The Egyptian Wesekh
Term 4 is always the most exciting for our Year 3’s. This is because they have seen previous Year 3 “Egyptian’s” strutting the school grounds in all their Egyptian finery and they just can’t wait to start learning about Ancient Egypt. We kicked off the term investigating Egypt’s geographical features, the pyramids, Nile River, Egyptian civilization, Pharaohs, as well as their gods and goddesses.
Our Year 3’s have also already begun planning for Egypt Day and have created a beautiful jewellery accessory known as a Wesekh that they can wear on the day. The jewellery of ancient Egyptians held religious and symbolic significance and was treasured for its beauty and power against evil and death. It was buried with men and women because the Egyptians expected to enjoy wearing their finery in the afterlife.
We started our Wesekhs by looking at various real examples and discussing their features and designs, looking in particular at shape, symmetry and colour. Students then went ahead and designed their necklace by first deciding on a shape and then layout. The next step was to decorate the Wesekh by using anything that sparkled including old costume jewellery, glitter, beads and precious stones that the students collected. The results were stunning!
Be sure to keep an eye out for these amazing accessories on the 12th of November when Year 3 steps out in style on Egypt Day!
Mandy Goch
Year 3 Teacher
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Exploring Seed Dispersal
This term, the Year 5’s have been learning about the different ways seeds are dispersed. We looked at seed dispersal by animals, humans, wind and water. Seeds must be dispersed so they have enough space, water and light to grow into a new plant.
Fun Facts about Seeds:
- The largest seed in the world is the double coconut. It can measure up to 50cm (1.6ft) around the middle! Some coconuts have floated 2,000km over the sea before they find dry land!
- Seeds provide the world’s daily food. Your breakfast cereal and toast, your pasta or pizza lunch and your rice dish for tea all started life as seeds from different grasses.
- Some orchid seed-pods hold 3 million seeds.
- Kapok is soft, fluffy stuff that comes from a seed-case. Years ago it was used to fill life jackets, because it is light, strong and waterproof. Nowadays, modern plastics have replaced it.
- Some seeds found in frozen soil in Canada were grown and produced flowers – the seeds were thought to be more than 10,000 years old!
- There are some very dangerous seeds, such as those that come from deadly nightshade; two berries could kill you. Even more dangerous are the seeds from the Castor-oil plant.
- Most oak trees don’t grow acorns until they are at least 50 years old. If you have planted an acorn, how old will you be before you can plant its acorns?
My class (Year 5NM) recently decided to create our very own papery wing shaped seeds to test out how the wind would carry it. We designed different shapes of wings that we attached to a bean seed. We made sure to use paper, making the wings light and feathery, easy to be moved by the wind.
The results of this experiment were great! Students went outside and put their wing shaped seeds to the test. They were exhilarated to get hands on experience with seed dispersal.
Seeds are so interesting and we will certainly never think of them as just seeds ever again.
Nadia Mahomed
Year 5 Teacher
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Masters of Measurement
For the past two weeks, the Year 4s have been learning more about Measurement. This included Length (mm, cm, m and km), Mass (g and kg), Capacity (ml and L) and Volume.
We’ve covered the following content:
- Choosing and using metric units
- Their abbreviations
- Estimating
- Measuring
- Recording
- Reading scales and intervals
“It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” – Ann Landers
Students got the opportunity this week to apply their knowledge and skills that they’ve learned with some practical, hands-on activities. They had to make use of various measuring equipment such as an/a:
- Analogue kitchen scale
- Digital kitchen scale
- Digital bathroom scale
- Measuring tape
- Industrial measuring tape
- Kettle
- Measuring cups and spoons
Take a look at some of the wonderful, fun photos taken of them in action and practically applying what they have learned.
Ria du Plessis
Year 4 Teacher and Coordinator
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Cool Beans!
Towards the end of last term, the Year 5’s began to explore the life cycle of plants, and investigated which factors are needed in order for a seed to begin to germinate, as well as what happens in the beginning stages of a plant’s life! We conducted an experiment where we gave two batches of seeds warmth and water, but only gave one batch of seeds air. Through this investigation, we learnt that seeds need all three factors, water, warmth AND air to germinate, as the seeds with air began to germinate, while the other batch did not!
Just before the holidays, the Year 5’s “planted” their very own bean seeds in a clear jar with paper towel and some water. The seeds were left in a nice sunny, warm spot and given water when needed. On return to school, the kids were thrilled to see just how much their bean babies had grown! By the end of the holidays, all the seed coats had split open, most had grown in intricate series of roots, and a few had even grown a tall shoot with the first two leaves! After such an eventful introduction to the topic of plant life cycles, we just can’t wait to see what else we will be learning about our wonderful world in Science this term!
Robyn Pieters
Year 5 Teacher
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Team Building Tournament
Year 4 students enjoyed a lovely morning of team building to end the term. Coach Fabein from FP Sports and his team of professional coaches organised some fun activities for the classes to complete in a Round Robin competition. The students had a great time and Mrs du Plessis’ class won the challenge overall.
We would like to thank our wonderful team of coaches for the care and support that they show our students every day. We look forward to a well-deserved holiday and to come back refreshed and ready in Term 4.
