Quarter 4 Newsletter 2021

5 A Collaboration between Art and Music - We can see patterns but what if you could hear patterns? Inspired by the artist Wassily Kandinsky's ability to hear music in the art he created, our Grade Three's designed beautiful hand-drawn patterns in their class Art lessons along with a soundtrack in Class Music to reflect their pattern designs. Learners first investigated and explored shapes, colours and musical instruments that would be used for their visual and sound artworks. They learned that art and music both possess patterns in different ways and were encouraged to explore themes such as: loud and bold or soft and delicate. Their design-thinking took the form of a picture mind map created in Keynote that guided their final choices. Later in the project, the learners imagined themselves as fashion designers and used their drawn patterns as fabric and digitally designed a Madiba shirt in the SketchesPro app. Their project culminated in a visual and sound exhibit on the school display boards. Learners from other grades were invited to see and listen to each grade 3's work, triggered by a QR code. Parents could view and listen to the grade 3 projects by using their devices at home. The Preparatory Faculty celebrated Code Week along with many other schools in Europe and Africa. Each class had taken time out of their week to participate in a few coding activities. Code Week is a wonderful way to expose our learners to the various types of code other than those used in the Robotics Lab. It reinforces the knowledge that coding allows us to create things such as computer software, websites, apps and video games. Our Grade One’s went unplugged with their 'Everybody Dance Now' Hour of Code. Learners had to recognise the actions of the choreographer as he or she used signals to initiate a command. They learnt a few new dance moves in order to program a dance together offline! The Grade Two’s put on their dancing shoes and also programmed their own dance party, however, they used blocks of code for different dancers, changed their dance moves and made them respond to the music. In the Grade Three Minecraft coding activity, learners had to choose between an "Aquatic Adventure" or a "Hero's Journey". They selected a character and had to create the code to navigate their way through various mazes and puzzles in order to collect the treasure at the end. It was a fantastic introduction to coding and a great activity for problem-solving using logical thinking. The Grade Four learners discovered how incredible AI truly is and how we have made use of it in our daily lives without realising it. Learners programmed their own AI robot, on the Hour of Code website, to identify the difference between trash and fish in the ocean. They explored the many uses and developments of AI through educational videos. Grade Five learners worked through a Minecraft Life Skills lesson where they had to explore and read boards that explained how to respect each other’s heritage and culture. Using the Minecraft Edu App, they built something that represented their heritage. Our Grade Six learners had a wonderful time using Scratch to animate their names! They thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see their names come to life. A MUSIC AND ART ADVENTURE A CODING ADVENTURE The fourth quarter brought a feast of new books from some of our favourite authors. James Patterson introduced a new series for the senior primary students which is promising great adventures to look forward to. Daughter of the Deep introduces Ana and a brilliant world of underwater explorers. We had great fun participating as class groups in choosing our houses for the Harding-Pencroft Academy. Jeff Kinney never disappoints his loyal followers and book 16 in the Wimpy Kid series features a basketball adventure that keeps everyone in stitches! Everyone loves Junior, the entertaining mutt of Dog Diaries fame, and his new adventure called Big Top Bonanza caused a flurry of excitement. Andy Griffiths brought more laughter with thirteen more stories added to his incredible Treehouse, and learners gave their imaginations free reign in designing their own special rooms in the Treehouse. And to top it all, we celebrated 10 years of the beloved Gangsta Granny, just to find out that the first ever David Walliams sequel has arrived in Gangsta Granny Strikes Again! Children’s books have never been so exciting! We were thinking longingly about the times when we could invite a bookshop to set up shop on our campus, and invited a virtual bookshop instead! The Book Box shared their wonderful selection of books with us and our families could browse and order to their hearts’ content - just another way to celebrate books! We have slowly reintroduced shows and the learners thoroughly enjoyed sitting outside in the warmer weather watching Hooked on Books. What a special treat this was! We were introduced to some new book adventures and these books were having a very busy time indeed as they started circulating after the show. How lucky we are to introduce children to the magic of books and stories! A LIBRARY ADVENTURE