Back in the Classroom – Helping with Homework

2014-04-26 | puppy1952

All the holidays play havoc with normal routine but we had no interruptions these past four days and so I can report that we have had a pretty good week. At this time of the year Grade Ones really start taking off. The settling in process is over and they become big Grade One Girls ready to take on any challenge.

Parents often ask how to help their girls at home. The secret is not to make an issue of homework. Do a little every day. Follow the routine set out on the homework sheet sent home each week and go at your child’s pace.
We have recently issued each child with a set of alphabet cards. At school we work with them in many ways – naming the graphemes, repeating the phonemes and building three letter words. At home you can help your child at her level.

Start by getting her to get to set the tiles out in alphabetical order. She can then rap the alphabet as she has been taught in class. Then randomly ask her to name the graphemes. She may be able to rap in order but when asked to point to m or o or q she may still be hesitant. Ask her to point to graphemes as you name them for her. See if she also knows the phoneme (sound) of each of the letters too. When you are sure she can do that ask her give the name and sound of the letter as you point to them.

The next step is to help her to ‘hear’ initial, final and medial sounds in three letter words. Say a word like mat – ask her what she hears at the beginning. You could also give her three words – mat man and rat and ask which one has a different beginning sound. Start with sounds that are continuous – s, m, n, r, f, l, v, z . Once she can do those easily go onto other letters. When she is able to do initial sounds go on to listening for final sounds before trying to get her to listen for medial sounds. Most of the girls can already do this but if your child can’t this is the way in which to help her.

The third step is decoding and encoding. Decoding means sounding out the word to work out what it says. Encoding means putting the sounds together to spell the word. Use the alphabet tiles to build three letter words and see if your child can sound them out before asking her to build a word that you give her. Have fun with these tiles. Make a word e.g. cat change one letter to make a new word. e.g. cat to rat. Keep changing one letter and have her sound out the word each time to get what it is. If she’s good at this let her choose which letter to change to make a new word.

Daily reading of the ‘box’ book sent home – a new one is issued twice weekly – is essential. Also use the little printed booklets – Two Little Birds and Bake a Cake – some children will soon be receiving Paws and Claws. All the reading words are in these books and there are stories to read too.

The Counting Booklet has everything in it to help your child build number concepts. Practising the exercises really helps your child to stay on top of her Mathematical game.

We have been discussing our families in class and have made a booklet all about the people in our houses. We drew our siblings and our parents and wrote sentences about what we like doing together.

Some of the things they wrote – I like to bake with Mom, I like to shop with Mom. I like to drive to ‘accidents’ with Dad. (Her dad has a break-down truck) I like to fight with my brother! I like to ride bikes with my sister. I like to watch TV with Dad. I like to swim with Dad. I like work in the garden with Dad. I like to talk to Mom.

After the break we will be making our Family Trees. I am sure you are all having fun gathering the bits and pieces necessary for this. May you all have a fabulous break with your kids. See you soon!

Struisbaai – Five Fab Friends and Two old Toppies day 2

2014-04-18 | puppy1952

Would you believe that after reminding everyone to get their fishing licenses, Grandpa completely forgot to update his own grandsons’. You see Jay has not participated in a competition this year and we were under the impression that his license was still valid. Josh fished quite recently but his was also out of date! Oh dear! So this morning there was a bit of wind from the north west so Grandpa decided not to go to sea. We couldn’t get the licenses today as it is Good Friday and the Post Office is closed so early tomorrow we will go to Bredasdorp and rectify the situation.
The boys therefore got to sleep in and were only called for a late “Early” breakfast at around 9ish. I don’t know how many of them realised that their scrambled eggs were laced with lamb’s kidneys. They ate every scrap and I was kept busy keeping the extra toast coming.

After Jay mowed the lawn and much discussion of how the day should proceed the lads disappeared saying that they were going to the dunes. They were gone for the rest of the day. We didn’t see them till 5 p.m. The report back was – we had an awesome time on the dunes. We made tunnels and crept through them and it was amazing. Then we went to the harbour and saw the rad seal before coming back to the house.
Earl and I spent a quiet day at the house. Earl did some chores and I worked on school stuff. Then we went to look for the boys but couldn’t find them. Struisbaai at Easter time is hugely busy and the weather is stunning so there were lots of people about. We saw the seal and I took some photographs. One idiot thought it was clever to pat him – he is lucky he didn’t have his hand bitten off. I wish people would realise that in spite of some creatures being easily adapted to humans they are wild and have to be treated with due respect. If this man had been bitten, the seal would have been in danger of being put down – so unfair when the human was intruding on his territory.

