Dear Parents
We are now looking forward to Term 3.
Our Korean visitors have arrived and are with us 4 days per week for two and a half weeks. They will have a farewell assembly on Tuesday 9th August. The students will be shared across the senior classes and will also have a block each day working with Mrs Spencer.
Unit of Inquiry
Our Inquiry for this term is called Energized!
The central idea will be:… Humans use their understanding of science and technology to make use of energy.
Our Lines of Inquiry will be into ….
- different types of energy
- ways energy can be harnessed and transferred
- renewable energy
- energy needs and types for the future
Key questions which will drive our inquiry will be ..…..
- a) What is energy?
- b) How does energy affect our everyday life?
- c) What is the best energy source? Why?
- d) How can reducing our energy use impact the environment?
- e) How do we plan for future energy use?
As part of this inquiry the senior team has had a visit from Esther from Vector to learn more about energy and electricity. It is timely as we have just had solar panels installed on our school roof. Our Enviro team will be studying our school’s power usage.
Science
Every fortnight the students will continue to participate in a Science rotation. The students will all be moving on to a different type of Science activity. The activities are a mix of robotics, coding, practical hands on science and enviro science.
Technology
We will be sending two groups of four students to the Howick Technology Challenge on the 24th August. Another group of 4 students is also competing in the EPro8 Howick Schools Technology Challenge this Thursday. These children are selected from our Science rotation.
Speech Competition
During the first weeks of this term we will be busy preparing and improving our speeches using the “hamburger planner” for our class speech competitions. We will use digital technology to record, view and improve our speech presentation skills. Two students from each class will be selected to participate in the school final which will take place on Friday 26th August at 9:10 am in the school hall. Our judges will be Mrs Linley Jones (a local author) and Mrs Jenny Todd our Junior School teacher who is currently on leave. The winner from this competition will go on to represent our school at the Howick final on the 7th September at Owairoa School. All parents are welcome to attend, even those who do not have a child participating. We are hoping for lots of creative and informative speech topics.
Parent Meetings: E-Learning/Camp meeting
All parents are welcome to come along to a sharing of what’s happening at BBPS in E-Learning from 5.30 – 6.30 pm on the 4th August. This will be followed by a Lakewood Lodge 2017 camp meeting for all parents of students who are currently in Year 5, at 7 pm in the school hall.
Physical Education
We have a sports rotation operating for the Senior School on Wednesdays. For hygiene and performance reasons we ask that all girls and boys bring sports shorts, PE T-shirt and running shoes/sneakers and that they change out of these after their session. (Students are expected to wear regular school shoes to and from school). Girls may also wear bike pants. Please also ensure your child has their PE clothes at school on Thursday for their class lesson. If your child is not well enough to participate, please can you send a note on the day to their class teacher.
Last term we started our training for the Inter School Gymnastics Competition on Wednesday 31st August. We have also begun training for our Cross Country competition which will be held at school on Friday 12th August (saving day Monday 15th August). We would like all students to focus on improving their running fitness in their spare time in preparation for our Cross Country event. Children will be selected from our event to participate in the Howick competition on the 13th September. In the past our school has performed very well. Mrs Chilvers will hold training sessions at 8 am every Tuesday and Thursday, meeting at the school rotunda.
Dance Festival at Elim College
Our dance teams will be performing at Elim college on the 8th/9th August. Tickets for this event are available for parents of participating children at the school office for $5.00 each.
Art
We will taking a closer look at visual art and will be preparing an Art Gallery in Term 4. In preparation for this, each senior class will participate in a workshop at Te Tuhi. We will require parent helpers for this and there will be a small charge of $3.00 per student for transport.
Click on this link to complete the permission form for this activity.
ICAS
The ICAS competitions for this term will be English on the 2nd August and Mathematics on the 16th August. If your child has entered these, please remember they must be at school at 7.30 am.
Trees for Survival
The planting day for this is on the 11th August and will involve children who have been a part of this group.
Mandarin
All children are learning Mandarin on Fridays and are taught by Ms Doris Xu a teacher from Macleans College. Our native Mandarin speakers are also participating in extension classes.
Sausage Sizzle/Bake Sale
The Enviro group will hold a sausage sizzle on the 23rd August.
The Year 6 students will run a bake sale on the 30th August at morning tea. This will help fund end of year activities.
Hangi/Koanga Festival
The school is currently hoping to have a hangi on the 6th September. More details will follow in a school newsletter. Our Kapa Haka group have been practising and will perform at the Koanga festival at Bucklands Beach Intermediate on Saturday 17th September. All are welcome to attend.
The last day for the term will be Friday 23rd September.
We look forward to working with you throughout the term.
From the Senior Team at BBPS.
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