Year 2’s Rock Online Learning!
We sometimes tend to underestimate our children’s ability to adapt to change and forget how resilient they are. The dreaded ‘online learning’ loomed over our heads during the holidays. Would we? Wouldn’t we?
Of course, I can only speak for us teachers and have no idea how much effort, bribing or even begging, parents have had to resort to, to ensure their children are online and also complete their work daily. So, our heartfelt thanks go to all the parents, grandparents, family members and friends who are supporting the children during this process.
I have really enjoyed the one-on-one chats I have had with my class over the last few days. In a classroom situation, often there just is not enough time to listen to every child’s story or viewpoint.
Yes, it is stressful for parents and teachers alike, but if I compare Term 3 now, to the hard lockdown during Term 2 last year, I think we have all come a long way.
We look forward to welcoming our students back into the classroom and sincerely hope it will be sooner than later.
Kim Coetzer
Year 2 Teacher
Holiday News
The winter holidays are often a challenge for many parents especially when there are rainy days. However, the Year 1 students enjoyed the time at home and had lots of fun.
Usually on the first day back at school, they love to share their news with their peers, but could not do that with online learning. Instead, they have practiced their writing skills and wrote about the highlights of their holiday.
Ann Cordner
Year 1 Teacher
Holiday News in Reception
In Reception, the students could not wait to tell their teachers about all the fun things they had been doing over the holidays. Each student shared their favourite activity with the class.
Ms Nuthall was so proud to see the students very capably writing their very first heading in their book ‘My Holiday’.
Each member of the class took great delight in drawing their favourite activity during the holidays. This is how they described their pictures afterwards:
Ayo Bernardo Honwana (5 years old) “I went to the beach.”
Emmanuel Chukwuemeka (4 years old) “I was at home and my sister went to the doctor.”
Himansh Dammalapati (5 years old) “I went on a drive. It was rainy and sunny and I saw a rainbow.”
Somtochukwu Ezeonye (5 years old) “I went to the beach.”
Xavier Foulds (5 years old) “I went on the monkey bars at the park.”
Lukho Hashe (5 years old) “I went to the shops with my daddy. Mommy stayed at home.”
Jadey Howes (5 years old) “We were at the zoo.”
Melody Kroukamp (5 years old) “I went to Ouma and Oupa and played a lot.”
Ingelam Mabona (5 years old) “I went to the shops.”
Londeka Magagula (5 years old) “I played at the playground.”
Pecresse Muteb Kawan (5 years old) “I played with my friends.”
Charlcy Nyausaru (4 years old) “I was playing in the garden.”
Jan Pani (5 years old) “I went to the rock pools and caught some fish there.”
Daniel Perdigão (5 years old) “I played in my backyard and took a picture with my mom’s phone.”
Arye Shaik Mohamed (5 years old) “I went to see my grandparents in Johannesburg.”
Shivansh Trivedi (4 years old) “I went to the playground.”
Durva Vanjare 5 (years old) “I went to the beach with my family and then we went to the mall.”
Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year Teacher
Reception Year Holiday News!
It’s hard to believe that the third term has already begun and we are at the start of another busy term in Reception Year. The students arrived back at school on Tuesday, brimming with excitement and eager to share all the wonderful things that they had been doing during the winter holidays.
This term we will be learning about how to copy sentences about our “news”. We have learnt about sentence structure, that a sentence starts with a capital letter, ends in a full stop and that words need to be evenly spaced.
The students were given the opportunity to explain one thing about their holiday to their “talk partner” sitting next them. This helps them remember their favourite part. They began the task by drawing a detailed picture of their holiday news. When the teacher came around, the students gave her a sentence, which she wrote in the lines under their pictures. They then carefully tried to copy their sentences in the lines below, using the correct punctuation and spacing. The students made good attempts at copying their sentences and these are a few of the sentences that they came up with:
Melissa Moje (5 years old): “I went to the beach.”
Emmanuel Omole (5 years old): “I watched T.V.”
Sarah Miller (6 years old): “I played outside.”
Joel Mofokeng (7 years old): “I played with my friends.”
Zoe-Jane Way (6 years old): “I went to my oupa’s house.”
Michele Lemme (6 years old): “I went to the shop.”
Lizelle Vorster (5 years old): “I played with my robot.”
Reuben Davids (6 years old): I went to the treehouse.”
Malin van Zandvoort (5 years old): “I played football.”
Thami Makubalo (5 years old): “I went for a walk.”
Madison Carli (5 years old): “We went to the shop.”
Britney Quaddri (5 years old); “I watched T.V.”
Uyindalo Kweyama (6 years old): “I found my teddy.”
Enzo Tona (6 years old): “I went to holiday care.”
Jenna Miller (6 years old): “I went to the shop.”
Gabriel Perdigão (6 years old): “I built a treehouse.”
Bronwen Nuthall
Reception Year teacher