Sensory Day
Even though it was messy, and oh the clean-up was a delight, the toddlers thoroughly enjoyed every minute of exploring the colourful spaghetti, the mushy sago and the sticky rice. They were able to hop out of the ‘clean class’ box and just enjoy making a mess.
Sensory play is an important part of childhood and there are really no limits to what you can use in your sensory activities. However, nature and food can often be your best friend when it comes to sensory play.
To help you keep your youngster busy during the holidays, here are a few great sensory play ideas for home:
- For keeping their hands busy:
- Soapy Jars: Fill a plastic peanut butter jar halfway with water, a pinch of dish soap and food colouring. Seal it tightly, and let your toddler roll it/shake it around outside.
- To explore their sense of smell (ages 4-6):
- Smell it and guess: Blend up six different fruits/vegetables in small quantities and pour them into separate dishes. Allow your little one to taste and guess.
- For co-ordination and organisation:
- Alphabet scoop and transfer: You will need alphabet magnets or water-safe letters, a storage container, a wooden spoon, two dish buckets and water. Pour enough water into your container to allow the letters to float and allow your child to scoop each letter out individually. You can practice various beginner literacy activities with them!
- To assist with emotions, and to keep them calm:
- Place beach sand or regular sand into a big container and hide small toys in the sand. Make sure the toys are all of the same themes. Once they have been able to scoop out each toy, engage with them to create a fantasyland on the sand. It’s like a zen garden for kids.
Jo-Anne Dickason
Nursery Teacher
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Assessments And Amphibians
Over the last two weeks, Foundation stage have been doing their end of term assessments. Every day the students are learning new things and continue to approach each challenge with a positive attitude. The assessments have given each student an opportunity to show their teachers how much they have learnt this term and we are so proud of them.
Recently, Foundation stage have been learning all about amphibians. The students asked, what is an amphibian? What is the difference between a reptile and an amphibian? And what is the difference between a frog and a toad? They have learnt so many interesting facts, especially what makes a frog different from a toad.
Did you know that…
- Frogs are smaller and slimmer than toads and have a more pointed nose.
- Toads are much bigger and broader than toads and have a wider nose.
- A frog’s skin is smoother than a toad. Therefore, they need to live near water because they need to keep their skin moist.
- Toads have a hard, dry skin and don’t need to stay near water.
- A toad’s eye shape is also different from a frog’s. Frogs usually have big bulging eyes, as opposed to a toad’s, that is a bit more subtle in appearance.
- Frogs have long legs made for hopping and they can jump up to 20 times the length of their own body.
- Toads have shorter legs and prefer to crawl instead of hop.
The foundation stage students enjoyed learning about these interesting facts. We are confident that the next time they see an amphibian, they’ll be able to tell us whether it’s a frog or a toad.
Lauren Bloem
Reception Teacher
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Bugs, Bugs, Bugs Everywhere…
Learning about bugs is so much fun for our Foundation Stage students. Isn’t it funny how young students are just curious about everything and don’t have the grossed out reaction that we have as adults.
During the past two weeks we have been learning about all sorts of bugs and insects through hands-on learning activities.
Some of the activities we have done includes:
- Butterfly life cycle sequencing: The students practised sequencing the cards in the correct life cycle order.
- Bug or not sorting: Is everything that crawls a bug? Is everything with wings a bug? With a container full of toys the students had to investigate what it takes to be called a bug. This sorting game helps them learn to scientifically classify and observe.
- Butterfly Symmetry Smash: We cut the butterfly out of card. The students then squirted paint onto one side of each butterfly. We folded the butterflies in half and smashed the paint.
- Which bugs can fly: The students learned which bugs could fly and which could not.
The students enjoyed looking at books about bugs and learning interesting facts about bugs by watching Blippi Wonders.
On Friday, 27 May, the Pre-Reception and Reception students went on an educational Outing to the Exotic Animal World. The students saw different types of insects, spiders, reptiles and animals like: birds, iguanas, tortoises and meerkats to name a few. The students enjoyed an interesting and informative lesson about reptiles. It was an amazing experience for the students to end off our theme.
Martie van Dyk
Pre-Reception Teacher
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High Frequency Words
In term 2, our Reception students have been introduced to High Frequency Words. High Frequency Words otherwise known as sight words, Dolch words, refer to a set of words that most commonly are found on any page of text. Readers need to instantly recognize these words in a text and often the words cannot be sounded out. Readers therefore need to memorise these words in order to read more confidently and fluently. Learning High Frequency Words is an important skill that is incorporated into reading homework. It is therefore essential to learn High Frequency Words in fun ways. Listed below are some ideas for flash card games:
Flash Cards Games
- Can you find? Lay cards on a table. Ask the student to find a given word. If they find it, they keep it. Keep going until all the cards are picked up.
