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CARLSWALD HOUSE PREPARATORY | JUNE 2019 | NEWSLETTER 4

NEWSLETTER FROM THE DESK OF MR TAGG

Dear Parents. I trust this finds you healthy and warm as you battle the Winter chills. We have made it through two thirds of the term and are looking forward to a week off. The children and staff have worked exceptionally hard and you would have seen this as you read your child’s report. I have read every child’s report personally over the last 10 days and I have been so impressed with what has been achieved this semester. Our children have grown and developed in every way and I am deeply proud of each and every one. In light of this time; focusing on reports and parent meetings, I would like to share a short article that was written by a teacher somewhere in the world. What she wrote really resonated with me and I felt it important to share it with you all. Have a wonderful half term break!

Regards

Stewart Tagg

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Image caption with a few lines describing what is happening in each photograph.

What a teacher sees. When I look around my classroom, I couldn’t tell you who crawled first, who walked before 1 or spoke in sentences by 15 months. I can’t tell you if their parents breastfed or bottle fed. No clue if they still wear pull ups at night, because I am sure many do! I don’t know if they were potty trained at 18 months or 4 years. I don’t know if their mom ever left them to cry it out for a few minutes or if they strapped them to their bodies 24/7. You know what I can tell when I look at my kids? I can tell which families value kindness and manners at home. I can tell when a child feels loved and secure at home (and at school) I know who has pizza and movie nights and which mom reads in different voices for bedtimes. I see how kids handle scary situations like thunderstorms. I can see who has a solid routine at home and who has chores and responsibilities. I can hear how you speak to your children by how they speak to others. When I look at my little people, I don’t see milestones, I see who they are: their heart, their actions, their inner voice, their struggles and their triumphs, and I see you; and all the love you pour into them. We are always supposed to talk about testing and benchmarks and data during parent teacher conferences, and I had a mom once look at me and say “I don’t worry about all the reading and the math, she will get there. I want to know……how is she as a person? Is she kind? Does she include others?”

- UNKNOWN

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Winter has arrived! We have been very busy this month. So busy in fact, we did

not even notice how cold it got!

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GRADE 1 M

Outdoor classroom day was celebrated on the 23 May. We had so much fun doing all our Numeracy and Literacy lessons outside. We went on a rhyming word hunt, did a graph using the tyres and played giant snakes and ladders.

In Numeracy we learnt how to measure capacity and length using nonstandard units. We are also learning how to interpret information from a graph.

In Life Skills we are learning about insects. We used virtual reality to learn different parts and facts about insects.

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GRADE 1 C

It has been another busy and fun month for Grade 1. We all had fun learning and playing during Outdoor classroom. In the classroom we

have been learning how to apply our thinking maps in our reading and working together to complete activities. Using the iPads during IT

has been really exciting and informative. The learners used virtual reality to make their personalised insects come alive as well as learn

about the different parts of their insect.

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GRADE 2 A

Half term is upon us! Winter has set in but that has not dampened any of Grade 2A’s spirits. The children are still working hard and enjoying themselves. In Mathematics, we have been learning all about division. We have also been learning the different methods that help us to add and subtract bigger numbers. In English, we are still enjoying out reading rotations. We also practice our comprehension questions every week. We have been learning all about Antonyms and Synonyms. During Life Skills, we are learning all about animals. First, we started with Farm Animals and had such fun drawing our cow pictures. Then we moved onto animals that live in the water and finally, we learnt all about Wild Animals. Lots of interesting things were discovered during our Wild Animals project.

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GRADE 2 M

June has been a cold but busy month in Grade 2M. We have been enjoying the warm Winter Sun by doing a variety of activities outside. We enjoy doing our counting jar where we practice a variety of Maths skills, the most important skill we learn is working together as a group and checking the accuracy of our work. We have created beautiful works of art while incorporating shape patterns. We have been learning about animals and the children created beautiful cow art. We continue enjoying our Reading and Maths rotations where we engage in a variety of activities that build our Literacy and Maths skills. During reading rotations, we focus on fluency by reading with a buddy or practicing sight words. We practice our phonics sounds by playing fun iPad and Smart Board games.

