Pohutukawa Team Newsletter Term 3 Week 8

Kia Ora Whanau

We are rapidly nearing the end of a fantastic Term 3 and looking forward to being back at Beckenham School next term.

Ferrymead Trip 

We had two amazing trips to Ferrymead where we did lots of learning about how much change has affected our lives over the past 100 years.

   

When we arrived, we dressed up in the school uniforms children used to wear each day. Even the teachers had to wear fancy frocks! 

We explored some of Ferrymead Park before heading off to our lessons.

  

 

 

We had a lesson in the school room with Miss Black who was very strict about us lining up silently, sitting up in our seats with straight backs, following instructions without talking, reciting our timetables and doing our handwriting perfectly in ink. We also did some housework where we washed clothing on the washboards, used the wringer, made beds, cleaned tables and ironed clothing using an iron heated on the coal fire. Then we went to explore the old printing station where we used the embossing machine, stapled wee booklets and printed our own posters. We also learned a lot about how phones used to work by having a turn at connecting calls between two people, dialing the old rotary dial phones and figuring out how to hold the phones so we could listen and talk at the same time! 

Challenges 

Last term, we put out a survey asking our children about their use and understanding of our values, their learning within the curriculum areas and what they wanted more of at school. From this survey, 'Challenge' time was started earlier this term.

The challenges focussed on exploring our Key Competencies:

• thinking
• relating to others
• understanding language, symbols and text
• managing self 
• participating and contributing

Here are some of our challenges:

 

Drama

During this term, our Arts focus has been on learning different techniques to create a performance based on a well-known story. We developed our understanding around role, action, space, expression, and voice then worked collaboratively to create and present a play to show our learning. We needed to work together as a team, listening to each others' ideas respectfully and making decisions fairly.

Here we are, learning about freeze frames and thought tracking by creating a scene in 10 seconds from The 3 Little Pigs. 

Special Achievement 

Maria arrived at Beckenham School from Brazil in May with very little English. This week, she completed her speech in English and Portuguese. She has also been learning Te Reo. The determination and persistence required to achieve this is outstanding. What an amazing achievement! 

Here is Maria's speech in both languages:  

Fast food 

Hello my name is Maria and I’m going to tell you what fast food can do to your health and the many things it can do to your body.

Quickly made, quickly served, quickly eaten. That’s fast food. Perhaps badly made, poorly served, quickly eaten is more appropriate.

But fast food can taste so good. Some people don’t stop to eat fast food and the bad thing in all this is fast food can have a lot of  fat stuff and this is not good for our health.

Fast food can be really good to eat with your friends but can make you sick with diabetes because it is not prepared properly. Some fast foods just throw things in the recipes and cook. It’s so bad for our health because they put bad ingredients in it.

So now I am going to tell you in Portuguese (my original language) what fast food can do for your health. 

Feito rápido servido rápido e comido rápido.esse é o fast food possivelmente não feito muito bem,mau servido,e comido rápido isso é mais apropriado 

Mas fast food pode ter o gosto muito bom.mas algumas pessoas não conseguem parar de comer fast food e a pior coisa nisso e que fast food pode ter muita gordura e isso não é bom  para nossa saúde. 

Fast food pode ser muito bom para comer com os amigos mas pode fazer você ficar doente com diabetes porque nao e feito apropriadamente. Alguns fast food só jogam as coisas na panela e cozinham isso não é bom para nossa saúde porque eles podem ter colocado os ingredientes errados.

Então eu acho que pessoas não podem comer muitos fast food porque pode fazer mal para nossa saúde.

End of term outing 

We are off for a visit to Wharenui Pools and Margaret Mahy Playground on Friday 29th September. We will depart from Beckenham School at Eastern Tce at 8:40am and arrive back at Beckenham School by 3:00pm. Thank you for the wonderful offers of support from our parent helpers. We are looking forward to an exciting day out! 

Pōhutukawa Team Newsletter - Term 3, Week 4, 2017

This term, the students in Team Pōhutukawa are involved in a Science/Technology/Drama/Social Studies interchange. One of the topics that the students are learning about is chemistry.

In chemistry, the students are exploring the difference between physical and chemical change by conducting a variety of exciting science experiments.

