Shopkeeper Natalie.

I could not believe it when I walked into the classroom this morning...Natalie had brought a whole stand to display her goods which looked very professional. 

The children loved shopping as she had a variety of items. Giving change was challenging but she persevered! Best of all Natalie said that we could keep the stand for future shopkeepers. Thank you Natalie!

Souvenirs Galore!

Gill and I are always so pleased when our pupils are interested and excited about we are learning that they bring items to show the rest of the class. Today Ziyaad in Gills class brought a trunk load of souvenirs that he had got on a trip to London last year to show us. Kamira had drawn pictures of a soldier, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye and Josh brought a model of the famous London phone booths to show us.

Cameron brought his sticker collection book all about the soccer world cup that starts in just over 2 weeks and is the motivation behind our theme!

Thank you children for your interest it really makes our day!

Live chat to London

This week we have been learning about the Queen, London with its famous sights like Big Ben, the Tower of London, the London Eye and The Houses of Parliament etc. It was most coincidental that my son, who is living in Winchester, England for the year, happened to be in London on Wednesday and got to see the queen in her big limousine drive right past him. He saw an extra special changing of the guards where the Queen presented her Household Cavalry with new standards(brightly coloured banners). Not only that, he got to see all the normal touristy sights that we have been discussing.

Look for the queen in the back seat wearing a
blue hat!

Listening carefully

He was so excited about what he had seen that I thought it would be great for him to tell my class all about it as well. So, we phoned him and he did just that. The children loved hearing what he had to say and asked him lots of questions...they all wanted to know if he had seen Big Ben and heard it chime. The most amusing question came from Blake...he wanted to know how Alistair could sleep with the noise that Big Ben makes! Today he spoke to Gills class who were just as fascinated.

Blake asking about Big Ben!

Kwandile's interview with his aunt.

Kwandiles interview oral is our last. He told us about his aunts visit to Amazulu Lodge, which is a three and a half hour drive from Durban. She saw hippo and crocodiles there. What was interesting she said, was that the river was so deep and long that sharks sometimes swim up it! She also told Kwandile that some people were having their photos taken near a hippo when it started chasing them...they are lucky to be alive.

Kamiras gran visits Nepal and China.

We were all interested to hear about Kamiras granny's, or Ma as she calls her, trip to Nepal and China. Kamira started by showing us exactly where it was found on a map and then used lovely big pictures as her key cards.

Kamiras Ma is quite adventurous, she walked along the Great Wall of China and went climbing in the foothills of the Himalayas. She flew there from a Navy base and was able to sit with the pilots. That must have been very exciting. Her Ma said that she had a bit of a difficult time finding places when she was in China because very few people speak English and almost all the signs are in Chinese! I can just imagine how lost you could get there! 

The Sheridan Hotel.

She stayed in a five Sheridan hotel in China - it looked really fancy and in a converted palace in Nepal. Interestingly Kamira's Ma ate a lot pasta and pizza on her trip, and to everyone's delight Kamira brought some pizzas for us eat as well! Thanks for the treat Kamira, the pizzas were delicious.

Ria's aunt sails the seven seas.

Ria was so well prepared when she told us about her interview with her aunt and uncle. They told her about their cruise on the MSC Opera. By what Ria told us they really had a wonderful time. There was far too much food on the boat, but they really enjoyed tasting all the different types of cuisines on offer. Their cruise went to Maputo and Portuguese Island. We all laughed when Ria told us what happened when her aunt got off the rubber duck after sailing to Portuguese Island...she said that her aunt thought that she was drowning when she first got into the water, but once she put her feet down she discovered that the water was actually shallow! What a relief!

Cancer Awareness day

Mrs Peens explains to the
children about cancer.

Today we let off a number of balloons as a tribute to all the cancer sufferers that we may know or are part of our families. It was very touching, especially as we have had a number of staff members who have been directly affected by this dreaded disease.

Each teacher held a purple balloon.

Away they go!

Into the skies with our thoughts and
prayers.

England our new destination.

Today after levitating on our magic carpets out of Japan we landed in London where we were welcomed by Eva (in Mrs Rayners class)..all the way from England.

Welcome to England!

 We looked at a number of tourists highlights using a power-point presentation, Eva just loved adding in interesting facts about the places that we spoke about. We even got to sing God Save the Queen!

Eva says the views are stunning
from inside the capsule.

Eva has been on a tour inside the palace!

Everyone was fascinated by these facts!

We learned to curtsey and bow, just in case we bumped into the queen during our visit. Next week we have a very special event organised....watch this space!

Jasmita sister visits England on a school tour.

Jasmita's sister was very lucky to be part of Mrs van Eldens tour to England last year. She and her cast presented the play to 5 schools near Edgebourgh, which everyone enjoyed. They also visited London where they went on the London Eye, saw Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament amongst other famous tourist attractions. Sadly it rained a lot whilst they were there, but fortunately that never dampened their enthusiasm. Jasmita said that her sisters highlight was going on the underground tube trains, she wished that we could have something like that here as well. I agree Jasmita, it would be great!