- Who has more? Show the cards to the student. If they read the word within 5 seconds, they keep the cards – if not the parent keeps the cards, the goal is that the student has more cards at the end.
- Concentration – Using double copies of words take turns turning over 2 cards at a time, trying to make a match. The player must read the words correctly to get the match.
- Go fish – Use double copies of cards, pass out all by 5-6 of the words. Put these in a stack face down on the table. Look for matches in your set of cards. (each player must be able to read the word or the set goes in the stack on the table. Take turns asking each other for cards to make matches. The person with the most matches at the end is the winner.
- Slap Jack – Draw a star on a blank flashcard. Place this star card and the other flashcards face down on the table. Take turns turning over a card and reading a word. When the star card is turned over, the first player to slap it wins.
Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year Teacher
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Pre-Reception Learning All About Reptiles
For the past week, Pre-Reception have been learning about Reptiles. They loved painting and making different Reptiles. The students also played games like snakes and ladders, learnt various Reptile rhymes and songs.
The highlight of the week was definitely when the Reptile Man came to visit, bringing his great collection of snakes, lizards, geckos and tortoises.
Some Reptile facts the students have learnt:
- All reptiles lay shelled eggs.
- A reptile breathes air.
- They have bony shells or are covered in scales.
- Majority of reptiles are cold-blooded.
- The most diverse reptiles are snakes and lizards.
- Most eat insects and small animals.
Our students were very brave and eager to touch and learn about the various reptiles. They couldn’t stop talking about all the wonderful things they saw during the special presentation by the Reptile Man.
Cindy Nunan
Pre-Reception Teacher
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Multi-Sensory Learning
The importance of teaching and learning with more than just sight and sound lessons.
Multi-sensory learning has the benefit of reinforcing strengths, improving students’ weaknesses and assisting the brain in making connections between current knowledge and the new knowledge that is being taught. It also helps students who differ in learning styles to make concrete connections during the lesson.
In the BIS Library – learning is dynamic, engaging and often involves more than three of the body’s senses. The ‘/j/’ sound lesson is the perfect example of a lesson where students are facilitated in remembering the sound by tasting jelly. After singing the jolly phonics song for ‘/j/’, they move their bodies like wobbling jelly and read a book about jelly. The students then have the opportunity to enjoy smelling and tasting some jelly. Multi-sensory lessons seem more like playing than learning to children and as research has shown, this is one of the best means for children’s brains to make connections and store information.
Facilitating learning through the senses is important, in particular learning to read because reading always leans towards sight and sound. Reading is an abstract concept that requires concrete learning methods in its teaching, and not only for those who need it with regard to their learning styles.
Kirsten Stoffberg
School Librarian and Teacher
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Book Week 2022: Foundation Phase And How To Ensure Success When Reading With Your Child
From the 3rd to 6th of May, we celebrated Book Week throughout the school. We do this to help foster a love and excitement for books and reading. There was a wide variety of fun and interesting events that took place.
On Tuesday, Hooked on Books came to school to entertain the students. They performed short excerpts from age appropriate books and the students even got to act out a poem with the actors’ guidance.
On Wednesday evening, the students joined their teachers in their pyjamas for hot chocolate and bedtime stories. It was an evening full of laughter, cuddles and creating fond memories with friends.
Throughout the week, The Book People gave students the opportunity to peruse a large variety of books and some purchased a book to add to their home library.
On Friday we had a character dress up day. It was wonderful seeing the creativity and pride that the children took in dressing up. During the week, Reception and Pre-Reception classes also swapped teachers at story time so that they could listen to the stories represented in the other classrooms.
Below are some tips you can use at home to make reading fun and to ensure success when reading with your child:
When you are creating fun reading activities for your children, you need to be excited about the activity too. You want to create something that is worth your child’s time to sit, listen, and learn. Here are some tips to help you succeed:
- Have a happy voice: Children are smart. If your voice is monotone and you are trying to cram in a book before bedtime, they will know it. Make your voice sound excited when you read the words. Remember to smile and have fun!
- Take your time: Plan ahead to make sure you have enough time to read before nap and bedtime. You don’t want to do fun reading activities when you or your kids are tired. They will be less likely to be engaged.
- Read over or skim the book before you get it: I found many books were not appropriate for children. They had things in there I was not ready to discuss at their young age. Protect their innocence and choose books that represent the same values you stand for at home.
