited to announce that we will be holding our athletics celebration as a whole school event. This will take place on Monday the 4th of November. Years 5 to 8 will be out on Beckenham Park competing in field and track rotations all day. Years 0 - 4 will start the day with their usual school routine and join us on the park for their run, jump, throw rotations from 11:50 am. 

Athletics learning is a key part of our PE curriculum across all teams. The children are being taught safe and effective technique as well as perseverance, resilience and sportsmanship. Our whole school athletics day is a celebration of this learning. 

This year, all children will compete alongside each other rather than in boy/girl events. This is one way that we are seeking to make the event inclusive to all. Sport Canterbury do have gender-based divisions for zone level competition and we will still be able to identify qualifying athletes from Years 5 - 8 to represent our kura at this event. To achieve this we will run our sprint finals for Years 5 - 8 by gender. Like previous years, we will be identifying a top girl and boy athlete from each year level from 5 - 8 who will be recognised at a Celebration Assembly following the event.

Our athletics day concludes with sprint finals, starting at 2:00. Our whole school will come together to cheer on the runners. The final event is a House Relay, which doubles up as an adults versus children race. With years 0 - 8 participating in this relay, we are going to need your support to make up an adult team. Bring your running shoes!

Long jump for years 5 - 8 will be held at Hillview Christian School, on a separate date, yet to be confirmed. 

More detailed information about the day’s programme will be communicated to you before the event. 

Kahikatea News for Term 3, Week 10

Kia ora Whānau

Thank you for all of your help and support over the term.

He waka eke noa - this is a canoe we are all in together, and we only keeping it moving by paddling together!

South Library Trip
We had a fantastic time exploring innovation and technology at South Library. We used Beebots, Scratch, undertook a library tour and saw a 3D printer operating! Scratch is a free app. It will be key in helping our students learn early programming skills, in line with the new Digital Literacy curriculum. 

Look at these little readers! 

Look what you can make with a 3D printer! Wow!

Watching the magic

Bee Bot Fun

Scratch Junior

Scratch Junior

Keep NZ Beautiful Week
We have picked up rubbish galore this week! We know that the rubbish in our local environment can easily blow into rivers and gutters, and out to sea. We encourage everyone in our community to make a difference by picking up the rubbish they see (even if it wasn't theirs!).

Mental Health Week
We learnt more about Te Whare Tapa Whā and the four (now five!) areas of wellbeing. See here for useful information and lots of ideas for working on your own wellbeing at home. 

Here are some photos of our tamariki doing yoga: 

Connecting with Community
Holidays are a perfect time for connecting with each other, and your local community. Some options: 
* The CCC Libraries have a number of interesting events and workshops for children.
* The Breeze Walking Festival includes free walks....check out the Gruffalo Exploration!
* Local planting and clean-up days are advertised on the Canterbury Enviro Calendar.

March for Climate Change

'
We are proud to have students who have given up talent show to march in the Climate Change Rally. Here are one family, getting ready to set off.