Back in the Classroom – Fun with Music and a visit to Kirstenbosch

2013-08-30 | puppy1952

The lucky little girls in my class got to have another fun lesson with a GAP student this week. When I was a little girl the theoretical part of Music was boring and no fun at all. What a fresh approach this lovely young treacher brought to our classroom. The girls now know all about walking notes, running notes and slow plodding notes. They had fun tapping out the beat on rhythm sticks and then listening to differents types of music and interpreting the movement through dance.

An introduction to musical notes

Using rhythm sticks while reading music

Interpreting the music with dance

Winter is determined to show us its coldest face this year. I am sure there can’t be any more rain left to fall and can it possibly get any colder. Rumour has it that there is snow on Table Mountain! I can’t see it from here but I can certainly feel it in my bones. Yet I have tough little girls who strip off their fleeces after break and insist on running around bare foot!. My girls are princesses but very sporty ones!

100% chance of rain was predicted for the day of our outing to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The other two Grade One classes went the day before and certainly did get a constant downpour. The Botanical Gardens in the rain? Well yes – but not outdoors and even though it did not actually rain our our day we were presented with the same programme. It was just too cold and muddy to go tramping through the Gardens and the Forest area that they usually show us.

Instead the boys and girls had their lessons and walk about in the conservatory. The three wonderful ladies who were our teacher/guides taught them how the indigenous people and early settlers found veld plants and used them food, medicine and freshening their homes. They were fascinated to hear that Buchu was used for healing scratches and stings and that there were several types of aromatic Pelargonium which could be used to flavour food or used to freshen clothes in the wardrobe. The children shared their knowledge of ‘sour flowers’ and were warned not to eat anything in the veld unless an adult told them it was safe to do so.

The puppet show about Monty the Mongoose was a definite highlight and after that they were divided into three groups and shown around the conservatory.

The Puppet Show

Feeling fleshy leaves

Checking off the plants they found

It was a fantastic outing and the children learned so many new things in a fun and exciting way. Well done to the Kirstenbosch Ladies – in spite of the weather they got it just right!

Back in the Classroom – Foul Weather, Food Pyramids and Fun in Afrikaans

2013-08-24 | puppy1952

This has to be the coldest and wettest winter we have had here in the Cape for many years. Or is it that I am getting older and feel the elements more intensely? Here in this southern nook of Africa we are lucky enough to have a Mediterranean Climate – warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. I like winter because many of the days are clear and sunny and the wind doesn’t blow. But this winter we have had so much rain that the dams are over 100% full and there is snow on the mountain which means it is freezing! After a couple of days of heavy rain there was river flowing outside my classroom door!

A River Runs Through It

Every day I pray that the rain will let up at 10:30 – break time – so that the children get to go out and release their pent up energy – mostly my prayers are answered and luckily inspite of the excessive rain we do find at least a few minutes to get out and play.

A break in the weather and fun on the swings

Something in the weather has caused the birds to visit the garden – when the children are not around. I captured these feathered beauties enjoying some rare sunshine.

Cape Canary

Chaffinch

It has been a busy week and the girls have worked hard. After their two day Funscape they were keen to share their experiences and wrote good sentences about what they had done.

Look what I did at Fabric Painting

Pieces of Eight My Hearties

Anyone for cookies?

Working on our Funscape Report

Having someone different in the classroom is always exciting for the girls and I have been so proud of their welcoming attitude to our visiting student and one of our own GAPs. What a fun lesson they had learning all about the food pyramid and which foods we need for energy, muscle building and fighting illness.

Carbohydrates for energy

Learning a second language can be challenging but doing a familiar movement song in Afrikaans makes learning the parts of the body fun and easy.

Kop en skoures, knie en tone, knie en tone

Neus?

They also learned an old favourite fairy tale in their second language – the same one we have been working on in our regular Afrikaans lessons.

“We know this story,” piped up one bright spark – “but we don’t do it like this!”

I am proud to say that in spite of that they remembered the vocabulary and thoroughly enjoyed the new presentation of an old favourite.

‘n Mandjie vol Kos

Sy pluk blomme

Die Wolf in Ouma se Klere

Another full week has flown by. Assessments are complete and report writing has begun. The rain has gone for now so enjoy your weekend everybody.

