Our Amazing Squash Team

Our squash league team have played exceptionally well this season, winning 7 of the 9 matches played. Last Friday they played their last match against Wynberg Boys and beat them 14 - 0. 

Well done boys!  

We are proud of you.  

Fun in Grade 5

Kirstenbosch Outing!

The Grade 5's went to Kirstenboch Gardens to learn about forest ecosystems. They had to find the creepy crawlies that are part of the ecosystem. We were then given a guided tour of the gardens. What a beautiful part of the world!

Learning about Fractions...
This is so much more fun when it's done with chocolate.

Mandela Day:

For their 67 minutes for Mandela Day, the Grade 5's took the Carguards at our local mall, sandwiches after which they went off to Living Hope to help work in their garden.

Going for Green!

"Let's Go Green".... this is an initiative started yesterday to give our playground a "green facelift!"

It is our aim to have artificial grass laid during the September holidays BUT we still need to fill 120m2 at a cost of R100/m2.   Together with King of Kings and our fundraising drives of Market Day & Spellathon we are already well on our way!

How can you help?  By pledging R100.00 per m2. For every R100 we fill a square on our wall so that we can see how far we are.

There will be lots of prizes for the children who bring in the funds:

• 10 great spot prizes in a lucky draw when the squares are filled
• Fun prizes every time you bring in a pledge
• A yummy prize as well if you raise more than R500!

What do you need to do?
All you need to do is to bring in your R100 (or more) to buy a piece/s of grass which will then be stuck onto the 120 block chart and receive your prize.

Our children are already very keen and we congratulate Hannah G (R1000), Amy B (R300) and Michaela G (R200) for their contributions already.

Prizes will be handed out every morning during line-up.  If anyone is able to donate prizes for the lucky draw, please contact the School directly or via our website.

If you, (dear reader), whether you are a parent, grandparent, godparent, aunt, uncle or just someone wanting to donate, that you do just that!  You can donate via our website or hand it in at school.

Well done and let's see how quickly we can

"Get it Green!"

The Spur Outing

This week there was great excitement as the Grade 4's and 5's went to the Spur to see how a restaurant was run.

They had a tour of the whole restaurant and everyone had an opportunity to feel how cold it was in a -10 degree freezer!  Each had an opportunity to dish up their own burgers. 

Everyone had a burger, chips and cool drink,which they were allowed to mix and pour themselves. Fanta and Sprite, Coke and Cream soda, etc. The last treat was an ice cream with any sauce they wanted!

Here are just a few comments from the children:

Michaela - I made my own burger and it was delicious!

Oscar - I like using the drink machine- I mixed everything

Hannah - I like seeing the kitchen and learning about the restaurant

Holly-Jane - The drink machine was fun

Christopher E - I like being in the freezer!

Sam - I liked going into the freezer- it was -10 degrees.

Kate - I liked the tour

A great way to end a wonderful term!

Classroom Community Skype

The Grade 5's were invited to join a school in NY for a Skype Chat about Community.  The NY class were embarking on a 9 to 9 Skype Marathon talking to schools around the globe about the value of community in  classrooms and our neighbourhoods.


It was our Grade 5's first International Skype and they enjoyed it. They learnt a lot about the school they were talking to and the kind of environment that they learn in and live in.

We were asked to talk about:-

• our classroom environment
• how we create an atmosphere of enthusiasm and build community in our classrooms
• why community is important to us
• the rules and expectations of our classroom 

...... as well as the community in which we live.  Which was much simpler to discuss!

It was a great learning experience for all our Grade 5's in many ways!  

We look forward to more Skype Chats with other schools in future.

Making Maps

The Grade 5's have been learning about South Africa, borders, seas and mountain ranges and their project was to make their own relief map of the country.

It was lovely to see the enthusiasm and creativity of the learners as they embarked on this project and their final products are evidence of this.

Well done, Grade 5's!

Magical Mystery Men

Last night we had an absolutely wonderful time at our Intermediate Phase Production of The Magical Mystery Men.

Mrs Brink and the Grade 4-8's put on an enthusiastic production of two children who were dissatisfied with life as they knew it and who thought that it would have been better to be around at another time.  The Magical Mystery Men and their team grant their wishes to live in different times and countries, until one day, they realise that "Home is Best!'.

The audience participated in getting Reeve and Melanie (the two children) to their next destinations by standing up and doing various actions, while the younger Grades lent their voices to the choir.