- Don’t quit: Your children may not be excited at first. Keep working at it. Try different things to see what works. Don’t give up. Reading needs to be a lifelong skill that gets encouraged from when your children are young.
- Empower your children: Get your children to pick out books, give them a choice between two fun reading activities, let them pick out which book to read at bedtime, or let them choose a book to give another child as a birthday present. All these things give them ownership. If they come up with the idea or make the decision themselves, they are more likely to be engaged.
Kim Hahn
Reception Year Teacher
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The Science of Play
‘Happy hearts and happy faces. Happy play in grassy places. That is how, in ancient ages, Children grew to be kings and sages.’ – Robert Louis Stevenson
Play is one of the most important aspects of a child’s life. Why? Because through play they develop their social skills, language and communication. Play can be considered a child’s “work” as it is how they learn, how they figure out who they are, how the world works and where they fit into it. It offers children a chance to exercise and develop muscle strength and with nothing more than little imagination, a playground can become a fortress, a submarine, or even a spaceship. Their brain can connect and refine pathways that enable them to feel loved, happy and safe.
Young children are natural artists and one of the keys to supporting your child’s playtime effectively is to not take over. Yes sure, it’s frustrating when they make a mess and when they aren’t “doing it right”, but to every answer, there is a question that needs to be asked. Ask them questions and let them answer for themselves. Don’t panic or get anxious when they stumble or stutter, the very idea that you are with them, at that moment, provides them with answers to questions they weren’t even asking.
Children do not need expensive or elaborate toys, as real play only requires toys and resources that are open-minded in nature. That is why so many children are more interested in the toy box that the actual toy. However, it is important to remember that as children grow, and their imagination extends outside the box, the toy inside will define what enjoyment should look like for the majority of their young adult life.
The Value of Play
You say that you love your children,
And are concerned that they learn today,
As am I, that’s why I’m providing
A variety of kinds of play.
You are asking what’s the value
Of having your children play?
Your daughter’s creating a tower,
She may be a builder someday.
You’re asking me the value
of blocks and sand and clay.
Your children are solving problems,
They will use that skill every day.
You’re saying that you don’t want your son
To play in that way.
He’s learning to cuddle a doll,
He may be a father someday.
You’re questioning the learning centers,
They just look like useless play.
Your children are making choices,
They’ll be on their own someday.
You’re worried your children aren’t learning
And later they’ll have to pay.
They’re learning a pattern for learning,
For they’ll be learners always.
– by Laurie Monopoli
So, I would like to end off and say, yes it may just be child’s play, but when you engage and make the most out of playtime, you may even find answers to questions you were never asked.
Jo-Anne Dickason
Nursery Teacher
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Next Week Is Book Week!
We will celebrate book week next week at BIS. It’s a fantastic opportunity to celebrate books and to see the young students getting excited about reading.
There will be many fun activities during Book Week:
- On Tuesday, 3 May 2022 we will do stop, drop and read. All students need to stop what they are doing and listen to or read a story for 10 minutes when they hear the bell ring.
- We are holding another night of fun stories and book sharing for Foundation Phase and Key Stage 1 students. Bedtime story evening on Wednesday, 4 May 2022 will start at 18:00. We invite all students to come along wearing pyjamas and snuggling their bedtime toy and listen to some great bedtime stories told by the teachers and parents.
- Book Character dress up day will be on Friday, 6 May 2022. Students are encouraged to bring a book to donate and dress up as their favourite book character.
As you can see our Book Week is packed full of exciting activities for the students.
Martie van Dyk
Pre-Reception Teacher
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Learning About Mr Plus In Reception Year
Earlier on in the term we started off by learning about the concept of more, which also helped the students understand the idea of counting forward and numbers getting bigger when one more is added.
This week, the students were introduced to a very popular and friendly character in Numberland, called Mr Plus. Mr Plus likes to bring the numbers together by making friends with them and making them more. The students learnt a song about Mr Plus. Then the teacher pretended to be Mr Plus, using the students to make sums. The sums were made on the board using magnets and a whiteboard pen.
The students were reminded that the plus sign is in between the numbers to add them and the equals sign comes before the answer. Afterwards the students came to the mat in small groups for a focus group lesson with the teacher. They used their own counters on their whiteboards to make their own sums.
The students were so excited to be making sums with counters and learnt how to check if their answers were correct. Later on they will also be introduced to picture sums and progress to using counters or their own drawings to work out addition sums with numbers.
Mathematics can be so much fun!
Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year Teacher
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