Back in the Classroom – Awards Ceremony, Teddy Picnic and so we say Farewell

2014-12-10 | puppy1952

And so my last year of full time teaching has come to an end. I admit to having become just a tad emotional on a few occasions this week! But I live just two minutes from my school and they’re not getting rid of me that easily and even though Hubby and I have plans to seldom be at home, I am sure I will be popping in to help from time to time.

On Monday I had the honour of presenting the special awards to the Grade Threes at our Foundation Phase Awards Ceremony. What a thrill to see some of my past girls doing especially well.

Board of Governor’s Award

The winner of The Speaker Reader Trophy is the grandson of a very special person in my life and I also knew his late father who was at school with my daughter. Muriel, he is just so very much like his daddy and you can be as proud of Noah as you were of your special boy, Reagon.

After this, one of my past Grade Ones presented me with a bouquet of flowers, a gift voucher and a gold medal inscribed with MASTER EDUCATOR! Well I guess if you’ve been teaching on and off for 4 decades you do deserve a medal 🙂

Our Awards Ceremonies are lovely. Each teacher pre-records a message and as her children come up onto the stage, it is broadcast over the sound system. I love listening to everybody’s speeches and it is specially good to hear what they have to say about the ones you’ve taught in the past or got to know at sport or just from seeing them around. Here are my precious class proudly standing on stage with their certificates.

My class were last to be presented with their awards and at the end of my voice-over I continued with a brief thank you. What a lovely response I had to that – thank you everybody. I have posted my voice over at the end of this blog.

The girls didn’t come to school on Tuesday as it was the turn of the Intermediate phase to have their awards ceremony. It was my pleasure to take care of a Grade 4 class while they waited excitedly to be called.

Today we ended the term with Teddy Bear’s Picnic! The girls arrived in a great state of excitement armed with their amazing bears and also some gifts for me! I said, “You are all very naughty. You’re not supposed to spoil your teacher.”

“Oh yes, we are!” they chorused back.

Thank you moms and dads. Your gifts, cards and letters wishing me well in my retirement are much appreciated. I am posting just a few of the many photographs kindly taken by Teacher Assistant Carol.

The Girls, The Bears, Paddington and Me

What a lovely elephant!

Totally relaxed with my bear

One very spoilt teacher

We love our bears – we love each other!

A person’s a person no matter how small! The same goes for bears!

What a gorgeous cuddly leopard telling me how special I am!

Earlier in the day I was banished from the classroom so that the girls could create something special for me – A Card – I suspect has been put into my pigeon hole and I shall collect it tomorrow, last day for the teachers. While I was in the staffroom waiting to be allowed back in – I smelled an amazing aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Can’t be, I thought, as our machine is not working – but there was Danielle carrying a tray for one towards me – “Ek wil iets nice vir Ms Fenwick doen – want ek sal jou miss!” Nice – Danielle – that’s the nicest thing you could ever have done to this coffee starved teacher at 9 in the morning! I am hugely touched!

Danielle doing something nice for me

And that is what is so special about my school. Everybody from the top down cares and will go the extra mile for a child or a colleague.

Thank you to all the parents of all the children I have taught, for your support as teacher assistants, transporters to outings, providers of cakes for cake sales and for helping with homework and supporting me in every way. It has been a pleasure and privilege to be part of your children’s lives.

Voice-Over 2014

Precious girls– This year has been very special for me. From Day 1 I have savoured every moment knowing that it would be my last as a class teacher. Thank you for making it a special one.

You have been a class of diverse little characters and you will each, along with all the other little girls I have taught at Sun Valley, for ever hold a special place in my heart.

