A fun way to learn our initial sounds of words in Pre-Reception
A fun way to learn our initial sounds of words in Pre-Reception
It is important for children to learn letter-sound relationships because the English language uses letters in the alphabet to represent sounds.
Phonics teaches this information to help children learn how to read. Children learn the sounds that each letter makes.
A fun way through which the Pre-Reception students learn the initial sound of words is… I would like to introduce you to a very important member of our class. His name is the Sound Monkey and the students take turns to take him home with them and find something that starts with the letter of the alphabet that we are learning about that week.
The students are always very excited when it is their turn and can’t wait. It is always very interesting to see what the sound monkey has in his bag the next day. It’s usually things that I did not even think of.
It is very interesting to see how quickly the students have been learning the initial sounds of words in this manner. Now let us see whose turn it is today!
Cindy Nunan
Pre-Reception Teacher
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Shaping Positive Eating Habits
Wow! What a busy week it has been. Our main focus in Nursery this week has been on Healthy Eating, and believe me when I tell you that I have had to explain why chocolate is not a fruit more times than I have had to sing “Let it go”, and that’s A LOT.
Explaining to our students why their chips and chocolates should not be eaten in the morning, is similar to arguing with a qualified lawyer about the law, it hardly ever ends well. However, as the week progressed, our little ‘pre-lawyers’ began enjoying learning about healthy eating so much, that we actually had to send some of the unhealthy snacks back home, and that itself is like a snowy day in summer.
This has reinforced my belief that teaching young students about healthy living does not have to be done through a strict, structured routine, but rather through fun, play-based activities. Play-based learning helps support our children’s desire to explore and interact with the world around them. Providing them with opportunities to explore and learn about foods, separate from meal times, not only exposes them to new foods but allows those fussy eaters to explore non-preferred foods in an encouraging way.
As our school follows the wonderful Traffic Light System, our students are already aware of the foods that are not healthy, but maintaining that diet can be tricky with toddlers. So this week, we introduced healthy eating through colour, exploration and a lot of gentle encouragement. Some of the students helped create a healthy eating colour chart that explored the principle of ‘eating the rainbow’ and even chose some of their favourite fruits and created crafty fruit baskets for our next picnic. We also explored shopping for fruits and vegetables, and students picked out various healthy foods that we can find at the grocery store.
By making healthy eating fun, engaging and hands-on, our students found it less daunting to face the vegetables on their plate and supported our long-term goal of building a foundation for lifelong healthy eating habits.
Jo-Anne Dickason
Nursery Teacher
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Administrative Professional’s Day
On Wednesday, 7 September, we celebrated Administrative Professional’s Day aka Secretary’s Day by thanking and paying tribute to all of the wonderful ladies in our Admin department at school. They received cards, sweet treats and a guard of honour from the children throughout the phases as an early morning surprise.
We have such a diverse team of people who fulfil very important roles; Avril – our front desk secretary, Aftercare manager and Mr Swart’s right hand “man”, Razonne – the lady we run to when we need some money for our classrooms, Diana – if it wasn’t for her our children wouldn’t have uniform to wear, Eldri – our school representative and admissions person, and last but not least, Trindade – our librarian and master of communication!
As you can see our team is extremely essential to ensuring that BIS is the well-oiled machine that it is! As these faces are so busy behind the scenes I thought I would ask my Reception Year class what Aunty Avril does all day – here are their responses:
- She works on her computer and in Aftercare sometimes she comes. – Lolwam
- She works in Aftercare. – Amelia
- Aunty Avril is strict! – Naif
- When people don’t listen and they go to Mr Swart then she sends them to his office to visit. – Purity
- She always wants to go home. – Enhle
- When my dad drops off something for me, like money, she will call me. – Anam
- Aunty Avril is a good teacher. – Kopano
- She always comes to Aftercare to talk to the teachers. – Samuel
- She works at the office. – Isabella
Thank you for all that you do, not only on Secretary’s Day, but every day!
