Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

THEME

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

COLOUR

Black

SHAPE

Square & Cube

NUMBER

1 & 2 

j

LETTER

Zz – Zebra

Welcome back to Term 2!

We were thrilled to see how excited our Hoppers were to be back at school. It has been a very busy two weeks with all the excitement of seeing friends and teachers again and learning about wild animals.

Wow, what a jam-packed short first week we had back at school.  

During ring time we spoke about wild animals and what makes them “wild”; we also spoke about our Big 5 and birds of prey, hunters, and carnivores.

We played an audio game, where we played the sounds that various wild animals make, and the Hoppers had to guess the name of the animal that the sound belongs to. Some animals like the lion, were quite easy to identify but other sounds like a Buffalo and Nyala were a bit trickier! This was such a fun guessing game and our children enjoyed it thoroughly!

We also focused on our letter of the week “z” and the colour of the week “black”. We had fun turning the letter “z” into a Zebra. The Hoppers had to first trace over the letter “z” and then they finger-painted stripes onto the letter “z”, what a fun way to get our fine motor skills going while learning that “z” is for zebra.

We tapped into our imagination and went on a “Safari Drive”. The Happy Hoppers made binoculars out of toilet rolls and painted them a colour of their choice. On Friday last week, the teachers hid toy animals around the school playground, and we took our binoculars to see which wild animals we could see. So, if the children come home saying they saw a lion, you know why! J

Our theme this week was still wild animals and Mothers and babies in celebration of Mother’s Day on Sunday. We started the week off with great fine motor activity and did some fun tracing activities with whiteboard markers and laminated sheets of paper with shapes, numbers, and patterns. Tracing helps little ones refine their pre-writing skills and builds the foundation for drawing and writing letters and words.

For our art we started with our Mother’s Day cards, these came out so cute! We started off by painting the palm of the Hopper’s hands and made yellow handprints, these are our suns on the card. They then sponge-painted white clouds onto the paper, after the clouds were dry, we glued our suns, and the hoppers finger-painted the letter “m” on either side of the sun creating the word mom. J

For cooking we made ‘Mom you are “Tea”-riffic’ biscuits, we made simple cookie dough, and the children helped add ingredients and mix them all together. We then rolled the dough and cut out teabag-shaped cookies, once baked we dipped them into delicious chocolate. Hope all the moms enjoy! J

We also made a sugar body scrub. For this activity, we melted coconut oil, added some Lavender essence, and lastly added the sugar once the oil had cooled a bit. We hope our Hopper mommies feel spoilt, as you most certainly deserve it (P.S. Let the tub soak in warm water to soften).

Our theme next week will be: Farm, Fruit and vegetables.

Have a safe and lovely weekend.

We know it can get tough out there moms ... Thank you for all that you do!

    

 Dates to Diarise:  

19 May: Haircut Day

2 June: Hearing Tests

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Kate-Lynn, Teacher Katy and the Happy Hoppers Assistants

We Missed These Faces!

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

THEME

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

COLOUR

Black

SHAPE

Square 

NUMBER

1 & 2 

j

LETTER

Zz – Zebra

This has been the most amazing week for so many reasons! We missed our Pups so much over the holiday and it’s just so amazing to have them back!  We sure have had a ton of fun at school this week even though it was such a short week. There was so much to learn about! Wow! This Wild Animal theme is such a fun and interesting one.

We began our art piece by making a pair of binoculars to take on an adventure walk to see what “pretend” wild animals could see. We also made a paper plate lion … this was a lot of fun and we have decided to keep it for our Art Expo.

We did a lot of puzzles building this week and the Pups are really getting good at this activity.

Thank you all for bringing in recycled materials to rebuild our art supplies. Please continue to set aside anything we can use for art. Please also bring us any toys you are throwing out. We can always find a home for them, if not with us, then with one of our charities.

Then BOOM we went straight into our new week.

Mommies and Babies and Mother’s Day

Colour: Black

Number: 1

Shape: Square

Moral Conscious: Mommy knows best – respect authority

Then, it was Mommy week! The kids LOVED it! All the children had a great time playing mommy or daddy and it was so lovely to see their nurturing natures come out. Children are so naturally gentle and kind! And they know what to do when they see a baby and a pram. It was adorable. Don’t be scared to buy your boy child a doll if he wants one – they are practicing to be great, hands – on dads! We chatted about mommies and what they do for their children, the names of animal mommies and their babies (for example, a dog and a puppy!) and we chatted about where a baby grows, what a baby needs and how to look after a baby.

We made a special present for mom this week. We were out in the sunshine planting a very special plant for mom and made a very special card for mom that we attached to the plant. This was a great sensory activity even though some little bodies weren’t so eager to get their hands dirty.  We also made an amazing lip balm for you moms, out of Vaseline coconut oil and honey.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable week and it is great to be back.