Here are some photos of their experiments:

These students are learning how soap makes things clean.

These students are studying super-absorbent polymers that can absorb over 200 times their mass in water.

These students are conducting tests to determine which substances are acids and bases.

These students are conducting a colour change experiment.

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These students are learning how chemistry applies in the kitchen.

Egg Cartons

If you have any spare egg containers, please send them in for one of our up and coming challenges. 

Stationery 

It's getting to that time of the year where pens, pencils and glue sticks generally start to deplete. Can you please talk with your child about which items they might need to stock up on and send them to school. Thank you very much. 

Ferrymead Heritage Park Trip

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Pohutukawa Whanau are arranging a trip to Ferrymead Heritage Park this term as part of our conceptual learning around ‘Change’. The purpose of this trip is for the children to experience life as a child in the 1900’s in an authentic township and to allow children to see the technological progress that humankind has made to improve our lives.

The trip to Ferrymead will take place over two separate days.

• Year 6 children will attend on Thursday 24th August. Year 5 children will bus to Champion Street as per usual.
• Year 5 children will attend on Thursday 14th September. Year 6 children will bus to Champion Street as per usual.

On both days the bus to Ferrymead Heritage Park will depart from Eastern Tce at 9.00am and will return to school by 2.30pm. Children will need to meet their teachers in the East Hub by 8.45am on the day of their trip. When we return to school, we will have some reflection time in the East Hub before heading home for the day.

Students will need to bring:

• Water bottle
• Lunch and morning tea (no lunch orders on the day of their trip)
• A warm layer of clothing
• Comfortable shoes for walking
• Any medication they will need i.e inhalers for asthma

We will need parents who are willing to travel with us to and from Ferrymead and who are happy to be responsible for a small group of children while they are there. Please contact your child’s homeroom teacher if you are interested in attending.

To cover the cost of the lesson and bus, a contribution of $15 will be added to your school account.

Kind Regards,

Amy Buick amy.buick@beckenham.school.nz

Gayle McNaughton gayle.mcnaughton@beckenham.school.nz

Katie Chapman katie.chapman@beckenham.school.nz

Nice Bruce nick.bruce@beckenham.school.nz

Pohutukawa Team Newsletter Term 3 Week 1

Kia ora whānau!

We got off to an exciting start to the new term on Tuesday with an awesome science experience. The whole hub was quietly settling into the day when all of a sudden alarms sounded and the screens around the hub announced that a biohazard had been detected. How exciting!

A top secret transmission then came in, in which we were told that there had been a number of biohazards found around Champion Street.

All of the special agents rushed outside and searched in the areas highlighted on the map. 

Once all of the substances had been found, they were brought inside and Agent X (Nick) explained how to conduct experiments to identify the substances. Each group got a beaker or flask filled with a blue substance. Next, children carefully placed dry ice into their vessel. The reactions were amazing!

Learning about Change

Our conceptual unit this term is 'Change'. Children will be learning about change in a range of forms across the curriculum areas of Social Sciences, Science, Technology and Drama. When learning about Social Sciences, children will learn about the way inventions have shaped the way that we live and made improvements to our lives.

They will be following the Inquiry process to ask questions, gather information, analyse to understand this new knowledge and then present their learning. So far, topics range from anaesthetic, air travel and elevators, to internet and the first PC.


Maths - Geometry

Our maths focus for the first few weeks of this term is Geometry, with a focus on identifying and classifying 2D and 3D shapes, and representing objects with drawings and models.

Coffee Cup Collection

One of our weekly challenges this term will involve the use of a coffee cup - just the cup. If possible, can the children each bring a clean, coffee cup to school next week (it can be used). We have spares if needed. 

Grass Seed

One of our other challenges this term involves grass seed. If anyone has any available can you please let Amy know - amy.buick@beckenham.school.nz . We are aiming for approximately 240 tablespoons.  

Kind regards,

Amy, Gayle, Nick, Katie and Kat

Kauri & Pohutukawa - Showcase Rehearsal and Final Details

Kia Ora Whanau

RE: Showcase Rehearsal and Final Details 

Next Monday 3rd July, we will be walking down to Hillview Christian School Hall to have our rehearsal. We will be leaving from Beckenham School, down by the buses, at 8:40 am to walk down. The buses will take us all back to Champion Street at 11:00 am.

