International Barnaby Bear Day 2020
This term in Geography we learnt about the travels of Barnaby Bear. On Friday, the 6th of November 2020, we held an ‘International Barnaby Bear Day’, where we celebrated the places that he has travelled to. Despite the rain, we were still able to have fun and enjoy the day.
The Year 1’s came to school dressed up in the clothes worn by the people in a country of their choice. They all looked wonderful, celebrating their own cultures as well as the cultures and heritage of other countries.
Each Year 1 student had a chance to present and talk about their selected country, the culture, what is found in the country, the people and most of all, the food they eat. Some children brought food from their chosen country. It was really interesting seeing what they brought, and hearing what they had to say about each country.
For some of the activities during our special ‘International Day’, Mrs. Cronje read stories from London and the famous landmarks, Mrs. Cordner taught the students how to do line dancing to the famous song, ‘Achy Breaky Heart’, and the students coloured in pictures from Mexico.
It was a lovely day and we all learnt so much! Thank you to the students and the parents for all the effort they put in to make the day so memorable.
Wendy Menton
Year 1 Teacher
Inventors
In Year 1 we have been learning about Inventors for History. Our students each made their own Show and Tell poster of an inventor of their choice and told the class about them. From the inventor of, ‘Lego’ to the inventor of ‘Barbie’ and even the ‘Toilet’.
It has been fascinating learning about the various inventors from all over the world. It is important for children to use their own initiative and research something or someone who interests them.
Show and Tell is a chance for our students to show off their work. Being the centre of attention for a couple of minutes makes them feel special and important. These emotions will make them feel more confident and valued.
Charlotte Cronje
Year 1 Teacher
E-Learning Our Way Into Term 2
Welcome back to Term 2, only this term things are slightly different. On Wednesday, the Year 1 classes had their first day of E-learning.
What do I mean by E-learning?
It is a learning system based on formalized teaching, but with the help of electronic resources. By using Google classroom, videos and resources the teachers put together, the students were able to start their curriculum as normal. Our students receive regular learning objectives and we offer real time online support to parents who may need additional guidance.
A few parents shared photos with us showing how much their children are enjoying learning online. It is interesting to see the different ways they have set up their study spaces at home. There are wonderful tips and tricks to create an effective study space for your child online and would be worth looking into.
Here are some basic tips to create a great study space for your child:
– Position the desk to look away from distractions like windows and doors. Have them face a special wall where you put up the alphabet and other helpful materials for them to easily refer to.
– Set up supplies (computer, headphones, books, stationery, art supplies, etc) before studying begins and explain to your child how to keep them neat and in their place.
– Light is very important, a well lit area will make for better concentration.
– Control the clutter by encouraging your child to have a special place to keep their little trinkets and treasures in. (For example a container, drawer or shelf)
– Headphones are a great tool for E-learning and will minimise distractions if you have a busy household.
– Device downtime is extremely important and taking brain breaks to burn off energy cannot be overemphasized. Allow your child device free time and motivate them to get fresh air. Free and imaginative play will be a very beneficial addition to your child’s E-learning schedule and ultimate learning success.
We look forward to seeing many more E-learning photos and videos!
Tayla White
Year 1 Teacher
Integrating English and Design Technology in Year 1
In English lessons the Year 1 students have been reading stories about Bear, Dragon and Hedgehog. They have read and then acted out the stories. One of the stories was called, “What shall we make?” and the characters made a robot.
We decided that it would be fun to make puppets in Design and Technology, so the students could make up their own stories and perform a puppet show for their class. The students were given a small paper bag and two eyes, and then they had to use their imaginations to create their own puppets.
When the puppets we all enjoyed the puppet show.
Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher
Barnaby Bear Day 2019
This term the Year 1’s have enjoyed our Geography theme “Where in the world is Barnaby Bear?”
Barnaby Bear has visited England, the USA and India.
To close off our theme we had an International Day on Monday, 9 December. The students enjoyed traveling around the world experiencing the countries that Barnaby bear had visited. The students tasted different foods from the USA, India and England. The students were taught a line dance, Bollywood dance and listened to Mrs Cronje speak about her home country (England) followed by a lovely story.
It was a fun filled day and everyone enjoyed their around the world Barnaby bear day.
Tayla White
Year 1 Teacher
What I Learnt In Year 1
In Year 1 I learnt literacy. I loved numeracy because we do sums. Caleb
In Year 1 I learnt numeracy and science. I loved our science theme about Sounds. Aidan
In Year 1 I learnt German, P.E. and science. I loved P.E because it is fun. Liam
In Year 1 I learnt how to be good. I loved P.E. because we get to play soccer. Fernando
In Year 1 I learnt maths. I loved learning lots of new things. Eshwar
In Year 1 I learnt German. I loved P.E. because we play fun games. Callum
In Year 1 I learnt how to be smart. I loved school because I like sport and my favourite is tennis. Zach
In Year 1 I learnt numeracy. I loved P.E. because we do exercise. James
In Year 1 I learnt numeracy because we learn letters. I loved golden time because we make our own stuff. Joshua
In Year 1 I learnt geography and numeracy. I loved numeracy because we do fun things and lern. Divyanshi
In Year 1 I learnt History and Geography. I loved learning Spanish. Sinddhi
In Year 1 I learnt to be kind. I loved my teacher because she is the best in the world. Kwanda
In Year 1 I learnt to read and write. I loved Spanish. Paige
In Year 1 I learnt how to play games. I loved golden time because we play games. Tyler
In Year 1 I learnt new sounds. I loved golden time because we have fun. Isabella
In Year 1 I learnt literacy and German. I loved Mrs Pani teaching me German. Sulafa
In Year 1 I learnt to be kind and not to be rude. I loved my teacher because she lets us have golden time. Macca
Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher
Greenpoint Park, Year 1 Outing 2019
Year 1 went on an outing to Green point Park in Cape Town. We had a wonderful time walking around the Biodiversity gardens and through the Wetlands walk. We loved the Labyrinth, waited for the sun to shine so we could tell the time using the sun dial and finally played in the awesome play areas.