Thailand with Jadens Aunt

I was very envious when Jaden told us about his aunts visit to Thailand as it is one of the places that is on my bucket list. He told that she stayed in a beautiful hotel in Bangkok, by the look of the pictures he showed us it really was! She also visited and island that looked really idyllic, there his aunt stayed in a villa that its own private pool! She enjoyed relaxing on the beach which really looked beautiful. Her favourite memory was watching the live fire show because it was the first time she had seen something like that.

You spoke in a lovely loud voice Jaden, I could see that you had prepared well.

Swaziland is where Cebo's aunt enjoyed visiting.

Cebo's aunt drove all the way to Swaziland where she stayed in a safari lodge. Whilst she was there she visited a waterfall and the Ezulweni craft centre. She bought a beautiful scarf which Cebo brought scarf to show us.He said her most interesting  moment was when she tasted goat curry for the first time! 

Rushils aunt is well travelled!

Rushil interviewed his aunt who has travelled to many places in Europe which included, amongst others, Germany and Austria. He told us about her visit to London where she saw Big Ben. In Amsterdam she saw lots of dams, in France she was lucky to go to Disney world. Her favourite was seeing the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy and eating pizza. She really was lucky to have seen so many places.

Damons aunt visited Japan

It very appropriate that Damon interviewed his Aunt who went to Japan, especially when we were 'visiting' Japan in our round the world tour. He told us that she had eaten sushi with chopsticks, Damon gave us a demonstration on how to use them. He was quite good!

He told us about a museum that she had visited, which he really found fascinating so he enjoyed telling us all about it.

Cape Town is Dighaces aunts favourite destination.

Dighace interviewed her aunt who said that Cape Town was her favourite destination. She saw Robben Island, went on a sight seeing bus tour and enjoyed eating seafood and sushi. 

Dighace told us about the time when her aunt was at Cape Point and a naughty baboon came and stole all the food out of her car. Everyone thought that was hilarious...I doubt her aunt did though!

Natalies aunt learns to tango in Argentina!

Natalie brought an Argentinian flag
to show us.

Natalie interviewed her aunt who has travelled to many local and international destinations, but Argentina is her favourite, particularly  the city of Buenos Aires. 

Her aunt said that when she walked down the street of Gaminito she did the tango, which she had learnt from the experts there! 

Natalie and the Tango rose!

 She told us about a delicious drink called Dulce De Leche which is made from milk with a piece of chocolate and marshmallow in it. Natalie spoilt us all by bringing us some marshmallows and chocolates to eat, which everyone enjoyed!

Thank you for an interesting oral Natalie.

The land of the rising sun....an early start.

Gill and I we delighted that every child was able to meet us bright and early on the beach front on Friday. You cant learn about Japan, the land of the rising sun without, without witnessing a sunrise!

It was a beautiful morning, perfect conditions and we were fortunate to be able to see the sunrise in all its glory! It was a first for many children and even some parents, which made it even more special.

Walking down to the beach..all very excited.

Moms ready to capture the moment.

Sun as it made an appearance.

Beautiful!

Once the sun was up, in keeping with our theme, Mrs Gaylard kindly offered to do some yoga with the children. A lovely way to get our minds and bodies ready for the day.

The yoga was followed by some welcome hot chocolate and muffins. Gill and I knew that this was a safer bet than a traditional Japanese breakfast of fish and soup! However, we did expect them to eat the muffins with chopsticks!

That's cheating Jenna!

We had explained to the children at the start of our theme about how the earth moves around the sun. We conducted an experiment to show them all this fact. We put the children into groups, used a stick as  a marker and got them to draw around a group member. Just before we left they compared their shadows once again. They were amazed at how different their shadows were and could not believe how much they had 'moved'!

Our final activity, which gave the biggest reaction..and I think was the most fun (for most anyway!), was when we dissected some sardines. As fish is eaten widely in Japan , it was a perfect way to end off a  highly successful outing.

Blake waiting for instructions, whilst
Josh looks a bit apprehensive!

Who is going to be brave and actually touch the fish?

Shaylin deep in thought

eeeeww!

Feeling the scales.

Natalie feeling the scales.

Many couldn't believe how wide the sardines mouth was!

Neha, just couldn't bring herself
to touch the fish. Kamira shows her
how its done!

The gills

It has teeth!

Cutting open the stomach.

These two, had so much fun and got really involved
in the dissection

Removing the backbone!

Cebo had great fun making his fish talk!

Feeling the eyeball.

Blake checking out the hard centre
of the eyeball.

The two hours on the beach really flew by and before we knew it the buses arrived to fetch us. The children thought that it was time for first break and would not accept that it was just after the normal start of the day!

It was a fantastic outing, where the children learnt so much and I am sure will remember for some time to come.