On Thursday evening (6th July), we have asked all of the students to arrive at Hillview Christian School Hall at 6:40 pm to get ready for starting at 7:00 pm. Sherrilee will provide further details to Kapa Haka and Te Whanau.

During the evening presentations, we will also be including sporting event certificates.

We are still very keen to enlist some help with hall set up and pack down, as we have had no offers so far. Please let your child's teacher know if you are able to help with either of these. We will meet at Hillview Christian School at 3:15 pm for setting up and pack down after the showcase.


Main points: 

• Monday 3rd July - Leaving from Beckenham School at 8:40 am
• Thursday 6th July - Arriving at Hillview Christian School Hall at 6:40 pm
• Help is still required for setting up and packing down of the hall. 

We look forward to seeing you there. 

Showcase

Kia Ora Whanau

RE: Showcase

We welcome you to attend our Pohutukawa and Kauri Team Showcase on Thursday 6th July 2017 at 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm. This event will be held at Hillview Christian School, in their hall (150 Wilsons Road, St Martins, Christchurch).

The following items will be presented during this evening:

• Pohutukawa Kapa Haka
• J-Rock Performance
• Pohutukawa Team Jump Jam Dances
• Pohutukawa and Kauri Team Citizen of the Week certificates
• Year 7/8 Choir
• Band (a group will be decided upon this week)
• Leadership awards 
• Intermediate Hub video 
• Te Whanau Mahi Tahi 

All of our children have been involved in learning a Jump Jam dance throughout this term to share. We are encouraging them to wear:

• a black, red or white t-shirt or long sleeved top
• dark shorts or pants 
• a hat and/or sunglasses (optional). 

It is fine if this outfit is the school uniform. 

If you are available to help set the hall up and pack down, please let your child's teacher know. We will meet at Hillview Christian School at 3:15 for set up and pack down after the showcase. It will involve putting mats and seats out and then putting them away and ensuring the gym is tidy afterwards. 

We look forward to seeing you there. 

Pohutukawa Newsletter - Term 2 Week 8

Kia Ora Whānau

Hub Opening
We had a high level of excitement around our new hub opening yesterday. Here are some of the comments from our students:

James - "I've never seen anything as awesome as this before!"
Brayden - "The inside was amazing!"
Winni - "There were lots of good cubby holes to hide in and it was good because there was a place where you could be noisy and places to be quiet."
Hayley - "You could have fun there and there were heaps of places where we could do work and it was soundproof. I'm really excited about going there."
Nina - "I liked the heated floors."
Angus - "I liked the big stage with the steps where we could sit on. I like the bathrooms. They were so clean! I'm ready to get into it."
Grace - "The kitchen is nice and big and we can cook and bake there easily."

Team celebration day 

We are planning an end of term celebration afternoon on Wed 5th July. Children are invited to bring board games, card games, devices, toys or crafts. These will be locked away in the staff office for safety until our celebration starts.  If they would like to wear a onesie, they can bring it along to get into after lunch.

Lost Property 

We have had a number of school polar fleeces go missing in the last couple of weeks. Can you please help your child check their name tags and ensure all items are labeled. We check our lost property boxes and and return named items daily so items may have been returned to the Beckenham site lost property box outside the office.

Writing

We have been writing collaboratively, motivated by hybrid animals. Part of our writing process was to choose a hybrid and a text type. Here are some examples of our animal hybrid writing:

The EliFly

I can’t help but stare at the deep, bold, teal greeny and golden colours of its elephant ear shaped wings.. flapping like a flightless bird. It puts its long snake like snout into the water for a drink. Splash! The water gets sucked up from the ground like getting taken from a UFO! Slurp!
He must have heard me!

At this moment as his eyes connect with mine and blind me, as bright blue and red rays burst from them, shining directly towards me."'Ahh” I scream. The creature races away from me in fright and as it turns I can see its shimmering golden tail swinging from side to side catching and reflecting the sun's rays. It starts running faster as I chase it deeper into the South Korean jungle. We end up running into a cave.

Just then I see flashes of eyes in the pitch black cave. It’s the elephants pack! I dash off like Usain Bolt, never coming back again.

By Joel and Connor