Letter to the Grade 4s of 2020

Dear Grade 4s of 2020,

Welcome to the Senior Primary Campus! You must be really excited for the SP campus but you must also be really nervous. But don’t worry because all of the teachers are really nice. If you’re nervous about meeting all of the kids from the other campuses, (Sunningdale or Blouberg) don’t worry, you’ll make friends with them really easily! I personally have really enjoyed all of the fun activities that the teachers have put together for us. There are Inter-house Athletics Sports Days, Inter-house Swimming Galas and sports matches. There are also Books By Night, Marimbas, Choir, Student LED Conferences, Science Expos and School Theatre Productions. All of the activities are really fun and some of them are opportunities for you to support and collect points for your house and some of them are opportunities to represent our school in a good way! Others of the activities allow you to branch out and truly grow as a person. Good luck!

Sincerely Yours,
Tamsyn

Email To David's Parents

Email Etiquette

We have been working on email etiquette and I have learnt a few things. I have learnt that when writing an email, you need to write with proper and appropriate langauge and sign and proofread, be professional, use a solution, keep it to-the-point and give a specific subject. Having/showing manners is essential and shows that you are polite. Even when emailing you best friend, you must always use email Etiquette.

Super hero task

Three weeks ago we did a stop motion task where we had to create our own super hero in partners and I was partners with a girl called Thato. We created a super hero named Rainbow Vortex and she was a unicorn who could shapeshift into a human girl and she could shoot rainbow tornadoes out of her hands which were cat faces.It was a very difficult task making her because we had to make her out of clay and we had to make a unicorn and a human girl. The human's face and her body smushed and she looked really bad. The unicorn's eyes were squinted but her shape was really good. We then had to film it which took really long but we finished in the end. We then inserted it into green screen and we finished it really quickly because it was easy and we had some help too. I liked this task but I also didn't like it but it was a nice and fun experience. I didn't like the planning in the beginning much.

A day in the life and home of a child in an informal settlement

My name is Shakira and this is my story.

Gauteng, Monday, 1 June, 2015

This morning I woke up to the sound of fighting outside of my shack. I pulled on my orange jumper and my dusty ripped pair of black tights. I went to the portable toilets that my family and I share with three other families.

I went back to my shack and woke up my 5 year old little sister Tabhi and got her up and dressed. I split the last orange between us. We brushed our teeth and combed our hair with our fingers. I woke my mom up, said goodbye and kissed her on the cheek. I picked Tabhi up and started to walk to school with the hard gravel rubbing my feet raw. After two kilometers I finally reached the school.

There are so many kids that when I walked in the teacher didn’t even notice I was late. There weren’t enough supplies so I couldn’t write on anything. I didn’t even listen to what she was saying because we do the same thing on the same topic every day of the week for a week. So I just sat there and when she saw I wasn’t listening she said, “Shakira, you are twelve years old, you should be setting an example to some of the smaller kids!” If I catch you not listening again you will be sent to go and sit in the corner facing the wall for an hour! After that I started listening to her for the rest of the day.

After school I was starving and Tabhi started complaining of the hunger too. We started to walk back to our shack. When I opened the door my mom was crying. I asked why she was crying and she said that she got retrenched. She was talking about how she was going to feed us and how she was going to pay for school. “I can try to earn some money” I said. She said that she didn’t expect me to do that and that she was the mother. “I know that it has been difficult since your father has died and I am so sorry! I am a terrible mother!” “No you are not!” “I love you just the way you are!” “Thank you darling, I love you too.”

“I will go and see if I can buy us all a soft bread roll each.”Ok I said. As my mother left I gathered all my own money and counted it. Whoa, I have a whole R10. I told Tabhi to stay here while I go to the R5 store. She wanted to come with but I said no and I promised I would come back straight away.

When I finally reached the R5 store which took forever (10km). I bought a pack of water sachets and a pack of pencils (which were surprisingly cheap). I paid and walked back to the shack. I started selling the water sachets and pencils. The pencils cost R2 each and the water cost R3.50 each. I sold 3 pencils and 4 water sachets. I made R20! I showed mom and she said it was very sweet but not nearly enough we were going to need. It is times like this that I wish that we had a secure house, a proper closed toilet, litter control, warm food and water. But wishes don’t usually come true.

