A unique Primary School, offering a British based, child centred education in the Turks and Caicos Islands
Miss Bonnie introduced an ‘I am’ writing frame to our year 4 – 6 children. Here are some reflective poems written by Rahim, Millie, Amanda and Grace.
I Am Rahim
I am an imaginative boy who likes to dream,
I wonder if the world is ours, free for us to take,
I hear the sounds of achievement ringing in my ears,
I see characters popping out of fantasies and books,
I want to be able to dream away for hours and hours on end,
I am an imaginative boy who likes to dream…
Ship Ahoy! All aboard for Year 3’s Magical Mystery Pirate Tour of Provo. Setting sail in search of local treasures, it certainly was an adventure as they discovered hidden caves, historic ruins, delicious local food and modern-day treats. Captain Mani was pleased to report that none of our Year 3 Pirates were made to ‘Walk the Plank!’ However, there was talk of mutiny amongst some of the motley crew, threatening that if she made them wear their pirate hats and pose for yet another photograph one more time, Captain Mani herself would most definitely have to ‘walk the plank!’ Click on to read Captain Mani’s recount of the mystery tour and to see lots of photos of the pirate’s adventure – and those pirate hats of course!
This year at Provo Primary, all children in K-6 have been actively using the online mathematics program, Mathletics.
As the children complete tasks each week at home and at school they earn points, which add up to bronze, silver and gold awards.
Today we had our first Gold Award achiever in the school. He has certainly been dedicated to improving his Year 4 maths skills, using Mathletics regularly and completing tasks with speed and accuracy. Congratulations! Keep up the great work until you gain all the Gold awards and complete the Year 4 curriculum.
With a long summer holiday coming up, we encourage all our children to keep accessing Mathletics at home, practising your skills and achieving awards.
The teachers would like to pass on a big thank to all the children and parents for supporting Teacher Appreciation Week.
With homemade cards, tasty treats, gifts, flowers, morning coffees, parent meeting snacks, kind messages and supportive emails, we have all felt thoroughly appreciated.
We feel honored to teach such lovely children and we do our very best to provide opportunities which enrich their lives and enhance their learning potential.
Following an introductory lesson on cephalopods with a focus on squid, the Year 4/5 and 6 classes participated in a hands-on squid dissection lesson.
As the dissection progressed, the children were able to identify major external and internal features and organs of a squid and to explain their functions. The children were particularly excited to extract the squid’s beak, its eye lenses and its remnant shell (called a pen). They then used the pen and some squid ink to write a message!
The children absolutely loved the experience and would like to thank Mrs. Bonnie and Mr Joel for teaching them about cephalopods and for leading the squid dissection.
Click on ‘read more…’ to see some more photos.
To celebrate Fathers’ Day, PreSchool and Junior Kindergarten held a “Pirate Papas” event. Children and dads alike entered into the spirit of the occasion and dressed up in their best pirate outfits. The scene was set for our motley crew as they listened to a story about a pirate boy and his pirate papa. Next, with a song, the search for booty began as they set off on a hunt around a desert island in search of a hoard of golden nuggets which was rumoured to have been hidden by another band of pirates! Once they were sure every piece of hidden treasure had been found our pirates returned to their ship for a hearty snack. What a great adventure! Click on to see more photos of the Pirate adventure!
Wow – the Year 6 look like they were making a splash while white water rafting on the Chattooga River in North Carolina. Take a look at their faces in the Photos as they paddle the raging torrents and enjoy the breath-taking scenery. It sure looks like it was an exciting ride!
The much awaited new 2010-2011 yearbook has arrived and here are some of the parents eagerly flicking through the pages, at 5 minutes to 3, just before the children come out of class wanting to take their peek.
They say “a picture is worth a thousand words,” so this yearbook must be worth millions! Each photo encapsulates life at Provo Primary School and showcases the many and varied educational opportunities that our children have experienced over the year. Whether it is a snapshot of a child’s learning, a significant school event or simply friends sharing happy times together, each photo captures that one moment in time and tells a story all by itself.