Jenna Cothill – Your persistence and positive risk taking has helped you overcome so much – well done my girl.
Jenna Cumming. Your display of wonderment and awe at everything new is inspiring. Keep enjoying every fresh moment of your life.
Montana – I will miss your quiet determination to succeed. Keep it up my clever girl.
Zoe – You may be small but you are full of character and everybody’s favourite. You go girl.
Olivia – clever, outgoing, spunky and full of fun – Hold on to that positive attitude.
Caitlin – You ask good questions and insist I teach you till you understand. You’ve kept me on my toes.
Amber G – beautiful girl well done for coming out tops. You are very special
Rachel – my creative dreamer – you have amazed me with your progress.
Feisty and determined Aphila – you have jumped hurdles and I am so proud of you.
Little Sam – persisting and taking positive risks – Never give up.
Tatum – so creative and full of energy – keep striving to do your best.
Tahila my quietly confident angel, I will miss your beautiful work. You go girl.
Precious Scarlet – full of inner strength – keep up the good work.
Linet – you have a strong character which will take you far – I am super proud of you.
Tenacious Tino – you have surpassed yourself – You have filled me with admiration.
Sierra breezing in daily with a positive attitude – you rock.
Leah – my deep thinking, smart girl – keep up the good work
Shaqayeq – beautiful, exotic and quietly brilliant – you have impressed me.
Mbali – my precious, feisty girl who has worked so very hard, you are an inspiration.
Sienna – my flexible thinker, you do not miss a beat and if I do, you are quick to set me right. Keep it up my girl.
Indyana – you think and communicate with clarity and precision while showing compassion for others – you are a very special girl.
Jennissa – your batteries are constantly charged and you are always ready for action. You go girl.
Sweet, talented Aniqah – keep reaching for your dreams – you have so much potential
Cassie you seem so often to be in your own world but you always come up with the right answers – well done my angel.
Gentle but determined Michaela – you have made strides this year. Keep it up special girl.
Amber T – you have strived for accuracy and produced beautiful work. You have made me proud.
Masintle my sweet, gentle girl, your calmness inspires sanity in me.
Julia you have worked well and impressed me with your independent thinking – I will miss your shy smile.
Faith what strides you have made this year. You blasted off slowly but at the end raced to the target. Well done sweet girl.
Zjonte you bounce into class with zest every day – I will miss your enthusiasm and energy.
Lucie – my creative, innovative and imaginative thinker – You have your own unique approach to your work – Keep on that path, girl.

And so girls, you have come to the end of your very first year of big school. Remember, if you dream it you can do it. YOU ARE FABULOUS. GIRL POWER TO YOU ALL.

And this is where I’m meant to stop but as this is my last Awards Ceremony I would like to take this opportunity to express my farewells. It has been my privilege to have had an 11 year association with Sun Valley School. First it was in the capacity of room parent, class rep and/or supply teacher. In 2011 I came for four months but stayed for almost four years!

I have had a chequered career in education for 4 decades and loved every minute and I am privileged to go out on a high note from this amazing school.

My colleagues in every grade have been awesome but the bond I have with my Grade colleagues now is beyond amazing. Lisa, you were there quietly supporting me as a gap when I arrived in 2011 and you’ve been an inspiring colleague. I really do want to be like you when I grow up. Bridgette you totally get me and help me keep my sense of humour, I will miss your wonderful laugh. Monique thank you for being my memory and relentlessly driving me to get things done weeks before deadline. Somehow you failed to see my advancing years and kept me young.

You guys rock and I can see that I will be drawn back to assist in the Grade One passage between trips across the planet.

Thank you to my amazing boss, Gavin for having me crew on this ship of exploration into the world of innovative education. The journey has been exciting, stimulating and adventurous. It has been the best trip of my life.

To everybody at the Sun Valley Group – children, parents, Estate staff, Admin, Exco and teaching staff. What a privilege it has been to be on this A team. I will miss you all. Farewell but not Goodbye

Back in the Classroom – They’re on their way!

2014-12-06 | puppy1952

It only really hit me on Friday that the end had come. I have been taking it one day at a time, sticking to routine, enjoying the specialness of each precious little girl and not thinking about the fact that I would soon be sending them on to the next teacher!

Of course we had spoken about how they felt about moving on in a care circle. This is what they said: “I am a little bit nervous but I’m also excited” “I am looking forward to learning new things” “I know in Grade 2 I will learn about birds and bats and that’s exciting” “We’re going to build things and I like that” “I will miss you and I hope my new teacher will be kind” “I want you to be our new Grade 2 teacher!”

