Kirstenbosch Garden

The Grade 6's had the most amazing time as we learnt about the 3 different biomes that Kirstenbosch shows.

For more pics, pop over to our Facebook page!

Direct Speech

The Grade 6s have been looking at Direct Speech, here's a little look at what they've been up to...

Grade 6 SA / Sydney Project

The Grade 6's will be communicating with a Year 6 Class in Sydney Australia next term.

They will be discussing how we live in our cities, democracy, government, and various aspects of our lives in our countries.

The platform we are using is Edmodo. Edmodo looks very similar to Facebook, but it's for schools. Only teachers who can add students and there can be no private communication between any students.

The teacher creates the group and the teacher leads the students in joining the group.  So far, the Year 6 Class have added their Voki avatars to introduce themselves, we have gone to watch and listen to their introductions, and commented on them.  When we come back in the new term, we will create our own Voki Avatars and post them to the group.

We are looking forward to a great Term 2 together!

Everyone busy listening, reading and introducing themselves.

Excited about the project!

it's a girls school?  Whaaaatttt??  

Mystery Skype

Our Grade 8's have been doing map work this term and we have finished up the term with a Mystery Skype chat.

A "Mystery Skype" is an appointment between the class and a guest from an unknown location, who meet at a designated time, and the class, using 20 strategic "yes/no" questions, have to find the city that the guest is from. They work in groups using Google, Atlas's, Globes, whatever they need.

Yesterday they had a practice round with a guest who was from the Western Cape and they managed well, but they were warned that the "real thing" today would be more of a challenge - and it was.

Our guest was from Bucharest in Romania. The first 5 questions they asked him, he answered "no."  This had them on the back foot since they had bargained on at least one or two being a "yes" to continue their questioning.  After the initial shock wore off, they recovered well - and a coupleof great thinkers rose to the fore in searching and questioning initiative.

All-in-all, it was a great experience, we are thrilled to have the technology to be able to do these activities and to be able to speak to teachers and classes around the world.

Our Mystery Guest watching us as we try to locate him!

It was a challenge - but we did it!

Well done Grade 8's!

Maths Fun!

Whoever would have thought that Maths could be FUN!

The Grade 6's have had lots of fun in math as we look at BODMAS.  If you are not sure what that means, ask one of them!

SA Museum Outing!

The Grade 3's went to the S.A Museum to learn more about our heritage. We learnt some very interesting facts about the San and Khoisan people.

We had a lovely picnic in the shade of a huge, old Yellowwood tree! What better way is there to end a lesson on "heritage", than to climb one of our National Symbols!

For all the pics, pop over to our Facebook page in the Grade 3 - 2103 album! Enjoy!

Grade 8 Dinner 2012

The Grade 8 class of 2012 was special in many ways.  Certainly their most outstanding achievement is the fact that they were the very first Grade 8 class of The Rock Academy. They have paved the way for many to come after them. It will be their legacy.

But their journey has not ended. As we speak, they are the very first Grade 9 class of The Rock Academy.  The learners and their parents have chosen to walk this walk with us, and we look forward to the day when they matriculate as the very first Grade 12 class in 2016.

We ended off 2012 with a Grade 8 dinner and an academic award ceremony.  It was a wonderful evening where we could honour our learners and their parents for the hard work and support to the school. Also among the guests were individuals who contributed to the successful completion of this very exciting year.

We commend Mrs Oelofse and the Board for the faith and trust that they have displayed in the Lord whilst embarking on the mission of establishing a high school for those families who want to train their teenagers up in the ways of the Lord.  May you be showered with His grace in 2013. 

Submitted by: Mrs Nass (Grade 8)

Flat Rosie Skype Chat

If you read this post recently, you would be waiting for details of of the Skype chat that our Grade 2's had with the Grade 2's in Australia.

This all happened on 5th November 2012, the webcam and laptop were all set up in the Grade 2 classroom and an excited class waited for their phonecall.

Questions had been swapped between the classes previously to ask one another so each child would have something to both ask and answer.

You can watch the chat here - it's quite long, but very sweet to watch!

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!

Rosie's Adventure Continues!

We are well into Flat Rosie's adventures now! She has been home with almost everyone in the class! She has had staring competitions, climbed trees, been ziplining, jumped on trampolines, been spider hunting and learnt to ride a scooter! She has even been to a few birthday parties!

Rosie is getting around Cape Town and we are loving hosting her.  The next exciting part we are looking forward to, is our Skype Party with her class in Sydney. Their class is actually COMING BACK to school at 6pm just so that we can try and fit in the same time zone! Parents have been invited to come at 09h00 if they would like to be part of this Video Chat.

This is the second time this year that our Grade 2's have had a Skype Video with an international school and I think they must be looking forward to it!