It was a fantastic, fun filled outing.
For more information on this excellent venue: http://www.gprra.co.za/green-point-urban-park.html
Charlotte Cronje
Year 1 Teacher
Creative Writing in Year 1
In Year 1 the students study a range of text types and genres in their English lessons. The texts are carefully selected to include an appropriate balance of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The students are encouraged to actively explore, investigate, understand, use and develop their knowledge of English and in particular reading, writing, listening and speaking skills through the use of regular, guided group and paired work, independent group work and individual work.
Our Year 1 students recently read the story of The Jigaree by Joy Cowley. After much discussion and a great deal of imagination, the students then wrote their own story about meeting an alien.
At this stage of the year the students are encouraged to use punctuation, full stops and capital letters, in their stories and apply their phonic knowledge to spell words.
These are some examples of the stories.
My alien’s name is Bob and he has an oval body. He has one eye on his forehead. Also he has two legs and two hands and most of all, fat wings with spots on his fat wings. I took him home.
Sinddhizhai Divakaran
Once upon a time I went to the moon and I saw an alien. She has two eyes at the top of her head and she has two wings. Her name is Shaldan. We went to the planetarium.
Ayaana Kuthas
I was at the moon when I saw an alien that cried because she had lost her mom and dad. So I helped her find her way back home. I loved her but I needed to let her go but she came back every time. She told me her name was Summer.
Isabella Heidmann
I saw an alien in the bin. He was peeking out the bin. I walked close then I went in his space ship. He drank juice. He had purple skin and he had a T-shirt with a skull. He went back to Mars and he went home. His name was ET.
Aidan Bezuidenhout
My alien’s name is Jasper. I met him at the park. We had an adventure. After that he went to his house.
Caleb Ajayi
Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher
Writing reports – Developing Comprehension
In Year 1 the students have been learning about non-fiction books. Last week they read reports about seals and then wrote their own reports about harp seals.
In order to write a report a student must achieve an understanding of the content they need to report on. This teaches them to think about what they have read. Comprehension is one of the most important skills a child must develop from a young age and can be developed at home as well.
You can help your child by adding a few little things to your reading routine:
- Hold a conversation and discuss what your child has read. Ask your child probing questions about the book and connect the events to his or her own life. For example, say “I wonder why that girl did that?” or “How do you think he felt? Why?” and “So, what lesson can we learn here?”.
- Help your child make connections between what he or she reads and similar experiences he has felt, saw in a movie, or read in another book.
- Help your child monitor his or her understanding. Teach her to continually ask herself whether she understands what she’s reading.
- Help your child go back to the text to support his or her answers.
- Discuss the meanings of unknown words, both those he reads and those he hears.
- Read material in short sections, making sure your child understands each step of the way.
- Discuss what your child has learned from reading informational text such as a science or social studies book.
https://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/comprehension
Here are a few of the creative reports they wrote:
The harp seals habitat is ice and water. The diet of a seal is fish and the pup’s diet is milk. The pup’s fur is white, after 2 weeks the grey hair comes under the white fur.
Kwanda DyakalasheThe harp seal has milk for 12 days and it also has fish. It lives on ice and water. Its fur turns grey.
Zach GouwsThe habitat of a harp seal is ice and water. The diet of a baby seal is fish. A mother seal eats fish The baby seal has with fur for 12 days. After 2 weeks their fur turns grey.
Divyanshi BajpaiThe habitat of a harp seal is ice and water. The diet is fish and milk. They are white and then turn grey.
Fernando ErasunThe habitat of a harp seal is ice and water and their diet is fish and milk. Their fur is white. Under the white fur grey fur grows.
Paige FuchsThe harp seal swims in water. They live on ice. They eat fish. Baby seals drink milk. After that the baby fur turns grey.
Callum Greyling
Ann Cordner
Year 1 teacher
Learning New Languages in Year 1
Students at Blouberg International School learn a number of languages from Year 1, including Spanish, German and Afrikaans. One of the benefits of learning another language is improved academic performance in areas such as Maths, reading comprehension and vocabulary tests.
In Year 1 the focus is on having fun while learning a new language. In our lessons the students learn poems, sing songs, listen to stories and role play. We try to encourage the students to speak to each other in Afrikaans, practising the new vocabulary they learn.
Language learning tip: We find it to be very beneficial when our students use their newly acquired Afrikaans to converse to Afrikaans speaking members of the community, read Afrikaans stories and watch Afrikaans programmes on television.
Nelson Mandela is believed to have said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”.
Mrs Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher