South Africa - on the tour bus!

On Monday 4 June the grade 2's were officially in South Africa. They were met by two tour guides who were to take the children around to show them some of the highlights of the South African leg of their world trip.



The tour starts here!



The 'tourists' were collected from their classrooms, passports in hand and taken to their tour bus.



Passports being stamped

 On the whirlwind tour the tourists were shown, the training ground of Bafana Bafana, the pool where the South African Olympic hopeful Chad Le Clos trains, a hospital where they learnt about Dr Christaan Barnard the first man to do a heart transplant. They were lucky enough to stop off at a 'game reserve' where they looked out for the big five. We also took a tour of the squatter housing where the likes of Mr Nelson Mandela would have spent time in his youth.

They were lucky enough to be able to sample biltong and koeksisters, typical South African food. After a few more stops, the tourists were dropped back at school after a very interesting morning.

Mexico Day

Our final day in Mexico was great fun! We learnt so much about the people and their culture on this leg of our Round the World tour!

Our day started with great excitement as it was a soccer dress up at school as well. So some children combined both soccer and Mexico for their outfits.

 

 
 



























The first activity of the day was to design and make sombreros. Mrs Rayner and I were so impressed with our children, and very grateful to their parents for going to so much effort to help them prepare. As you can see from the pictures the children did a marvellous job!

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Sailing to Mexico

Our time is China is over, so this week we 'boarded' a boat to Mexico. The children were welcomed aboard the 'HMS Eden' with a welcome drink whereafter they were given the all important safety drill before embarking on the cruise. Whilst on board passports were stamped and group photos were taken. Much excitement is anticipated as we arrive in Mexico for our two week stay!

 

China Day is Fun!

After a successful "visit" to China over the past two weeks, we ended our time with a fun day.

  We started the morning by sending off a Chinese lantern. There was great excitement as Mrs. Rayner, assisted by Noori, lit the lantern. We watched it fill with hot air and in no time it was flying high. We followed it until it was just a small speck in the distance!

Next it was time to get into groups and make a poster where we compared some of the differences we had noticed between China and India. Things like their choice of food, mode of transport, family sizes and national animals.

It was a great opportunity for the two classes to work to together and learn the important life lessons in team work. We were impressed with the way the children organised themselves and the information.

Once the posters were complete it was the moment that everyone had been waiting for....Chinese food!

  

There was great excitement when the children used chopsticks to eat noodles. We were so impressed at how adept some children were at eating with them!

 Spring rolls and bow ties followed the noodles. Some of the children enjoyed them and ate up every last crumb, others.....well, they reserved judgement!

We ended our meal with Chinese tea, which surprisingly was a great hit with most children!

 

 When we asked our classes which part of the day they liked best, most said "the whole day!". It was a happy fun filled day where much incidental learning took place.

Baker Baker kicks off

Syun kicked off our Baker, Baker programme today. Each child has a turn to bring items to school and sell to the class. The aim of the excercise is to get the children used to working with money, by buying, selling and giving change. It proved to be most successful last year and we look forward to its further success this year.

Mothers day tea.

Today our school hall was turned into a pink and white oasis for our Mothers' day tea. The mothers were entertained by the choir and two groups of dancers. One of the groups I am proud to say were Maria and Aphiwe from my class. They did us proud!

There were a number of "mini competitions" for the moms like, who has the longest nails, the highest heels, the most plastic in her purse, the smallest bag to name a few! It was great fun.

A big thank you to all the moms who decorated the table and supplied the eats, you did a fantastic job!

Grade 2 India Day

My class has enjoyed learning about India over the past two weeks. They have learnt about some landmark tourist destinations in India as well as the different cultures and religions found there. The children who have visited these places were able to share their experiences with us all.

To finish off this section of our round the world trip, Mrs Rayner and I planned a number of fun activities.

On Thursday we made chicken curry, chopping up chicken and adding spices was great fun. We were all salivating as the aromatic flavours began to fill the classroom! We could not wait for our India day where we would get to taste what we had cooked!

 














There was much excitement as we discussed our outfits and what we planned to do on Friday! My class went home so excited for school the next day!

I was so amazed at how beautiful everyone looked on Friday in their stunning Indian outfits. Both Mrs Rayner and I joined in the fun.

Mrs Van Elden who has just recently returned from a trip to India, began the day by sharing her experiences with us all.  We learnt so much.

Noori then showed us how to make roti's which we were to eat with our curry later in the day.

Just before first break we learnt about rangoli patterns that the Hindus design and decorate during Diwali. Whilst the children planned their patterns, all the grade 2 children had some mendi stamped onto their hands and arms.

 

The red square became a zone of bright colours as all the grade two's drew their rangoli patterns in chalk. Everybody complimented the children on their beautiful designs.

 

To finish the exciting fun filled day, we all tucked into the delicious chicken curry accompanied by freshly made rotis.

Everyone agreed that our last 'stop' in India was fun, and that we all eagerly await our next destination...China!