Who the new teacher would be was a closely kept secret. They’re all going up together so their was a great deal of speculation as to who it could be – was it the teacher who took last year’s girls? I told them it could be anybody – Maybe Coach K (Grade 7 male teacher) would come down to teach Grade 2 – anything is possible. They shrieked in delight and at home time one reported to her dad – Coach K might be my new teacher!

Friday finally dawned. The girls arrived full of excitement and expectation. They were noisy, fidgety, over-the-top and I had to calm them down before we could do anything constructive. The choir girls (half my class) had to go off to practice so normal routine could not be followed. The remaining girls did some fun worksheets until the others returned. I just managed to complete handwriting when we all had to go to our Award Ceremony Practice. And that was that. We returned to pack up, tidy the classroom, have our snack and go out to break.

At 11 o’clock, armed with their stationery I took them to the meeting place. Mrs K announced who the Grade 2 teachers would be. My class were first and they cheered when they heard the great news that they were to be with pretty, young Miss Mey!

Waiting in anticipation

Where is Mrs Fenwick’s Class?

In the new classroom on a much bigger mat!

This is not the teacher were we were expecting!

She helps us too!

Do you like it?

While my girls were wrenched from my care I was left feeling rather bereft – I had no new little ones to welcome to soften the blow but I know I’ll get over it – there are new horizons for me too.

At the end of the day the girls returned content with the knowledge that they had landed on Planet Second Grade without mishap and the continuing journey is going to be just as exciting.

But it’s not quite over in Grade One yet! We have our Awards Ceremony on Monday, Tuesday – no school for you, girls. And on Wednesday we bid a final farewell to each other with a Teddy Bears’ Picnic – So remember to bring you favourite cuddly toy, a healthy snack, juice and a treat!

Back in the Classroom – Grade Seven Market Day

2014-11-29 | puppy1952

The term is fast drawing to a close – just one full week to go and then three days of Awards Ceremonies and Breaking Up. It is a time when the children begin to realise that their time in Grade One is coming to an end and they need to prepare themselves change yet again. Therefore they are restless and a little emotional so the best thing to do is stick to routine as much as possible – not easy when there is so much out of the ordinary happening.

I am so proud of my girls, though, as they are still working very hard to that next level in Reading and to master their sums in the higher number ranges. How far they have come since that first tentative step into “big school”

One of our big interruptions this week was the Grade Seven Market Day. Everything was beautifully set up in the hall and the courtyard outside. The girls could buy books of 10 tickets for R10 and then go and spend to their hearts content. And what a lot there was to buy! Our money lessons were put to practical use as they carefully counted their R1 vouchers and considered about how best to spend them.

I got my face painted

A sugar high was the order of the day

The Grade Sevens were super attentive

We promise we won’t be hyper!

Yum!!

Look what we got with money to spare!

I think I’ll try this hat

Everything looked so exciting

But in spite of regular interruptions for all things exciting we still had a good week of work and next week we will be making booklets for our Grade 2 teachers. They need to know how very smart we are!

Back in the Classroom – Spring

2014-09-06 | puppy1952

The week started so well with SVPS celebrating the arrival of Spring. And yes it did arrive with the most beautiful calm, sunny day. The theme for the day was Spring Bling and the children came in normal school uniform decorated with anything to do with Spring. As we have been learning about the seasons and had done a presentation on the Stage for our Grandparents, this was most appropriate.

A class full of Spring Bling girls

Enjoying the Spring Sunshine

Our little winner and me

I am very possessive of my girls and don’t even like them going to their Art, Library, Physical Education, I.T. and Xhosa teachers, although they of course love all these subjects! So when I was struck down with an infection on Thursday I was devastated that I had to leave the class in the hands of another! I thought I was better on Friday and made it to school but could barely last through Assembly where the girls were absolute stars on the stage. Afterwards one of my girls said, Mrs Fenwick I can hear you are sick – You didn’t say much about the Champion Award Winners and your voice was funny. And she proceeded to imitate how I had spoken – cheeky little monkey – But she was right – my heart wasn’t in it. So I decided to leave them once again in the hands of a very capable substitute. I missed you little angels. Hopefully I will be much better on Monday!

