More on the concerts

Well, this is my very first blog and Greenwood seemed an excellent reason to get started! Two more sleeps and I get to go and watch my youngest Jenna, who is four years old, perform in the pre-school concert. She is a rabbit "I am not a bunny mom, I am a rabbit" she advised me indignantly today. Janet and some of the other moms have done an amazing job with her outfit - I gave them as much moral support as possible as I cannot even sew a button on a shirt! If the primary school concert - "Flight of the Starship Silvergrey" is anything to go by then it can only be an entertaining evening. I thoroughly enjoyed the primary school concert, it was so professional and polished and not at all "thrown together". The hard work and hours that Tessa, the staff, pupils and parents put in was evident. But professionalism and polished are formal words. It is the feel good stuff that makes an evening, the comrade amongst staff and pupils having a drink outside whilst waiting in anticipation for the show to begin, the laughs that children create so naturally (the Goobledegook lost his eye a few times), the spontaneous applause and cheers that encouraged the pupils throughout the evening, the goosebumps I got when my daughter Kayleigh sang her solo and let's not forget staff, pupils and parents doing the "Timewarp" together at the end. Fantastic - I just can't wait for Thursday night!

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL

That’s right, these five children from Greenwood Independent School are too cool for school. So cool, in fact, that they were flown to Johannesburg to take part in the annual Eskom ETA awards; the youngest contestants in the event’s 21 year history.

The Grade 6 and 7 class, represented by Nicolas Reid, Kharma Rossi, Azi Ngumbela, Heather Anderson and Teva Shneor, designed an evaporative refrigerator, which is basically a tub surrounded by wet sand and held together with cloth and plastic mesh with a lid on top. Amazingly this device, made from scraps found around the home, lowers the temperature of its contents quite dramatically making electricity quite unnecessary in refrigeration.

The simplicity and practicality of this little fridge caught the eyes of the judges who were surprised at the youth of these inventors and were impressed with their understanding of the broader issues of sustainability. The famous five were feted at the event and a great fuss was made of their age and expertise. They were given a special award for their project in the Young Designers Category; other contestants were all from high schools.

The children owe their greatness to Susan Donald who is the facilitator for WESSA’s program for Environmental Education in the Bitou area. Susan works closely with Greenwood Independent School to include these kinds of projects in the everyday curriculum. Unfortunately she was unable to accompany the young inventors to Johannesburg as she is currently in Sweden for a month as part of an award for her efforts in environmental education!

FLIGHT OF THE STARSHIP SILVER GREY

What an amazing concert!! Last week the children of Greenwood, along with their very talented music teachers Tessa and Karin and the other teaching staff at Greenwood, put on a production that was worthy of being on Broadway!! All the primary school children were involved - either as robots, aliens, suger pop girls, space troopers and many other 'out of space' creatures! The audience was thrilled to be able to watch such a superb production. The arts and drama departments at Greenwood are excellent!!

Kaleigh Packwood as the 'Earthling".

Kharma Rossi as Captain Skylark and Nicholas Hill as the GobbledeGook.

The Milky Way Parade with all the aliens.

and the lovely Space Singers.

ESKOM’S ETA AWARDS 2010

Some of the Greenwood learners will be flying up to Johannesburg on Tuesday to do a presentation for the Eskom and the Department of Energy. Well done Greenwood!!!

See the info below:

Eskom and the Department of Energy have for the past 20 years rewarded excellence in the field of energy efficiency. The purpose of the ETA Awards is to reward exceptional effort in the more efficient use of energy by individuals, students, companies or other institutions. All of the awards comprise a cash amount of R30 000 for the winner in each category and R5 000 for each of the two runners-up in each category.

We were recently notified that GREENWOOD INDEPENDENT SCHOOL is one of the 5 FINALISTS in the Young Designers Category for their “Keep a Chill on Global Warming” entry! Refrigerators are one of our households biggest consumers of electricity and, with the help of Susan Donald, they have constructed an eco fridge, which does not use any electricity! This is the latest of our energy saving projects which started last year with our solar water heater. The fridge works on the principle of evaporation, just as the Zeer clay pots do. However it is bigger, uses easily obtained and inexpensive materials, which we can get at the local hardware store. (Shade cloth, netting and sand.) The fridge is being used to keep milk, water and lunchboxes cold—and in tests, lowered the temperature of liquids by between 8 and 10 degrees.

