Issue: 13/2018 Page 1

“School Readiness” can be defined as follows:

This progression is imperative and we need to ensure it is a positive experience which will not adversely affect a child’s attitude to learning. While researching trends for the world our children will be facing and in line with the essential skill of team work, it becomes apparent that the ability to work in a global environment will be critical for success in all aspects of life. On Saturday, 4th August, I had the pleasure of attending our College Dance show - ”Out on the Edge”. Many of the dancers started dancing in our Pre-Primary and under the instruction of Ms Lamb, our College Dance teacher, have developed into outstanding dancers within their own genres. The College now has 90 dance students from Grade 8 to Matric and as from 2018, Dance as a subject, will be included in the calculation of University APS. CONGRATULATIONS to all the dancers and Megan Lamb!

Crawford Pre-Primary School La Lucia

Ligh house

Dear Parents,

We would like to thank Mr Angel and the Foundation Phase teachers for inviting our Grade 0’s to participate in the Foundation Phase Cross Country. Our children thoroughly enjoyed the race and the chance to interact with Preparatory coaches and teachers.

All the photos are up on the D6

PARENT INTERVIEWS

I hope all our parents have had the opportunity to meet with their teachers or have planned to do so this week. Time with the teacher is most valuable as you have the opportunity to discuss any concerns or questions you may have in reference to the report. In the Interview the teacher will capture how the school will support your child further in their learning and also offer ideas as how you, the parent can support the child at home. This partnership is critical in ensuring your child develops the required skills and achieves their age-appropriate developmental milestones. The in depth evaluation of each child allows us to focus on the area of support needed to build the unique potential of each child. I urge all parents to really listen and apply the suggestions and recommendations you receive from your child’s Teacher. Currently we are doing our Grade 0 School Readiness Profiles to evaluate the readiness of our children to progress to Grade 1. Each child partakes in certain activities in a non-threatening manner during the school morning. This profile is just one of the tools used to evaluate a child’s development. Grade 0 parent feedback meetings will commence on completion of these Profiles.

Many of you may ask:

…. WHAT DOES SCHOOL READINESS REALLY MEAN?

Readiness is a stage in a child’s development when he/she can learn easily, effectively and without emotional disturbance. It is not a definite point in development, due to the fact that a child’s growth is ongoing, i.e. steady and continuous. Rather, it is a condition, or state, that indicates a child’s readiness to learn. School maturity is an aspect of school readiness. It is a process in which a certain physical condition is reached and maturity is established. Maturity cannot be forced and the expression that ‘one cannot ripen fruit by squeezing it’, holds true in respect of the maturational process.

Cindy Tribe

PRINCIPAL

ISSUE: 13/2018

MESSAGE FROM THE

PRINCIPAL

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Message from the Principal

2. ARTICLE: Why kids should go barefoot more

3. GLOBAL COMPETENCIES: See Think Wonder by

Grade 000A

4. GLOBAL COMPETENCIES: De Bono’s White Hat by

Grade 000R

5. Events Calendar

6. Kids and Traffic

7. Grade 0 Cross Country photos

8. Making houses for Owls

9. Important dates to diarise

8 AUGUST 2018

“The ability to move from the informal structure of Pre-Primary to

the more formal structure of the Preparation”

Issue: 13/2018 Page 2

WHY KIDS SHOULD GO BAREFOOT MORE (AND PROBABLY ADULTS, TOO)

During an unseasonably warm day this past winter, my husband

and I walked with our three boys to the playground down the street

from our house. As soon as we arrived, all three of our little boys

immediately shed the light jackets they had been wearing, along

with their shoes and socks, and took off, small bare feet pounding

and bouncing on the playground’s rubberized soft surface. It wasn’t

long before a few other children at the playground caught on and

attempted to remove their shoes and socks.

“NO!”, one mother shouted, “Do not remove your shoes and socks,”

she told her son. When he whined and asked her why not, she

simply stated, “We always keep our shoes on outside”. This was

nothing new; we have, for years, been the odd family out at the

playground, the ones who play chase, balance on a slackline

nearby, and practice handstands shoeless, sometimes all five of us

at the same time.

Two common reasons parents give for not allowing their children to

go barefoot outside include fear of injury to the foot, and fear of

picking up some unsavoury disease or illness through their feet.

Unless you are in a city where there is broken glass everything, the

likelihood of injuring one’s foot is minimal. As far as picking up an

illness or disease from going barefoot, our skin is designed to keep

pathogens out, and you are more likely to spread or contract an

illness through your hands (think public doorknobs, sinks,

keyboards and hand rails) where germs are most plentiful. Also,

children are much more likely to put their hands, not their feet, in

their mouths and touch their faces and eyes, where disease or

illness most commonly enters the body.

