Quarter 1 Newsletter 2021

7 A GRADE FOUR LEARNING ADVENTURE… From the moment our Grade Four learners set foot onto their new campus they were filled with excitement and eagerness to learn. Not only did they begin their adventure by exploring their new surroundings, they also started an amazing journey to discover more about themselves and their families. One of our favourite projects, All About Me, is one that dips into History, English, Afrikaans and Life Skills. We had the learners diving into boxes of old photographs, rediscovering old toys that they used to love and interviewing the people that mean the most to them. Throughout our project we learnt a lot about our unique Grade Four learners and their families, bringing many different cultures together. The highlight of our project was our final Reflection Presentation that enabled parents to view all the wonderful projects and to hear what the Grade Fours thought of the project we had spent many weeks preparing. In Life Skills we not only learnt a lot about who we are, but we also embarked on a journey to discover the different ways we all study, how we can all be different types of learners and what makes the perfect study environment. They loved sharing photos of their study spaces while doing online learning. We are tremendously proud of our Grade Four learners this Quarter and cannot wait to see how they flourish and play their part as members of the Senior Preparatory family. “Being a family means you are part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life.” - Lisa Weed A GRADE FIVE LEARNING ADVENTURE… Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners. - John Holt. One of the biggest lessons in life that we can learn, is to adapt to change, and wow, how amazing have our Grade Fives been in adapting to the ever changing world. Well done, Grade Fives! In the Science classes, they were not only learning about vertebrates and invertebrates, but also the swagger moves of Mr. Human which the learners absolutely loved. A careful study of frame and shell structures led us to the planning stage of designing a model skeleton. Not only did we create incredible vision boards this quarter, we also discovered what self- concept is and worked on building a positive self-esteem. The Grade Fives set goals for themselves and learned how to turn a bad day into a good day. Life Skills was very self- fulfilling this quarter. English lessons for the Grade Fives included building absolutely amazing adjective clouds and writing detailed and dramatic descriptive writing pieces. We were effective communicators in writing these pieces and were responsible citizens when reading our English reader for the quarter. English was an exquisite experience this quarter! During Afrikaans lessons the Grade Fives focused on developing our vocabulary and gaining confidence while speaking. We learnt about wild animals and even wrote our own stories titled “My wild pet”. We built on our language skills and learnt a variety of new concepts including tenses, parts of speech, plurals and diminutives. Not only were we challenging the learners with problem solving skills, but also how to solve number patterns as well as geometric patterns trying to find shortcuts in Mathematics and how to start recognising certain numbers, like square numbers. In History, the Grade Fives learnt about The San and KhoiKhoi. We compared the two tribes and discovered how they lived. We discussed how our lives in the modern day differ from theirs and what elements are similar. A GRADE SIX LEARNING ADVENTURE… All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them. - Walt Disney The excitement coursing through the corridors was tangible as the Grade Six learners, now the seniors of the Preparatory School, arrived with their school bags filled with books and stationery. Whilst the new year heralds many wonderful learning opportunities, there can sometimes be a few scary changes too, from being on campus to moving online and back, to managing their lockers and belongings responsibly and different teachers in and out of their classroom.