NEWSLETTER | 11 August 2016 | VOLUME 1:14 FROM THE

NEWSLETTER | 11 August 2016 | VOLUME 1:14
FROM THE HEADMISTRESS
Dear Parents
Last week our Atelierista, Sarah Spring prepared
our children for the Olympic Games by discussing
the origin of the Olympic Games, the variety of
sporting activities that were on offer and that
winners in Ancient Greece would receive crowns of
laurel leaves whereas nowadays our winners each
receive a gold medal.
Some children on entering the Piazza this past week practised balancing on beams, aimed at throwing bean
bags on target whilst watching the eye - and - ear catching video of the Rio Olympic Games. Our children’s
victories do not go unnoticed! Each and every child’s victory no matter how big or small is celebrated each day
as each milestone is achieved no matter in which shape or form – be it indoors or outdoors.
Congratulations
Our Stage 5 Ballet Group: Lyla-Rose Stretch, Jessica Laws, Vida Neumann,
Tana Kotze and Daniella Tager did themselves and our school proud by
participating in the Concours d’Arts hosted by Reddam House Bedfordview
last month. Their ballet teacher, Emma Campbell reported that they danced
beautifully and scored 91% for their dance. Congratulations to our girls on
their outstanding achievement.
Family Fun Day Saturday, 17 September 08:30 to 13:00
It’s family time, time to sport your branded shirt, to pack your picnic basket and to spend a relaxing Saturday at
school with a host of Reddam families. Please diarise the date!
Mornings of Song and Dance
Excitement levels have swelled as our children and teachers have been hard at work practising their songs and
moves for their special Morning of Song and Dance. We look forward to the Stage 4s renditions next week!
REDDAM GIVES BACK
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Our Slipper Day was well received by our young children who took sheer delight by parading around in
their stylish slippers. Our teachers spent some time discussing the reason for wearing slippers and how
their kind donation helped a child fulfil his/her dream. We raised a total of R4 350,00! Many thanks to
our Reddam families for their kind and unwavering support.
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The two wheelchairs donated to Afrika Tikkun were collected this week, please see their letter of thanks
below. Once again thank you to all our families for thinking of others and taking the time and effort to
collect these little things which make a big difference in the lives of others.
Dear Annie & Bev
Thank you so much firstly for the most amazing Donation of 2 brand
new wheelchairs to Afrika Tikkun and for your patience with the delay
in uplifting.
We will do an official handover to 2 of our beneficiaries and take
pictures and send them to you.
Kind regards.
Jennifer Lever, Uthando Community Centre
Warm regards
Dr Bev Evangelides
FOCUS ON | STAGE 1 TO 5
Stage 1 – Rockets!
This term the Stage 1s are learning about our skies and beyond. In this fun science
experiment, we made a rocket that could fly. Our rocket flew higher than our school
building!
This was a fun outdoor activity for the children and was made with baking soda and
vinegar which created a reaction to launch our rocket. Who knew that baking soda
and vinegar had that much power, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BLAST OFF!!!
We asked the children where the rocket was going and these were some of the
answers:
"In the sky," said Addison
"To the moon," remarked Adrianna
"Up there," exclaimed Carter
Teacher Katy, Bullie and Patience
Stage 2 – Traffic Lights
This week we started with our provocation, ‘Moving from Place to Place’. We introduced the provocation to the
children by asking them how they travel from their homes to school. Some children mentioned that they travel
by cars, buses and golf carts. During this discussion, one of the children mentioned that their mom stops at
traffic lights. This led to an interesting discussion on traffic lights. We talked about the colours that are displayed
on a traffic light and their meaning. We also discovered that when a traffic light is not working, there is usually a
person who controls traffic.
We had fun with some of the wooden traffic lights that we have at our school and each child had a turn to act as
a role-play traffic controller. We decided to make our own traffic lights. The children began by painting paper
plates with black paint to make the poles of the traffic lights. Each child was then given cut circles of red, yellow
and green to paste on black paper as their traffic lights. After pasting the colours of the traffic lights, the children
then stuck the painted black paper plates as the poles to complete their traffic lights.