That night the rain was coming down so hard on the roof that I couldn’t sleep. I suddenly felt little droplets on my face. I got up and woke up my mom. We put buckets under the leaks but there were so many leaks and too little buckets. Mom opened the door and water started rushing in! “Oh no!” I cried out. We tried closing the door but the force of the water was too strong. “What are we going to do now?” I said. “I don’t know!” Mom replied. Tabhi started crying. I picked her up and comforted her.

I went outside and pulled myself through the water. I asked for help and I managed to get our next door neighbor, Henry. We all pushed and pushed and eventually we managed to close the door. By then the floors were soaked! All of our stuff were ruined! In the morning we started taking the water out of our shacks in buckets. When most of the water was finally out, all of our possessions were caked in the mud.

The next morning we packed up our few possessions that we managed to salvage from the mud. We walked until we reached the bus stop. We gathered the last of our money and bought three bus tickets to Cape Town.

A new life, a new person.

 

The Singing Inspector: Jesse's Diary

Jesse’s diary : The Singing Inspector

The other day the singing inspector came and his name was Mr Raymond.

He came into the classroom and called up two people, Charles and Benny. Mr Raymond was pointing on the modelater. “Can’t you even sing the Blue Bells of Scotland or Minstrel Boy!

“What can you even sing! We can sing Pretty Polly said Charles. Then sing it! Shouted Mr Raymond who was turning red and looked just like a Devil with horns in his fiery dome.

They both sang terribly. Charles sang, what’s o’clock, what’s o’clock in a very low sort of voice and Benny sang, Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly in very high sort of voice because he was very scared and we all like felt like bursting out laughing but we were all too afraid.

In the middle of the song they both stopped because they ran out of breath. Mr Raymond was starting turn red again and shouted, “what a waste of time! Two voiceless idiots in a singing class! Send them out!

The other day the singing inspector came and his name was Mr Raymond.

He came into the classroom and called up two people, Charles and Benny. Mr Raymond was pointing on the modelater. “Can’t you even sing the Blue Bells of Scotland or Minstrel Boy!

“What can you even sing! We can sing Pretty Polly said Charles. Then sing it! Shouted Mr Raymond who was turning red and looked just like a Devil with horns in his fiery dome.

They both sang terribly. Charles sang, what’s o’clock, what’s o’clock in a very low sort of voice and Benny sang, Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly in very high sort of voice because he was very scared and we all like felt like bursting out laughing but we were all too afraid.

In the middle of the song they both stopped because they ran out of breath. Mr Raymond was starting turn red again and shouted, “what a waste of time! Two voiceless idiots in a singing class! Send them out!

I was saying over and over to myself, “Don’t call me, don’t  call me. Mr Raymond pointed to me and said, that girl over there with the blonde curls and the crystal blue eyes! I came up and sang Do Ray Me on the moderator. I think I did ok because he gave a little grunt. As I went to go sit down I felt like crying I was so terrified.

Next he called up Gladys Armstrong  and Iris. Iris tried to hide away but she wasn’t fooling anyone and he saw her.

She looked scared and when she tried to sing nothing came out of her mouth and I even think Gladys was shaking. “ What do we have here, the deaf and the dumb.” “Where’s your voice girl?”Said Mr Raymond. Then he called Gladys Long and winnie and said, “help  the paralyzed mutes! Said Mr Raymond.

I was so scared and hoped that he never came back again because he was so mean and judgmental to all of the other kids and I was definitely going to tell my dad about him and he is on the board of governors and I am sure he will remove that hateful bully! So that night my dad and I made a compromise that I never ever have to be tested by a Singing Inspector again.

Shipwreck

The name of the shipwreck is the SS America.
The shipwreck occurred on January 18th. The SS America got stuck in a thunderstorm. It was built in The year 1940 and in Phuket in Thailand. The shipwreck is located in Fuertevertura in the Canary Islands. I chose this shipwreck because it looks so big and important and I really want to go and explore it.