On weekends Struisbaai has a small market on the public open space opposite the shopping centre. Here you will find braai wood, fresh fruit and vegetables, bottled preserves and even art. There is always a small caravan that advertises Rooste Koek and I have often wondered exactly what this is. Today while Earl went into OK Grocer I went to ask the tannie who was updating her chalk board. She did more than explain – she gave me two rooste koeks free of charge and said, Come and buy some more tomorrow. Wow. Well when Earl came out of the shop we asked for 5 more that we could serve to our 5 boys with their steaks. What they are is similar to Pitta Bread. Well we were given 6 more for R40 – not bad! We did indeed serve them to our boys tonight.

Back in the classroom – Another busy week

2014-04-17 | puppy1952

Well it was the second week back at school for the second term. It has been a pretty ‘normal’ week although of course only a four-day one as Easter is now upon us. But I made the most of it and felt really great that I had managed to get to teach properly in small groups more than is usually possible with all the amazing things that happen at my school. I love teaching here but being of the old school I sometimes panic that I am not getting enough of the basics into my little geniuses.
Teaching small girls is the best thing I have ever done in my whole career. What happens to my kids is extremely important to me. My whole purpose in life is to see that they learn to their best of their ability, that they reach their full potential and that they are happy at school.
For the outsider looking in Grade One might seem to be the easiest grade. But in fact this is not so. We all take writing for granted. We do it automatically. We don’t give a second thought as to how to form a letter or how to spell a word. For a First Grader this is a major chore. There are 26 letters in the alphabet and each letter has a special way of being formed. Omigosh which way does the b go and what about the d. They look almost the same but have to be formed so differently. My teacher nags me about pencil grip, sitting on the line, beginning in the correct place. So much to remember so much energy required. cat has to be written just so and tac just doesn’t cut it. Now this crazy teacher is having me pack out letters to form three letter words and when I get dog perfectly correct she tells me its the wrong way round. god she tells me is God not dog. Oops!
Then there’s counting well as a Grade one I can count perfectly by rote to 100 but now my teacher is telling me to point to 12 and 20 on a number chart. Oh crikes which is which. What is the difference between thirteen and thirty. It takes a lot to work this out you know. But she gives me little tricks to work it out – I just have to remember what they are! No, Grade One is not easy and teaching it requires special understanding too.
At our school other teachers get to teach our little ones too. They all confess that the younger grades are the most challenging and I find myself reluctant to let them out of my sight for fear that any other teacher just won’t understand them the way I do. Silly, I know because they always love having a change and learn so well from other teachers too!
This week we have made so much progress with our Reading writing and Mathematics. We have started building three letter words with our alphabet tiles too.
The weather has been amazing too – lovely, still, sunny days. But we are preparing for a change to winter clothes after the Easter Weekend which always heralds Winter!

Back in the Classroom – The Second Term Begins

2014-04-11 | puppy1952

Our whistle stop trip to KZN became a beautiful memory as I hit the ground running straight into the new term. Returning to a classful of eager faces is always rewarding and after listening to all the holiday stories and catching up with all the lost teeth, and outings to Ratanga Junction, the circus and the beach we settled down into our ‘normal’ routine.

The first term is the hardest in Grade One as everything is so very new. Each term becomes easier although the pace of learning increases. The rewards of teaching fresh, new learners is great. I get to watch them grasp new Mathematical concepts with awe and wonder. I experience a special kind of thrill when I see them catch on to how a word can be decoded by using those funny phonemes the teacher has been drilling into them. Even in the first week of term their progress is impressive.

Isn’t it amazing how easy it is to get little ones to do just what you want them to do? Sometimes I wonder what goes through their heads. Is my teacher crazy asking me to do these funny finger exercises? Oh well, that’s what she wants we’ll go ahead and do it! It seems to make her happy. What do you mean sound out this word? Isn’t it a sound already? Hey – this is magic – I can read!

I was feeling very pleased with myself when one of my bright sparks read beautifully to me the other day. “Who taught you to read like that?” I asked. Without a missing a beat she replied “I taught myself!”

