Quarter 1 Newsletter 2022

8 FROM FACTS TO FANTASY IN THE LIBRARY “Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” - Dr Seuss Visitors to our lovely libraries are treated to the latest and best children’s books on our shelves, ready to transport the readers to fantastical worlds and great adventures. Our programme is focused on introducing the children to a variety of genres and new arrivals, and they are constantly encouraged to read adventurously and try something different all the time. We started the year with an Extreme Reading competition. This was the cause for animated conversations and much admiration for each others’ creative ideas. You really can read absolutely anywhere! There is never a lack of opportunities to celebrate books! On World Read Aloud Day the Grade 6’s crossed the road and brought much joy to the entire Junior Prep as we spread out in our beautiful gardens and listened to stories. Once a year the International Kids’ Lit Quiz comes to South Africa and teams from around the country compete for a place in the international final. In recent times there were no competition opportunities for our keen readers, but this year we could enter two teams again to enjoy an exciting and inspiring afternoon together with readers from other schools. The birthday of the beloved Dr Seuss, Theodore Geisel, was celebrated with much enthusiasm during the first week of March. Quirky Seuss characters were spotted everywhere in the buildings while the timeless stories could be heard in all the classrooms. A most energetic and enthusiastic group of Grade 3’s gather in the library on Wednesday mornings to have fun with books at their Book Club. There is always something exciting to look forward to! GREATEST PICK FROM GRADE SIX Grade Six began with a bang as the learners were introduced to the Leadership Programme for 2022. It consisted of two intensive days during which our learners successfully negotiated their way around a jam-packed itinerary focussed on what it takes to be a leader. Our Grade Six educators guided them through some very thought-provoking activities and learners participated in various problem-solving workshops. Learners enjoyed role playing various situations, wrestled with some tricky questions and had much introspection. Fun was had by all. In Mathematics, our learners were taught addition, subtraction and multiplication using the column method in a "Flipped Classroom" approach. Thereafter, they were introduced to prime and composite numbers linking them to ladder factorisation of whole numbers. Learners also had fun whilst having their books checked by their teacher in a restaurant "drive-through." There was additional consolidation of the concepts covered in Quarter One Mathematics through a cleverly designed website that gave the audio of each note completed during the quarter, and videos explaining the topics with matching worksheets which were linked for the pupils to gauge their Mathematics knowledge and skill. This year our Grade Six learners started learning about scales and balances, which is a very important skill that leads to Algebra followed by BODMAS also known as the order of operations. Geometry Fridays were introduced and they are currently busy with 2D shapes, polygons and classification of polygons. A lovely practical lesson with lots of glueing and pasting involved! Throughout this quarter, learners have been extended to think critically and become more aware of the needs of others. A major focus was the Grade Six Science Expo and the Project Based Learning launch. This will truly be an epic moment in our young scholars’ lives. Learners dedicated part of their time to find and develop new ideas that would help local communities and people on a daily basis. There has been a phenomenal effort by these learners and many have produced original ideas, hypotheses and experiments. Quarter Two will showcase all the learners’ ideas at a major Expo, with the top experiments moving on to a Regional Competition at the University of Cape Town. Our “Instavloed” PBL was one to remember in Afrikaans lessons. The learners had to rely on their own creativity and Life Skills discussions to answer various questions throughout the quarter. Each student created their very own Instavloed using Google Slides and made beautiful posts on how to positively influence others. They had the opportunity to share their projects with the Grade 5 learners on how to be a good influence on others. We enjoyed celebrating World Read Aloud Day where our Grade 6 learners had the opportunity to read beautiful stories to our Junior Preparatory learners. Each Grade 6 learner had a small group of eager listeners who lapped up every word that was read to them. The most amazing stories, both weird and wonderful, could be heard throughout the Junior Preparatory quad as the Grade 6’s read out loud. It created an amazing atmosphere where reading was a shared enjoyment for younger and older learners. One didn’t want the experience to end! To conclude, the quarter has flown by! Not only has it been fast paced, but engaging would be the best way to sum up the short time teachers and learners have had in Grade Six. We wish our learners well over the holiday period and look forward to another fun and exciting quarter of new and engaging experiences!