This is our 7th edition of the school yearbook, which is created by the hard work and dedication of Krys Mann who collects and takes photos throughout the year. With these, she produces this special book that allows us to look back and reminiscence about all of our wonderful memories. Thank you so much, Krys!
Year 6 class are in the mountains of NE Georgia, USA this week for their end of year field trip.
It is a real outdoor adventure, full of activities, include white water rafting, a trip to Cherokee to learn about the Native American Indians, Gold mining and a range of climbing and hiking activities.
What a great way to celebrate the culmination of their primary education here at Provo Primary.
We look forward to hearing all about their adventures, next week on their return, but in the meantime you can see what they are up to by visiting this Photo Gallery.
Excitement filled the air today as we cut off our banana stem. With some bananas already starting to turn yellow, it was time to bring them inside for their final ripening.
The biggest surprise, however, wasn’t the great weight of the banana stem or the number of bananas in total – it was the frog that jumped out and scared us all when we took it inside. It was a Cuban Tree Frog whose pale green skin matched perfectly to camouflage him among the bananas! Sorry froggie, you’ll have to find a new home now.
As the bananas ripen we will share them out with all of the classes. To celebrate our first harvest, each class has been given the challenge to create a special banana dish. I do hope I get to try all the delicious recipes on the Provo Primary Banana Menu!
This past week has been jam packed with wonderful performances in the arts. Children throughout the school, from 5 to 12, have showcased their creativity and talent in Dancescapes 2011, the TCI Chorale music concert and the Celestial Music Studio Spring Piano Recital.
Well done and congratulations everyone, What an array of talent – you were all fantastic! I’m sure that other children in the school will be inspired by your achievements and will perhaps follow in your footsteps.
Five of our Year 6 students dazzled parents and friends with their piano playing in their Spring recital this Sunday. They are all learning the piano with teacher Wendy Hayward of the Celestial Music Studio. Some have been having lessons for a few years, others have just started. It was a very entertaining event with a variety of pieces celebrating their range of playing abilities.
There was a large audience and I know some of the children felt apprehensive before playing, but their confidence blossomed as they played, and their efforts were appreciated by encouraging claps and support. Well done to all the pianists! I’m sure that you all felt very proud of your achievements. Keep practising and enjoying this wonderful instrument and let us know when your next recital will take place. [Read more…]
Two of our students are enthusiastic members of the TCI Youth Chorale who performed on Saturday afternoon at the Edward Gartland Youth Centre. Singing together as a choir and also performing solos, they amazed the audience with their talented voices. It was great to hear the song, ‘A Friend Like Me’ again from our Christmas Show, ‘Cinderella Rockerfella’. It was sung beautifully and brought back a flood of happy memories
Congratulations to all the choir for a very entertaining performance. Well done also to piano teacher Wendy, vocal coach Addison and supporter Marilyn, and thank you for all your efforts and dedication in providing this opportunity for our youth.
Today, we had a return visit to the school from dance students of the University of Las Vegas (UNLV). This is the third time that TCFAF has brought them to the island and we feel very fortunate that during their time here, they been able to visit the school and amaze and inspire us with their passion for dance.
Louis Kavouras, chair of the UNLV Department of Dance, started the session by encouraging the children express their views on “What is Dance?” The dance students then went on to demonstrate Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz routines and the children commented on what they liked about each piece.
Over the week, many of our Year 1 – 4 children, have participated in after-school TCFAF workshops with the dance students, going on to perform in the ‘Dancescapes 2011’ community performances on Friday and Saturday night. It was wonderful to see the children enjoying themselves so much, feeling confident in their dance expression as they joined in with routines and displayed their own creative ideas. Miss Shara and her Bowen Dance Company also performed with three of our talented ex Provo Primary students. The highlight of the performance was the ‘Sea of Stars’ which was created after Louis was inspired by the clear night skies above the ocean here in Provo.
