Kindness
“Kindness is something anyone can give without losing anything of themselves”
As a year 3 group, we have been focussing on kindness in our skills week. Mrs Cronje and Ms Blake’s class have adopted kindness jars. Inside of these jars are wonderful stories of kindness that our children have either been involved in or acts of kindness that they have received.
Here are some of them:
“My sister helped me do a back-bend. Thank you Umi”
“I helped my friend build a puzzle”
“I calmed my friend down and it helped her”
“We gave R20 to the office that we found. We were honest”
“I helped my friend when she got hurt”
“I was looking for my eraser and Keona gave me hers. I did not ask for it but it was very kind”
“I helped my friend build a puzzle”
“I used ice words to my friends and my friends helped my alot”
“I helped my friend”
“My friend gave me a health Pokemon card”
“I helped lots of people to clean their desks”
“In Science my friend and I helped each other”
“I gave play-dough to my friend”
“My friend was being kind to me”
“It was my birthday and I gave everyone their favourite doughnut”
“My friend had nobody to play with so I played with him”
Even if we don’t have physical kindness jars in our homes, why not begin to collect your kindness memories in your heart?
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” – Princess Diana
Carol Blake
Year 3 Teacher
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Kind, Caring and Encouraging
This week has been extra special to the BIS family, as we have been celebrating the BIS Kindness Challenge for 2023. This wonderful initiative was introduced by our amazing school counsellor, Kayla Smith, and is targeted at the Year 4 to 12 students.
The goal is to spread kindness throughout our school this month, ensuring that it is a value our students and staff uphold at BIS.
Students are encouraged to show each other kindness by doing a variety of challenges and tasks. Some of these activities include:
- The Kindness Challenge: There are multiple random acts of kindness that students are challenged to complete. Such as: Write a list of 5 things that you love about yourself or Make sure your pets know how much they’re loved!
- A Kindness Tree: This tree will be popping up on a display board and it is going to blossom with the handprints of students containing kind messages and pictures.
- Mirror Motivation: Teachers will leave a motivational or kind message for students that will be added to the bathroom mirrors.
- Kindness Stone: Students decorate a stone with kind words that will be added to our garden.
- Chain of Kindness: Students had to reflect and write down a time that someone was kind to them. This will be added together to form a long kindness paper chain.
- “Caught you being kind” vouchers: These are given to students when they complete random acts of kindness. This will be kept for a surprise towards the end of the Kindness Challenge!
Class 5RdP has our very own No Drama Llama Award that is handed out at the end of every week to a student that has shown kind, caring and encouraging behaviour.
We look forward to seeing the entire school participate in the BIS Kindness Challenge and spread kindness like confetti!
“If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely!” – Roald Dahl
Ria du Plessis
Year 5 Teacher and Coordinator
Planting the seeds of knowledge!
Planting the seeds of knowledge!
A little seed for me to sow.
A little seed to make it grow.
A little hole, a little pat
A little wish and that is that.
A little sun, a little shower.
A little while,
And then a flower!
What do seeds need to grow? This was the question posed to our Year 5’s in our first Science lesson this term.
But… instead of telling the students, we decided to let them discover it for themselves. Using their knowledge of what a fair test is, the students investigated by setting up their own scientific enquiry. In groups, they were supplied with four plastic cups, soil, 12 seeds and a little water. Together a discussion was held on what the independent, dependant and control variables would be. Once they reached a consensus, students set about planting their seeds. Two samples were placed in a warm place in the classroom – one with water and one without. The two remaining samples made their way into their teacher’s fridge-one with water and one without.
Predictions were made and arguments put forward, but only time will tell. For the next couple of weeks, students need to water some of the seedlings and keep a vigilant eye on any possible germination before they can reach a conclusion. Watch this space!
Well done Year 5’s!
Mandy Goch
Year 5 Teacher
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Our First Week In Year 4
“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes.”
(Richie Norton)
The first week back has taken off with great excitement and eagerness. It was created on a recipe for success combined with only the finest ingredients.
A tonne of laughter and cheer combined with a Kilotonne of smiles and giggles. Whipped together with a megatonne of chatter. Stirring in a gigatonne of pure joy, topped with just a sprinkle of nervousness.
The Year 4’s have kicked off 2023 with a bang. They spent the first week organising, sorting and decorating books and stationery. Catching up with friends was the number one priority. We also delved straight into our work and had fun recapping Mathematics concepts, looking at stories from the past in English and even setting up and performing Science experiments.
We look forward to a successful and fun-filled year.
Nadia Mahomed
Year 4 Teacher
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The Arts & Crafts Club Rocks!
The Arts & Crafts Club have been busy this term with completing a Rock Art project with the theme ‘ be kind, be caring and be encouraging’ in line with our anti bullying campaign at the school.
This was a process of preparation of the rocks, painting an undercoat, decorating, writing and finally varnishing them. They enjoyed completing it at all the stages and finally they were dry. At the beginning of Term 4, the Club enjoyed the last step of placing the Rock Art creations in the rock garden near the entrance of the school.
We hope you also enjoy looking at them while visiting the school.
Kerstin Pani
Club Coordinator
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Our Amazing Gourmet Burgers
The Year 4’s spent one of the term’s art lessons creating these mouth-watering gourmet burgers. Our objective was to create traffic-stopping art that would cause our audience to stop, stare and desire to eat an amazing burger on the spot, on-route to class. This has certainly happened. We have noticed students and teachers slow down in our passage, admiring our art. We have even had a teacher come into our classroom to express her great desire for a particular burger on display.
We worked with different paper textures as well as a variety of coloured paper. Each student had to design their own burger, having to think of every topping imaginable. The background was just as important. Many students put time and effort into creating detailed wooden table tops or beautifully designed table cloths. For those who had extra time at hand, sides were an added addition to their menu.
