ST MARY’S MATTERS St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls FROM THE HEAD’S DESK 27 June 2008 Dear Parents, year’s Grade 0 class was very are awaiting top soil to be evident. There are very few delivered, after which we It always amazes me how places in other classes in the will proceed with the plan quickly the three weeks Junior School. of installing irrigation and between issues of St Inside this issue: then the grass will be Mary’s Matters can pass The Senior School choir has planted in time for the by, and these last few qualified for the ATKV finals in growing season. weeks have been no ex- Cape Town at the beginning of Head’s Desk 1 ception. August. We are one of three This coming Friday, girls’ schools in the more ex- Bishop Jo Seoka will be On the sports front, we can perienced section. This will be confirming 26 of our girls, Junior School News 2 breathe again as things a challenge, but the girls will and we look forward to the settle back to normal. How- rise to the occasion and do us service. ever, the final fling has proud. been busy. In the Senior Parents should note that Parents’ Association 3 School hockey playoffs, the the DSG Foundation has a u14A and Open teams limited amount of funds for were narrowly beaten in 2009 which can be allo- Bird Article 4 the semi-finals, and the cated to current parents u16 A girls won their who are finding it difficult league. They are an amaz- to pay their fees. Counselling Centre 5 ing team, having won the Bursary application forms league now for three years are available from Mrs P. running in their respective Marais ( Senior School) Sports News 6 age group. and Mrs T. Houbert ( Jun- The Northern Gauteng Top ior School). These forms Schools’ squash matches should be returned to were recently played on DSG mo later than 25 July The Junior School choir im- our courts. DSG beat Girls’ 2008. pressed everyone at the recent High 5-1, and for the sev- Magic of Music Festival at the I am sure you too are enth year in a row will now Linder Auditorium in Johannes- looking forward to the half- play in the national top burg. term break. Make the schools’ squash tourna- most of the time with your ment in Pietermaritzburg The Parents’ Association are to girls and enjoy the week. during the August holidays. be congratulated on the most When we return all enjoyable Bingo Bash which It was really good to attend thoughts will be academic they held last week. The main the Junior School Sports as examinations begin. aim was to create an opportu- festival last Saturday. With nity for our parents to come all of the netball and “There is no end to together and enjoy time spent hockey fields in use, there With kind regards education. It is not that together, and at the same time was a wonderful vibe and I you read a book, pass they raised a nice amount to- Ciska Tempest an examination, and am sure all the games wards the new sports facilities finish with education. were enjoyed by the many Head of School which they are supporting. The whole of life, parents who came to sup- from the moment you port their daughters. Find- In the next few weeks, the gen- are born to the mo- ing a parking space was erator ordered by the school ment you die, is a difficult and this is some- will be installed. We will then be process of learning thing we will need to attend ready to handle any power out- “ to in the future. The festi- ages over the winter period. val was part of the Junior As far as the new hockey/ School Open Day, where soccer field is concerned, we keen interest for next Page 2 ST MARY’S MATTERS Junior School News The Junior School held their “Open Day” last Saturday, and was well attended by prospective new parents, as well as present parents. Activities took place in all the classrooms, and a Hockey and Netball Festival was held at the fields with Cornwall Hill College, St. Stithian’s Girls School and Tyger Valley College taking part. We are looking forward to Old Girls’ Association Big Walk on Friday, and hope that all Jun- ior School parents will be able to join us for this fun morning. I would like to wish you all a restful Half-Term break, and for those of you travelling, please “buckle-up”, and return safely to us on Monday 7 July. Mrs B. Craig Principal : Junior School Foundation Phase Friday 13 June was a memorable day for our Grade 0 girls. It was the first Grade 0 Entre- preneurs Market. The Grade 0 girls with the help of Mums and Dads sold their wares to the Senior School girls during their break time. It was an exciting time for all. The profits will be used by the Grade 0’s to host the Matric girls for tea early next term. Mrs C. Tansell Grade 0T Maths Around the Home Practicing maths skills can be fun and easy for children. There are many things in your home that will encourage children to love maths and at the same time improve basic maths skills. Here are some fun games and activities to help your child develop better maths skills. • Give your child a better understanding of capacity (the amount of liquid a container will hold).Ask your child how you might measure the water in the bathtub. Would you use buckets, cups, or teaspoons? Allow him or her to play with plastic jugs, cups, and measuring spoons to help him/her understand the relationship between different measurement tools. • Practice maths facts. Have your child spread shaving cream on the side or the back of the tub. Call out addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division problems and have him/her draw or write the answer with his/her finger in the shaving cream. • Use foam numbers that stick to the wall when wet. Have your child make up maths problems using the numbers and answer them. Be sure your child says each problem from beginning to end. For example, 2 + 3 = 5. For best results, have him/her say it 3 times and point to each digit as he/she reads. • Have your child find and identify all of the shapes he/she can in the bathroom. Be sure to have her describe each shape. For ex- ample, “The tile is square. It has four sides.” • Have your child help put away groceries. He/she will be working on sorting skills by sorting the groceries into different catego- ries and putting them in their place. • Have her compare items by weight and amount. Volume 12, Issue 7 Page 3 Maths around the home • Making cookies is an excellent way to develop an understanding for multiplication. Have him/her line the unbaked cookies in equal rows. Ask him/her how many cookies are in each row, how many rows there are, and then how many cookies there are altogether. Extend this activity by adding chocolate chips to the cookies. Ask questions like “If you have 3 cookies with 4 chocolate chips in each, how many chocolate chips do you have in all?” ∗ Ask your child to help you read recipes and measure ingredients. Bme ∗ Teach your child to recognize different times of the day on a clock (dinner time, bed time and bath time) ∗ Play maths card games. There are many maths games to play with cards. For example, you can put down two cards and have your child add them together, subtract one from the other, multiply them together, or simply choose which is greater. Use dice. Roll dice and add the numbers together or multiply them. Mrs G. Wöcke Special Needs The PA says ... There will be no winter General Feedback Meeting this term. All interested parents are invited to attend the scheduled Parent Association Committee Meeting on 14 July 2008 at 18:00 in the Old Conference Room. Remember to sign up for the My School card on www.myschool.co.za. It will only take a few min- utes of your time. You can also get grandparents, other family members and friends to apply for their own cards. They just need to specify St Mary’s DSG, Pretoria as the school they wish to be linked to. Thank you to those parents who have signed up for and are using the My School card. If you have applied for a card and have still not received it, please call Rosemarie on 0824987577. Thank you to all those parents who have linked their cards. Forms are available at sen- ior and junior school offices for those parents who still wish to link their cards. Cards can also be linked in store at the service counter. Remember to get friends and family involved. REMEMBER TO SWIPE YOUR CARDS Page 4 ST MARY’S MATTERS Grade 3’s Bird Article The Grade 3 girls have been extremely busy this term. Their ambition has been to become ornithologists. They have had such wonderful learning experiences. The first was a demonstration by Mr. J. McLuskie, who is a qualified bird ringer. We set up nets in the school and rung about 6 different species of birds. The girls learnt what data is captured during this process. They assisted in recording the data before setting the birds free.