It really was a MAGICAL time enjoyed by everyone who was there!  Below are a couple of the photo's but please see our Facebook Page for lots more!

eMzantsi Assembly

Our final assembly for the term we were treated to a wonderful musical show presented by the children from Rock and their partner School in Masi. For months now they have been getting together, creating their own instruments, props and costumes, as well as learning dance sequences and scripts. This all came together on Friday morning where parents were invited to come and watch what they had been doing. Here is a cast photo and a clip of their production.

Psalty & The Rock Kids

This term there has been a lot of singing heard in the school. 

It has been the term of our Musical: "Psalty & The Rock Kids".  We had a matinee and two evening performances that were well attended.  The show was bright, cheerful and filled with colour and catchy tunes that many children (and parents!) may have found themselves singing along to!

It was a fun evening and we thank Mrs Brink for putting it all together for us, and for the team who supported her in every way.  We do have a DVD available of the complete show! Contact the school for a copy.

Don't forget that in November we have the Senior Musical: The Magical Mystery Men - A Story about Family Values.

BookWeek!

We have recently had BookWeek which is always such a treat for everyone!

Mystery Readers, cosy corner reading, paired reading, poetry recitals and dress-up!

We hope that you will enjoy these photo's!

eMzantsi Carnival Workshops

At the first eMzantsi Workshop we spoke about our family and who was in it. It was interesting to see how different children's family units look! If your child is attending the Workshops I am sure that also know the words of "Ntombi had a ball" and "Hey Marlaina!" ~ catchiest song and coolest moves ever!

 ~Michelle Gatley-Dewing~





3 Tech Projects on the Go!

We are almost at the close of the first term and it's been a great one!

We have been doing some interesting things that you may like to know about:

Firstly, we registered for World Maths/Science/Spelling Day for Grade 4-8. This was a huge success with the children coming in for some practices before the time. Unfortunately the site was too slow for Science Day and we were unable to participate. I am sure that for next year they will have worked on that glitch.

Everyone getting into the swing of the competition

Searching the world for people to compete against

Spelling Day - typing in the correct words

We also have a Grade 2 Once-Off Skype Weather Chat on Thursday with a Grade 2 class in Switzerland.

They are asking different countries in the world about their seasons and weather and they have given us some questions to answer. Each child in Grade 2 has received 2 questions to research and on Thursday we will have a Video Skype Chat with the Swiss Grade 2 Class.  We are looking forward to a wonderful learning experience.

The Research Questions

Then the Grade 4's are about 6 weeks into their ongoing Project which is a Cultural Exchange Project with a Yr 4 Class in the United Arab Emirates.

With the use of a Wiki the two countries will be sharing information about their countries and cultures in order to learn more about one another. Anyone can follow along with this project just by clicking here.

Of course, we do have a learner in Grade 4 who is at sea for a year, and we are doing our best to keep in touch with him so that he is able to participate in the Project too.  We had our first Skype Video test call with him last week which the children really enjoyed and we hope to do this more often.

Video Skyping with the Grade 4's.

It's been a fantastic Tech term. Thank you to all the children and parents for your support.

Cyber Safety

As we begin 2012, all the children have had to sign an Acceptable User Policy for using the ICT Lab.

Grades 1-3 only use the Internet for Educational Games, generally reading, alphabet, word recognition and such like.  From Grade 4 up the children use various Web Tools which require a Gmail address and a User Name, the AUP document allows the school to create a Gmail account and issue a User Name for each child. This info gets sent home and the parents are encouraged to "keep an eye" on these accounts.

I gave the Grade 4+ up a short talk about Cyber Safety and Being a Responsible Digital Citizen in order to arm them with what they can do to ensure their safety online. 

If your child uses the Internet regularly, or use Facebook, Mxit, Twitter, IM, etc. PLEASE monitor them, ensure that you set their privacy settings, check the sites that they are visitng and monitor their accounts.

Here is the Presentation that I did with them. Look for the "Play" arrow on a couple of the slides to view the clip.

Cyber Safety

View more presentations from MrsLG.

Enjoy this fun clip - A Social Media "Improv Everywhere Flashmob!"

Sharing using Social Media platforms are part of life. It's great to share - but we must do it responsibly!

Market Day

Every year the Grade 5's get to have a Market Day.

This is done with great thought and much excitement. They need to find a product that they can sell, work out what it will cost to either make or buy it, add on some profit and then market themselves well.

Posters are made, expense sheets are worked on and all the sales-people make an appearance to sell their wares.

This year, like the previous years, saw all our budding entrepreneurs with their stall set up and doing their best to make a profit.

This is always a real treat for everyone as there is such a variety of interesting goodies to spend your pocket money on!