Kevin Geary, parenting guru, teacher and author of Revolutionary

Parent, a site dedicated to raising physically and psychologically

healthy kids, argues that shoes are actually quite bad for children.

Shoes destroy feet, preventing proper toe spread, which interferes

with the foot’s ability to function properly, and prevent proper

movement development, which can make children more susceptible

to foot and lower leg injury. The benefits of going barefoot,

however, are plentiful. One major benefit of allowing a child to go

barefoot is that it strengthens the feet and lower legs, making the

body more agile and less prone to injury.

By Lauren Knight

IN OTHER WORDS, GOING BAREFOOT HELPS A CHILD

DEVELOP BODY AWARENESS.

It also enhances proprioception, the sense of the relative

position of neighboring parts of the body and strength of

effort being employed in movement.

Geary explains that the nerves in our feet are sensitive (the

sole of your foot has over 200,000 nerve endings - one of the

highest concentrations in the entire body) for this very

reason; they make us safer, more careful and better able to

adapt to the ground beneath us, as it does when we walk on

uneven terrain, or anything besides concrete and pavement.

And finally, going barefoot is a job to the senses, especially to

young children who experience all the newness of the tactile

world around them. Think of the relaxing feeling of walking

on soft warm sand at the beach, the refreshing feeling of cool

dewy grass in the early morning of a summer day, the feeling

of slippery wet mud squishing between toes in the garden,

the feeling of rough bark of a climbing tree, the surprise at

the splash of a puddle underfoot. All of these sensations are

available when we allow our children to experience a bit of

shoe-free time.

Perhaps you should join us and kick off those shoes at the

playground and in the back yard.

ENJOY YOUR FEET AND WHAT THEY WERE MADE FOR!

Issue: 13/2018 Page 3

GLOBAL COMPETENCIES

What do you

SEE?A house Shivank

Leaves Jordan

A rollerskate Mia

Scooter Shiyi

Red Shoes Meha

A granny Yara

A Skater Zanda

Two buildings Meiko

Black bag Ryotaro

A dress Josiah

another bush of trees Humaira

A Jacket Allysia

A hat Layla

Going for a ride to the shops Shivank

She’s going to get dinner to put in

her bag Jordan

The scooter is going for a drive Mia

It is hot because it is sunny Shiyi

I think she is catching the ginger-

bread man Meha

She is scootering Yara

She is going shopping Zanda

She’s driving on a road Josiah

I think she is going to a restaurant Humaira

Going for a walk on a scooter Layla

What do you

THINK?

Where is she going? Shivank

Does she live in the house? Jordan

Where is she going? Mia

If she is getting food for her kitty? Shiyi

If there is stripes under her shoes? Meha

I wonder if she is smiling? Yara

I wonder if it is cold outside? Zanda

If she can buy something? Josiah

She’s on the scooter? Humaira

Is she going to a shop? Layla

What do you

WONDER?

By Grade 000A (Mrs Law)

Issue: 13/2018 Page 4

GLOBAL COMPETENCIES

They drive and have seats Sophia

They stop! Emir

They go up and down hills, racing cars are fast. Jeremy

They have seat belts on the seats Aarna

They have steering wheels. Meha

You sit in them Diyara

They have wheels and windows to see Reef

I have one at my house Andrew

They have steering wheels and wheels Amal

We go in the same car together all of us - don’t forget your

seat belts Sebastian

You get white ones, red ones, speakers, radio, good music … Luke

They have windows in the front and back Zac

They are different colours, you go places in them Maria

Cars drive, can open doors Madiha

FACTS

ABOUT CARS

By Grade 000R (Mrs Wadsworth)

WHITE HAT

Information & Facts

Issue: 13/2018 Page 5

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

28 27 28 29 30 31 1

2 3 4

Michelle de Croes

(Grade 00W)

5 Lighthouse News 13/2018

6 7 8

9 10 11 000 & PG

GRANDPARENTS

DAY

12 GR 00

GRANDPARENTS

DAY

13 GR 0

GRANDPARENTS

DAY

14 GR 0 Inter-house

ATHLETICS

14

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 College Dance

Show @

18h30

4 College Dance

Show @

18h30

5 6 7 8

Lighthouse News 13/2018

9 PUBLIC HOLIDAY

10 SCHOOL

HOLIDAY

11

12 13 14 09h30-10h30

Grade 0 Fun Activity

Morning @ Astro

15

16 17 18

19 20 21 22 Lighthouse

News 13/2018

23 24 25

GRADE 000 & 00 PARENT INTERVIEWS

GRADE 000 & 00 PARENT INTERVIEWS

NORTH DURBAN ART EXHIBITION @ VIRGIINIA PREP

SEPTEMBER

AUGUST

Issue: 13/2018 Page 6

With our current theme being TRAVEL/ROAD SAFETY, we would like to remind parents about their OWN safety and especially THE SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN.

