The Shapes Around Us
Everything we see in the world around us has a shape. We can find different basic shapes such as the two-dimensional square, rectangle, and oval or the three-dimensional rectangular prism, cylinder, and sphere in the objects we see around us.
In Year 1 this term, we are learning about shapes and noticing them in the world around us.
We had some fun making shapes using various materials in our classroom such as ice cream sticks, play dough and then we went onto the school field to create shapes with our bodies.
We look forward to learning more interesting facts about shapes as the term progresses.
Charlotte Cronje
Year 1 Teacher
COOL TO LEAD Workshop
Last week on Tuesday, 16th February 2021, the Year 6’s took part in a ‘Cool to Lead’ workshop hosted by Clara Powell.
The workshop focused on fluid leadership which is the ability of the peer group to create an environment of individuality, mutual respect and collaboration that allows for the fluid movement between individual members of the group stepping up to lead, or using their power to follow, depending on what type of characteristics and intelligence each situation requires.
The Year 6’s learnt the following skills: that every individual possesses some positive leadership characteristics, every individual is intelligent in a different way and in order for fluid leadership to work they need to create an environment of mutual respect and appreciation.
Here is what some of the Year 6’s had to say about the ‘Cool to Lead’ workshop:
“I enjoyed the Inting and I learnt what characteristics a person needs to be a leader. I learnt a leader is able to work with anyone, teamwork is key to a good team and that a good leader is kind. In the Inting I thought that the team I was on worked well together and had many great ideas when we built our Noodle Tower and we had fun.“
– Juliette East
“The Leadership Inting was really inspiring. It taught me how to be the best leader I can be. I found out that I work quite well with a few people I don’t usually work with, and I know a few more things about my friends that I didn’t know before. I had so much fun and I’m happy I got to experience everything.“
– Lily Mawaya
“I liked when we had to make the tallest tower out of spaghetti, tape and place marshmallows at the top of the tower.”
– Cole Dreyer
“The Inting was truly great. We played a lot of fun team games and learnt many things. We discovered that being a monitor takes a sense of teamwork, leadership and kindness. As the future monitors, we need to set an example TOGETHER!”
– Lulu Venzke-Krecklenberg
Katherine Nel
Year 6 Teacher
BIS Valentine’s Celebrations 2021
As a school we celebrated Valentine’s Day last Friday with a civvies day and treats available for pre-order. The Year 11 class worked very hard to put the day together- from folding hundreds of sweetie boxes to hurrying around the school with envelopes and class lists, they did themselves proud and ensured the event was a success.
It is wonderful that we are, once again, able to hold events such as Valentine’s Day celebrations and though they may not be as they were in previous years, it is important that we keep such annual events running.
We hope that all the students enjoyed the celebrations! Everyone certainly looked fantastic decked out in red, white and pink and the sweetie boxes and doughnuts were met with great enthusiasm.
We would like to thank the parents for their continued support and all the teachers across the school who worked together to make this event a success. The funds raised go towards the 2021 Matric Dance at the end of the year and we appreciate everyone’s support in this endeavour.
Alice Pryor
Year 12 Tutor Teacher
WATCH: Valentine’s Day at Blouberg International School 2021
Read More
Year 2 Art Fun
“Art is a place for children to trust their ideas themselves, and to explore what is possible.” – Maryann F. Kohl
In the last couple of weeks, our Year 2’s have been having great fun during Art class! We explored and experimented with various mediums to make Lollipop and Animal Hand Art creations.
Being such wonderful hot summer weather lately, we found the Lollipop art to be particularly fitting. We thought about what our favourite lollipops flavours were and created them using cardboard, colouring things and some ice-cream sticks. The various flavours that the students selected look super yummy! From caramel chocolate to strawberry and even watermelon. How fun!
We also experimented with the idea of creating some cool animals using our hands as body cutouts. We had some really creative ideas like bunny rabbits, unicorns and even flamingos. The Year 2’s love getting creative and look forward to Art time every week!
Siobhan Hendry
Year 2 Teacher
(*Masks were removed for photograph purposes only.)
Orientation Morning 2021
Written By – Alyssa (Year 12 Student)
On Tuesday the 12th of January, we had our induction day, introducing the new students as well as last year’s year 6’s entering year 7. With the current global pandemic, induction day was done a little differently this year with all the safety measures put in place.
The fresh faces were guided through our campus by our lovely matrics. Each group of new faces were led by three of our seniors to meet all of their amazing and inspiring new teachers and become familiar in the new environment at Blouberg International. All students had an introduction to their tutor teachers.
At the end of the day, each student was given a pre-packed snack pack and all the students sat with their new friends and enjoyed their snacks. It’s safe to say that induction day went extremely well.
Written By – Hope (Year 12 Student
On Tuesday the 12th of January, the matric class welcomed new students and the year 7’s to the high school. The day started at 09:00 with a brief introduction of the seniors.
We then proceeded with separating the children in groups of 5 or 6 (in order to follow covid regulations) and we took them on a tour of the facility where they will be spending the next few years. The kids were excited and had so many questions about anything and everything. They met their teachers and got their timetables and lockers.
At the end of the morning, they were given some water and a healthy but delicious snack box. In conclusion, the day was an absolute success and the children were so happy to be beginning high school. As a senior, I was proud to be a guardian to the kids and I can’t wait to see them grow and mature.
Read More
Reflective Learning In Year 5
The Year 5’s started off the year excited and ready to learn. After enthusiastically greeting old friends and welcoming new ones, we got down to the business of learning.
One of the fantastic things about Cambridge learning is that it is reflective. The students are actively engaged in their own learning, building knowledge rather than simply receiving it. The Year 5’s implemented this right from the start of their learning, starting a KWL chart about the topic we are covering this term – Space! A KWL chart makes notes of what we Know, what we Would like to know and what we have Learnt.
