Zeitz MOCAA
On Friday the 23rd of August the grade 9-12 art students had the propitious opportunity to attend an outing to visit the Zeitz MOCAA – a stirring occasion that enabled us to view the largest collection of African contemporary art in the world.
In the early morning we departed from school to the V&A Waterfront, where the museum stands. We had arrived slightly early which gave us the chance to explore some of the clever constructions that stood just outside the museum – which included chairs that were built to not stand right up but instead roll around whilst an individual is seated.
After some fun and laughter we were taken through the employee entrance which lead us all the way down to the basement, where you could look above to view the impressive architecture of the monument we stood in. Our introductory guide had explained some brief history of the building and how in the 1920s it had been built as a grain silo but was later altered to house countless works of modern artistry. The historical landmark itself was considered art, not only it’s contents.
The exhibitions were briefly talked about – including the new opening of William Kentridges’ : “Why should I Hesitate.” Although that was not yet open, us students were told to make our way to the 2nd and 4th floors where we could gaze upon the exhibition “Still Here Tomorrow to High Five You Yesterday,” which spoke about the importance of political and social issues spanning over the continent. We were given a worksheet to complete to aid us in analyzing 3 chosen displays on these floors to help us better understand how we can use these techniques to better convey a message in our art pieces. Once finished with traveling around everyone returned to the basement to complete the write ups.
At lunch time we hopped back onto the bus to take us to the Waterfront food court where everyone ordered food and socialized a bit before leaving back to arrive at school at 2 o’clock that afternoon.
The experience is one that can not be easily forgotten and I believe us students not only enjoyed ourselves greatly but gained more outlook into the world of art and how you can use various mediums to convey a message through space, lines and shapes.
Jenna Cook
Student Year 12B
Year 7 & 8 English – Assignments
What makes a good assignment?
This term, the Year 7 and 8 students had to complete a creative assignment for which they had a variety of options from which to choose. These ranged from practical tasks supported by explanatory theory, including dioramas and masks, to written assignments like articles and essays. All were aimed at revealing student understanding and interpretation of a literary text.
The Year 7’s focused on the drama Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, and the Year 8 students centered theirs around the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Goulding.
Having taught English for many years, I have seen students produce assignments that were of the highest standard, with insight and creativity beyond their years. In stark contrast to this, many students put little to no effort into their work, belying their capabilities.
I am pleased to say that the majority of students at Blouberg International School had my soul singing with their astute, inspired and detailed projects. What is more important is that they took on the challenge and were, through their intensive efforts, beaming with pride in themselves.
One might wonder what it takes to produce a project that will bring a teacher to joyful tears.
Beyond carefully following the instructions and ensuring that all of the necessities are included – which will certainly result in a good mark – there are a few ingredients every student could add to their scholastic recipes.
Below is a list of strategies every student should attempt when tackling their next daunting assignment:
- Begin with the task as soon as it is assigned. Even if you work on it a little every other day, this will provide ample opportunity to clarify concerns you may have with your teacher or to correct any mishaps that may arise.
- Pay attention to the instructions. Use it as a check list to ensure that you have included all of the elements essential to the task. Tackle every objective.
- Use the resources your teacher provides, but conduct your own research as well. There are many reliable sources online.
- When compiling your research data, use only key words and phrases from your sources and rewrite information in your own words unless quoting. Always cite your sources. Your teacher wants to test your skills and understanding, not that of a university graduate – or a parent.
- Include your own opinion, but ensure that it is backed by fact. One should not have the opportunity to question your ideas, they should clearly link to accurate information.
- Thoroughly edit your assignment to safeguard against any trivial errors.
- Work as neatly as possible. A task that is well-organised and tidy immediately appears of a higher quality and will be more pleasant to assess. It is arduous for teachers to mark work that is illegible or poorly structured.
- Use your own initiative, be as creative as possible within the task framework and go the extra mile. Teachers revel in the little details you include and enjoy it when you think outside of the box, sometimes astounding us with components beyond that of the grade requirements and insights we might not have considered.
Students who used all or most of these strategies in this term’s assignments deserve an honourable mention:
– Catherine Fortuin 7B designed a beautiful diorama for which she created clay figures on a stage setting in the throws of an important fight scene between Romeo and Tybalt. Her talent and attention to detail is admirable.
– Marco de Mattos 7A cleverly included a public announcement and advert with his article about the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
– Maya Mthwana of 7A designed a well-written, neat article, closely adhering to layout requirements.
– Mihlali Lumkwana of 7A went to great lengths to create her storyboard for Act IV in Romeo and Juliet.
– Ryan Barker in 8A put great effort into his Lord of the Flies Survival Manual. He’s the one with whom you want to end up stranded on a deserted island.