Yvette Fourie
Year 4 Teacher
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Robots And Our Futures
This term, the Year 5’s have been interestingly looking at the impact of modern technology on our world. We have specifically looked at Robots taking over our jobs. The students were asked to work in groups of 4 or 5 and put together a news broadcast, where they interview a factory owner who has decided to replace his factory workers with Robots.
Here is an example of a News Broadcast written by Nuraan Price (Year 5 Student)
News Reporter: Good morning all and thank you for joining our live broadcast! We have an interesting crisis for you this morning between a factory owner and his workers. Apparently he wants to replace them with robots! I am here today with all the people involved including Dave; the owner of the factory, one of his workers, the son of this worker and last but not least, the robot designer herself! Let’s start off with you Dave. How’s it going?
Factory Owner: Morning y’all, my name is Dave, and I’m the owner of Sweets & Treats, the Candy Factory.
News Reporter: So tell us Dave, what is the future you see for Sweets & Treats?
Factory Owner: Well, I’m a little ashamed to say, but Sweet & Treats hasn’t been doing so well this last year. And I know our employees are quite tired and a little stressed out trying to get orders and money in, so yeah, we’re struggling. Unfortunately, the factory might have to close down soon if this keeps up. So to anyone listening, go and order or buy some of Sweets & Treats’ delicious candy today! It’s available at any shop near you!
News Reporter: That must be hard, so what’s the deal with the robots?
Factory Owner: I think what’s best for the factory is for robots to do the work. That way all the candy can be made more cheaply and they can work faster for long periods and without making any mistakes. I am very aware this means that many people at my factory will lose their jobs, so when we make enough money from the robots I will give those who need it $1000 just to get them on their feet and help everyone out a little bit. The robots will probably be here and ready by January.
News Reporter: Thank you so much for sharing your opinion with us Dave! And you’re right, this must have a big impact on your workers, in fact we have one right here with us today! Would you mind telling us your name?
Factory Worker: Hello! Thank you for having me, my name is Tom, and I currently work at Sweets & Treats!
News Reporter: How has Dave’s new decision affected you and your life?
Factory Worker: Well I’ve worked at the factory for 7 years now and I’m one of Dave’s best workers and honestly I find it a little offensive that Dave would just throw us under the bus like that haha, but I know that he is just doing what’s best for the company and I respect that. I am however a little worried that I won’t be able to support my family anymore and trying to find a new job will be extremely hard for me especially during these times. Of course Dave’s $1000 will help a lot and I really appreciate it but I’m afraid that it won’t be enough until I find a job.
News Reporter: Wow, I hope it goes well for you and thank you for sharing with us. We also have your son here today to hear his say in the matter. Hi, would you mind introducing yourself?
Factory Worker’s Son: Hello there, my name is Alex and I’m 12 years old.
News Reporter: How are you today?
Alex: I’m good and you?
News Reporter: I’m very well thank you. How do you feel about the situation your dad is in right now?
Alex: Um, well I’m a little scared that my dad won’t be able to provide for me and my mom, but I think that it’s really nice of Dave to give us $1000. Another thing I’m worried about is my future. I’ve been studying and working as hard as I can in school and I’ve been getting A’s but I don’t know what job I’ll be able to get when I’m older since robots are taking over so many jobs. My mom says I can try to become a robot designer or programmer since robots can’t take over that job and I think that’s a great idea and it would be really cool to do, but I’m afraid that I’m not smart enough or it will be too difficult.
News Reporter: Don’t be silly Alex! Of course you’re smart enough! You can be anything you want to be. And if you do decide to study it, it will get easier over time. And I hope you enjoy it! Thank you to you and your father for sharing your sides of the story with us and I wish you the best of luck! I have one more person here with me, and that is the Robot Designer herself!
Robot Designer: Hi everyone, my name is Wendy Hensler. I’m 27 years old and I work for the tech company, AI. Inc.
News Reporter: So how has Dave’s decision helped your company?
Robot Designer: Sweets & Treats is the third company to call us and ask for this, we’ve been very busy and it’s pretty exciting to be able to design and make more robots than ever. I studied hard to become a robot designer, I love my job and I’m so happy to be able to work for one of the best tech companies in the country. Many manufacturers are moving to automation, to compete with overseas companies that are making the same product for much cheaper. I feel that without Robots, many companies will have to close down, but of course humans are just as powerful too.
News Reporter: Well there you have it folks, one robot and so many lives affected, is this the future? Good or Bad? I guess only time will tell. Well thank you to everyone for joining me today and thank you for sticking around, and I’ll see you next time folks, Good morning!
*End of interview*
We can never predict what will happen in the future, but we can rest easy knowing that we are preparing our students to ask the right questions and shape the world they want to live in.
Nadia Mahomed
Year 5 Teacher
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Picasso, Pianos and Portraits!
The Year 4’s have been focusing on an interesting technique in Art and Design for the past few weeks, namely Cubism.
A few facts about Cubism:
- Cubism is a style of Art invented in 1907.
- It was a very different way of painting to anything that had been done before.