We are so proud of you Greenwood!! Good luck...

Hockey tournament in George (Saturday 4th Sept)

Yay it's Friday!

What a wonderful Greenwood week it has been. Last night we all enjoyed the Cultural Evening that the children did for us.... it included poems in English and Afrikaans, drama, gymnastics, piano recitals, songs from the school choir, solo songs, guitar players, Xhosa dancing and even a praise singer (Xhosa) praising the school and Mrs Solomon!! What a wonderful experience.

Praise singer translation: Greenwood you unite nations. Mrs Solomn, we would like to say "Carry on with your fruitful work". Forward, Greenwood, forward. Forward Mrs Solomon, forward.

It was truely one of those evenings that makes Greenwood such a special place.

Here are a couple of other links I thought you may be interested in:

• The grade 6/7 's had a conscious classroom session today run by Carol from The Journey. For more info have a look at this website...


• I love the look of this book of the week from DesignMom - The Lion and The Mouse. I love the fact that it has no words so the kids can make up their own story as they turn the pages.


• And check out this fabulous tree house - made by a talented carpenter and his Montessori teacher wife! Also have a look at their jungle gyms. WOW imagine if we could have these at our school!!!

New baby Jade

It is always so exciting when someone has a baby!! And it is especially exciting when it is someone we all know so well.....Michelle is our grade 4 and 5 teacher. Congrats to Michelle and Stephen on the birth of little Jade Emma who made her apperance last week. Jade only a couple of minutes old!

The perfect little bundle!

Children's Books

Syccamour stirrings blog has a great list of children's books and there is also a super list of Top 100 Childrens books of all time from The Book Scout - The space all about books for kids. Great blog if you are a keen book worm!

I also found this PreSchoolers 101: Emotions - it has a list of books that touch on the subject of emotions. I loved the look of the covers of the books - such super illustrations!!

I find it very hard to resist buying children's books.... do you also feel like this?

Happy reading!

Grade 2 outing...

On Thursday the grade 2's came out to our dairy at Cairnbrogie Farm... it was so funny watching all the kids getting out of the various cars holding their noses!! "oohh it's smelly"! Living on the farm we don't really even smell it any more!! Nicholas proudly showed everyone around the farm like a real farmer himself! and the one little girl in pink is Fenella - who just couldn't go to school when her big brother's class were coming out to the farm.

The grade 2 class sitting on the feed bags.

Sitting on the trailer as they are driven around the farm!

Even Teacher Lynn got up there....

Showing everyone how the baby cows are fed once they are weaned.

Parents Work Day

A message from Mary Solomon, Greenwood Principal:

Inge Bassett, the Packwoods, the Polutas, Dave Wells, Saskia Hopff and Chris Fermor, the Hills, the Manns, the Murrays, the Shneors, the Brouwers, the Chatz’s, the Kibiths, Nondyebo, Mbangi, Vincy Menzi and her son, the Amoils, the Armstrongs, the Dugmores, Kevin Marsh, the Bröhms, Debbie Young, Susan Donald, Brenda Duma, Nicky Hyman, the Reids, Raine Solomon, and to all our new parents who attended their first workday—we hope you make this a regular annual outing— Eleanore Baladakis, the Rosins, Nicole Walder-Fortin, Renee and David Selfe, Cordelia Fanta, Sarah Stevens, Ronel Kidson and Jennifer Anderson.

Outdoors there was lots of painting done, playground equipment was mended, our swings in the primary school were fixed, a new hopscotch “patch” was made, pathways were made in the gardens, plants were planted and pruned, a canopy was erected over the Grade 6/7 door, wonky doors were removed and re-hung correctly, benches and desks were sanded, varnished or painted, hockey goals were made. Indoors books were covered and logged, Photostatting, laminating, sprucing up reading areas, erecting shelves, putting up hooks. WOW! THANK-YOU ALL!