Feel free to have a look at their Wiki for more photo's of Rosie on her adventures!

Watch this space for the Skype Clip!

Arboretum Outing

On Wednesday 24 October, the Grade 1,2 and 3's donned their civvies and headed off to the Tokai Arboretum for an educational walk in the forest.

Some of the Grade 1's decided to dress for the occasion and we had woodland fairies and bright little bunnies bouncing along the way.  The weather was just perfect, and everyone had a great time! 

To see more photo's - please visit our Facebook page!

Grade 1 & 8 UK Peace Pod Arrives

The Grade 1 and Grade 8's embarked on an exciting journey in early September. 

The two grades joined forces to put together a PEACE POD to send to a school in the UK, and they put a Pod together to send to us.  This was done for Peace Day 2012 and the contents had to be typically South African. We had lots of fun bringing in all sorts of things and ended up with a lovely parcel which was beautiful wrapped in some REALLY typical SA paper!

We sent our Pod off on the last day of the last term, and are waiting to hear if they have received it. Their parcel arrived on Tuesday last week and the Gr.1&8's got together to unpack.  Amidst plenty of "wow's", "ooh's" and "aahs", Mrs Holgate and Mrs Nass unpacked the box.

Once they have received our parcel, we will have a Skype Video chat between the two classes and talk about the contents of our boxes and ask questions of one another.

Below are a couple of photo's of our Peace Pod before it was sent, and a video clip of our classes opening their Peace Pod from the UK.  We are looking forward to the Skype Chat now!

Getting into the excitement of sending!

The Grade 8's making sure that Mrs Holgate does a good job! 

What would an SA Pod be without Mrs Balls

Our Pod... 

All sealed up and ready to go!

Opening our UK Pod!

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

The Grade 2's have been learning about the 3R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Today in Assembly we were treated to their own songs that they made up to remind them to be wise in how they treat the environment.

Well done Grade 2's!

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.

Flat Rosie Arrives!

If you have been following our Blog, you will have noticed that we have embarked on a journey with an Australian school, where we host "Flat Rosie' for a period of time.

Grade 2D waiting for Flat Rosie to arrive!

Flat Rosie is a paper friend, who has travelled around the world together with her koala bear companion and a book about Australia and an "I Wonder" book of questions about South Africa, which our Grade 2's will answer.

Flat Rosie arrived on Friday last week, and spent her first weekend with her Grade 2 friend.  Today, the class has been busy learning about Australia, colouring in pictures about it and watching some wonderful You Tube clips on Ralph Harris' Australian songs, which of course, if you remember them, were a lot of fun!

Flat Rosie Arrives!

Our Principal. Mrs Oelofse, is being shown Rosie's new friend, an S.A Bokkie!
He and Koala have become good friends!

Keep your eyes open for updates!  You can also follow Flat Rosie's Blog and see what she is up to in other parts of the world!

The Rhino Awareness Project

The Grade 8's initiated a fundraising and awareness project for the protection of Rhino's.

Through selling chocolate treats (affectionately named "rhino droppings" made by Mrs Hain, a colouring competition (won by Faith) and a drawing competetion (won by Kyra) and a competiton for the best powerpoint/movie presentation (won by Isaac), we managed to raise R1011.00

The funds were donated to Aquila Private Game reserve.

Thank you to all the children and parents for supporting this worthwhile project!

Isaac's winning movie

Bella & Krissie Powerpoint.

Save the rhinos! from Mrs_LG

Michalea K's Powerpoint

Save the Rhinos!! from Mrs_LG

Mrs Nass with Kyra's winning drawing and Faith with her winning coloured in picture.

Well done girls!

Collaborative Projects!

• The Peace Project Returns

Some may remember the Grade 4 Peace Project last year and we have been invited to participate again. This year we have been asked to show us "Building or Doing Peace."

We will be using our interaction with eMzantsi as our contribution. We will be taking video clips of their workshops, talking to the children and staff involved, and will then create a short clip of their time together.

 We are looking forward to it being as exciting and as successful as last year.

• Grade 2 Flat Friends

The Grade 2's will be receiving a parcel in the post soon! They will be hosting a FLAT FRIEND from Australia.  The friend will be accompanied by a notebook with some interesting things about Australia and the areas that Year 2 class live.  In turn, they will have an "I wonder" section, asking us to answer some questions about where we live.

We will then return the parcel to Australia, and follow up our interaction with communicating via the Australian Year 2's Class Blog, Voicethread and possibly, Skype.

So, soon, the parents of the Grade 2's may have a FLAT FRIEND over for the evening, and be asked to take some photo's of our friend visiting our lovely City.

We will send more news home about this project as it unfolds.

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!