No credit to the teacher. No credit to the parents. Because children ‘catch’ reading and no matter how good a teacher you are that child will not learn to read until he is ready to ‘catch’ it. That’s why they believe they teach themselves. So parents, expose your child to the written word. Read to her and read with her. Let her catch this amazing thing called Literacy!

Eye exercises

Concentrating of on focussing those eyes

Een twee drie vier vyf, Vingertjies staan styf

Pointer, Middle, Ring, Baby

Watch the thumb to train the eye

Look at our sentences

May we read ours please?

Come on this is so easy

Now we can even write them by ourselves

It’s a lot of fun

We are working hard at this

Human Rights Weekend Day 2

2014-03-22 | puppy1952

Last night Bobbi declared that she did not like fish. And she certainly wasn’t going to have sashimi! Earl insisted that she at least try his fried red fish. Only if it has lots of batter, she said. Well she came back for seconds didn’t she.
After supper Sam and a couple of other young boys went off to the harbour to catch Shad. Time went faster than you could imagine he declared when I asked him what time he got back – It was 2 a.m. Needless to say he didn’t rise till the later hours of the morning.

There was no sea fishing today as the wind was blowing rather strongly. Earl and I were up early and set off to Bredasdorp before the Saturday crowds. We needed to get things for the house and within an hour we had new linen for the double beds, new pillows, salad servers and an iron and ironing board. It is actually a pleasure shopping in Bredasdorp. We needed a mirror for the second double room and that presented a bit of a problem But guess where we found just the thing? Right here in Struisbaai and it is now hung proudly on the bedroom wall. Who needs the city for effective shopping.

We were back home by 11 and after doing a number of household chores we took Bobbi on a little educational trip. (Sam had disappeared to fish with his mates again) The Agulhas Lighthouse is a compulsory climb for first time visitors. Earl backed out at the last minute so I had to do the climb with her. She looked ever so slightly terrified when it came to the ladder ascent but she managed it fabulously. The wind was gale force at the top and you won’t see Bobbi’s face for hair in the photographs.

The next compulsory stop was the Southern Tip of Africa for the obligatory been there done that photograph. There were lots of tourists doing what they should and we took group photos for them before we got poor Bobbi to do her pose.

We then caught up with Sam and his mates who were about to give up on seeking a good spot to fish as the wind was just too unpleasant Their last ditch try was the harbour. While they tried their luck we took a drive and found the private school Zoetendal Akademie which I was curious about. Some francolin grabbed our attention (of course and then we took Bobbi for ice cream at the harbour. Sam was soon back and discouraged Bobbi from attempting to fish today so they are now tinkering about here while I do this blog!

Our friends Gus and Jacqui are coming up this evening as well a few other fishermen so we will be a houseful tonight. A good South African Braai is planned!

Back in the classroom – A really fun week

2014-03-21 | puppy1952

The only ‘normal’ day we had this week was Monday! I put ‘normal’ in parenthesis as no day at my school is ever what I would consider normal – there is always something happening and if you teach here you need to be flexible, on your toes and have a good sense of humour. I am not complaining – I would’t have it any other way. There is never a dull moment. So with a little bit of attitude adjustment I managed to get through Hilarious Heads on Athletics Day and two exhausting days of FUNSCAPES.

So back to the beginning – Monday the ‘normal’ day went off pretty well if you don’t count the chair that fell on my foot first thing in the morning. It was sore for a brief moment but then I forgot about it. But at 1 p.m. it really started to hurt and I couldn’t walk comfortably on it. I sat in on two parent interviews with a colleague and then checked my phone messages only to discover that my dental appointment had been changed and I had 15 minutes to get there! My mouth felt fine but my foot was sore. The dentist apologised that he couldn’t fix that part of my anatomy! By this time I really found hobbling quite painful and as the doctor was just next door to the dentist I decided to have it checked out. She prodded and pulled and it hurt like hell. She told me to ice it, take a Myprodol and go for an x-ray first thing the next morning. I had visions of myself in plaster to my knee for the next six weeks – but a miracle occurred. Fifteen minutes after taking medication, all pain disappeared and I haven’t looked back! Walking normally and not even a bruise.

