Family Fun Tag

It was a very early start for our Foundation Stage students this past Friday, as they came to school bubbling with excitement for our Outing to the Artscape Theatre.

The Magic Key took us on an adventure to a castle on a huge recycling island. Kipper, Biff and Chip needed our students’ help, because King Recycle had lost complete control over his Kingdom and he forgot the password of the recycling machine. His daughter, Princess Dauphine, was also captured and turned into a bird.

Kipper and his friends figured out all the secrets and Princess Dauphine magically turned back into a princess when the clock struck twelve and the recycling machine started working again.

The production focused on the importance of recycling, encouraging the students to do their part to keep planet earth clean.

Here are some amazing ways to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle:

• Avoid the use of disposable goods, such as lighters, paper cups and plastics.
• Purchase products made from recycled materials. 
• Use cloth bags when buying groceries or reuse grocery bags.
• Instead of using plastic wraps, use resalable containers.
• Instead of using paper cups or bottled water, use coffee mugs or personal water bottles.
• Avoid goods that are over-packaged
• Learn to reuse products in different ways. 

It was a fantastic adventure, enjoyed by all.

Martie van Dyk
Pre-Reception Teacher

We have been learning about wild animals in Foundation Stage over the past 2 weeks. The students have been so excited about this topic and some have even been bringing their favourite animal stories to share with the class during story time.

As a class we learnt what it means to be a wild animal and why it isn’t a good idea to keep a wild animal as a pet. We also discussed how wild animals are different and how they are adapted to their habitats and the food that they eat. Food chains were also discussed. We learnt that all plants are producers, and all animals are consumers. The links in animal part of the food chain were broken down into herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. We even touched on animals and other organisms that fulfil the role of decomposers, so that the circle of life continues making nutrients needed for plants to make food.

Our students have also done some amazing art work over the past 2 weeks. They have really enjoyed making lions, giraffes and elephants. We have certainly learnt a lot during the course of this topic and are looking forward to learning about extinct animals – dinosaurs in our next theme.

Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year Teacher

For the past two weeks, the Foundation Stage has been learning about countries of the world. We ended off this very interesting theme on Friday, 12 August by having a dress up day, each class dressing up in their chosen class’ country’s traditional dress and bringing a plate of eats representing the country of their  choice.

The teachers decorated their classroom doors representing the country they had chosen and the classrooms were decorated with the students’ art, flags, lanterns, etc.

Great excitement filled the air as the students arrived at school on this rainy, cold morning, dressed in their brightly coloured outfits and bearing plates of tasty treats to share.

All the Foundation students went around to the different countries with their ‘class made’ passports in hand and learnt interesting facts about England, Australia, America, France, Italy and China. Their little passports that they made were stamped in each new country they visited. The students learnt something about each place for example what traditional food they eat, historical monuments, the country’s flag, language they speak etc.

After touring ‘around the world’ the children worked up a healthy appetite and got to choose food to taste from the different countries displayed outside the classrooms.

There are many different ways for children to learn about different cultures around the world. By trying different activities, they can explore all parts of the world without even leaving the classroom. This was a fun way for the students to learn through an all–immersive experience and the ultimate way to share with the students the amazing people of the world and their diverse cultures!

Cindy Nunan

Pre-Reception Teacher

“The more that you read, the more thangs you will know,
the more that you know learn, the more places you will go”. Dr Seuss

In the Foundation Stage classes, we love reading and story time is always our favourite time of the day. We look forward to going on different adventures, be it walking through the woods with the Gruffalo or swimming through the sea with the Fidgety Fish.  So, to share our passion of stories, the Foundation Stage classes have started a weekly reading morning where we would like to invite all our moms, dads, grannies and grandads, even aunts and uncles to come and read with us. The little ones love having visitors in class and they are always very excited to share their favourite stories.

We look forward to welcoming you to our reading adventure.

Monique Meyer
Reception Year Teacher and Foundation Stage Coordinator

During the past two weeks, we have been learning more about birds in the Foundation Phase. We did many hand-on activities to learn more about the fascinating creatures. We made art pieces about penguins, peacocks, flamingos and owls. During Numeracy we counted feathers and eggs and during Literacy we wrote our sounds in bird seed. We threaded beads on feathers, we cut paper feathers and we even made playdough eggs to strengthen our fine motor muscles.

The students enjoyed looking at books and video clips with interesting facts about birds.

We learned the following facts about birds:

·         There are 10000 species of birds.

·         All birds lay eggs.

·         Birds migrate to other countries.

·         All birds have feathers.

·         Birds don’t have teeth.

·         Birds are great communicators.

·         A group of birds is called a flock.

·         Some birds can mimic humans.

·         Ostriches are the largest birds.

·         The smallest bird is a Bee Hummingbird.

I have read a lovely article about birds this weekend and I would like to share this with you. “Here are six life lessons, inspired by our winged friends.

1. Be confident. Birds learn to trust themselves before they take off in the sky. So have faith in your abilities and know that you will find a warm current to soar in.

2. Let your colours shine. Different birds have hundreds of different hues. Be bright and make sure you aren’t hiding what makes you one-of-a-kind.

3. Show up early and often. The legendary early bird gets the worm for a reason. So find something worth showing up for, and then show up every day.

4. Go with the seasons. Birds thrive despite changes in their environment. Be fluid and go with the flow, trusting your ability to always find a branch to land on.

5. Flock together. Birds seek strength and sustenance from one another. Keep friends and family close by as you navigate the days

6. Spread your wings. Eventually, all birds must leave the safety of the nest and become what they are meant to be. Have no fear of falling, and start flapping.”

The students learned that birds are very important. Many people (including myself) keep birds as pets and enjoy watching them in the wild or at the exotic animal world. Farmers raise poultry for their meat and eggs and we also use bird feathers in various product.

Martie van Dyk

Pre-Reception Teacher

The Reception students came to school this term very excited to see their teachers and classmates again. They were eager to share about all the fun things they had been doing this past holiday.

This term we are focusing on becoming more aware of punctuation and writing sentences. The students are learning about using capital letters to start a sentence, having finger spaces between words and using full stops to end a sentence. Each student told the teacher a sentence about their news. The teacher writes the sentence and the student copies the sentence in their books. They then draw a matching picture about their news. The following sentences are about the students’ favourite fun things that happened in the holidays.

Zion Durojaiye (5 years old) “I played with my truck at the beach.”
Sofia Haskins (6 years old) “I watched a movie with my friend.”
Omime Ogumah (6 years old) “I went to my friend’s house.”
Kaedy Frey (5 years old) “I went to the beach.”
Jonah Atson (5 years old) “I played with my cousin.”
Coco Baur Mazadiego (4 years old) “It was raining on the birthday.”
Ariah Mukubvu (5 years old) “I got an ice-cream at the beach.”
Amelia Engelbrecht (5 years old) “I got a dog called Rocky.”
Tiwatope Olanrewaju (5 years old) “I played with my brothers.”
Marcus de Beer (5 years old) “I saw lions and birds in the savannah.”
Chiamaka Davidson (6 years old) “I got an ice-cream.”
Onyinyechi Okoye (5 years old) “I went to a restaurant.”
Grayson Muller (5 years old) “I played outside.”
Rume Oriesa (6 years old) “My friend came to my house.”

Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year teacher