A few reminders in general:

  • Keep nails short, to avoid scratching accidents.
  • Start your child on a multivitamin like Crèche Guard (if you haven’t already) to try beat the winter bugs going around. Also, please refer to the Sick Policy and keep children who are ill at home so we can minimize the spread of colds and flu.
  • Label, label, label EVERYTHING! … In winter there are many more items of clothing coming to school and during the day as it warms up, we tend to remove layers and then things get very easily mixed up and sent home with the wrong child. The playground looks like a cupboard at the end of playtime as the children strip off layers and just drop them as they warm up. Lazarus then brings us what he thinks is ours based on size but it would really help if everything had a label. Keep warm and get back to us safely on Monday!

Have a wonderful weekend.  We look forward to another fun week of learning.

Next week’s theme is: The Farm: Fruit and Vegetables

 

 

We know it can get tough out there moms ... Thank you for all that you do!

    

 Dates to Diarise:  

19 May: Haircut Day

2 June: Hearing Tests

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

We Missed These Faces!

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

THEME

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

COLOUR

Black

SHAPE

Square 

NUMBER

1 & 2 

j

LETTER

Zz – Zebra

Welcome back to school for the second term!

We were so happy to see your smiling faces on Wednesday morning! The holidays were long, but we can assure you that all of them are having happy and (mostly) warm and sunny days at school with their friends!

We cannot believe how much they have grown! A lot of them have come back to school fully potty trained, some of them are talking so much all of a sudden, and they are all listening very well – we sense a general “maturity” increase happened during the holidays as it always does, and we are very proud of them!

 We spent every day of this short week, having very intense and long ring times, discussing animals from all over Africa and other wild animals from around the world such as tigers and kangaroos! We learned so many cool and fun facts about these animals and the children were hanging on to our every word! It is amazing to watch their little faces while they are engaged with a topic that really excites them! Too sweet to see! We listened to the sounds these animals make thanks to the wonder of technology, and watched many little video clips of them! It has taken some effort this week to remind them that they are indeed little people and not really monkeys and lions! Haha! What a special time.

For art this week, we made the cutest recycled Pringle tin Giraffe hand puppets. Unfortunately, you are only going to be able to view these at Art Expo!

This theme also continued over to this week, and we learned about animal mommies in the wild, and how they look after their babies.

Have an amazing weekend, and we will see you back next week for another exciting theme!

Theme: Mothers and their Babies, Mother’s Day

Colour: Pink

Shape: Heart

Number: 1

Letter: M – Mommy

Moral Conscience Theme: Respecting authority – mommy knows best!

This week, was all about MOM! We learned all about mothers and their babies and it was so sweet to see how much our little Bugs know about this topic! They all had lots to say about their own mommies, telling us what they love about you and everything you do for them. 

We asked them to tell us all about what a mommy does for her baby. The Bugs know that mommies grow babies “in their tummies” (bless them) and that a mommy gives her baby milk, and keeps them warm and changes smelly nappies! Mommies sing to their babies and bath them, and make them feel better when they are sick! They also make food for their babies and give lots of hugs and kisses! What lucky children!

We also learned that animal babies have special names! A baby cow is called a calf; a baby horse is called a foal. Pigs have piglets and cats have kittens! Dogs have puppies and sheep have lambs. Goats have kids (this was a little confusing – hehe!) Lions and bears have cubs, while wolves and seals have pups. And ALL these mommies look after their babies so nicely and make sure that they have everything they need!

This is why it’s important to make mommies feel special on their one very special day each year called “Mother’s day!”

For a gift this year, our Bugs made beautiful tie-dyed flower necklaces that they sprayed with food colouring themselves. We also made the cutest, handprint flowerpot cards. We hope you love these special gifts that your Bugs made for you!

Happy Mother’ Day, all you super moms!

Winter is well and truly upon us, so please make sure you dress your children in layers that can be easily removed. Label everything! If you would like, you may also send a labelled beanie to use at playtime so we can keep those heads warm and the chilly wind out of their ears! May we suggest you start using extra vitamin C or an immune booster so that all our Bugs can hopefully stay germ free this winter!  

Next Week’s Theme: On the Farm: Fruit and Veg

Next Week’s Show and Tell: Amari and Ryleigh

We know it can get tough out there moms ... Thank you for all that you do!

    

 Dates to Diarise:  

19 May: Haircut Day

2 June: Hearing Tests

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Gemma, Teacher Monette and the Busy Bugs Assistants

We Missed These Faces!

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

THEME

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

COLOUR

Black

SHAPE

Square & Cube

NUMBER

13 & 14 

j

LETTER

Zz – Zebra

Moral Conscious Theme: Risk-taker – We explained to the Squad that to be a risk-taker you need to try new things and be open to making mistakes as there is always an opportunity to try again until you get it right.