Back in the Classroom Blasting into the Third Term

2014-08-01 | puppy1952

Dear Parents – After three weeks in the foreign land of The Kruger National Park I had just one day to readjust into Teacher Mode before returning to the teaching of my little geniuses. In order to prevent the wonderful memories of the wild time rI had in The Park regressing to my forgetterie, I relived the experience through blogging and neglected to post in Back in the Classroom in the first week of term. I am therefore making that up to you with a mega blog today.

What a pleasure to be greeted by on the first day by 30 eager little faces and the warmest and most affectionate of hugs. It was great to be back!

Welcome Back sweet girls

We settled down to serious work very quickly and I was super impressed and relieved to see that my girls had not forgotten their reading words, how to write between line and were up and ready with their calculations to 10. They wrote wonderful sentences about their holiday and I was delighted to find that one or two had been to game parks too. Julia and I, though, had been to the best of them all – KNP! I knew Julia was to be there for a few days with her family and I alerted them to look out for the cheetahs on the Open Road. I was delighted that they spotted them too!

It wasn’t long before our hyper-active school had us on our toes with events and outings to keep us on our toes. On Wednesday we visited the South African Naval Museum in Simonstown and what an adventure we had there. Our guides were experienced SWANS and they taught us about the Navy then and now, what it was like to be on the Bridge of a Ship, what to do if the ship caught fire and all the functions of the Navy during wartime. We went with our brother class and of course the boys were in their element. However, the girls found it quite fascinating too. One of our girls discovered that being the Captain was not all fun – she had to get the crew to obey her instructions and she had to stay with the sinking ship till everyone else was safe! I will let the photographs show how fascinated they all were.

Trying an oxygen mask for size

Wow all this inside a ship

See that?

A torpedo – omigosh

Old fashioned weapons – used for ceremonial occasions only nowadays

On the bridge – we felt quite sea-sick

The ship is sinking – into the lifeboats girls

She got the answer right and won a navy cap!

She got the answer right and won a sailor’s cap!

The navy divers waved to us while we snacked on their beach

Next on our busy agenda was Creative Expo Day. We have been learning about our community, its buildings and the people who help us. So on Thursday we got busy with boxes of all shapes and sizes and designed and built our own town. It was great fun using the boxes, brightly coloured paper, chalk and toys and putting our ideas together to make a wonderful creation. We had many visitors come to see what we were doing and we hope they were sufficiently impressed to want to send their little ones to our fabulous school.

Back in the Classroom – Term 2 Winding Down – Preparing for Term 3

2014-06-20 | puppy1952

Grade One as I have said many times in these blogs, is the most rewarding class to teach. Watching the little ones grow and absorb knowledge like a sponge absorbs water is a daily thrill. At term’s end there is no letting up – they do not want to stop – they need to be in a routine and want to continue the learning! So every activity we present must have a purpose – there is no doing anything just for the sake of it or to keep them occupied!

So while we continue with the normal daily routine we are also trying to get things ready for Term 3.

We learn all about space and shape in Mathematics and we see shapes in everyday things. A great exercise for our Maths Book Cover for Term 3 therefore was to create our own colourful pictures by cutting and pasting shapes from bright sheets of paper. What creative designs we came up with!

Lots of colours to choose from

Careful design work here

My teacher loves my gorgeous giraffe

This is so much fun

Lovely work, Birthday Girl

I’m done with my Space Scene!

I am proud of my work

Paper tearing is an excellent activity for little fingers. It gets those tiny fine motor muscles in their three little pencil holding fingers fit for writing. They were absorbed and quiet for ages as they tore and pasted scales on their fish for their Term 3 Literacy Book Cover.

What a lot of colours to choose from

Very interesting fish!

Does this remind you of Nemo?

My fingers are working hard here!

How am I doing?

Sticky fingers – lovely fish

Next week there will be NO HOMEWORK – but please continue to read to and with your girls. Encourage Reading during the holidays too – shared reading I mean – it must be a pleasurable experience.