Back in the Classroom – Fabulous Funscape

2013-08-16 | puppy1952

Our week of hard work and assessments ended with a rewarding two days of FUNSCAPES. Parents, I am sure your little girls have told you all about it and I will be getting them to report back on what they did early next week – so watch this space. For me FUNSCAPES was just fabulous. Imagine being able to use two school day to indulge my passion – BIRDS. I was delighted to hear that my club – Bird Watching – A Hobby for Life was filled very quickly. Those who did not get in – Don’t worry, it will be offered again next year. Twenty-one girls and boys from Grade 1 to Grade 5 entered my classroom on Thursday morning and when I asked – “Why did you choose Bird Watching as your Funscape this year? – these were the replies. ‘I see birds all the time and I like watching them.’ ‘I went to a place with my family once and saw all these birds and ever since then I’ve wanted to learn more about birds.’ ‘I like all animals and I think birds are interesting because they are so pretty.’ ‘My grandpa loves birds and so do I.’ ‘Well, I have two reasons – no actually three reasons. I think birds are interesting. I like all animals and a bird is an animal and I want to save the birds.’ Every one of these kids was there because something inside them made them interested in birds and they had a hunger to learn more. The weather forced me to have our first day in the classroom instead of going on an excursion to Rondevlei. I have used this programme before but it was geared to Grade 3 and above. There was a lot to pack into those four hours and I had a mixed age group – how to manage the content to suit them all was a challenge. Putting them into mixed groups of three was the answer. I made each session short – first a PowerPoint presentation on bills and beaks followed by a group activity – then an outdoor break and back to feet and legs and a group activity on that. Last of all a PowerPoint presentation on the birds we were likely to see followed by creating a card game to help us learn their names. All their handouts were given to them in a Flipfile and one of them said – Do we get to take these flip files home? ‘Of course,’ I replied. “Cool!” One satisfied customer!

I think I know the answer

The older ones helped the smaller ones

What do you think the answer is?

The weather today was not much better but our destination was The False Bay Ecology Park. The ponds here are home to a huge variety of birds. Had the weather been better I would have had the children out of the cars but it was wet and freezing so in the cars we stayed using walkie talkie radios to communicate. The roads were muddy and at one point we had to turn around for fear of getting stuck! My husband was helping with lifts in the Fortuner and went to investigate which roads would be suitable and in his brief separation from us, found a spotted eagle owl. The youngsters with him were over the moon. “Not fair,” I said “that they got an exclusive sighting!” “Tough!” said my deviant husband!

The exclusive sighting – Spotted Eagle Owl in his usual spot.

In spite of muddy roads and inclement weather we had a very successful trip. The children were keen to get the 30 or so target birds on their tick lists and except for a few that eluded us they did very well. They were also thrilled to see a little slender mongoose while we were sitting still eating our lunch. I told the children that we were unlikely to see a pied kingfisher – but I was wrong – right at the end, kingfisher was called! Take a look at some of the amazing birds we saw. As one little lass said – It’s like a bird paradise here!

The best place to find Flamingoes

Red-knobbed coot

Cape Shoveller

The Gulls Flushed into the air caused great excitement

Purple Swamphen

A tricky bird to find – but he appeared just as I’d lost hope of seeing him

Thank you very much to the three parents who gave up their precious time and braved the muddy roads to assist us on this outing. It is really very much appreciated. A big thank you too to my hubby who took the day off from work to help us. Of course he didn’t listen to any of my instructions and spoilt the kids rotten!

Women’s Day Weekend in Struisbaai – Conclusion

2013-08-11 | puppy1952

This morning we enjoyed another fabulous ‘Early’ breakfast and then packed up and set off for a slow and scenic drive home. After the recent rains there is water everywhere and this added to the success of our bird watching. We took the R317 dirt road to ‘Die Dam’ and stopped several times to take photographs.

Water Water Everywhere

Red-billed Teal

Female Red Bishop

Male Red Bishop

Grey Heron on top of hay stack – some birds have made nest holes it the stack

The Wild Flowers were beautiful

Black-winged Stilt

Karoo Prinia

Levaillant’s Cisticola

Pin-tailed Whydah

It is not easy to find Purple Swamphen even when bird watching in a wetland as they are quite shy birds and hide easily in the reeds. So it was very exciting to find the right at the side of the road in the flood waters. Two of them flew away when I got out of the car to take pictures but one stayed and was not at all frightened of me. I was close enough to reach out and touch him and he still did not fly away. It was great to see him at such close quarters and to see him swim too. These birds have long, widely spaced toes which are adapted to walking on lily pads and climbing up reeds.