We hope the Squad are well rested after the holidays, it’s great to be back! During this week and the short last week, we discussed weekend news and our themes for the relevant weeks.

Writing and Phonics: The Squad worked hard on remembering their sight words from last term and received three new sight words for this week “yes”, ”no” and “mom”. The squad then did two worksheets on the “ag” family and this week on the “at” family, they drew their sound buttons and then matched the words to the pictures. They then wrote their full sentences using their “ag” and “at” family words. Great work!  

Mathematics: The Squad completed a fun worksheet on 3D shapes, they had to determine whether each picture matched with a cone, sphere, cylinder, or cube, they sang their 3D shapes song while completing this and caught on nicely, we are so proud! They then did two worksheets, one where they had to trace the numbers and write the missing numbers and the other one, they had to determine whether a number was more or less than another number.

Creative Art: The Squad made ostriches out of pipe cleaners for art last week which we will be using for our exciting Art Expo and this week they made beautiful Mother’s Day art out of Menu’s…Oooh you are going to be spoiled rotten this Sunday Moms…Enjoy!!!!

Music and Cooking: On Tuesday for Music, Teacher Katy came and did a fun music lesson where she taught the Squad about vocal cords, pitch, and the ladder of music. We also sang lots of Concert songs.

Afrikaans: We read a story about a cat and mouse. The Squad had to write on top of each picture that had a cat “kat” and mouse “muis”.

We are completing assessments over the next two weeks, please could we ask that your child attend school every day.

We know it can get tough out there moms ... Thank you for all that you do!

    

 Dates to Diarise:  

19 May: Haircut Day

2 June: Hearing Tests

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Carla, Teacher Hayley and the Smart Squad Assistants

We Missed These Faces!

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

THEME

Wild Animals & Birds of Prey; Mommies & Babies

COLOUR

Black

SHAPE

Square & Cube

NUMBER

13 & 14 

j

LETTER

Zz – Zebra

Welcome back to Term 2 Curious Crew Parents ! And what a busy and adventurous term we have ahead ! We have many exciting things coming ! 

Theme discussions were full of fun detail and many different animals this week , we went beyond our ordinary animals , we explored the Amazon jungle, our Antarctic animals and so much more. 

We spoke about the different environments that these places offer these animals , and we then had a look at what animals we get in these environments. Teacher Clarissa showed the class the most beautiful pictures of the different animals and the class was just taken away by the many different kinds. 

For art this week , we made the most beautiful Chameleon art piece , each child had to water paint their chameleon , create their own cactuses, and design their own unique desert art piece using sand too. 

It’s wonderful seeing all the different , unique pieces coming together. 

For our shape of the week , we had to make our very own 3D cube , each child coloured in their cubes , we then helped them paste together their cube , and this helped them understand the concept of a 3D shape. 

We also focused a lot on our very special Mother’s Day gifts for our very special mommies this week , the children really worked hard and added in a lot of love into these pieces too . 

I am sure the mommies are going to LOVE their beautiful very special gifts. 

FUNFIT SPORTS 

This week we started our lessons with Coach Trevor , we focused on our races that will be in our upcoming Sports Day , we tackled jumping , throwing , running . Overall it was a very energetic and super busy sports lesson ! 

HEART MATTERS 

This week in Heart Matters , Teacher Hela spoke about things and emotions that are in our control and that are not in our control , they all played a very cool game where we had to try and listen and guess who stole the toy bone from under the chair. Each kiddo had a turn and they loved this very fun game. 

YOGA

Yoga was a little different…they played TETRIS! This game engages with several cognitive skills such as memory, matching and pattern recognition. It also promotes problem solving and thinking patterns. The aim of the game is to fit all the pieces in to fill up the board. It was a super fun activity and everyone woked nicely together as a team. Unfortunately we weren’t able to complete the board, but the Crew were amazing and only had one block left over in the end. We will definitely be playing this again in the future to see if we can get all the blocks onto the board.

It has been a fun and very busy 1 and a half weeks back at school ! 

May everyone have a blessed weekend ! 

Next weeks theme : The Farm – Fruits and Vegetables. 

 

We know it can get tough out there moms ... Thank you for all that you do!

    

 Dates to Diarise:  

19 May: Haircut Day

2 June: Hearing Tests

7 June: Haircut Day

15 June: Bike-a-Thon Day

16 June: Youth Day (Public Holiday)

23 June: Book Character Dress Up Day and Break Up Day

26, 27, 28, 29, 30 June: Mid Term Break

3 July: Back to School

 

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Teacher Ash and the Curious Crew Assistants

We Missed These Faces!