– Vincent Chamunorwa, 8B, designed an inspiring cartoon for Chapter 11 of Lord of the Flies. He has incredible talent!
– Athena Thomas, 8B, has a gift for watercolour painting. Her contributing explanation as to what Piggy’s glasses in Lord of the Flies represents was thorough.
– Philade Luthango’s poster (8A) about the character, Piggy, immediately caught everyone’s attention due to its bold design and beautiful drawings.
– Layla Moodley, 8A, went the extra mile by designing a symbol to represent each chapter in her plot diagram of Lord of the Flies.
– Taylor Williams, 8A, not only painted an extremely detailed image of the conch from Lord of the Flies, but ingeniously included symbols associated with it and presented her explanation on a creatively designed poster. Her attention to detail is admirable.
– Mia Ross in 8B moulded these fantastic masks to her own face and painted them to represent characters from Lord of the Flies. There is even symbolism in the colours used.
– Oscar Berger, 8B, wrote a fantastic essay in which he explored the theme of Civilization versus Savagery in Lord of the Flies. His oral presentation was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation filled with bold sub-headings and images to bring his points home. This was a far better option than simply reading out his essay.
There are more students I could individually praise, but alas I will simply state that I am ever so proud of all of the Year 7 and 8 students as I know that they put in their best effort.
Genevieve Kerswill
High School English Teacher
Science & Sundials!
“Have you ever played outside all day and noticed that the length and location of your shadow changed as the hours went by?”
You probably also noticed that the sun changed location in the sky throughout the day too. The sun’s change in location caused a difference in the size, shape and direction of your shadow.
This week our Year 2’s grabbed the opportunity to work with a real sundial and see first-hand how it works.
We set up a “home-made” sundial on our tennis court using a bucket filled with sand, holding a tall stick in its center. Each Year 2 class was taken out to observe this “make-shift” sundial at 3 different points in the day. Every time a child is chosen to draw a line in chalk exactly where the shadow of the tall stick is at that point. The time of observation is written next to the drawing, for the next class to come out a little later to observe and record their results.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the realism and practicality of this experiment. They enjoyed being able to go back to class and record the data they had collected, drawing pictures for each observation taken. They have now seen, first-hand, the way in which a shadow moves throughout the day as well as how and why the sundial came about.
Sundial for Kids: Facts & History
https://study.com/academy/lesson/sundials-lesson-for-kids-facts-history.html
Siobhan Hendry
Year 2 Teacher
One To One Event – Blouberg International School Interact Club
This past Sunday, the 18th of August, seven of interact members spent the first half of their day assisting the Blouberg Rotary Club stall at the annual One to One event.
One to One is held every year at the Green Point Stadium. It is a day that is focused around differently abled kids and adults from Cape Town and its surrounds. With some people being bussed in from as far as George. One to One is orientated towards providing a fun filled day for them.
There were various games to be played at the many stalls, prizes to be won and lots of free hugs all around.
The day is organized by various clubs, such as Rotary, Lions Club, Roteract and many interact clubs from schools.
The few hours that were spent at the event were filled with laughter, cheering, music and performances. While spreading love we were able to forge new friendships with people from other schools. It was a humbling experience that we all enjoyed being a part of.
We are looking forward to next year’s event with our eyes set on our own Blouberg Interact stall.
Hope Munkondia
Interact Member – Year 10
From the Principal’s Desk, 22 August 2019
Dear Parents
This has been an exciting week as we celebrated Book Week in our junior school.
We had a visit from South African author Lori-Ann Preston who addressed our Key Stage 2 students. She is a seasoned South African educator with more than twenty years of experience. She has a Bachelor of Education Honours Degree through the University of South Africa.
Lori-Ann won the Golden Baobab Prize in 2016 for her Early Chapter book ‘The Ama-zings!’, a fast-moving, fun-filled adventure story, and received the New Writer of the Year award in 2016 from the South African Writer’s Circle.
She just launched another book called “Thabo, the Space Dude“ which promises to be an interesting and compelling read to our children.
Our choir participated in the West Coast Song Festival last night and the organisation of the event at Woodbridge Primary was exceptional. Thank you to all the parents who came to support our choir.
On Friday we will have our Storybook Dress-up Day and we are looking forward to our students creative costume ideas. This promises to be a fun-filled day at school, signaling the end of another successful Book Week.
Next week we have the opening of our high school’s 2019 musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors. It has been was such a pleasure to see how actively this was promoted by our students this morning as they sang and danced in the car park, inviting parents to come and see the production. They have all worked tremendously hard over the past months to ensure we have a potentially award winning show.
I wish you a wonderful weekend ahead.
Kind regards
Edna
Welcome to Cape Town. Come join the party!