Kim Hahn
Reception Year Teacher
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Saving Water
The students in Year 1 have been studying the topic Earth and Space in their science lessons. They have learnt about the planet Earth and how it is made up of mostly water and that there is not much fresh water on our planet.
We looked at ways we use water at home and how best we can save water. Although they are too young to remember how close we came to ‘Day Zero’, many of the students have learnt to use water sparingly. They were able to come up with a number of ways to save water as well as spot the places where people waste water.
The water saving game was a big hit with the students.
Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher
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Keep Calm And Create A Calm Space
Emotions play such an important role in our lives. It helps us to think and behave in certain ways. They help us to build relationships, avoid or resolve conflicts better. Emotions help us make decisions for the future and helps us cope with what we are dealing with during the day.
We start feeling emotions from when we are little, and as we grow and mature, we learn how to identify them far better and hopefully become more skilled in how to express them appropriately. With practise we get better at understanding what we are feeling and why.
Just for a moment, think about what you did today versus what you did yesterday. Did different emotions on different days, allow you to behave in different ways? Are you more tolerant today than you were yesterday? Have you smiled more today than yesterday? Have you made some rash decisions based on how you were feeling? Have you made the best decisions you could have made so far this year?
Emotions can last for a second or for an hour. They change constantly throughout our day. Emotions are part of a person’s character. Without them we would be robots.
We read emotions from facial expressions, body language, hand gestures, tone of voice and even eyes. Notice the feel of a handshake, a hug or a touch. These are many cues that help us to pick up on someone’s emotional wellbeing.
Many adults today find it difficult to identify what it is they are really feeling, let alone be able to express their emotions appropriately. Am I angry or just irritated? Am I happy or just proud? There are so many emotions that are closely linked and can be misunderstood. There are so many different emotions that sometimes it can be impossible to recognise them all. It can also be very confusing and extremely challenging.
Being able to accept what you are feeling allows you to become more self-aware and self-compassionate. I know this can sound all airy-fairy, but being able to have a good emotional intelligence, to me, is far better that having a good IQ. This will help you in all aspects of life, in the workplace and in relationships that you build along the way.
Using a feelings wheel helps us to open up our feeling’s vocabulary and learn to understand the extent of them a lot better. Once you have used the feelings wheel for some time, you won’t need to go back and look up what the feeling is, you will identify it straightaway.
There are many students today that need assistance with feelings and emotions, and need to learn some healthy strategies to overcome or face them head-on.
I have a number of feelings wheels and charts around my class to help my students with their emotions. I have a dedicated calm space for my students to retreat to whenever they feel overwhelmed or need a place to ‘check in’ with themselves.
You can create a calm space in your own home for your children, or even for yourself. When children see that you use the space, it allows them to realise that we, as adults, also have emotions and sometimes need to refocus and recentre.
This calm space is different to a time-out space for consequences. It is a place of safety. Children are not to be sent there by a parent, rather it must be a child’s choice to go there. You can suggest it, but it should not be enforced. This space does not have a time limit.
Decide as a family, where this calm space will be. Decorate it together if that’s something that they might like. You can even give the space a name.
Leave them alone in their space to reflect, to let out some anger or other emotions. Try not hover around them or speak to them. Allow them this time to be on their own.
You can include some calming tools in your calm space to help them with self-regulation. Some good ideas are therapy putty or a stress ball to squeeze, a liquid timer or a glitter jar to look at, books to read about emotions, calming cards or positive thinking cards, a teddy bear, or some simple calming toys, such as a Rubik’s cube, that keep their minds busy. Some nice, calming smells can help too. I use lavender in my class, and my students love rubbing it onto their temples. This relaxes them completely. Believe me, I have used it several times!
Embrace your emotions, and talk about them with your family, your friends, your colleagues. The more we accept that we have them and that they are a normal part of our lives, the more skilled we will become, and your EQ will be what people talk about instead of your IQ.
