Message from our Head - Herschel Girls School

HERSCHEL PREPARATORY SCHOOL
MUSIC
LIBRARY
PRE-PREPARATORY
FOUNDATION
INTERMEDIATE & SENIOR
Message from our Head
Dear Parents
In assembly this Tuesday Miss Webster blindfolded three girls for
a drink “tasting” experience. The first girl was asked what her drink
tasted like: “Sweet, sour … It’s Fanta Orange,” was the answer. The
second girl guessed her drink immediately: “Appeltizer.” It was
established that it had a sweet apple taste. The last girl’s comment
on her drink was: “Plain. No taste… It’s water.” We had a look at
the full glass of water. If we did not know that there was water in
it, we might think there was nothing there.
DATES TO DIARISE
24 Feb
25 Feb
26 Feb
Open Day
13:00 PGSGU Interschool Tennis
Summer Sports Photos
18:30 Gr 6 Dads & Daughters Technology
Evening
U13 Water Polo Tournament at Reddam
Gala at Oakhurst
Water is essential for life. The world is made up of four fifths of
water. Our brains are made up of 70 % water. If we think about
God, He is a bit like water. We can’t see Him and we might think
that there is “nothing there”, but He is essential for Life. Miss
Webster then reminded the girls about the story that Reverend
Taylor had told the previous week: Jesus went to the well and a
woman gave him some water. He said to her: “The water I give
people takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring
within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:14). Then she read
another verse from the Bible: “If you are thirsty, come to me. If you
believe in me come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers
of living water will flow out from within.” (John 7:37, 38).
Miss Webster reminded us to be aware of our use of water,
especially during this time of drought. She concluded with the
thought that the water we use is the same water that the
dinosaurs drank millions of years ago. The Earth is a natural
“recycler”.
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Pre-Preparatory
Our Grade R girls are enjoying all their extra mural activities after school.
They have a choice between Ballet, Modern dancing, Pottery, Curious
Cubs, Drama, Gymnastics, Tennis, Optikids and Chess. Here are some of
our girls enjoying a chess lesson. There is even a new chess board that
allows 4 girls to play altogether.
Foundation Phase
Grade 1 Teddy Bear Picnic
The Grade 1s were learning the /b/ sound today, so we had a /b/
picnic. Barbies, build-a-bears, bush babies and teddy bears were all
invited. The girls enjoyed bringing their toy to school. They had a funfilled morning making bear pictures, reading bear rhymes and having
a picnic together.
Grade 2
The Grade Two girls “spread the love” on
Founders’ Day!
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Grade 3
On the 11 February the Grade 3s celebrated Valentine’s Day with the
WPPS boys. The girls sang a few Valentines songs and then they
exchanged cards, flowers and chocolates. Although everyone was
rather nervous and shy they were all very excited to have met up and
had a chance to celebrate Valentine’s Day together.
Intermediate Phase
Grade 6 Technology and Pancake Decorating
The theme of newspapers is being explored in Grade 6. During English
lessons, in the Knowledge Centre Integrated lessons and in Technology.
They girls have already produced a front page newspaper article,
presented a news report as TV reporter and have been busy making paper
in Technology.
The Grade 6 girls had a pancake decoration competition in celebration of
Shrove Tuesday. The girls, in groups of three, could choose from five
categories ugliest, cutest, healthiest (not many entries!), scariest and
prettiest. Some categories were so creatively presented that the prizes
had to be shared. A fun morning was had by all.
Grade 7
“On Monday, the 15 February, the Grade 7 Herschel and Wet Pups boys
spent an eventful and enjoyable Valentine’s morning together. The boys
arrived with beautiful flowers and presented them to the very bashful
Herschel girls. The boys and girls both attended a chapel service which
was thoroughly enjoyed. They then spent the rest of the morning playing
games and having fun, enjoying some snacks and drinks together. It was
a wonderful morning for everybody, where lots of new friends were
made.” Sarah Floquet and Maryam Ameen.
