Dark is Fascinating.

This past week Plop met a Father Christmas Lady who told him she liked to sketch the night creatures and for that reason she found dark fascinating.

She sketched Plop who discovered, to his surprise  that he was beginning to look just like his dad! She also showed him some of the other creatures that she had sketched. Two of the creatures that she showed him were bats and hedgehogs.

I asked Mrs Maree if she could do some sketching with our classes during art. They really did some wonderful drawings. I have photographed  a few, but your child will be bringing his or hers home soon.

Megan and I asked our classes to collect six bat facts for homework. On Friday we made up 'bat books' with these facts. Today, each one had a turn to present what they had learnt.

I am so proud of how well they did.

Christmas presents - 3D shapes.

This week Plop meets a little girl who says that Dark is necessary, otherwise Father Christmas would not come and bring us presents!


We thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to discuss 3D shapes, the cube in particular, by making presents. We had a look at a variety of 3D shapes like the cube, triangular prism, pyramid etc. I then taught them the vocabulary to go with this.....my class thought they were very clever by learning 'matric' terminology, like vertex,vertices, edge and face!

Each child was given a cube net to decorate and then make up.  

As they finished, each one came and made their own 3D shape and had to name the various parts that they had learnt. This was the highlight of the lesson, they had so much fun manipulating the pieces. It created so much discussion. It was a real hands on learning experience.

Shaarav and Bhavan discovered that the two shapes that they built, could make a house!

The Final Orals - Sunshine, Inkanyezi, Molemo, Khanyi and Bailey.

Sunshine told us about her granny Constance. Like most of the grannies in our class she walked to school every day. She had no TV or phones so had to write letters to communicate. For fun she enjoyed reading and singing in church.




Inkanyezi told us that his grandpa experienced tough times when he was growing up. When he was at school he had to write on a slate. As he grew up he earned some pocket money by being a caddy.

Molemo had so many interesting things to tell us about her granny....she had to walk 15km to school each day. Crossing a river was part of the journey, so if it was too full, her granny couldn't get to school. She too had to walk to fetch water each day. She would also walk to the local shop where R50 would buy enough food for a whole month. Molemo told us that her granny had to lots of chores doing the dishes, sweeping and cooking. Thank you Molemo we really enjoyed what you had to say.

Khanyi granny also used a slate at school and had to fetch water from the river. They used firewood for cooking.


Bailey was the last to tell us about her granny...and as the saying goes, we really 'saved the best for last.' We learned so much about her great granny Gladys. She went to school when we still had the old South African Flag. If her granny was naughty at school she would get smacked with a sjambok! Bailey said that she was rather shy and did not like sport very much. She liked to sew instead. Granny Gladys loved going to the movies, there was only one cinema. The movie played repeatedly throughout the day and changed every few days. The money they used was the pounds and pence. Bailey said that only the rich people had a telephone in those days.

Thank you for a fantastic effort Bailey.

Diwali Assembly

On Friday we had our annual Diwali Assembly. All the Hindu children - and some non Hindus - came to school dressed in beautiful outfits. 

The best Grade 2 teachers at Eden!

It was nice to see the teachers joining in.

Aunty Rosh and her helpers really put on a wonderful show for us all. After it was finished we were spoiled with some delicious Biryani. 

Boy scout challenge.

Our classes enthusiastically took up the scout badge challenge. We had the big 'test' on Thursday and Mrs Peens awarded those that qualified on Monday. I know a few parents were very grateful for the daily task part of the challenge!

First ...the cheese sandwich challenge. Spread a piece of bread evenly, grate some cheese and cut it into squares.

Balance like a tall tree for 30 seconds.

Tie a shoelace.

The final and most favourite task...Light a candle.

Receiving awards from Mrs.Peens.