We would like to thank Louis and the UNLV Dance students for bringing us their message of dance and for inspiring us. A huge thank you to TCFAF as well, for sponsoring this event and enabling us to participate and open our eyes and hearts to the diversity of the Arts.
The children and teachers would like to thank everyone who has helped to raise the bonus points that have been used to buy these books. The Scholastic Book Club has been a great success and we would like to take this opportunity to thank Bonita for all the hard work she has put into organising and running this for us. Look out for your May and June catalogues in the next couple of weeks and start ordering your summer holiday reading books!
All the children celebrated National Red Cross Week with a special red and white dress down day and raised $83 to pass on to our local Red Cross organisation.
Red Cross Week commemorates the birth of Henry Dunant, the founder, the man who first started the Red Cross, on 8th May 1828. Henry’s idea was to create a group of people who would help people during man-made wars and natural disasters. They would be neutral and help people on both sides of a war and wouldn’t take side. The Red Cross is a signal to people that help is on its way. Today, the Red Cross help people in lots of different ways. There is a team of volunteers that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to everyday emergencies.
This week highlights the work of the Red Cross here in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and aims to raise funds for their work with communities at risk from natural and man-made disasters and emergencies. Here in the TCI, the Red Cross help us with hurricane preparedness and are on hand to help people with disaster relief. They also provide first aid training and supplies and have a thrift store which helps raise funds.
Congratulations to both our boys and girls soccer teams who played fantastically in the inter-school tournament.
Our primary goal was to have fun and to do our best and they certainly achieved this. There was some great goal keeping, super tackles and passes and some stunning goals to entertain the cheering crowd who “oohed” and “ahhed” and supported from the sidelines. We even won the MVP in the boys competition.
The girls came 3rd in their group and played extremely well, each game becoming more confident and determined, winning their final game 4-1. The boys made it all the way to the finals, displaying great soccer skills and passion. They kept their heads up high and kept trying until the final whistle, losing 1-4 in the finals.
We are very proud of how each player embraced the challenges of each game, keeping up their team spirit, sportsmanship and, above all, their enjoyment of taking part throughout the whole tournament.
Thank you to our parent team coaches and to all of you who came to show your support. “Go, Provo Primary!” Thanks also to TCIFA for organising the tournament and well done to all the schools and boys and girls who took part.
Click on to see more photos of the action…
Traditionally, we end our Spring Term with a bonnet parade and PTA Egg Hunt. The younger children in the school amazed us all with their egg-stremely creative Spring Bonnets. What a lot of work must have gone into some of these. I’m sure the children enjoyed making them and showing them to everyone! Both young and old across the school, enjoyed hunting for eggs in our traditional Egg Hunt and we thank the PTA for organising this much-loved event.
The Garden Art Club is very proud to present their finished mural on our garden wall. They chose the theme of ‘under the sea’ and worked independently to research ideas for sea creature images. The designs were transferred onto the wall using chalk and then the painting began. They worked so well together when it came to painting the images, sharing equipment, ideas and helping each other to complete each part of the mural.
To further add colour to our garden this term the club has also been busy planting new seeds. They have planted different types of lettuce and tomatoes, beetroot, pac-choi, radish, sapodilla, and a mystery fruit too! They are doing such a good job remembering to water them every day and with looking after our bananas too. Well done Garden Art people, you’ve been real stars!!!
Click on to see all the talented artists at work.
[Read more…]
School ended with a swing today, with an amazing performance by our Steel Drum Band. They wowed everyone with their performances of “Don’t Worry” by Bob Marley, “In the Mood” by Glen Miller, and “Wipeout” by The Surfaris. Our 7 year old drummer, mesmerized the crowd with his drum solos and the steel drummers, all aged between 8 and 10 played their hearts out. With the audience clapping, cheering, dancing and singing along – it was fantastic way to see out the Spring term.