Did you know that Jupiter has 79 moons, but only 53 of them have names? Or that we currently know of about 100 billion galaxies in the universe? Jupiter is the planet that spins the fastest, and Mercury is very hot during the day and very cold at night. These are some of the interesting facts that we shared in our first Science lesson!
As we go through the term, we’ll keep adding what we learn to our chart, watching our knowledge build throughout the term. We’ll look at the questions we had at the beginning, and see whether they have been answered, or whether we still have more research to do. Who knows – perhaps this is where some budding astronauts start their flight!
We look forward to seeing all our students fly high this year!
Hannah Kirkaldy
Year 5 Teacher
From the Principal’s Desk, 15 January 2021
Dear Parents
Welcome to the start of the 2021 academic year. Although this is an unprecedented time, we are confident that this year will be a memorable one for every student. Even though we are starting the year with much uncertainty in terms of what the government will prescribe, we are confident that our educational programme can continue successfully.
On Tuesday, 12 January, we received our matric results. We are extremely proud of the excellent marks achieved, particularly in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. Our students have raised the bar and we look forward to continual growth in these subject areas. For more news about the results, please see our matric results page.
Our top student for the 2020 matric class is Darshan Naidoo, with a total of 3 distinctions out of 5 subjects on AS level and 2 A* distinctions in A level! Well done Darshan!
We wish to thank every parent for your support in ensuring the success of our first day at school on Wednesday. It is always a challenge to co-ordinate the first day of school, with logistics such as stationery collection, drop off and introducing new students to the school. Your compliance on Wednesday made it easy to co-ordinate and help our students transition into the new academic year.
We understand your need to connect with the new class teacher for 2021 and we therefore plan on holding online information evenings for meet and greet purposes and so you can be informed of the processes for Term 1. In addition to the online meetings, you will receive an information letter containing all the important information for the 2021 academic year.
We ask that you refrain from meeting with the teachers in the mornings as parents are still not allowed on the premises. We have a responsibility to our staff and students to minimize the number of people on campus. Teachers are available for online, face to face, meetings should this be necessary, but please contact them initially via email. We have everyone’s best interests at heart and as much as our medical personnel are on the frontline, so are our teachers.
COVID ISOLATION PROTOCOL
Just a reminder that should a member of your household test positive, you must not send your child to school (even if the child themselves tested negative). Students who are exposed to a confirmed positive case should be in isolation and not exposed the rest of the class. Please adhere to this strictly!
INFORMATION MEETINGS
Our teachers will communicate the dates of the online information meetings for parents next week. This is an opportunity for you to meet your child’s class teacher and ask any questions you might have.
We also welcome Miss Tayla Shergold-Smith who has joined our high school staff. We wish her all the best for the year ahead.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend!
Kind regards
Edna
From Left to Right: Alexander Massyn, Vallarie Fodson, Katherine Lott and Jianicia Meintjes.
From Left to Right: Khanyisa Buthelezi, Audrey Lepo, Azande Dube and Keryn Crawcour.
Read More
The Importance Of Verbal Feedback Meetings
We all are aware that the main reason for a Verbal Feedback meeting is for the teacher and the parents to discuss a student’s progress in order to enhance their child’s education. There are also many other important reasons for these meetings, that many parents may not be aware of.
The Year 2 teachers have discussed the importance of these meetings and this is what we have concluded:
– A child’s education is a partnership between parents and teachers – especially in times like these. Verbal Feedback meetings allow the teacher to express how grateful they are for the parents being “sergeants” and ensuring that their children actually do the work.
– We would like to show parents we are here to support them as well as their child. We are here to listen and help where we can.
– Parents are able to ask questions directly instead of waiting for a reply via email. These meetings help the teacher to inquire whether parents have seen any areas of struggle their child faces that the teacher may not necessarily be aware of.
– These meetings allow for parents to be heard and discuss their opinions based on what may work better for their children and them. This dialog helps teachers adapt their lessons to suit the needs of all their students, especially at a time like this where online learning is the main learning platform.
Year 4 – Online Can Be Fun
Some of the things we do on Fridays include:
1. We dress up, including themes such as funky hair/hats, bring a book, superhero’s, cool shades, character day and wear your favourite colour.
2. We played online games such as scavenger hunt, funny face screenshots, charades and amazing race.
3. We go on virtual tours all over the world. Recently, we visited the Amazon, Universal Studios Orlando, NASA and Pirates of the Caribbean.
4. We learn to draw. Our Year 4 students have created amazing drawings following ‘Art Hub’ on YouTube.
5. We do some amazing art. Learning about Picasso and Cubism and One Point Perspective.
6. Story time. We read some inspirational books using ‘Storyline Online’ on YouTube. We listened to Oprah reading the Hula Hoopin’ Queen and practiced our own Hula skills. We also listened to the inspirational story ‘The house that Jane built’ and our students shared some ideas of what they can do to help people in need.
We miss our friends and we miss our school, our teachers miss us too, BUT it hasn’t been all bad and we will get through this stronger than ever.
Marlize Keyser
Year 4 Teacher
Passionate, Playful Poetry!
The Year 4’s spent the past few weeks learning about a wonderful new topic in English: Poetry.
They looked at some examples of poems, answered some poetry comprehensions and discussed different poetic features such as alliteration, similes, onomatopoeia, descriptive words and rhyme. Last week they got the chance to apply their knowledge by writing their own poems. They wrote some marvelous acrostic poems about fireworks and also wrote some extremely creative poems about their favourite colour.
Take a look at some of our amazing poems – we hope you enjoy reading the poems as much as we enjoyed writing it!
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” – Robert Frost
Year 4 Teacher
