Jaden achieves again.

Jaden played in another golf tournament this weekend. The SA Kids Open at Mount Edgecombe. 

He was placed third and was awarded this huge trophy! He also won a prize for the longest drive..watch out Tiger Woods!

Well done Jaden we are so proud of you!

Timetable fun.

One of Miss Pandemoniums worst attributes according to Mr. Shrapnell is her total disregard for timetables. He just cannot stand the fact that she will not stick to his carefully planned timetable, it drives him crazy.

Gill and I decided that it would be a wonderful opportunity to explore the concept of timetables....like tides, sun, moon, TV etc. 

We thought it would be really meaningful if they planned their own bus trip as most children had never used public transport before.

We took our classes down to the computer room so that they could look up the bus timetables.  They absolutely loved it.

  

We got them to look at the different times and after discussing the different variables like, what time we arrive at school, time it would take for us to be dropped off at Musgrave Rd, peak hour users etc, they had to choose a time they thought would be feasible to catch the bus.

Displaying the times that each pair came up with.

This was not an easy exercise, many found it difficult
to grasp. But they all gave it a go!

The only 2 pairs that worked out the correct time.

Friday arrived along with a bunch of excited children. Michael and Themba dropped us off us the bus stop. It was interesting for Gill and I to see that many of the children were surprised that they had to wait! They wanted the bus to be there straight away! Another lesson..patience and appreciation for the cars they get driven around in.

At last the bus arrived, but..it was full! Fortunately, most passengers got off and we could fit in. The bus driver was so wonderful and patient. He did not bat an eyelid whilst issuing each child with a ticket as they handed over their money. Even the passengers on the bus were so fascinated by us all!

When is the bus going to get
here?

Handing over R5 for a ticket.

Jenna proudly displaying her Ticket

We soon arrived at Mitchell Park, where we had our picnic.

Sadly the monkeys abruptly ended our picnic, so went to look at the tadpoles in the pond. We  could have stayed there for hours!

Blake hiding his lunch, and
pretending to be pregnant with
twins..the idea inspired by another
Jeremy Strong book we have just read..
"My Mother is going to explode!"

Group pose by the fountain.

It was such a lovely outing..another successful learning experience!

Ballet stars

Jasmita with her two sisters and
Dighace, proudly displaying their
awards.

We are so proud of Jasmita and Dighace. This afternoon they entered the American Academy Ballet exams, they were both awarded silver awards with double distinctions. Well done girls!

Making friendship cakes....aka crumpets!

Miss Pandemonium tried to make friendship cakes with her class. The results were disastrous to say the least. Gill and I decided that we would be able to do a far better job! We thought that crumpets would be a lot easier than a cake.

We divided our classes into groups of four. We provided the ingredients, each group had to decide amongst themselves what equipment they would bring from the list we gave them. 

Friday arrived, a beautiful sunny day fortunately. The children were beyond themselves with excitement.

Mixing the ingredients outside our eco container.

Each group was given the recipe and ingredients. They had to make the mixture on their own. It was a very interesting exercise and tested their ability to follow instructions and work as a group. Some groups ended up with very salty crumpets because they mixed up the salt and sugar!

Once the mixture was ready, each group assisted by four of Grade Two's fabulous mothers, set about making the cumpets. For some it was the first time they had done any cooking.

Once they were all cooked we prepared a platter for each child in grade one and three. Each group had to prepare a short explanation to tell to the grade ones and threes why the grade twos were being so generous.

It was such a wonderful morning, the children were involved in a fantastic learning experience that they thoroughly enjoyed. A special thanks must go to Jenna, Neha and Shaylins moms for helping as well as Jadens granny. We would not have been able to manage without your help.

 

Jaden, Kamira, Cebo and Digace end our experiment orals

My class has just loved our experiment orals, they are very sad that we  had our last three on Friday.


Jaden started off by showing us that salt water can conduct  electricity and light up a
 light bulb.

Demonstrating how to connect
the wires to the battery

 

Add a lot of salt to the
water and stir.

And there you have it..
another successful
experiment.

Next was Kamira. Her experiment proved that oil is lighter than water and food colouring is heavier. She did this by making underwater fireworks.

Kamira was so well prepared and explained everything so clearly. A fantastic effort, well done.

Pour oil into a dish

Scatter drops of different
coloured food
colouring into the oil.

Mix a little with a fork,
 so that the particles are
not broken up too much.

A fantastic display of
underwater fireworks!

Cebo showed us how to make chicken noises using a cup and string. It showed us that sound vibrations travel along the string. The cup intensifies the sounds.

Explaining exactly
how to set up the
experiment

Pull the string..
listen for the chickens!

Last was Dighace. She showed us how to make a volcano. She started off by giving us some general knowledge on volcanoes which was interesting.

Put in some bicarb

She used a mixture of
tomato sauce and vinegar
and poured it in.

Everyone was so
excited when it
erupted.

Thank you parents for your help with all our experiments. They would not have been possible without your input.