Steel Drum teacher, Brentford Handfield, was very pleased with the children’s performance and has been amazed at how quickly the children have learned new songs he has introduced this term.
Next term, we look forward to hear more new songs, building up to performances on the beach at the annual Fool’s Regatta and on the stage at our End of Year Assembly. Click on to see a video of ‘In the Mood”.
Today we had a visit from two enthusiastic UK medical students, Alex and Bella, who are here on island working at the Hospital. Together they visited each class in the school, talking about studying to be a doctor, answering questions and showing the children some of their medical equipment.
The children asked lots of questions and especially enjoyed having a go at using the different medical equipment on each other. Many expressed their desire to work in the medical field in the future and the older children appreciated the opportunity that this gave them to finding out more about the study and work involved.
For our youngest children, visiting the doctor can sometimes be a scary experience, especially when you are not feeling well and it is an unfamiliar environment. Meeting the doctors here at school, they felt confident and at ease to ask lots of questions. Alex and Bella’s friendly and kind nature soon won them over and it was great to see them taking the time to help to reassure some of the children of their fears.
We would like to thank Interhealth Canada TCI for allowing Bella and Alex to come and visit us. They have been a great inspiration to many children – who knows, perhaps they will work alongside Bella and Alex in the future! Click on to see more photos of their visit…
Our much-loved storytelling evening returned this week, as part of our ‘Be Healthy – Sleep Week’. Dressed in Pyjamas and cuddling their favourite bedtime toys, the children arrived and settled down for an evening of tales. David Bowen, our Director of Cultural started the evening, theatrically telling a story to all, accompanied by his bongo drum. He enthralled the audience with a Caribbean tale that, very appropriately, emphasized the importance of a good night’s sleep! Then it was off to night-time ambient classrooms for some further stories told by teachers and volunteer storytellers, together with a cup of milk and a cookie.
Bedtime stories offer a superb opportunity to establish a daily routine. Parents and children often live extremely busy lives. There are many responsibilities that must be attended to throughout the day, such as work, school, chores, errands, extracurricular activities, homework, cooking, and similar types of events. Once the day has calmed and is approaching its end, children and parents alike can be comforted by the fact that they get to spend a little quality time together. In addition to this, children benefit greatly from some sort of daily routine in their lives.
Reading together is also an important element to a child’s success in reading and creativity, and a time in which parents and children can spend enjoying each other’s company, and sharing love for one another. It is a process in which many special memories are created, as well as a time when children can pay special attention to the story, the characters, the plot, and the lessons that can be learned from the story that they are listening to.
Our storytelling evening was a great success and we hope that it will have inspired all of our parents to continue to incorporate bedtime stories into their child’s life.
What’s happening here – was our Year 4/5 class really fast asleep in the middle of class!
Well, every term we have a ‘Keeping Healthy’ theme week. This term the focus was on the importance of sleep and why we need sleep to keep us healthy, happy, and doing our best! Throughout the week all the classes explored the theme through a range of activities. Some classes kept sleep diaries to monitor just how many hours of sleep they actually get, some designed their ‘dream’ bed and others worked together with other classes to create posters to pass on facts and information.
The children in the photo above aren’t really asleep. One of the activities was to take photos of yourself sleeping in unusual places and this is one of the many poses that the children came up with!
If you would like to know more information about the importance of sleep and just how many hours are advised for children, we recommend this great website: Sleep for Kids. It’s jam packed with great ideas and activities too!
The JK and Preschool teachers and children played an April Fool joke on each other today. To the shock and horror of the children, they saw their teachers eating paint and enjoying it! Their faces and reactions were a picture to see. The teachers had secretly mixed up some special purple paint, made from yoghurt and colouring. After explaining the trick, all the children enjoyed eating the yummy paint and then tricked Miss Claire Marie who couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw them eating it! Click on to see the children’s surprised faces on the photos.