The colours were shining in the sunlight

Back View

Such a beautiful bird

The Four of Us at Die Dam

We also went to Buffulsjag where Earl camped as a youngster. He pitched his tent in the dark and when he woke in the morning found he was at the very edge of a cliff as seen in the photograph.

Buffulsjag – cliffs in the distance

We had planned to meet up with our friends Gus and Jacqui who were travelling home from Arniston. What were the chances that as we came to the tar road they arrived at the crossroads at exactly the same time! Instead of having lunch in Hermanus as originally planned we decided that parking would be easier in Stanford. We found a fantastic little restaurant that offered home bakes too – and Sharon had to have her cake!

Evergreen. Stanford

The food was excellent

Gus and Jacqui were wise enough to avoid Sir Lowry’s by going via Kleinmond so avoided the traffic jam that we had to contend with. They laughed when they heard we were caught in traffic but we didn’t really mind. After all we weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere!

It was a fabulous weekend and we all feel as if we’ve been away for a month!

Women’s Day Weekend in Struisbaai – Part Two

2013-08-10 | puppy1952

It was a lazy start to the day this morning. The sun was up and shining again but the chill had not left the air so we lingered longer in our warm beds. I had my usual craving for croissants and the boys did their best to locate some. OK Grocer apologised but were not making them this weekend! Instead they came home with herby bread rolls, ham and cottage cheese. I was a bit miffed but when the lovely rolls were put before me all was forgiven.

Sharon tucking into brekkei

Sharon and I took a walk to the Struisbaai Mall and visited South Bound Gift Shop – always a fun place to browse around. The men caught up with us a little later and we shopped for a ‘snippermaandjie” (waste paper basket) and found a suitable one at the hardware shop. It is amazing what Struisbaai has to offer in the way of shopping these days. I wanted to show Sharon the Fish Shop and had no intention of buying anything but there were products on demo and after tasting this and that we left with a small haul – green fig preserve, mango mustard, olive chutney and whatnot.

A Smorgasbord of choice

The Fish Shop the meets all your fish requirements from bait, fresh caught fish and cooked take aways to items that you need to cook your own catch

There is some controversy as to where the Atlantic and Indian actually meet – The owner clearly believes it’s not here and I agree with him!

Later in the afternoon we took a drive to Suiderstrand and a long walk (over and hour) along the beach toward and beyond the Agulhas National Park Rest Camp where we stayed a few weeks ago. (See earlier Blog)

The scenery was to die. The pebbly beach proved challenging on the feet but the sound of the sea rumbling on them in the shallows was like nautical music to our ears.

Sweep of the coastline

Smooth white pebbles underfoot

Fishermen trying their luck

We left the shells where they belong

Enjoying the sunshine

The threatened African Black Oyster Catcher

Ignoring the breaking waves

Keep up please, Darling

We know we’re a handsome couple

White-fronted plovers

After all this strenuous exercise we’d worked up a healthy appetite. Chef Earl was keen to try out some more of his culinary skills and once again presented us with a delicious supper which was followed by fresh berries and yogurt.

Sadly tomorrow is pack up day and its back to Cape Town and normal life (and food) once more!

Women’s Day Weekend in Struisbaai – Part One

2013-08-09 | puppy1952

After a rainy and cold week we find ourselves here in Struisbaai once again. A text from our rental agent warned us that there might be road closures due to the recent heavy rains and flooding. Really? We didn’t give it too much thought and set off with Tony and Sharon at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon. “I’d better just phone and check,” I said. “It would be a pity to get to Bredasdorp only to find that road closed.” Sure enough, we were warned that only twin cabs and 4X4s were able to make it through. “Huh?” No problem for us as fortunately as we drive a Fortuner! I still didn’t believe that it could be that bad but it was! There was a virtual river running across the road halfway between Bredasdorp and Struisbaai.

Will the big truck get through – Yes indeed so we should too.

Fellow travellers forging the river

It was dark and cold when we reached our house and we put on the gas heater the minute we’d unpacked! Then after a glass of wine and chat we set off to Agulhas to seek a place to have dinner. To our horror Seagulls was closed – apparently taking advantage of the quiet season to get away for their annual holiday. So we settled for Zuidste Kaap Restaurant (Most Southern Cape Restaurant) which had a fire in a huge hearth and very good food. (The fire did very little to warm the place though) Earl had Eisbein and Sharon and I had Vegetarian Pasta and Tony Rainbow Pasta. All excellent.

