Moments And Memories
“Life is a beautiful collage of priceless moments and memories, which when pieced all together creates a unique treasured masterpiece” – Melanie M. Koulouris
To start the new term, the Year 5’s were tasked with reflecting on not only the wonderful moments and memories they made during the holidays, but also on why they treasured them as a part of their life’s masterpiece. They were also asked to share these memories and stories with each other in groups and with the class.
Here are just some of the special memories our students shared:
The best moment and memory was probably cuddling with my dogs, because I’m obsessed with dogs! – Zoe Floor
My best moment is when I saw all the pretty trees in Canada and the hotels looked amazing; in Hermanus I went to the beach and saw dolphins and sharks. I love having fun and spending time with my family. – Bohlale Malatji
My happiest moment was a sleepover I had with my best friends in Shanghai. We had it in a hotel, especially for us! – Emily Yu
I went ‘glamping’ with my Mom; Step-Dad and my sister. I loved it because I went with my family and we were not allowed to bring our phones! – Sian-Lia Jenkinson
The best moment I had during the holidays was seeing my Mom. This moment was very special because I haven’t seen her in a very long time. – Unknown
It is, however, important to not only reflect on the past, but also to also look to and dream about the future. So for the second task, the Year 5’s were required to write down what they were most excited about experiencing this term. Here are some of their answers:
I am excited about the Aladdin play and doing work and getting higher marks in each of my subjects. – Khanya Luthango
I am excited for this term, because I won’t be wearing a mask! – Indiphile Jentile.
Making more friends, being happy and improving my sign language. – Zoe Floor.
I am excited about soccer this term and the new students. I also want to improve my marks. – Etana Mueke.
The Year 5’s are looking forward to a wonderful Term 3!
Jennifer Rose
Year 5 Teacher
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From The German Club
Willkommen! Welcome to the new German Club!
The German Club was launched at the beginning of the year and has become a highlight of my week when 20 very enthusiastic German Club members meet on a Friday afternoon in my classroom for an hour. These members are students from Year 5, 6 and High School.
We cover various topics and themes as well as test and taste many different treats and snacks from Germany.
This term we explored the questions ‘Where in the World is Germany?’ and ‘Where in Europe is Germany?’
The students were divided into groups and rotated to different stations consisting of maps of the world, including Germany and a puzzle of Europe’s countries that they had to complete. They also had a questionnaire that needed to be answered as a group for each station. In this way, they were able to discover for themselves where Germany’s location is in relation to hemispheres, continents, oceans and then which countries, seas, rivers and lakes border Germany.
During Book Week in the German classroom, all the students were introduced to the fairy tales and stories by the brothers, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm. We watched and listened to the animated story of the ‘Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten’ (The Bremen Town Musicians) and learnt a song.
Read the previous article here: https://blouberg.stjohnsdevon.desarrolloadhoc.com/2022/05/20/the-brothers-grimm/
In the German Club, we further explored this story and a highlight was watching a 60 minute movie with real live characters all in German with no English subtitles. The 4 animals; the donkey, dog, cat and rooster in the story could talk to the special humans, as they should of course in fairy tales.
In preparation before we watched the movie, we worked on the vocabulary from the movie by working in groups and matching the English and German words.
Parts of the movie were filmed in the German city of Bremen, which brought the story to life. The students really enjoyed the movie and we will definitely watch more in the future.
The German club also worked on a short play of the story and they presented it to the Year 1-6 students in the KS1 and KS2 assemblies this week. The students especially loved singing along to the song with much enthusiasm.
We look forward to the next term with the German Club.
Frau Kerstin Pani
Primary School German Teacher
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Figurative Language: Putting Words To Work
I walked towards the door, my shoes squeaking on the tiles like nervous mice. The door at the end of the corridor gaped open, the wind whispering secrets between the hinges. I reached out and gripped the door handle, the metal a chunk of ice on this wintry morning. I checked that I had my book, and slipped into the English classroom, ready for my descriptive language lesson…
This term in English, the Year 6 students have been learning about figurative language, imagery in writing and the plot elements in a narrative plot structure (rising action, climax and falling action).