Child restraints / Seat belts are designed to support the child’s body and reduce the impact to the child. It also prevents the child from being thrown out of the vehicle. Parents and caregivers are urged to do the necessary research and make sure that their children are buckled up in the appropriate child car restraints for their age, height and weight at all times. Furthermore, AS ADULTS WE NEED TO SET THE EXAMPLE BY ENSURING THAT THE DRIVER AND ALL

PASSENGERS ARE WEARING SEATBELTS.

AGES 2-4 / UP TO 20 KGS

Forward-facing child safety seat. When children outgrow their rear-facing seats they should be buckled up in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, buckled with the seat’s harness, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of their particular seat (usually around four years of age and 20 kgs).

AGES 4-8 / UP TO 1.5M TALL

Booster seat. Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats (by reaching the upper height & weight limits of the seat) they should travel in belt-positioning booster seats. Remember to keep children in the rear seat for the best possible protection (until they are at least 13 years of age).

REMEMBER AT ALL TIMES THAT YOU ARE THE PARENT AND YOUR RULES APPLY IN THE CAR FOR THE SAKE OF

YOUR CHILD’S LIFE!

Issue: 13/2018 Page 7

GRADE 0 CROSS COUNTRY

Issue: 13/2018 Page 8

MAKING HOUSES FOR OWLS Help the Owl Rescue Centre collect bottles and plastic containers to

make houses for owls, bats and bees. Who knew that one could use recycled plastic bottles and

containers to build houses for owls, bats and bees!

It is important to recycle as waste has a hugely negative im-

pact on the natural environment. Recycling helps to reduce

the pollution caused by waste. You also can help save the

environment simply by doing your bit.

The Owl Rescue Centre is collecting bottles and plastic containers (and caps

too), to make houses for owls, bats and bees. Only two per cent of all plastics

used in South Africa are currently recycled, but the centre aims to change that

with the help of the community.

The Centre is a Non-profit Organisation based in Hartbeespoort. It is dedicated to protecting owls, rescuing owls that are in

danger, and rehabilitating and caring for owls that have been injured, are sick, poisoned or orphaned and releasing them

back into their natural environment using specifically researched release methods. The Centre is involved in several conserva-

tion projects to decrease the high mortality rate of owl species.

The Owl Rescue Centre was founded by Brendan Murray following a lifelong interest & passion

for birds of prey. Brendan spent most of his young life observing and studying birds. He came to

the realisation a few years ago that owls in particular need help to protect them from

becoming endangered, and so the Owl Rescue Centre was born.

Owls are very scarce in South Africa, so we should save the few we still have.

Here are some interesting facts about owls:

Did you know that owls are farsighted and are unable to clearly see anything that is within

a few centimeters of their eyes?.

The smallest owl weighs as little as 31 grams. The largest females are 71cm long, have a

wingspan of 54cm, and weigh up to 4,2 kg.

WE WILL BE COLLECTING THE

FOLLOWING AT SCHOOL : All plastic bottles, bottle tops & containers.

Rinse and squash them first please.

Plastic bags of any shape or form

You will find the Collection

Bag to your right at the

front of the school by the

Playgroup boundary fence

Issue: 13/2018 Page 9

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES: Has your child done something special, funny, cute or done something fun or different during the holidays … got a new baby brother/sister, new pet, etc. … please send us a photo with a short written note telling us about it and we will publish it in our newsletter!

Email to Karen on:

ktrennery@crawfordschools.co.za

CRAWFORD PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL La Lucia

79 ARMSTRONG AVENUE LA LUCIA

4320

(031)562-0057 www.crawfordschools.co.za ktrennery@crawfordschools.co.za

Formal invitations to follow, but please diarise the

following dates for our

11 SEPTEMBER

GRADE 000 & PG

12 SEPTEMBER

GRADE 00

13 SEPTEMBER

GRADE 0

WOMEN’S DAY 9TH AUGUST The holiday commemorates the national march of women on this day in 1956 to petition against legislation that required African persons to carry the 'pass'. On August 9, 1956, 20,000 women staged a march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against proposed amendments to the act. They left petitions containing more than 100,000 signatures at prime minister J.G. Strijdom's office door. They stood silently outside his door for 30 minutes. The women then sang a protest song that was com-posed in honour of the occasion: Wathint'Abafazi Wathint'imbokodo! (Now you have

touched the women, you have struck a rock). In the 60 years since, the phrase has come to represent women's courage and strength in South Africa.

The month of August is

now dedicated to women

2018