South Africa comes out tops!!!!

We are all so proud to be South Africans at the moment.... what a wonderful soccer world cup we managed to pull off!! Ayoba South Africa Ayoba.

On this high the children have all returned to school and the third term has begun. My children (especially the oldest) alway get butterflies in their tummies the night before school starts. It is wonderful to be able to see friends again, but lots of hard work comes along with that excitement. I am sure the teachers feel pretty much the same way.

Out school term started off with a bang this time... My nearly five year old had a very heavy hay bale land on top of her accidentally. We live on a dairy farm just outside Plettenberg Bay and she happened to be with her dad, as I was taking the oldest to his soccer practice. In the end she had to stay that night in the hospital so the nurses could watch her for signs of concussion. This is not a good way to get into the term. But we are back on track now and have slotted into our routines.

I have done a certain amount of blog reading this holiday and would like to share a couple of interesting things with you all:

1. What do you do with all your children's work and art? Click here is a well know blogger Gabrielle Blair's solutions and also an article from The Savvy Source.

2. Look at these fun party ideas: Young Einsteins from DesignMom and have a look at this yoga party by honeyflake!!

Have a great week...

Mini world cup soccer

It was a cold and windy day yesterday as we all gathered around the soccer field at Greenwood. The hype about the Soccer World Cup is huge with just 3 days to go!! Greenwood decided to get in on all the action and hosted a mini world cup of their own. Each class was divided into two teams who played against each other and then the winners then played against the different grades. It was such fun!! The parents provided food from each of the represented countries... the kids had a ball!! The children even did the diksi dance for everyone!!! Another fun day at Greenwood...

Have a look at the other photos on our Greenwood facebook page!!

*How cool would it be to have a natural playground at school like this one.... click here

Lunch boxes!!!

I don't know about you but I find lunch boxes really difficult. My children are so used to their peanut butter bread sandwiches that if they don't get find it in the lunchbox their day is completely thrown!! Also the mad rush in the mornings does not help the chaos of trying to do a healthy beautiful delicious nutricious yummy box of food....

I now try and do luchboxes the evening before. I have just come across this wonderful blog full of great ideas for our little ones.... it is called The Healthy lunch box.

But I do think I will still have to add in the ever favourite peanut butter sandwich!

Our amazing advernture racer...

We have such amazing teachers at Greenwood...

Jeannette Walder, our Toddler class teacher, is also a super duper Advernture Racer and is part of the Pennypinchers Adventure Racing Team. Jeannette and her racing partner James Stewart have just completed the Villiersdorp Tri Challenge held in Theewaterskloof on the 22 May. This is a slog of a race and includes a 10km canoe or 800 meter swim, followed by a 25km mountain bike and an 8km trail run!!! We are so proud to be able to boast that the duo achieved a double in winning the mixed pairs catergory and in doing so beating the winners of the male pairs category!! Wow... well done Jeannette.

Transports of Delight

Yesterday was an epic soccer and hockey match against Oakhill. I was one of the designated lifts to transport players to the venue in Knysna. I arrived at the appointed hour and my daughter emerged out of a teeming mass of children and hockey sticks, with three others in tow. They piled into my car. Immediately there were cries of outrage - where was the nice car we drove in the last time? I pointed out that the current state of the road did not do much for the health of the 'nice' car so this was as good as it gets. They graciously agreed that we could continue. We roared off happily. They all shouted back at the GPS and found it very lacking in its responses. Two kilometres down the road I activated the window lock button. More howls of dismay. My daughter Kaela glared at me as I was clearly being uncool. I handed round Zoo biscuits as compensation, figuring that if sugar made them bounce off the walls, this could only be good for the game. They then conducted conversations with each other, clearly believing that the person who shouts the loudest is the one who is right. I was interested to learn that 30km is the distance from South Africa to the Equator and that a Private Hospital is one where you have curtains round your bed. A normal hospital has no curtains and no privacy. When the conversation turned to farting, I threatened to stop the car and not go to the match (I have prevously discovered that they know you are not capable of carrying out your threat of leaving them on the highway).

