Friday 28 February 2014

We have created a blog QR code!

Link to the site which helps you create the QR code: http://www.qrstuff.com/
The App you'll need to scan the QR code: "OK scan"

Wednesday 26 February 2014

We can make dinner!

We discussed Rights and responsibilites in Life Orienattion today and the topic of chores at home was discussed. Some children in our class do many chores, even equal to what their parents do, but some children do no chores. We made a challenge to everyone in the class...to add a chore to their normal list. Grade 4s have to put their clothes in the laundry basket and make their own bed.
Grade fives have to offer to feed their pet without being asked.
Grade 6s have to offer to make a meal/part of a meal, everyday for a week.

They then have to take a photo to prove they've done it!
Below is the evidence after day one...let's hope the turn out improves...
 
Summer made a very healthy meal of fish, potato wedges and a delicious salad with mango. 
  Tomas made a nutritious and delicious dinner for his family.

Monday 24 February 2014

Saturday 22 February 2014

Hand tennis

In our class, we always play a game called hand tennis. The point is to the get from the bottom left block to the upper left block, during the process you need to try and eliminate your opponents by either hitting the ball high or low so that they can't volley back.

The blocks are called baby, jack, queen and King. The point is to reach King and stay there as long as possible.
If the King says "lightening" and the Queen gets eliminated they go straight out.
We play it at break when we are not playing Pokemon or having races.


 

Thursday 20 February 2014

Fractions

The Grade 4s are exploring fractions using Montessori equipment.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Welcome

We have a new class assistant while Miss Menas is away on maternity leave.  Her name is Mrs Julius and she is lovely. We are very happy to welcome her into our Montie family.

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Monday 17 February 2014

School Camp Out

On the weekend our school held it's annual Family Camp Out. 
Each family brought a tent and pitched them in a circle around the oval field. Dads braai'd (BBQ) while mums made the salads. There were water slides, a jumping castle, cricket, soccer and two big screen TVs, one showing cartoons and the other showed the local Sharks vs Bulls rugby game for the Dads.

Miss Tyler-Smith helped at the tuck-shop stand and sold juice, water, boerewors rolls, glow sticks and Pokemon cards.

Here are some of the responces from our class:
Neo: It was awesome!
Jessica: I brought a friend from another school. We walked around with glow sticks as earrings.
Khaya: I played on the soccer tournament and I scored a goal.
Tomas: I bought an uncountable number of pokemon cards! Then I traded them with the other kids.
Jawad: It was interesting because we could walk around the school which we normally arent allowed to do because the teachers wont let us. And we could watch TV while we were in our tents.
Azraah: Iyt was fantastic. We broke into the castle illigally. Our school built a castle on it's grounds for fund raising events. There were creeking scary noises and we ran out scared.


  
 

Thursday 13 February 2014

Seeded paper making for St Valentine's

Why do we celebrate St. Valentine's Day?

On February 14 around the year 278 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed.

Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.

To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.

When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. The sentence was carried out on February 14, on or about the year 270.

Legend also has it that while in jail, St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine."

For his great service, Valentine was named a saint after his death.

In truth, the exact origins and identity of St. Valentine are unclear. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of 14 February." One was a priest in Rome, the second one was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni, Italy) and the third St. Valentine was a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.

Legends vary on how the martyr's name became connected with romance. The date of his death may have become mingled with the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love. On these occasions, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be celebrated as St Valentine's Day.

Gradually, February 14 became a date for exchanging love messages, poems and simple gifts such as flowers.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Mr Coetzee visits M9-12

Mr Coetzee visited our class last week to chat to us about the vikings as part of our learning focus on the Medieval Age in Europe. 
He has a special interest in them and has done lots of research because his family can trace their roots back to the vikings. 
He explained how they lived and governed themselves and how they built their ships and also dispelled many myths.
  • Did you know that they did not have horns on their helmets?
  • Did you know that they didn't call themselves vikings?  They called themselves the Norse.
  • Also they took pride in they hair and long beards and often plaited and accessorised their beards with metallic beads.
We were all very interested in what he told us. 

St. Valentine's Blogging

New Zealand Friends

 We have a pen pal relationship with a school in New Zealand. 
They recently sent us a parcel in the post. This display is the result. 
Room One @ Auroa School in Taranaki, New Zealand. 
 http://mrwebbauroa.blogspot.com/

Thank you to Torin for drawing the NZ flag by hand.


Valentine's Day Preparations







I went to MerryPak in Pinelands yesterday and bought a few craft goodies for the children to make St. Valentine's creations.
 

Friday 7 February 2014

Our parcel arrived!

The parcel sent from Mr Webb in New Zealand arrived today!
From everyone in Montessori 9-12 in South Africa...thank you!!

Thursday 6 February 2014

Screensaver education

As I did last year, I display paintings and photography on the classroom's desktop with a brief description for the children to look at as they work on the computer or pass the monitor on the way to the door. 
Their general knowledge of Art and appreciation of beautiful images has increased tenfold.

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Medieval classroom display

Our class is studying the Medieval Age in History/Geography/Science and English. We have put together a display of our work so far.
 

Stage one: Illuminated letters

Imran
Adam
Jenna
Imogen
Torin
Summer

Thank you to our wonderfully creative Art teacher, Mrs Greyvenstein, our class is midway through creating the most fantastic illuminated letters, inspired by the Medieval scribes.

Well done Monties! I can't wait to see the final product. 

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Two Monkeys Were Paid Unequally: TED Talk

Imran's Neat Desk

My desk was all messed up and Miss Tyler-Smith asked me to clean it and make it right. It only took me 5minutes. It is now sparkling clean. I didn't realise it was so easy to keep it tidy and from now on I will always keep my desk neat when it's messed up!

by Imran - Grade 4

Film crew at school!

We had a film crew at school yesterday and today. The were making a promotional video for our school. We were filmed in our class playing the "24" game. 
Adam in Gr6 says the experience was funny, embarrassing and different from our usual morning routine.
Imran in Gr4 says it was weird because our teacher had to explain the instructions on camera for a game we already knew how to play, and then she had to give us the easy cards so we could get the answer quickly.

(The photo above is a net find, it is not of our classroom)