The Highwayman

Chess champions, poems, Jacaranda trees and class tools!

World champions

and

a chess poem

Class Tools

Chess in a South African school as subject

Wow! I hope they are still having it! Well done! Hennopspark is a school in Centurion, just outside Pretoria.

School

This is Annette, Head of Department of the Junior Phase. She's a very caring person, will stretch herself to lengths to have something to eat for everybody for any reason! Always busy organising food-stuff for any simple occasion! Here, I caught her red handed with the scones! I arrived a bit earlier than I said....she's teaching grade 3's and I used to be her colleague teaching the other grade 3-class.
The staff room.....notice board .....and on the next photo, the table with cups ready...playtime is in a minute or two if the table looks like this! Always so neatly and tidy.....as I'm used to it.


And on this pic....Annette's grade 3's! They were busy writing a poem and were so quiet, concentrating on their work!

Children's work on display....and some still thinking what they want to write....

And the lovely people I used to teach with!!

Hmm......scones with strawberries and cream!! Yummy!!! Very different from when you get snacks in a UK staff room.....

On the next two photos, Rolo, my sister's dog, is trying to have a nap! He's still a pup of about 3 months.

Alan....poor man...not feeling well...

Blue mood....that's what his mood is like...:))
Lunch time...too exhausted...in the Assistant Head's office...too tired to have his tea! How much can you take in two weeks...only THIS much...! That's how we as teachers feel....one thing after the other...non-stop! Give us a BREAK!

Pandora's box

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0119204/pandora.html

This is one of my favourite stories. Two years consecutively, my children performed this story during our class assembly. They love it...and the message is very clear!

Read here more too...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora

Balletjie

For any Afrikaans speaking people reading this: (English speaking people....it is just a simple non-stop "song" about a ball! really silly....hahaa..we always sang it during the athletic/rugby season...great times....."balletjie" is the diminutive form of "ball"....some nouns get a "tjie" to show the diminutive form ...and in this case...ball which is "bal" in Afrikaans...get "e-tjie" because of the "l" on the end...tricky hey...LOL!

Kan julle die liedjie in die sekondere skool onthou...atletiek-tyd/rugby-tyd

wel, in my skool....:)

Balletjie balletjie bal-bal! (2x)
bal! bal! (dirigente)...herhaal dan res van die skool....en so gaan dit oneindigend aan!

Pointillism: Seurat

I would like my children to do a final piece of art and that will be in the style of Seurat! Read more about pointillism here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism

SATS Results

We got our SATS results! Well, must say we are very proud and the Headteacher is over the moon. Our children did great and we feel good!

My class did some "recycling" all morning.....we used plastic bags to make pom poms to go on to a sculpture for the Thames Festival in middle September. That was fun. Tomorrow we have again our BRASS project in the afternoon. David is coming in to support the groups in their presentation which they have to prepare for Brad...the Director of the HMS Belfast...for Thursday! And Thursday Brad will be handing them their certificates too.

In the meantime, we try to get our heads around the leavers' evening. Practise time is so little. Y6 children are going to pretend that they are in a care centre and they are going to use their memories from "primary" to act out bits. Y5's are going to pretend that they are visiting the care centre and they will be singing songs to the "people" (Y6) in the care centre. We are using this book (see picture) as an idea for our "play"....

School spirits in SA

Looking at this video, you can see what the spirits in our Schools are like, children and teachers alike.
St Peters is a Secondary School in Johannesburg

Athletics in SA schools

Athletics always takes place in the first term of the new school year...which is January-March. In Primary as well as Secondary schools, all children take part...even if they are not an athlete. We have teams and children who are less athletic, got to put in e.g. team C or D....as long as they get the opportunity to take part. And....they love it. I really do miss athletics in the UK schools. Schools here have ONE day --- some of them--- which they call a "sports" day...but...I won't comment at all what's happening on that day... I won't call it a sports day to start with.... Sorry if anyone feels offended, but this is the truth....a sports day is not something you organise in a few minutes.... and I think "health and safety" is really a BIG pain in this country. Children miss out on so much fun in schools because of that. Not that we are not taking children's health and safety into account in our schools in South Africa.
This video has brought back some really GOOD memories about our schools and when watching it...I really had to force myself not to start crying!!

Dyslexia

Read more....your child is NOT dumb!!
I have currently a child with dyslexia in my class. She is very clever, have some really fantastic reasoning skills, especially when it comes to science!
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http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/learning_problem/dyslexia.html

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http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/learning_problem/learning_disabilities.html

Dyspraxia

I had a boy in my class in 2001 that had dyspraxia. If you are a parent and you want to know more....follow this link.


http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/services/ad_symptoms.php