Enough about me – back to the fun week at SVPS. On Tuesday we celebrated our school’s birthday! 37 years ago my two older daughters started there in Grade One and Grade Three! We even have a member of staff who started there in Grade One too. We celebrated by having a hilarious head day and everyone came in the most elaborate hair styles, hats and face make-up. I wore a wig of red streamers which my amused my little girls no end. But I was so busy taking photographs I forgot to get one of myself!

Such imaginative ideas

Hilarious – these made me laugh

Happy hats and hair

Elaborate hair, hats and make up

Really rather cute

These girls have fun hats

Very smart and cute girls

Love the hair – love the hat

All ready to go down to the field for Athletics Day – Note the big shoes!

The Foundation Phase also had their athletics day which began after the parade of the best hats and singing the birthday song to ourselves. The staff hats were hilarious too.

Winning Staff

The Principal leading a Movement Song

Two of my ‘room grans’ grooving to the movement song.

It was a glorious day and the races went well

Racing to the finish line

FUNSCAPES have taken on a new format. I didn’t get to do what I usually like to do – bird watching but maybe next time. This year instead of the whole school being mixed up into different clubs each grade offered four to choose from. The good part of this was that we got kids in our grade. My Funscape was GAMES. It was well attended by mostly boys! I have to admit it. I missed my girls! But Boys are Fun too – challenging – but Fun. I learned very quickly to change the activity often and to have lots of outdoor breaks too. We played cards games, board games, dominoes, pick-up-sticks, tricky fingers, lego and other construction games. These were wonderful experiences for digikids some of whom had never even heard of snakes and ladders or ludo. It helped with their counting, matching, adding and thinking strategically. Pick up sticks – wow – so good for fine motor coordination. The kids were demanding – I had to split myself in many pieces to help with game instructions, sort out disputes and calm the losers. And it was oh so noisy! At the end of the first day I was wrung out and exhausted and had to brace myself for Day 2 which went way better now that they understood the rules! I asked the kids how they’d enjoyed it. To my surprise the feedback was good. They wanted to do it every day! Well they can as each one received a gift pack of games and a large lollipop to take home.

You go down the snake and up the ladder

Carefully now – don’t let the others move

Construction went down a treat

Now remember which direction to move

Girls are good at this

Now let me think

Back in the classroom – Speaker Reader and Grade 1 Assembly

2014-03-14 | puppy1952

How often do I begin a blog with, “Oh wow, another exciting week at school is over!” or words to that effect. Yes – there is always something happening at SVPS. There is no time to get into a rut although we do make sure we get into good habits! On Wednesday, four of our Grade Ones competed in the finals of our Foundation Phase Speaker Reader Competition.

The week before that, they all said a poem or told a story to their teachers who chose the most promising to perform before the rest of the Grade Ones and from there we chose four to compete against the best in Grade 2 and 3. You have to have a special kind of confidence to stand up on a stage in a big hall and say your piece before so many children, teachers and parents. Your voice needed to be loud too as no microphones were used. Our little Grade Ones made us so proud but I was the proudest of all when one of my girls came in Second Place when she recited the poem about a castle that needed painting!

My little star saying he piece

Receiving her Certificate

The Four Winners

The standard was high and we were all wonderfully entertained by these talented young people. But of course sitting still for so long gets us fidgety and so we had to have a break for a movement song.

The Robot Song

Today the girls arrived at school in a high state of excitement. They were all dressed in their clean white shirts ready to present their very first assembly! Everything in Grade One is new and we have been learning routines and habits this was the theme of our presentation. Congratulations girls, you made me proud. You recited your poem beautifully, moved wonderfully well to the Healthy Habits song and said your words loudly and clearly. I know your moms and dads were thrilled to see you up on the stage this morning.

Our First Assembly for 2014 – Routine and Habits

Take Positive Risks

Our teacher are helping us on this journey

Moving is important – The Healthy Habit Song

Believe it or not Moms and Dads, in spite of all the practising for assembly we still managed to fit in a lot of work this week. Our reading is improving by leaps and bounds, we are getting to grips with doubling and halving and having fun learning big numbers with dot to dot and other counting activities.

We are also playing hard on the sports field and some of us went to an athletics meeting in Kommetjie this week. We have some very talented runners in our class!

Remember our Foundation Phase Athletics Day on Tuesday. The fun race requires mom or dad’s shoes! We are having a hilarious head day – so I am looking forward to seeing some funky hairstyles and hats.