The Year 3 classes are learning about our beautiful city and all its history as part of the “Local Environment” component in their History lessons. Crowned by the majestic Table Mountain, Cape Town is a vibrant city full of heritage, diversity and spirit. Thousands of people flock to the city each year to enjoy all that Cape Town has to offer. We spoke about Boulder’s Beach, Table Mountain, Clifton Beach and Kirstenbosch Gardens.
During the past few weeks, the students have learnt about the history of the town and its historical landmarks. They have looked at aerial views of the city, satellite images and how to read keys and street maps. They drew aerial maps of their classrooms and even designed their own treasure maps.
To end off the unit the Year 3 classes will be going on an outing to the Chavonnes Battery Museum at the V&A Waterfront and take a ride on the Big Wheel.
Yvette Fourie
Year 3 teacher
So What Is Computer Science?
It has been an exciting three terms for our computer science students. We are currently fostering skills in problem solving and looking at how computer science fits into the bigger scheme of things.
So what is computer science?
Computer science is the study of processes that interact with data and that can be represented as data in the form of programs. It enables the use of algorithms to manipulate, store, and communicate digital information.
Why the sudden hype around, and spike in interest in, the coding field? How does this field of study benefit the student?
There are so many reasons to learn coding from job opportunities, critical thinking skills and creative outlets. Programming teaches problem-solving skills, offering challenges which develops resilience in the students. Coding teaches students how to think and instills a love of mathematics.
Margaret Mead said “Children must be taught how to think not what to think”
Too often we give students the answers to remember, instead of problems to solve. Although computers are an everyday tool for the 4th industrial revolution generation, it is extremely important that we train our next generation to think like humans and not like machines.
Our Year 9 IGCSE computer science group did a practical demonstration showing how sensors are used in a computer system to create warning and action programs. Traditionally, this concept is taught through textbook-learning, without any practical application. At Blouberg International however, we are fortunate to have technologies which allow our students to experiment with the practical application of their learning, bringing the content alive!
We look forward to creating the next great software developers and mechanical engineers.
Gemayel Kroukamp
IGCSE & AS Computer Science
Creating Our Own Poetry in Year 1
In Year 1 we have been learning about poetry. Poetry is so important because it helps us understand and appreciate the world around us. Using poetry, as teachers, enables us to teach our students how to write, read and understand any text.
Poetry uses powerful imagery, can be inspiring and can elicit powerful emotions, giving students a healthy outlet for their emotions.
Reading original poetry aloud in class can foster trust and empathy in the classroom community, developing speaking and listening skills. In our class the students had copious amounts of fun creating and writing their own rhymes and poems.
Charlotte Cronje
Year 1 Teacher
From The Principal’s Desk, 8 August 2019
Dear Parents
“Happiness is a choice, why are you not choosing it?”
Jill Mansfield
I was reminded again this week that we are in control of how we respond to negative situations and people. We all have days where we are in high spirits and other days that are low. How we deal with those days is up to us! Happiness is a choice!
As we celebrate National Woman’s day tomorrow, let us choose to celebrate; be joyful and be the reason others smile! Let it be your intention to make someone’s day!
In South Africa, we celebrate Women’s Day on the 9th of August as this day marks the anniversary of the Women’s March of 1956 to the Union Buildings in Pretoria in protest of the pass laws.
Today we celebrate women for more than just the march in 1956. We celebrate them for their individuality and life-giving role. Women are integral in teaching our girls about their unique role in life! Let us celebrate our grandmothers, mothers and daughters to be more!
A reminder that we will have another fun interactive morning on the 17th of August 2019. Please come and join our staff as we learn more about what is happening in our class rooms.
Enjoy the long weekend ahead and stay warm and dry.
Regards
Edna
Opportunities for BIS Interact Club Members
Being part of an Interact Club gives our students wonderful opportunities such as the Rotary Short-Term and Long-Term Youth Exchanges for University students. Thousands of young people from different countries meet each other every year and experience other countries’ culture, thus planting the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding.
The Rotary Youth Exchange programmes are open to youth with leadership skills, as well as interpersonal skills, such as flexibility and a willingness to try new things, that will enable them to be excellent ambassadors.
The Ryla Camp is another excellent example of what an Interact Club member can benefit from. Ryla stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. This yearly camp aims to:
- Demonstrate Rotary’s respect and concern for youth
- Provide an effective training experience for selected youth and potential leaders
- Encourage leadership of youth by youth
- Recognize publicly young people who are rendering service to their communities
Young people from various Interact clubs get together and enjoy activities such as hiking, leadership training and survival adventures.
For more information on the Ryla Camp, Interactors may contact our teachers in charge of BIS Interact Club, Elena Berger and Janine van Niekerk.
RYLA Facebook Page
Elena Berger
High School Teacher