- In Cubism, an artist tried to show different views of the same object or person all together in one painting. When you look at a Cubist painting, you might see the front, side and back of the same object.
- Cubist artists tried to break an object or person up into different parts. This often made the painting look like it was made up of geometric shapes like cubes.
Pablo Picasso was one of the first artists to explore Cubism. He wanted to paint things that he felt, remembered and saw all in one painting. Some of his most famous creations are the guitar sculptures made of cardboard and sheet metal, and the painting The Weeping Woman. We used these two art works as inspiration to create our masterpieces.
Have a look at our beautiful paintings of Picasso’s guitar and portraits using pastels and the Cubism technique.
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso
Ria du Plessis
Year 4 Coordinator
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Year 3 Chess Champion
“Every Chess Master was once a Beginner” – Irving Chernev
This is not a game of Chaturanga or a Queen’s Gambit, but it is certainly a move in the right direction for Sinddhizhai Divakaran in Year 3.
Sinddhizhai finished first in the Western Province Open Chess Championship and came second in the Under 8 Girls closed championship. Sinddhizhai matched the total points with the player who ranked first, but because of a tie breaker system, she ended up in second position.
Last week, Sinddhizhai took part in an International World Youth Under 10 Rapid online chess tournament, stage 1. Top players from 54 different countries participated in the tournament. Sinddhizhai managed 4 wins and drew 1 game, and also achieved an overall position of 97th out of 154 players.
Sinddhizhai got the chance to play with players from Slovenia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Malta, Belgium, Panama, Vietnam, Albania and South Africa. She also managed to directly win against the South African player, who previously won the under 8 National Championship in tie breaker.
An important highlight in this whole story is, that there is no separate section in the international arena for Under 8 girls, where Sinddhi actually belongs. She competed with a more senior group of under 10 players.
As Irving Chernev said, this is only the beginning for Sinddhizhai Divakaran.
We are super proud of you!
Wendy Menton
Year 3 Teacher
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Dynamic Classroom – Become actively involved in the process of learning!
One of the challenges after online teaching has been to bring the students back to be part of the dynamics of the class. We must adapt activities to help students continue to feel connected with their own learning, but also with their peers.
In my opinion, no online learning experience can replace the classroom dynamics that include student behaviour, emotions and imagination; giving space to the students for their self-expression.
It also includes a teacher’s way of presenting academic materials and students’ interactions. A teacher’s profession demands dynamism, you must also be organized, encourage participation, surprise your students, try new things, give them structure and consistency (beginning of the class routine, role-play lessons, oral projects) and challenge students to think through appropriate questioning strategies. We move from the simplest to more complex ones, helping them to build their confidence. (* Please see some examples below)
Teachers also need to promote relationships between students in the class, as with team work skills. These relationships need to be positive and productive, because they will have a big impact on the result of the group. We can make them positive by choosing useful aims, relevant topics, and appropriate and fun activity types. Effective teaching and learning cannot take place in a poorly managed classroom.
One recommendation is to make things more visual by showing your class ways they can use images to practice high-frequency structures in Spanish. For example, in my class, I worked on how to present the prepositions of place and present continuous form in a fun and practical way.
To expand on this idea, I asked the students to take “crazy” photos or capture funny videos of their pets during their holidays.
I asked students to describe in Spanish where the animals are and what they are doing in those images, using the prepositions of place and present continuous expressions that we are learning. These videos and photos have personal meaning to them, they are fun to watch and have an academic purpose.
In class, we display the images, and I start lessons by asking the students questions:
A simple yes/no question for the students to answer:
“Is the cat on top of the bed?” ¿Está el gato encima de la cama?
Then asking two option questions:
“Is the cat on top or under the bed?” ¿Está el gato encima o debajo de la cama?
Finally, more difficult and open questions:
“Where is the cat?” ¿Dónde está el gato?
Visual images have become an essential tool in language learning and such a big part of the new generations. They are so adaptable and help students interact with the Spanish language in multiple ways at the same time. During our Spanish lessons this last year, I have encouraged the classes more than ever to send me pictures or videos practicing everything that we have learned in the class.
Javier Vidal
Spanish Teacher
Here are some examples of the images that the students brought to the class or sent to Google classroom for their pets projects:
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The Next World Leaders
In Global Perspectives this term, the Year 6 students have been learning about values. To start off the discussion, they were asked to brainstorm their own personal values. They needed to design and create a poster illustrating which of these values were important to them and explain why. The students presented their posters in class, and wow, the Year 6 teachers were so impressed with their heart-warming presentations.
We then moved on to discuss the differences between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ and looked through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Once the students gained a better understanding of children’s rights, they explored how all their educational needs are met, and who is responsible for this.
They then had the opportunity to read our school’s mission and vision statement. In groups, they had a discussion on how the mission statement could be changed or adapted and made suggestions on what they would add to the school’s mission statement.
The Year 6’s will soon move on to researching information on school attendance worldwide and research an organisation that is helping to get every child into school. They will present their findings in class.
It is very impressive to watch the Year 6 students collaborate, develop and unify their ideas. We cannot wait to see what the next presentations hold in store for us.
Keep up the great work Year 6!
Katherine Nel
Year 6 Teacher
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