Wendy Menton
Year 3 Teacher
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BIS Interact Club Updates
Blouberg International Club of Interact would like to send a huge thank you to the families of BIS for their generous contributions to our soup pack drive. Our Interactors, together with some Matric students, delivered nearly 400 soup packs to Doors of Jannah, an NGO dedicated to providing hot meals to the disadvantaged communities in Cape Town. WATCH: https://fb.watch/fysbRt9z6w/
Last Saturday some of our matric students had the opportunity to join in one of their soup drives helping pack hot meals and distribute them. They all agreed how valuable this experience was.
The past couple of years have been particularly challenging with COVID-19 restrictions, but our club faced the challenge as an opportunity to put their creativity to work and continue serving.
I am proud to announce that our Blouberg International Club of Interact was awarded a Citation by Rotary International. This acknowledgement is given to schools that go the extra length for their efforts and service to the community. Congratulations to our members for this well deserved nomination!
Oscar and Altesse at the Rotary Club of Blouberg Citation evening.
The following students have recently voted members of our Interact Club for 2022-2023:
- President: Oscar Berger
- Vice President: Shaylee Brandt
- Secretary: Saumya Majarah
- Treasurer: Iviwe Matakata
- Board member: Chezlyn Gopal
BIS would like to congratulate them and we look forward to working together, hoping to continue growing our Interact club with enthusiasm, new ideas and fun projects.
Elena Berger
BIS Interact Club Coordinator
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Geography in High School
This term has really flown by, and we are already looking forward to test week coming up. This term, each year group covered a wide range of topics. It is wonderful to see how each group embraces every topic and enthusiastically takes part in class discussions.
The Year 7 group focused on the population concepts and what affects the growth rates of different countries. Year 8 studied settlements, their patterns and urbanisation. The Year 8 group was introduced to similar maps as those at IGCSE level and had to identify settlement patterns on the map. These topics are linked to the IGCSE Geography syllabus.
The current IGCSE Year 9 group are currently busy with the second theme of their syllabus. This is mainly focused on the natural world we live in. We have covered plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, rivers and coasts the past term and look forward to more topics of this theme in Term 4. The earthquake and volcanoes topics tend to be more challenging seeing that it is not something that we encounter on a regular basis. While teaching Geography in the Middle East, the same could be said when students had to study rivers. I am sure we will collectively conquer this topic.
The Year 11 AS level group focused on weathering and slope processes this term. I am happy at the progress they have made this term and we look forward to Term 4.
Lastly, I want to wish the current Year 10 IGCSE and Year 12 AS level students all the best for their upcoming Cambridge External exams. All the hard work that you have put in to be ready, comes down to this. I might have only been teaching you for one term, but I am confident that you all will reach your potential and score the grades you deserve.
Geography in the news:
6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes China. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those that lost their lives and homes.
Jean-Pierre Le Grange
High School Geography Teacher
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The Aim Of PE
Our weekly programme that is derived from the Cambridge curriculum helps us perform different exercises and play games that are skill based and always motivate teamwork rather than focusing on individual skills only.
We learn about our bodies and how we can use them to the best of our abilities within the sports fields.
The curriculum is based on the sporting codes we provide at BIS, thus, it is important for students to participate and enjoy the different skill sets taught throughout the year as per the curriculum requirements.
As coaches we want our students to participate in different activities and expose them to different types of sports within our lessons, hence we provide the support that is needed to achieve this goal.
We cannot achieve all of this without the help of our lovely parents, so we ask that our lunch boxes are filled with health conscious nutritious food on a daily basis.
Promoting good eating habits is vital to a child’s development physically and mentally, It is said that eating healthier 80% of the time and doing 20% exercise compliment each other.
