Junior Preparatory Newsletter 2:2

Dear Families, Our Extra-Curricular Programme started this week and it is wonderful to see how many children are participating in the various activities. We would like to welcome our new Head of Sport, Mr Marc Rabey to Reddam Waterfall and we look forward to working with him and Brett Dewar in ensuring that our sporting programme is magnificent. We are fortunate to have experienced coaches that work with the children in developing vital skills. We know that balance, posture and co-ordination are the essentials for learning success and these skills should be in place for children to reach their full potential. These skills are actively worked on by our specialist teachers in physical education, dance, music, drama and our Extra-Curricular Programme. A big part of the Reggio Approach is that we display childrens work and a perfect example of this is in the ELS Piazza. Our JP Art Atelierista, Catherine Dickerson has started using the corridors in the Prep building to display the projects the children have worked on. Please take the time to read some of the documentation that has been put up. Gathering of the Tribes Reddam Waterfall hosted the Gathering of the Tribes over the last week. This is a College event where all the Reddam Schools Sydney, Bedfordview, Cape Town and Waterfall all get together to celebrate the childrens talents. It was truly amazing to see how confident and talented the children are. Mr Crawfords vision came alive on the stage! The combination of excellent teachers with excellent specialists make a winning formula and that was very evident in the quality of performances that we viewed. It made me proud to be part of the Reddam Schools as an educator but also as a parent. Congratulations to Mr Balios for putting together an amazing experience for the College children. We look forward to seeing our own JP children performing to that standard in years to come. Warm Regards
Amy Goodlace

Newsletter 2:2 19 April 2013

Reddam House Waterfall

Important Notices

Grade One early morning entrance is outside Mrs Harris class. It is open from 7:15 untill 7:30am. It is only available to Junior Primary children. All teachers for grade one are at their classes at 7:30. School commences at 8am sharp.

Grade 1

Afternoons
Teacher on duty Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Tracy Hill Taryn Smuts Claudia Harris Shivani Sahaedo

Grade 2/3 Classroom and Teacher Claire Lombard Michelle Peters Nadia Fitzgerald Shelley Steyn

Please take note that Grade 2 and 3 afternoon holding class will be held in the following classes:

Dorianne Alexander Jess Schultz

Stars of the week

1D Darcy Sergeant: For reading so beautifully. I love listening to you! 1R Nosipho Ndhlovu: For her beautiful manners! 1M Zinathi Manyathi: For his enthusiasm towards learning. 1H Mixo Rikhotso: For putting 100% effort into his work. 1E Kyle Kovac: He has been so gentle, kind and helpful to those around him. He always tries his absolute best and produces amazing work! 2R Paige Pickard: For her super work ethic and happy, positive attitude. 2E Luke Cloete: For always trying his best and his enthusiastic approach to his work. 2M Kyla Ballard-Tremeer: For being a model student and taking pride in her work. 2D Odirile Kitchin: For being a happy and an enthusiastic part of the classroom and always having a smile on her face that brightens up Mrs Smiths day. 3R Alexandra Van Zijl: For putting effort into her school work. 3E Toka Masha: For working hard and improving the standard of all his work. 3D Leila Ponce: For the exceptional effort that shes made in Mathematics this week.

Newsletter 2:2 19 April 2013

Reddam House Waterfall

What do Plants Need to Grow?

By Julie Smith and Grade 2 D In Grade Two this term we are doing an experiment. This has started very well and with much excitement. We have discussed what it means to do an experiment and that the outcomes are not always what we might expect. Our experiment involves plants. We have discussed what plants need in order to grow? Our answers were all the same: sunlight, soil and water. We have taken four potted pansies, labeled them accordingly and placed them in areas around the classroom. We then drew our pansies in their pots from different angles.

Michael Collyer

Callum Dalgaty

Callum Dalgaty

We have one pot of pansies that has Sunlight and Water. Our plant seems to be growing well.

2
We have two that are in the cupboard, without any sunlight. One of them is being watered and the other one has been left dry.

We have one that has Sunlight but without any water. Our plant is not looking so good. It seems to be wilting already.

3&4

Hypothesis:
What did they think was going to happen? Sameer: The one with no water is definitely going to die! Michelle: But the plants will die if they have no water! Kaitlyn: I cant wait to see what will happen Sienna: Both of the pansies will wilt in the cupboard

Findings after week 1:

1. 2. 3. All the plants are still alive. Both plants in the sun are wilting, even the one that is being watered. Our Pansy pots in the cupboard that has NO sunlight and NO water has shocked us all because it is growing the best so far.

Our plant is growing beautifully.

We were all expecting our two pansies in the cupboard to be growing badly, and yet they are doing extremely well. Our plants have been in the experiment for a week already. This brings in the question of a timeframe to our experiment. We supposed that the plant still has some stored sunlight energy and is using the last of it to find more light. They noticed that the newest leaves are not as green as the older leaves. However, this means that the plant is seemingly growing better than the other three. This proves that we cant always be sure of what the outcome will be, reinforcing the necessity of experiments and the need to control the variables. This experiment will continue over a few weeks with continuous investigations from our young scientists. We will all have to wait and see which plant survives the longest

Music
This term during music we are learning about, and experiencing, music from all around the world. We started off this week with traditional South African music, discussing the importance of music in everyday life and its purpose in the community. I couldnt have said it any better than one grade 3 boy, who asked if music could thus be seen as the heart of Africa.

We first learnt the work song, Shosholoza, and like true South African musicians each class danced across the room, banging their African drums and maraccas whilst singing this epitomising South African song. After discussing the role of music during the apartheid era, the children learnt the struggle song Homeless, while many of them shared their perceptions of that era. It was wonderful to see how the children already value freedom, equality and respect between people of all languages and cultures. We also sang the lullaby Thula Thula and it was very interesting to see the response to this song: the children immediately started to calm down and relax while listening to and singing this lullaby, once again showing the powerful effect of music on the young mind.

We ended the lesson with a traditional South African music story which focuses on the value of acceptance and tolerance, as well as the role of music in the community and how using it in the right way can bring people together. The children sat in rapt attention listening to the story of Abiyoyo, eagerly singing and playing along on their African instruments. . It was refreshing to see that even the Grade 3s were able to immerse themselves in the story, acting with the characters and using the instruments to amplify various elements of the story. The childrens eagerness and pride regarding South African music makes me look forward to next week, when we will be focusing more on the mainstream, popular music of our country.

Newsletter 2:2 19 April 2013

Reddam House Waterfall