This was a highly rewarding art lesson and certainly showed us how powerfully persuasive pictures can be. Take a look at the photos below and see if you can resist the tempting thought of a gourmet burger satisfying your tummy!
Carol Blake
Year 4 Teacher
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Intaka Island
The week before last, our Year 2 students went out to Intaka Island at Century City. They were given the opportunity to explore nature in all its wonderful ways.
We looked at various small organisms under the microscope, were given a guided tour around the island, spotting and appreciating the little birds, bugs and flowers around us. After the wildlife watching, were given a guided boat tour around the canals, appreciating the views around us and learning more about the conservancy.
This is definitely an outing we can recommend for the whole family! So much fun was had by all!
Siobhan Hendry
Year 2 Teacher
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Year One Barnaby Bear Day
“Travel leaves you speechless. Then turns you into a storyteller.” – IBN Battuta
The Year 1 students and teachers thoroughly enjoyed an eventful day, traveling from country to country (class to class), learning about the different countries Barnaby Bear had travelled to and tasting all the delicious cuisines each country had to offer.
Barnaby Bear is the bear we learnt about in Geography that travels the world to visit different countries. He sends the teachers post cards which explains in detail, the sites he visits, the transport he uses to get around, the seasons in each country and the temperature he is currently experiencing.
The students in Mrs Cordner’s class represented America, Mrs Cronje’s class represented England and my class (Miss Hierse’s class) had the privilege to represent India. The students flew from class to class where they got to do some fun activities and learn some interesting facts that symbolized the country they had travelled to. They then enjoyed some delicious snacks and cold drinks which each class offered. The students were dressed beautifully and walked away from the day with more knowledge on America, England and India as well as full tummies.
The Year 1 teachers are extremely grateful for the parents help and support in making the day a successful one.
“Wanderlust. (n.) A strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.”
Year 1 Teacher
Erin Hierse
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Meal plans from the Year 5s
In Science, the Year 5s have been looking at the digestive system. We learnt that animals, including humans, need a balanced diet to be healthy. While a balanced diet for a zebra might include a variety of grasses and leaves, humans are a bit more complicated than that. We found out that we need to eat meals and snacks, which have a variety of food groups – including lots of fruit and vegetables! Once we knew the theory, the Year 5s used their knowledge (and some research on the iPads) to create a healthy meal plan over three days – and I must say they gave their teacher some ideas for what to cook over the next few weeks!
Here are some of the delicious meals that were suggested:
Breakfast:
- Avocado on wholewheat toast with 2 scrambled eggs
(Sehan Singh)
- All-Bran flakes with sliced bananas mixed in
(Lereko Tabohane)
- Muesli with yoghurt and blueberries.
(Nivad Manouchehri)
Lunch:
- A bowl of pasta with mixed vegetables and cheese.
(Zahrah Allie)
- A bagel with tomatoes, mozzarella and lettuce, with a smoothie on the side.
(Wanda Ahadzadeh)
- A burrito with peppers, cheese and lettuce.
(Keira Nicholl)
- Mac and cheese with sliced cucumbers.
(Tinashe Chivaka)
Dinner:
- Pap and steak with spinach and sliced tomato.
(Pelumi Olawoyin)
- Butternut, baked potato and chicken pieces
(Isabella Schultz)
- Omelette with mushrooms and sausages.
(Okuhle William)
Snack ideas:
- A smoothie with 1 cup of frozen strawberries, 1 cup of frozen peaches, and some yoghurt and milk.
(Shanna-Rose Jenkinson)
- Salti crackers with some snoek pate, feta cubes and pear slices.
(Emily Rӧhlandt)
- Carrot sticks with hummus.
(Mika Bhyat)
- Carrots and peanut butter, with some grapes (do not put peanut butter on the grapes!).
(Dicla Tona)
- Strawberries with yoghurt and honey.
(Alistair Mouton)
- Wholewheat grain crackers, light cream cheese and mixed berries.
(Talicia Nyausaru)
Of course, it helps to know WHY a meal is healthy – and the students had that covered too!
“The pasta, beef and vegetables were healthy because there were different food groups that can help our body in different ways and give us nutrients.”
(Ileana Dias)
Watch this space – next up for the Year 5s is a video oral where the students make one of the meals on their meal plans and then tell us about it. Masterchef Junior, here we come!
Hannah Kirkaldy
Year 5 Teacher
WATCH: Khanya Luthango’s Healthy Food English Presentation and Oral
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Why do we do ‘Show and Tell’ at school?
I think we all recognise the importance of public speaking in our workplaces. Public speaking should begin at school where children form social bonds and learn self-confidence along the way. ‘Show and Tell’ is a popular way used in schools to develop these public speaking skills.
Here are a few ideas that parents can use to develop these skills at home:
Observe the Journey Game
- Whilst driving, walking or on public transport, ask your child to describe as much of their surroundings as they can within one minute!
- Get them to think about shapes, colors and what is happening.
- After multiple attempts over days/weeks your child will begin to speak more clearly and sharpen their observation skills which are essential for speaking well.
- The Woof Game
- This hilarious game will build your child’s ability to think Choose a common word like it or be.
- Provide your child with a topic to speak on for thirty seconds.
- Every time the chosen word is to appear in their speech they should replace it with woof.
Imaginary Animal Game
Get a group of family members, neighbors and friends together with your kids.
- Ask each group member to think of an animal and give them one minute to think of how they would describe that animal.
- Each member must then be questioned by their fellow members on the size, color(s), habitat and other attributes until they discover what animal it is.
For more fun, games go to:
https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/30784/public-speaking-for-kids/
Above all, remember that practice makes perfect and to have as much fun as you can along the way…
Kim Coetzer
Year 2 Teacher
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