Back in the Classroom – School Ready?

2014-03-08 | puppy1952

I have to confess that this week I have neglected to take photographs of the angels doing their thing. It has been a crazy week of teaching and assessing, Speaker-Reader Round One and Athletics trials to interrupt the normal routine. I am super proud to announce that one of my girls has been chosen to go the the Foundation Phase Final with her poem. This will take place next week – more on that then.

In addition to the daytime chaos – organised chaos of course – my evenings have been pretty hectic too. It is my own fault for having a life outside of school! Isn’t it weird how everything always falls in the same week! There was Book Club and Bird Club and a meeting at school on consecutive nights. In spite of it all I still managed to get all my assessing done and my reports in to my Grade Head by 8:00 a.m. this morning! No I did not do an all nighter – I am an early riser and was determined to get them done before the obligatory trip to the mall!

Instead of writing about the angels today I have decided to tell you about the Wednesday evening meeting I attended at school. At our school we are big on teaching in a brain-based way. We believe strongly in gearing our day to suit the child. We move frequently, we vary our activities, we consider the learning style of each individual child and make our classrooms as child friendly as possible. Much of our movement activities are based on what we have learned from the speaker who spoke on Wednesday night. She is highly qualified in her field and is listening to her is truly inspirational.

She reminded us of how early development is so essential to the school readiness of a child. If they have not suckled correctly, rolled and crawled, their later development will be delayed. The good news is that it is correctable but ideally it should be done before entering Grade R. All too many of our children still have developmental delays which is why they cannot sit still, listen attentively or hold a pencil correctly.

Of course we don’t always have the ideal so we have to help our children bridge that gap. Parents can help in so many ways too. Give your child plenty of opportunity to play outdoors. Let them build their own obstacle courses, swing in a tyre, roll down hills, crawl through pipes or tunnels, climb on jungle gyms or trees. Teach them to listen first time. Make sure there is routine in the home. Have your child do things for herself even it it takes longer. Can she do up her own buttons, put her toys away help with simple household chores? Do you read to her every day?

If you have a baby or toddler, now is the time to get them school ready. Do not make the hole in the feeding bottle too big – working hard to get the milk is essential for the development of the small muscles in the mouth and will ensure that the child is able to talk correctly later on. Do not even think of purchasing a walking ring. Rolling, creeping and crawling are essential. Occupational Therapists have their work cut out to correct the damage that these contraptions cause.

A simple rule of thumb is to do things as naturally as possible. Let your child develop the way nature intended and you will avoid problems later on. Some delays are unavoidable due to premature birth, cesarean sections etc. But there are things that you can do to make up the lag in development.

I am now looking at my girls with fresh eyes and I insist that our mind moves, movement songs and other physical activities are done properly. Together we can make a huge difference to our girls.

Back in the Classroom – Expo Day, a Fabulous Project and Family Campout

2014-03-01 | puppy1952

Another busy week is over. The girls are striding ahead with their Reading, Writing and Mathematics and surprising me with how quickly they are grasping new concepts. We are working at developing good habits of mind and this week our focus was on thinking with clarity and Gathering Data through using all our senses. Well after talking about what all this means the girls amazed me how they could get into these habits at their own level. Listening to all the Speaker Reader recitals I was impressed how the little ones were able to speak out well and capture their audience’s interest.

Some of the girls are good at gathering information using their ears while others prefer a visual approach. All the senses though help us to learn. After giving just a verbal explanation of a task to the girls I found that only half of them understood what to do – the auditory learners – As soon as I repeated the instructions bringing in visual examples on the board and getting them to point to pictures on their worksheet there were no more problems! Playing a game of blind man’s bluff taught the girls how their other senses were sharpened when they could not see. They all decided that they did not want to do without any of their senses thank you!

As always there was a lot of excitement at school this week. On Thursday we had an Expo Day. The Grade Ones showed what learning in the 21st Century was like when they got stuck into their project – Me, From Birth till Now. Their brief was to research the meaning of their names, ask their parents why they had chosen it, find out why they were special to their parents and collect photographs of themselves reaching their milestones. Mom and Dad could type and print out their bits of pieces of information and send materials to school so that they could scrapbook it into an A3 project for display in the classroom. Wow – did they just love this. I was super impressed at the enthusiasm and effort that went into both the preparation and presentation of their work. We had many visitors to the classroom and I hope they enjoyed the morning as much as we did.