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Read Aloud Day
World Read Aloud Day: 24 February 2016
On World Read Aloud Day, celebrate by reading aloud to your daughters
on behalf of the 793 million people who cannot read. Did you know:
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Reading aloud to children every day puts them almost a year
ahead of children who do not receive daily read alouds
regardless of parental income, education level or cultural
background. (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and
Social Research)
According to the latest data (2014), 793 million adults – two
thirds of them women – lack basic reading and writing skills.
(UNESCO)
If all children in low income countries left school literate, 171
million people could move out of poverty. (World Literacy
Foundation)
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/524608b4e4b0781833bcf0b5/t/5
6b4ba29f699bb7361eff870/1454684715068/litworldWRAD16classpacke
t.pdf
Art Department
The Art Department is collecting glass
jars, old newspaper and ice-cream tubs
for their classes. If you have any at
home, please send it to Mrs Foale-Price
at the Art classroom.
Eco Schools
Can Collection
Thank you everyone for the massive effort as 15 340 cans were
collected. The winning class will be announced in next week’s
newsletter after Tuesday’s Assembly. Thank you to EVERYONE for this
wonderful effort…should I put the bracketed bit in or not?
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We have added a new App, Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress, for the girls in Grade 3 – 6 to enjoy. Just like Mathletics
the girls can access the site with their unique password and partake in a variety of activities. These activities will form
part of class time but we encourage girls to use the sites at home as well.
Mathletics – Mathematics for Grade R – 12
(www.mathletics.co.za)
Mathletics is an online learning platform with learning activities from Grade R – 7 at Herschel. The focus is on helping girls
improve and consolidate their mathematics skills. No installation of special software is required and the program can be
accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any computer or iPAD connected to the internet, at home or at school. A new
feature is that Mathletics can also now be accessed offline when on the iPAD.
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Live Mathletics – unique game engine where girls play 60 second games, in real time, against other girls
from around the world
Engage and motivate girls to improve core math skills
Access 1000’s of interactive practice activities and tests
Easy to track mastery of concepts and report on student progress
Automatically set individual learning activities for home or class work
Customise content to personalise the learning
Encourage girls to work independently
Extend and support girls with maths
Data flows seamlessly from school to home
Reading Eggs - Learning to read, ages 4-7
(www.readingeggs.co.za)
The online reading program is designed to get learners reading as quickly as possible. To do this Reading Eggs needs to
initially focus on the sounds and high frequency words that will enable learners to read their first simple words and
sentences. Reading Eggs wants learners to learn how letters make words and how these words make sentences – sentences
that they can read.
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Girls are allowed to work at their own pace, for consolidation, extension and support.
The Skills Bank focuses on Spelling, Grammar and Vocabulary development and the Story Factory part of the writing
program.
Reading Eggspress – Further literacy, ages 8-14
(www.readingeggspress.co.za)
Reading Eggspress is designed to build reading and comprehension skills, for girls in Grades 3 – 6. Using a highly engaging
lessons a motivational point systems, gets girls involved and excited as soon as they enter. The Reading Eggspress website
has an enormous range of learning resources, over 200 comprehension lessons, English Skills lessons, motivational games,
over 1000 e-books in the Library and a comprehensive reporting system that together create a unique learning environment.
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Music
Music Workshops Term 1
This is applicable for Grades 4, 5, 6 and 7 who are learning voice,
saxophone, guitar and percussion/drums.
Venue: Music Auditorium at the Preparatory School
Monday, 7 March
Tuesday, 8 March
Friday, 11 March
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
11:35 – 12:35
13:30 – 14:30
09:20 – 10:15
12:15 – 13:15
Please note: Grades 2 & 3 will have their Workshops in Term 2, due to low
numbers on the above instruments.
We have had an exceptionally busy week with various school events. We will report on these events in the next newsletter.
Wishing you a good week ahead.
Yours sincerely
Mrs B Heidmann
Head of Preparatory
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