On Wednesday we have Parentline and I am looking forward to sharing with you how your daughters are progressing. Please be punctual so we can make the most of our 10 minute slots!

Back in the Classroom – Reading with and to your child

2014-06-13 | puppy1952

What is the most important thing a child learns when she goes to school? READING. We can’t get very far in the world without being literate and no matter how far we progress digitally – reading will always be a skill we require. The rate at which a child learns to read differs greatly and in a Grade One class it is possible to have children on six or seven different levels. The challenge for the teacher is to keep them all interested and keen to read with enjoyment.

At school we concentrate on teaching reading skills – decoding, encoding, sight words, using contextual cues, phonic cues, picture cuest etc. We use a graded Reading Scheme. Each level has one ‘Primer’ and three shorter supplementary readers with the same vocabulary plus a few new words thrown in. We keep the children at a particular level until they know the vocabulary out of context before moving them on to the next level. In addition to the books in the Reading Scheme we allow them to take other children’s books home. These have been roughly graded to fit in with the scheme book level but of course they too will have unseen vocabulary in them. Sometimes a long story can be very easy. Sometimes a short story can be quite challenging. The thickness of the book doesn’t necessarily determine how difficult the words are to read. The aim is simply to expose the children to the written word and for them to enjoy books.

How did the pioneers of old teach their children to read? They usually had only one book – The Holy Bible. Quite a daunting book to use as a primer! Yet they did. How did they manage? They read it to their children. The stories became familiar. Eventually the children started to recognise words as their parents read to them. They read together until the child could read on her own. So don’t be afraid to expose your child to a book that might be too difficult for her to read on her own. Share the reading with her. Introduce her to different authors. Talk about the cover, the title and the pictures. Get her to anticipate what will happen next. Discuss the message or moral of the story. Ask questions like What does this story teach us? How else could it have ended? Which was your favourite part? What did you like about the story? What didn’t you like about the story? It will depend on your child how much you discuss the story. Keep it simple and fun.

Often a parent might say – My child is reading her book – but she doesn’t really know the words – she reads off by heart. Don’t worry – this is part of the process. Let your child read the same book as often as she wants to but insist that she points to the words as she reads. Eventually those words will become so familiar that she will recognise them in other contexts. Remember too that reading to your child is more important than your child reading to you. You should be reading to her every single day. It should become a ritual – before bed is a good time – a wonderful way to get her settled for the night. Sit with you child in such a way that she can see the words as your read. Point to the words as you read and even allow her to read the easy ones if she wants to. Getting her to guess what the last word in the sentence is, is also excellent. Part of reading is inferring what the word could be. I never correct a child is she reads a word that is different but means the same as the one in the sentences. E.g. if she reads boy for lad – it’s okay – she has the sense of the sentence correct.

Some parents are worried that their children are reading books that are too easy or not challenging enough. Your child might bring home a book that is very short or easy. Remember that books sent home are to be enjoyed with your child. Sometimes they might be easy – sometimes a bit more challenging. If they’re too difficult let her read what she can and you read the difficult words with her. Once again – point to the words as you read. Discuss the story and help her anticipate what might happen next. If it is too easy and she reads it effortlessly in five minutes and then doesn’t bring another one home for a few days – don’t hesitate to read from your own book shelves or from the library. What is important is that your child is not only reading but being read to as well, the latter being the most important.

Here is a link to an earlier post regarding Reading to Children

https://puppy1952.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/back-in-the-classroom-reading-to-children/

Reading is not of course the only thing we learn at school. Number work is also important. We have been having fun with Mathematics and Money has been on our minds. It is amazing how money helps to teach number concepts. In the good old days I used to bring real money into the classroom but there is little you can buy with coins these days and credit cards have taken over so I don’t usually have denominations of R100 and R200 lying around in my wallet! But there is some very realistic pretend money which works just as well! So we have been playing with that. A good chart also helped and the girls were pretty good at pointing out the different coins and note. Great fun was had making a ‘coin’ die although there was some frustration when some of the little fingers couldn’t quite manage to glue it together. Luckily the more adept ones were willing to help!

What can we buy for R1,00?