We arrived at Oakhill after a couple of circular tours. The GPS did not agree with some of the road names and there was a lot of muttering of 'recalculating' and commands to do a u turn, much to the delight of my passengers. We finally staggered into the school - on the wrong side of course. I limped into the parking lot and my car choked and died. The children dashed out of the car towards the far distant fields. 'Don't worry', I shouted, 'I'll shut the doors'. They waved their hockey sticks at me happily - totally impervious to sarcasm.

My car was now dead and was blocking at least 6 Oakhill teachers' cars. I did the only thing I could - phoned my husband and went off to watch the match.

Thankfully, our trip was not a wasted one. Greenwood really surpassed themselves and won most of the games and I was there to watch my daughter score her first goal. My husband had in the meantime performed some magic with jumper leads and gave me back the keys to the car. I declined and seized my own car keys back from him, informing my passengers that we were going in the 'nice' car after all. We sailed off towards Plett, after a bit of shouting and beating people away from the sun roof. Victory in hand, an operational car, all children belted in - we were on a home run. As we left the town of Knysna behind, a voice came from the back - "I have to go to the toilet NOW................."

I Wonder...............................

I wonder how many parents take time out of their busy schedules to actually view our website or read a blog?

I wonder why we have chosen to send our beautiful children to a school, far from the madding crowds of a big city, set in a beautiful part of Plettenberg Bay with mountains and sea at our fingertips?

My name is Melissa Mann and I am a proud mum to Sienna (5) - pre-school, Robyn's class.

Every morning I wake up with the amazing feeling that my child is able to attend a school like Greenwood, with the loving, nurturing care that is offered by wonderful teaching staff and the wide open spaces with clean air!

Yes, it is an Independent School with higher fees than a state school, but this is what I have chosen and so do not begrudge the little bit extra that is asked of us - after all, does "fundraising" not take place at every school?

My child is happy and that makes me happy so it is important that I make the effort to be involved for the greater good of her education, which incidentally, is the greatest gift we can give our children.

So I am offering you all a challenge - take the time to be involved, attend workdays, give graciously and smile now, you might actually enjoy it!

The end!

ps: Of course, I wonder how many parents will actually read this and give it a try....................

at the end of the day.........

My name is Willemijn Murray, mother of pre-schooler Femke and wife of Glenn. And this is my first entry!! Being a busy mum, (with my own business and a traveling husband), I sometimes feel that the world and the childhood of my gorgeous daughter is passing me by!! Time is flying and I sometimes wish that I could make her stop growing and enjoy the past day for a little longer. But every day bedtime comes so soon, and another day has rushed by!!

A Dutch friend started this tradition, almost every night after bath, brushing teeth and pj's he sit his daughters and wife down and asks the following questions: 'what was the best thing this day?' and 'what was the worst thing this day?' Everyone gets a turn, and everyone needs to listen to what the other tells. We have started doing it a couple of months ago, and it is amazing what answers you get! Sometimes very little, seemingly insignificant things that have happened during the day, are 'the best things' according to my girl. It is also a great opportunity to 'clear the air' and discuss very briefly what went wrong during the day. When we have guests, they even have to join in!!

Give it a try, just two simple questions, and do it with the whole family. When Gran is staying for dinner, get her involved. When your child has a sleepover friend, ask him or her. You'll be surprised what the answers are and it is a lovely way to close of the day! Have fun, and I would love to hear your reactions.

Have a lovely Greenwood day xx

After dropping my children at school today I was just giving some thought to what some of our clever MOM's do and so I thought I would just name a few here today.

1. Caitlin Truman-Baker (Mom to pre-schooler Connor & baby Jasper) is a graphic designer based in Plettenberg Bay. Caitlin has also designed the new African Serenity baby sling called Coo&Co. This design has been refined from an age old concept. Designed to keep you baby close and comfortable, while keeping you hands free and chic.

2. Janet Forest (Mom to Pre-schooler Julia) also a graphic designer. Janet and her husband, Dennis, own and manage the wonderful Eagle Encounters Centre. This is a bird of prey rehabilitation, educational and Eco-Tourism Centre. This is well worth a visit and our children have been here often on school outings! How lucky we are to have all this on our doorstep!