Their focus has been to include figurative and sensory language when writing, to help their writing pieces to become more descriptive. They used tools like similes, metaphors and personification (figurative language) to help paint a picture in the reader’s mind. They didn’t just tell stories, they created worlds. By using imagery (sensory details) in their writing, they transported their readers far and wide, taking them on adventures where they could see, hear, taste, smell or touch whatever the characters were experiencing.
For their final writing task, the students needed to apply what they had learnt, writing a story chapter that included the rising action, climax and falling action of their story, as well as using figurative and sensory language to help their readers visualise their setting and action. Of course, stories don’t just write themselves, and sometimes starting a plot can be tricky. To give them a jump-start on choosing their setting, students were given visual prompts of various possible settings and sensory details that matched them. They also made use of a bank of resources for metaphors, similes, personification, synonyms and adjectives, which they could use to describe the feelings and actions of their characters.
The Year 6s really stepped up to the challenge, showing that they could work independently, use their resources effectively, and give meaningful feedback on their peers’ work. They created impressive writing pieces, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading!
-“Wet, heavy drops splattered all over, like paint messily across a canvas, as their fire was quickly dying.”- Nuraan Price
-“He could feel his tears welling up again. They blended with the rain, bucketing down.”- Siyana Manawar
-“He stared forward examining the crude, rusty train tracks that seemed to go on for kilometres before disappearing into the thick ominous fog. He pinched himself on his forearm, hoping that this was all a dream, but nothing.”- Sadie E’ Silva
-“Jannet woke up to a crack as loud as thunder and shot up as fast as an elastic band”. – Aimée Davies
Katherine Nel
Year 6 Teacher and KS2 Coordinator
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Budding Authors…
Story telling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world – Robert Mckee
Not everybody has the ability to write a captivating story and have it published for other people to read. However, watching a child use their imagination, which has no boundaries or preconceived ideas, is the most wonderful thing to see.
Sometimes they struggle to find the right words to start, but once they do, their power of imagination takes over. Forgotten is spelling words and punctuation. They focus on their story. Even students who may be struggling in a language, manage to put some thoughts on paper. While these stories are not necessarily worthy of being published, they are far too valuable to be missed.
When teaching Creative Writing, I tell my class that they need to paint a picture with words. We wrote a story about a sea creature this week and I gave them free reign, with no boundaries. The results were amazing.
Kim Coetzer
Year 2 Teacher
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Young Authors Club 2020
What’s the best part of being a school age author, you ask! Why, the fun of writing, of course – but meeting other young authors is a blast too. The Young Authors’ Club started off the year by getting to know each other through name poems – read on if you’d like to know a bit more about us too!
Sarah:
Super girl power
Amazing at singing
Real deal girl/boy
Active all the time
Helping hand
Akhula:
Awesome at cooking
Kind to others
Hysterical with friends
Unhappy when others are rude
Loves to dance
Always hungry or thirsty
Gabriella:
Great at swimming
Amazing at being a friend
Bright and always positive
Reading is one of my favourite things to do
Interested in new things
Extremely funny
Loves puppies and dogs
Loves reading books
Always wants chocolate
Mia:
May be the most kindest person
I can play piano
Awesomest girl ever
Aimee:
Amazing
Intelligent
Magnificent
Exquisite
Exciting
Vrithi:
Very funny
Really positive
I’m kind
Terrific
Hugs are my favourite
I’m curious
Noa:
Never, ever, ever negative
Observe how beautiful she is
Amazing at singing
Karabo:
King of everything
Accepted everything
Race champion
Apple eater
Big and strong
Orange eater
Isabel:
Incredibly funny
Stunning
Awesome at everything
Beautiful hair
Eating strawberry
Loves Boxers (They’re her favourite kind of dog!)
Hannah Kirkaldy
Club Facilitator