Not even the tooth fairy brings 5c coins anymore!

R5 is a bit more valuable.

R50 in my birthday card would be okay!

A R200 note is the biggest amount – Just the right amount for a clever girl!

Two like this will be okay for this amazing lass.

Making the die cube

I’m ready to cut it out.

Today we had our Grade One cake sale. It was lovely to see that the girls were very aware of how much their money could buy! They spent their coins wisely and came back to class on a phenomenal sugar high! Who was the parent that sent those toffee apples! I’m not sure how much we made – but everything went! Thanks to the moms who baked, those who sent donations and the three fabulous ladies who did the selling! You were awesome and I didn’t even have to miss my break!

My R10 can get me quite a bit

Now what shall I buy

What lovely treats

I am going on a sugar high!

Yummy Toffee Apple

They were a hit!

Back in the Classroom – Beach Outing

2014-05-18 | puppy1952

My post is a little late this week as my husband and I decided at the last minute to take off for the weekend. (There will be another blog post on that too, soon!) Usually I blog when away but there was not internet connection at this particular venue

Children’s development is shaped through the experiences they have. The five senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch are important to help in all their learning. In the classroom and on outings teachers draw their attention to the five senses and encourage the children to use them to explore the world around them. We had a wonderful time on Thursday when went with one of the boy classes to the Fish Hoek Beach – a perfect place to use all our senses.

The forecast was grim – rain and cold was predicted – but I put in a special order for the rain to be held off till later and my prayers were positively answered. We had a spit and a spot at 8:15 but the hours on the beach were perfect and the rain only came down later in the afternoon!

Writing in the sand feels so good

Cloudy, still and warm enough to go for a swim

Building with wet sand

Building with dry sand

We found shells to decorate our designs

The sea was cold

Splashing in the cool sea is fun

We got wet

It was a still, calm day

Fun on the rocks

Snack Time

Tasty Snacks and Cool Drinks

More fun in the sand

Look at my construction

Mud, glorious mud

Thank you all the parents who helped with lifts. It was a delightful outing which I hope you all enjoyed as much as we did.

Back in the Classroom – Family Trees and Pyjama Party

2014-05-10 | puppy1952

It felt like coming back to a new term after a week’s break from school and then after two days we were off for Voting Day again! From now on though we will be back to five day weeks and lots of uninterrupted school work.

We have been learning all about families this term and since returning to school on Monday I have been continuously nagged – “When are we going to do our project?” The dry twigs and coke bottles filled with sand and pebbles arrived and cluttered the classroom for two days. Photographs of family members were ready and the little fingers couldn’t wait to start compiling and decorating their family trees! Finally Thursday arrived. It was an expo day so visitors popped in during the morning to see what we were doing and there were many lovely compliments about what clever little Grade Ones we have at our school!

A lot of work and planning went into our family trees

The older generation are our roots and are at the bottom of the tree

We are the young leaves at the top

I wonder which side I should put Dad?

Placing on the photos is delicate work

I have an elaborate family

A forest of family trees grew in our classroom

Don’t you love my leaves

It was such a fun project

I need to get up to these high branches

On Friday there was more excitement. Everybody came back to school for a fun evening while Mom and Dad had Date Night! As they arrived I heard over and over again from the parents – She’s been ready to come since 3 this afternoon! Well of course – what fun to come to school at night and in your pyjamas too! We all started in our own classrooms then had 20 minutes sessions with another teacher before returning to our teachers at the end. Each teacher did a different activity and it was all great fun. There was much eating of popcorn, chips and sweets. Fizzy cooldrinks helped keep the kiddies awake and active although some were very sleepy when Mum and Dad collected them at 10 o’clock – way past their normal bed-time.

Even the teacher wore pyjamas

We have the same slippers!

We brought our blankets

And our teddies

At one of our stations we got to make a Mothers’ Day Card

A Cup of filled with love for Mom

At one of our stations we got to make a Mother's Day Card

We took care to do our best for Mommy

Aren’t they great!

A Happy Mothers’ Day to all moms and grandmothers reading this blog. May your lovely kids spoil you completely.

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!

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

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.