What Experts Say
“The 80/20 rule approaches healthy eating with a message of moderation-80 percent healthy choices and 20 percent flexibility for less healthy option. Nutrition professionals back this approach, as it is feasible for all, allows for variety of foods, and avoids deprivation.” – Chrissy Carrol,RD,MPH
Let’s try and pack a healthy lunch box.
We are most certainly improving and setting the tone at our PE lessons every week and I (Coach Mpho), am getting the greatest joy seeing the improvement and the strides that our students are making, getting the idea of how to move the body over a game of dodgeball, soccer, handball and more.
Also knowing the amount of power needed to make a short or long pass, throwing skills, learning new games and most of all having fun with your peers and improving your game.
Week 6 – Handball skills, teamwork, accuracy and movement.
Class – 5HK
ATL skills observed – Listening and communication skills, self-awareness and sense of urgency – teamwork
Planning
The students warm up by taking a jog around the 5 aside court ,do shuttles that incorporate push ups, sits, lunges, jumping jacks/body weighted squats to get the blood flowing and the heart rate going.
They then go into stretches from neck to toes, whilst illustrating and explaining to them which parts of the muscles they are stretching and the importance thereof.
In this case, a class is split into 2 teams that verse each other etc. (red vs orange team)
Instructions are as follows:
- No one is allowed to keep the ball for more than 3 seconds creating a sense of urgency in their play.
- Teams have to pass to everyone in their team to have a legitimate goal awarded, which creates a team effort where everybody participates, teams are not allowed to run with the ball which forces them to work together – teamwork.
- Teams are allowed to pass the ball by either bouncing or no bounce, two-handed passes for more accurate passes.
Objective
The objective of the lesson is to establish and develop good communication skills, passing accuracy and most importantly following the rules of the game and applying all the skills taught throughout the curriculum.
Assessing
Can a student apply themselves through the activity that is focused and based on team building?
Can they pass, throw and catch the ball?
Can they be creative in terms of movement and creating space on the field?
Are they calling for the ball, communicating to their teammates?
Do they understand the rules of the game abide by them?
The students attitude, enthusiasm and the will to do better is as important as his performance.
In Closing
As the winter season slowly drags on to its end, we welcome Spring and the sunshine. I am grateful for the support that has been shown by our BIS family, parents, teachers, ground staff and all who make our school united and warm throughout the soccer and netball season by rooting for our students.
I also wish congratulate all our junior and senior Tennis teams that represented BIS in Sun City last week as well as all our soccer and netball boys and girls who participated with much courage and enthusiasm in all their matches this season.
Well done to you all, we are all very proud to be part of the winning mindset.
Mpho Mahlangu
PE Teacher
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Auto Museum Outing
To fully appreciate the future, we need to appreciate the past.
Our Year 4 classes visited the Wijnland Auto Museum in Joostenberg vlakte, as part of the Transportation unit that we have been studying in History.
Throughout the term, we have investigated the various types of transport, how transport has evolved over time and the importance of the different modes of transportation.
During our visit to the museum, the students learned about cars and how the design and technology has changed over the years. We saw various amazing antique cars, army tanks and even went inside an old passenger airplane.
We cannot wait to discuss this topic further in class.
Yvette Fourie
Year 4 Teacher
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Litter Challenge
“Educating our children is a key ingredient in the recipe to save our Earth!”
This week our Year 2’s did a school litter pick-up! Before we went out we had a small class discussion where we reminded ourselves about what litter was and chatted a bit about what a good strategy would be in order to cover the area we were going to cover and pick up as much litter as possible. The students were excited at the idea of helping to make their school a cleaner place!
We made a plan to tackle the field and the surrounding areas, a few students carrying some plastic bags for any rubbish to go straight into, all of us walking in our smaller groups across the field making sure to keep a look out for any litter that may be laying around.
All of the students took their role in this clean-up very seriously and seemed to enjoy themselves as they went. Well done Year 2’s, you are making a difference!
Siobhan Hendry
Year 2 Teacher
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