We slept snugly and rose this morning to a unique “Early” breakfast. Nobody else can possibly compete with whatever it is he does to make this the most delicious breakfast in the world. (Thanks my darling)

We then packed up and took ourselves off to De Hoop Nature Reserve – a very special place about an hour or so away. The results of the recent rains were evident everywhere and had attracted a variety of waterbirds not usually seen in the area.

A tranquil scene on a temporary lake

Indulging in a morning preen

Aren’t we beautiful

From Bredasdorp we take the Swellendam Road and then 6km out of Bredasdorp we take the dirt road to Malgas travelling about 40 km before turning right to De Hoop. En route, we stop of course, to observe birds and take scenic photographs.

Now we know why it is so cold – Snow on the Caledon Mountains!

A Patchwork of colour with farmhouse in background

A Grey Heron with an identity crisis – He is impersonating a swan

Capped Wheatear posing obligingly

Flood water creating a lovely scene

Mommy sheep with twins

Spurwinged Goose, Two Cape Shovellers and A Yellow-billed Duck

The proteas in the park were in full bloom

Although it was still chilly we the sun was shiny and there was good light and after the rain everything looked bright and clear. The birds and animals in the park clearly thought today was the day to make an appearance and we found them everywhere. All were enjoying the sunshine and the abundance of water.

De Hoop Nature Reserve is 34 000 ha in size and the largest natural area managed by Cape Nature. It is a good place to go if you enjoy hiking, cycling, bird watching and of course whale watching.

It forms part of the world’s smallest and most threatened plant Kingdom – the Cape Floral Kingdom. Fynbos is the dominant vegetation group. The Bredasdorp / Agulhas and Infanta area has an estimated 1500 plant species of the approximately 9 000 species found in the Cape Floristic Region. We live in a beautiful part of the world and have such interesting flora and fauna. What a privilege to have such easy access to it. Not only can we see the rare bontebok and other mammal species here but it is adjacent to the De Hoop Marine Reserve too and at Koppie Alleen there is an opportunity to see whales and other marine life too.

Cape Bulbul catching some rays

Common Fiscal

Ostriches out and about

Cape Mountain Zebra

Male and Female Eland

Bontebok

Our close cousins

Bokmakierie

We have often dined at the restaurant in the park and can highly recommend it. Sharon and I had traditional South African fare in the form of Bobotie and Tony and Earl indulged in Mussel Chowder.

The Four of Us Indulging in Good South African Food

This cheeky chap demanded crumbs but we declined to indulge him.

Cape Francolin

The trees were full of noisy birds eating berries

Cape Bulbul

Mousebird

After lunch we drove to Koppie Alleen to see if we could spot a whale or two. We were not disappointed. There were dozens of Southern Right Whales in the bay which were seen clearly with the aid of our binoculars. It was bitterly cold on the dunes so we didn’t spend too much time before we were driven back to the warmth of our vehicle.

Koppie Alleen

Whale Watching

The Bay was full of Southern Right Whales

On our way out the baboons once again amused us.

Daddy Baboon

Mommy and Baby

After a great day out we returned to our cosy cottage and Chef Earl produced a wonderful braai – chicken wings on sticks, skilpaaidjies (not real tortoises honestly – just liver wrapped in sheep fat) lamb chops, vegetables in foil and Sharon’s Coleslaw. To finish a stunning lemon meringue from Checkers’ Bakery.

The Indoor Braai

Yum!

Back in the Classroom – Market Day and a Fun Music Lesson

2013-08-09 | puppy1952

As usual time has flown and this short week has been filled with activity, fun and excitement. My carefully planned Monday had to be adjusted when the girls’ favourite teacher (IT bloke of course) came to inform us that we were to have an unscheduled period on the ipads. This on the same day that we have Visual Motor so that set the tone for the day! However, the little geniuses applied themselves diligently so as not to be excluded from the I.T. lesson if certain goals were not reached! Always great to have a carrot to help with discipline.

I have for a few days been assigned a visiting student teacher. She is studying through UNISA and needs to do her practical so I am the lucky one. Her first lesson had the children clapping, clicking and, dancing and singing as they learned to recognise patterns in Music.

Old Mac Donald

Singing, Clapping and Clicking

I am the kind of teacher who believes that junk food is very bad for children. That does not mean that I never indulge in the odd pizza or chocolate. I also use sweeties as treats on occasion. BUT – my rule is that no junk may come to school in lunch boxes – and don’t dare buy lollipops from the school tuckshop! The girls know this and try their best to bring healthy snacks to school. So when The Grade Seven Market Day happened on Wednesday they couldn’t believe their luck when Teacher said – you can buy and eat whatever you like!