3. Willemijn Murray (Mom to pre-schooler Femke) owns a delicious shop in town called Willemijn Murray. Willemijn is Dutch and has great fun sourcing and making objects for her shop - she makes the most beautiful jewellery!

4. Kim van Rensberg (Mom to pre-schooler Zoe and Ruby in grade 6) is also a design mom. Kim runs her own business called Clean Living Interior Design but has also just launched her new yummy product called "Oh my goodness". These are delicous non dairy, non wheat and raw food products that are excellent for lunch boxes for the kids!

5. Laura Jamieson Chatz (Mom to Ayla in grade 1 and Noah in grade 2) is another design mom who has a background in ceramic design, decor styling and glass blowing. Laura's Luma Glass Studio is in Plettenberg Bay where she produces amazing jewellery and even chandeliers.

These a just five of our wonderful Mom's! We are so lucky to have such talented people around us. I will post some more of our other parents on the blog soon. Enjoy your day!

Right... here we go - our first post on the personalised Greenwood blog! I do hope you enjoy our blog and you keep returning to find out what other parents & teachers have to say!!

My name is Lyndall and I am Mom to Nicholas (7) and Fenella (4) who are both at Greenwood. Fenella is in the Pre-School in Robyn's class (another Mom contributor to our blog) and Nicholas is in grade 2 with Teacher Lynn.

Today started off well - we all managed to get out the house in time for school! A small miracle in our house... Nicholas is at an age when school is really exciting. His learning includes reading, spelling (ever heard of magic 'e' words?), bonds in maths, creative writing and lots more. Sport is also included into the morning lessons - today was hockey. He is a keen sportsman and very active - although is a bit of 'wobbly man' at the moment as he seems to enjoy being horizontal - diving on the floor at any opportunity. Today I also did reading in his class for an hour. This is just fun reading where the kids get used to reading and also reading to different people. A couple of moms volunteer for this termly.

My little girl Fenella (who thinks her middle name is Princess) is in the pre-school. Today I dropped her off while she was happily carrying on doing the monkey bars. She had also showed me the small worm farms they have in the class - jars of different coloured soil in layers with which you can track the earthworms movements. This afternoon Fenella's friend Zoe has come to play.

I love the interaction between our home family and the school family. Tonight I am off to a talk at the school about Nutrition and Sibling Rivalry! I will keep you posted.............

As parents & teachers of children at Greenwood School we have decided to write a blog about the daily happenings at the school. This should be a fun, honest and interesting look at the days our children spend at school. We do hope you enjoy the new updated version of our blog.

From the Principal’s Desk…

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

It’s going to be a wonderful year. A great big special
welcome to all our new learners, from the Toddler class, right
through to our brand new Grade 6 class.

We are so fortunate to have Elaine Galanakis joining our staff
this year. Our Grade 6 learners are going to have great year
with her. Welcome Mrs G, we wish you a year filled with joy.
Lize, our Grade 3 teacher, got married on the 18 December
and is now Lize Beukes. We wish her and Rayno years and
years of married bliss.

The other changes within our staff structure are the
appointments of Robyn as Head of Department in the
Preschool and Lynn as Head of Department in the Foundation
Phase. Michelle stays as Head of Department for the
Intermediate Phase (Grade 4, 5, 6) Our Montessori Toddler and
Preschool is in good hands. To the rest of the staff members, a
year filled with peace and harmony.

Please, DO NOT MISS OUR FIRST MEETING OF THE YEAR, MEET
AND GREET, on THURSDAY 21 JANUARY at 6pm. We will meet
in the classrooms at 6pm so that you can meet your child’s
teacher. She will share with you her expectations of you as a
parent and various ideas about homework etc. This is not for
individual chats, that will be later this term. After the class
meeting, about 6.45, we will all get together for a chat and
get to know the new parents.

Kindly remember to note all the dates given in the newsletters,
have a file handy so that you can keep letters and newsletters
at hand.

Call or pop in for a chat at any time you need to, my door is
open. Please feel free to contact me whenever necessary.

May our family of Greenwood grow from strength to strength;
we wish you an amazing year with us. - Mary