Do you know what this says?

My parents think I’m great!

Look at mine!

A little help from the Room Mom

I’m ready to start

Careful thought going into the design

Now let me think

Help me read this please.

I need some help

I know just what I’m doing

Do you like it so far?

You can arrange it any way you like

What do you think of this?

To end the week we had a camp out on the school sports field this weekend! The weather looked a little threatening – the wind was blowing and dark clouds were gathering but the turnout was amazing. What a vibe there was with music playing and the rugby showing on the big screen outside our tuck shop – Birdie Num Nums! I was on duty early on Saturday morning. As I wandered around the field to chat to some of my little ones, it was clear that everyone had spent a very enjoyable night in spite of a bit of rain in the early hours of the morning. It cleared into a beautiful day though, and everyone was rising sleepily, parents getting their caffeine fix while the youngsters bonded with their friends.

One of mine with her big sister (also one of mine once upon a time)

Dad was on duty this weekend!

Another one of mine. (Dad was also on camp out duty!)

At 7:00 a.m. my duty began with serving breakfast at Birdie Num Nums. Wow – new respect for the catering staff – but what fun my colleagues and I had helping them. There was such an amazing vibe with music playing and Mrs J shouting out the orders which we rushed to fill. At first we were nervous about taking money and giving change – after all we only do Grade 1 Math – but when it got busy we had no choice but to help with that too!

Should we change our careers? My colleague and I hard at work!

Getting those hot chocolates and coffees to the expectant clients

All to soon it was over and the field was cleared by all but the hardened campers who did not want to leave. One dad asked us to please make this a quarterly event as it was so much fun! Well – we’ll think about that one!

Back in the Classroom – Group Teaching

2014-02-20 | puppy1952

Because this week ended today at 12:00 noon for a weekend of staff training, I am doing the BLOG early this week. It has been a short week yet we have packed in so much. We have reached the time of term when the girls are really settled and into the routine of school. They are learning so quickly and I am enormously proud of them. I know I say this every year but I am always amazed at the rate at which Grade Ones learn. It is the most rewarding part of this job.

In the first few weeks our focus in on getting into good routines, learning to follow instructions, to work quietly at our tables and to consider others. Once this is established and the teacher has begun to know her learners she can begin with group teaching. This has now started in my class although I am still teaching in small mixed-ability groups. Later in the term I will group the children into ability groups and allow the girls to progress at their own pace. Teaching in groups has so many advantages. It allows the teacher to focus on individuals and to give more individual attention to learners who need it. I also allows her to extend the fast workers.

Working with concrete apparatus at this age is vital

Can you see three with your eyes before you grab in in one go?

How do you change three into four? Just one more!

We are so smart!

While a group is busy working with the teacher on the mat the others have tasks to do on their own at their desks. These tasks are well within their ability and the girls do not need help from the teacher. The girls have to be able to work independently and quietly and with just the odd reminder from me the cope very well indeed.

These girls are working on a THRASS activity while a group of learners is having a group Reading lesson.

I am practising my known THRASS skills

I am colouring the words that begin with the dog phoneme ‘d’ Aren’t I clever!

We do all kinds of activities to learn our phonemes and graphemes. We have made the flying birds for ‘b’ a rabbit for ‘bb’ and yesterday we made a crown for our queen. Don’t forget the queen, queen. Her majesty the queen, queen. Queen begins with ‘q’ queen. And of course she needs a crown!

That is all I have for this short week, folks. It was a long afternoon of staff training where we performed many fun tasks focussing on the Habits of Mind. It’s all very exciting and promises to make us better prepared for teaching your children.

Parents we have already started listening to Speaker Reader presentations so if your child hasn’t anything prepared yet please make sure she has something by Monday. Projects begin next week too. Make sure your child has all her bits and pieces to compile her “Me from Birth to Now” poster.

Have an awesome Long Weekend!

Back in the Classroom – Our Senses, Animals, Butter and Valentine’s Day

2014-02-14 | puppy1952

Teachers travelling to the future from a bygone age may not recognise the schools they visit in the 21st Century – well our school certainly is one they might think was created from creatures from another planet! It appears that no work is ever done – it’s just fun, fun, fun. Songs and movement, dressing up, outings to exotic places – well I never – is this what the world of the future has come to – I am sure they would wonder.