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GRADE 3 P

In Maths this month we learnt about money: How to calculate totals and change. Then we went on to learn about telling time and calculating elapsed time.

In English we focused on conjunctions and adverbs, so that we could improve how we construct sentences. We continue to enjoy our group reading activities.

In Life Skills we spoke about healthy eating habits and the importance of eating lots of vegetables! Now we are studying insects, their anatomy and we know why spiders aren’t insects!

We hope all the dads had an awesome Father’s Day and that you were spoilt!

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GRADE 3 Y GRADE 3 Y

GRADE 3 Y

In Maths, we introduced Money to the Grade 3s. They applied Thinking Maps to analyse the different values that can be made with Rands and Cents. They utilised their addition and subtraction skills to work

out how much to pay, or how much change they should get in various situations.

The class had loads of fun recapping on their multiplication through various games, before

introducing sharing, which will lead into division.

In English, sentence structure has been a key focus. We are learning about the difference between adverbs and adjectives and how to use them effectively to make our sentences more interesting. We are also exploring what

conjunctions can be used to join sentences.

In Life Skills we focused on healthy eating. In groups the class created their own food pyramid using a new iPad tool called Keynote. They also learnt the benefits that

each food group provides.

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MUSIC

ART

The Grade Sixes have been working on three different pieces that will be incorporated in a Yacoov Agam inspired artwork. Depending on where the viewer stands a different image will be seen.

Grade Seven Paint brushes

The Grade Fives have been designing colourful food trucks.

The Grade Fours have been creating unique flowers for a positive and negative space vase.

The Grade Threes finally finished their “Under the Sea” collages using plastic and various art materials.

The Grade Sevens had a wonderful time with their little buddies creating Andy Warhol inspired handprint art.

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MUSIC

The music department is preparing for Magic of Music Festival to be held at Linder Auditorium in July . It is an annual festival hosted by Grayston Preparatory. Last year we took the choir and wind ensemble to the festival. We are expanding this year with the Grade 5 drumming ensemble, saxophone, flute, trumpet and guitar players joining us. We are going to have approximately 75 learners on stage representing our school. Professional musicians will come and workshop our children a week before the festival. We are looking forward to a great evening of music making. In the first week of August, our ensembles will perform at the Eisteddfod in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg. Last year we had the wind ensemble only representing our school. Again, this year, we are expanding with choir and other instrumentalists joining us. We are excited to see the developments in the music department. Your support as parents is always appreciated.

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MEDIA

This series is an interesting read. It is about a boy and his grandfather. The toys they buy at an auction, narrate their life tales.

“A book is a dream you hold in your hand.”

Reading at its best!

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IT

Grade 5 The Grade 5 learners integrated IT with Natural Science. They created a Keynote presentation on the Life Cycle of an animal. They included text, pictures, videos and audio recordings. Grade 6 The Grade 6 learners began the IT and Life Orientation integrated project on the Code of Conduct that is required by the different religions. Grade 7 The Grade 7 learners conducted an IT lesson with the Grade R class. They assisted the Grade Rs in creating a presentation on their favourite parts of the school.

IT integration, Coding and Robotics Grade 1 The Grade 1 learners used the app ‘Quiver’ to create a 3D image of an insect. They used this information to answer questions about the body parts of insects. Grade 2 The Grade 2 learners were taught to research information using Britannica kids. This was used to complete their project on wild animals. Grade 3 The Grade 3 learners used the app Keynote to create a presentation on the food pyramid. Grade 4 The Grade 4 learners integrated IT with their project on musical instruments. They used their instruments to create music using GarageBand. They exported this track into Clips, where they created an advertisement for their album.