The lessons learned went above my food fetishes. At the entrance to the hall – (rain prevented and outdoor market) R1 tickets were sold and with these they could make their purchases. It was amazing to see the little ones work out what they could afford and carefully make their choices for the best bargains on sale. It was also delightful to see the Grade 7s gently being patient with them and helping them to count out their tickets and what they could spend.

These look good

Are you sure I’m allowed to buy these?

How do I look?

We’re all going on a sugar high

Look what we’ve got

All stocked up with treasure

How can I help you Angel?

Coloured hair in Uniform!

I was very proud of my girls when after all this excitement, they settled down well with their Xhosa teacher and impressed him so much that he gave each one a star!

The weather in Cape Town has been that preferred by ducks and chilly on top of it. So it was great to see a tiny bit of luke-warm sunshine on Thursday. The only interruption to our day was a full practice for our upcoming assembly. Moms and Dads you are in for a treat on Tuesday morning. Be seated by 8:15 sharp when your little stars will be sharing with you all they have learned about caring for Pets. Hard work followed and we achieved most of what we set out to do at the beginning of this busy week and then we burst out to greet the long weekend and celebrate being free and liberated women and girls.

For my overseas readers this is why we celebrate National Women’s Day in South Africa. On 9 August 1956, more than 50,000 women staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria. They were protesting against the Urban Areas Act or “Pass Laws” of 1950. Petitions containing more than 100 000 signatures were left the Prime Minister, J.G. Strijdom’s office doors. Outside they stood silently for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs. They sang a song which translated means – you touch a woman you touch a rock. That phrase now paraphrased to “You strike a woman, you strike a rock” has come to represent women’s courage and strength in South Africa.

Because of our mothers’, grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers’ strength and courage in all kinds of human rights protests, we as women and girls have a better life. And I think that so do our boys and men. And as we celebrate this Women’s Day weekend let us not forget the support and affirmation we receive from our wonderful fathers, brothers, sons, husbands and male colleagues. Have a great weekend everybody!

Back in the Classroom – Pets and Plays

2013-08-03 | puppy1952

Another very busy week has come and gone with the highlight for the girls being “Hoofies” on Wednesday followed by a show in the hall – George’s Marvellous Medicine, which was very well presented by The South African Theatre for Youth.

Mixing the Marvellous Medicine

Totally absorbed in the show

Grandma’s Gum Gum Style

The girls thoroughly enjoyed the show but there was also the 3 Rs to learn and they have excelled themselves this week and impressed their teacher with their mastery of doubling and halving, odd and even numbers, writing in feint lines and story creation.

Our theme this term is Pets. And what a popular topic that is for small children. I have a class full of animal lovers and they are all keen to tell me all about their pets at home. We have learned about the different types of pets one can keep – snakes, lizards, birds, mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters and the more conventional cat or dog! I have tried to impress upon my girls that exotic pets are all very well if you have a licence to keep them. They understand that not just anybody can keep a monkey or a lion. They need to have a special reason to keep an animal like that in captivity – for educational, research or conservation reasons.

We have had great discussions on the fun we have with our pets, how much they mean to us and the responsibilities we have towards them. Here is what some of the girls said about their pets.

“I have a pet hamster and I love him because he crawls up my sleeve and tickles me.”

I have a two cats – one is scared and one is not. One sleeps on my bed because he likes my blanky!

My pet fish’s name is “Sushi” (Does that not sound ominous?!)

My puppy took my slipper out of my cupboard!

I love my dogs because they are clumsy!

My puppy is really naughty and very funny because she chews my shoes.

I love my dog but I don’t like picking up his poop!

My mom does not like the hair all over the house.

From their comments on pets it was clear that the girls knew about the pros and cons of pet ownership. There was a lively discussion on this before they drew and wrote about what they liked and didn’t like about owning a pet.

The children took recipes for play dough home and most of them brought the final product to school while one or two others brought the bought version and we had fun modelling animals on Friday after break! I was super impressed but their creativity.

The little fingers getting into it

The joy of creating with my own hands

Look at lovely pets

A family of snakes!

Look what I made

I am getting into this

Do you like my cat?

This is right up my street

Can we do this every day?

We do manage to pack a lot into a week and not only do these very young girls work hard at school, they are super keen on their sport too. My little hockey players were beside themselves when they got to play their first match on Thursday. Well done girls – I know you played well even though the other team were not “blown up” for faults you know they made!

See you all on Monday!