What a fun way to learn through play.
Teacher Esnath and Lindiwe
Stage 3 – Under the Sea
Our provocation for this term is Under the Sea. Our week started off with an interest in sharks, where they live
and what they eat. Our art work consisted of painting the sea and free drawing what our idea of a shark is. We
then moved onto the topic of fish, how sharks eat fish, how do fish feel, what do they eat and where do they
live? Using paper plates, we painted the colour of the fish, cut it out and pasted it onto black cardboard.
The life cycle and food cycle of sea creatures will be addressed at a later stage when the children ask questions
and whatever sparks their interest.
We learnt excellent fine motor skills while painting and used our imaginations when drawing our very own shark.
Cutting out helps with our hand and eye co-ordination as well as teaching us how to focus on what we want to
achieve in the outcome.
Teacher Jessica and Precious
Stage 4 – Water Lily Science Experiment
As part of our provocation, ‘In the Dark’ we have been
discussing nocturnal animals. We had a discussion
about frogs and where they live. The children made
water lilies out of paper. They traced them, cut them out
and coloured them in. They then folded the leaves of the
lily inward.
We went outside and filled a trough with water and placed the lilies on top of the water.
Connor: It’s floating!”
Rhys: So is mine!
Lucca: I think if the water goes on top of the lily then it will sink.
Nandi: My lily pad is starting to open.
Paper is a thin material and results in the paper swelling up and the leaves of the paper lily opening up, just like
if you put a wilted flower in water. We also discovered sinking and floating during this experiment.
Teacher Lauren and Sharon
Stage 5 – Places Around the World
When our children returned from
holiday they were very excited to talk
about the different places they had
been to on holiday. We began to
discuss different countries around the
world and decided that it would make
for an interesting provocation.
Our first place around the world that we learnt about came about when Regan
brought his Tenrik to school. These animals come from Madagascar. We
discussed the island of Madagascar as well as explored the world map to see
where it is located.
Situated off the continent of Africa, children learned some interesting facts
about Madagascar. It is surrounded by sea. Madagascar is the fourth largest
island, 592 800 square kilometres in size. The people speak French and
Malagasy on the Island and the majority of the population are Christian. They
observed the shape of the island and drew it.
Teacher Marina and Fadzai
THIS WEEK IN ADVENTURE ZONE
A very warm welcome back to the third term and I’m looking forward to a successful and productive one. We
had a fun and exciting time during our Holiday Club. The children enjoyed many interesting activities to keep
them busy and they loved taking their creations home each day to show their moms and dads. Their favourite
seemed to be the pine cone owl.
The children enjoyed touching the snakes and the marmoset monkey when the Mobile Zoo visited. Tricky
Trevor the Magician was a firm favourite and the children screamed with delight when he blew up the balloons
and turned them into different animals. During the last week the boys and girls enjoyed painting their treasure
chest and jumping on the jumping castle.
Look out for our exciting Holiday Programme in September.
Please Note:
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We will not change the girls into their ballet outfits if the weather is cold.
Please make sure all clothing and shoes are clearly marked.
When the weather is cold, the children are divided into age groups and have a fun day inside. The
Adventure Zone classrooms are Penny Mullers for Stage Two and Three and Lauren Kerwins for Stage
Four and Five. We have a two week roster and a Teacher is on duty each day.
Please ensure you sign out at Reception when collecting your child.
Please remember you are required to give a month’s notice period if your child is leaving Adventure
Zone. This needs to be put in writing via email to both wendy.vandermerwe@reddam.house and
geraldine.clark@reddam.house.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am sure we all can’t wait for Spring which is around the corner.
Liz Miller and the Adventure Zone Team
DATES TO DIARISE
15 & 16 August
School Photographs
16 August
Stage 4 Morning of Song & Dance – Lauren Kerwin & Lauren Phillips
17 August
Stage 4 Morning of Song & Dance – Tanya Gerasimo and Angela Dos Santos
18 August
Stage 4 Morning of Song & Dance – Manisha Maharaj and Jaimy Combrink
01 September
Spring Day
NEWSLETTER | 11 August 2016 | VOLUME 1:14