Yes – it is fun at our school but wow – do our children learn – and they don’t even know it! On Thursday we went to Higgledy Piggledy Petting Farm at Imhoff’s Gift and used our senses to learn all about farm animals and also how to make butter. What is butter? asked one little girl. mmmm – I guess some people only use margarine on their bread in these heart safe days! The jury is still out on the truth of this one though. Personally I like to think a little bit of butter is better for Betty.

The girls smelled the stinky farm smells, listened to the cocks crow and other animal noises, touched the furry creatures and they were beside themselves with joy to be able to feed them first hand. Even the pigs were adorable.

The goats got loose and I got a photograph!

If we hold our food up high we won’t be stormed by hungry birds

I’m not too sure about this piggy

The goat is safely back in his pen

Cuddling a furry creature is just the best

We’re trying to tempt the guinea pigs out of their safe place

He is so soft

Love is holding a pet

The bunnies were the best

After washing our hands carefully we went on to make butter while brother class connected with the animals. What a fun thing that was. We learned that milk actually comes from a cow and that we could shake the cream from the top of the milk to change it into a solid that is called butter. And boy does it taste lovely and creamy on the biscuits our teacher gave us the next day.

Ready to learn about making butter!

Churn it up , Churn it down, Churn it all around

And what do you get – creamy butter!

This so amazing

It tasted delicious

We also learned how to milk a goat – yes we did – but it was not a real one!

It feels weird

Is this really where milk comes from?

What a crazy thing to do!

I’m getting the hang of this

What is my mother going to say!

We ate our homemade butter on biscuits on Valentine’s Day

mmm Creamy and delicious

Well – I’m not so sure about this

I think its okay

Yum Yum

Oh – yes – this is good!

On Friday there was more fun at school – we all dressed up in pink or red and white and celebrated Valentine’s Day. I was so spoiled by my little girls who brought me flowers and chocolates – Thank you girls and parents – I felt very pampered. Everybody looked amazing but we chose four specially lovely outfits and then the girls voted for a winner who was quite overcome with joy. The others made her feel very special when she was presented with a heart-shaped eraser and a lollipop!

The princesses all dressed up

Aren’t they gorgeous

Cuteness in pink red and white

But the kids weren’t the only ones dressing up – the teachers joined in the fun too. We also decorated the teachers’ lounge and had some romantic music playing. We were treated to a cupcake and a cutesy poem telling us how fab we are!

Don’t you love the tie!

Full of fun she is!

Love you daaarling

The gorgeous girls

Ladies in Red

Love you my friend!

Nothing like sharing Valentinés with a handsome young man!

We all love each other at SVPS

The girls were fascinated by the story of Valentine – ask them about it parents – I hope they remember it and can repeat it to you.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Back in the Classroom – Another busy week

2014-02-08 | puppy1952

Apologies to my parents for not posting yesterday but I had to leave school straight after sport and then it was into the car and off to Struisbaai for the weekend! So here I am in the most beautiful part of the Western Cape, listening to birdsong in the garden while I catch up on my blog.

Wow – what a great week we have had. It never fails to thrill me when I see the pace at which a young child learns. Already they are able to build sentences with their little pink words – some just the ones they know from the story while others are creating their own, sometimes funny, ones of their own.

Look at this long sentence!

This is easy

Have I got it right?

I am so pleased with myself

I did it all by myself

I can do it!

Can I make another one?

The girls are also learning to transcribe their sentences into their books but the emphasis at the moment is building them with our word cards before we stress over getting them into writing but look how far we’ve come.

I am proud of my work

Is this okay?

I am doing my best

On Tuesday evening we are having a “night school” on how we teach THRASS. Parents, do make an effort to attend.

We have already learnt all about Jean Pierre the brave ant who lives in Paris. We have sung his song and listened to his story. We now know that a is for ant and have found pictures of a words.

I cut out my ant and found the pictures that start with a

I am learning cutting out skills at the same time as learning phonemes and graphemes

It is fun finding the a words on the apple tree

It makes me happy to learn all about this French ant!

I am having fun while learning

Just look at what I can do

I am learning to focus on my tasks too

Now let me think!

I think I have it right

The girls are really making me proud with their beautiful work. Keep helping them at home with the homework tasks as practising new skills ensures that they will become a habit of the mind.