Struisbaai Gathering of Three Generations Day 6

2014-12-16 | puppy1952

Abrie suggested a cure for my hand – sleep with an “Asyn Lap” and when you wake up all the bruising and swelling will have disappeared. Well I thought it was worth a try so Earl bound me up in a crepe bandage and poured brown vinegar over it and finally my hand was taped into a plastic bag. But in the middle of the night I woke up with an excruciating itch under the bandage which I ripped off to scratch. My hand looked pickled and I washed off the vinegar and went straight back to sleep! Admittedly the swelling has reduced and there is no bruising but it is not completely better yet!

Here are some pictures that Joshua took last night.

Laurie

Simon learning the art of tablet photography from an expert

Simon learning the art of phone photography from an expert

The Gang

Fooling around

Cuzzies

Shan and Annie

Chilled

This morning early Grandpa and I gathered the grandkids and headed to the beach. There was much moaning about the ridiculously early hour but they forced themselves and were glad of it later! As far as I am concerned the best time to be on the beach is early in the morning before it gets too hot or too windy.

Looking out to perfection on from the boardwalk

Miles of soft sand

A jellyfish being devoured by sea snails

Into the cool, blue sea

Chilly at first

The kids stayed in for ages

Simon

Walking back

Fishing boat returning

We returned at quarter to ten for a lovely breakfast and then chilled till later when the kids returned to the beach. Jay and Shan are a bit too sunburned for my liking! Earl did some chores around the house, I chilled doing very little for most of the days and Allan cooked an awesome curry for dinner. Laurie and Annie left for Cape Town just after 6 but they will join us at home next Monday – the house will be bursting at the seams till the New Year! What a pleasure to have everyone together – family bonding at its best.

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 – 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 – ANAs and the End of a Busy Term

2013-09-14 | puppy1952

This is my last “Back in the Classroom” post for this term and I will make it brief. As usual it has been a busy week but the big event was the ANAs – Annual National Assessments. Every child in the country sits this assessment at the same time on the same day. Literacy was on Tuesday and Numeracy on Thursday. There are strict rules governing how the test is administered. In Grade 1 the class teacher is allowed to invigilate and read the paper to her own children. This is a relief as the little ones feel quite insecure in this type of situation. This is because we never assess our children in this way. It is very formal and our way of teaching and testing is far more relaxed in the Foundation Phase.

The children are used to sitting in cooperative groups but for the ANAs they had to sit alphabetically in rows. Of course anything new is very exciting and the new arrangement got the girls completely hyped up. Fortunately we practised a few times before sitting the real thing!

Back to the dark ages in neat straight rows

Back to the ‘olden days’ in neat, straight rows

The two tests were in fact not difficult and most of the girls did well. But the results really make no difference to their overall marks – they are merely an indication to the Powers That Be that the children are reaching a basic standard for their grade. Are the schools achieving what they are meant to achieve? So the girls should do well. Sometimes children who get good results when assessed by their teacher do poorly in an ANA – these are the children who don’t function well in formal test situations although they are perfectly capable. The wording of the questions can be confusing, they’re used to working cooperatively but now they’re expected to act like Matric Students. They’re not allowed to talk and they have to wait until everyone has finished a question before moving on which causes a break in concentration.

But it is a good experience and I am proud of my girls. They performed well but at the end of it they said they were jolly glad it was over!

Next week we will wind down with some fun activities and preparations for the final term. Covers will be made and books sent home for covering in plastic. Parents please be prompt in returning them to school. I look forward to chatting to you all at Parentline on Tuesday.

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!

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!