Food For Thought Class Food Bank Drive

Through the help of our School Council, Provo Primary is taking part in a Class Food Bank Drive for the Food for Thought organisation.

As you may know, Food for Thought (as well as its Breakfast Programme) currently has a Food Bank Programme, in which ten of the government schools have Breakfast Boxes where students in need can go to get something to eat.

They provide instant oatmeal for 20 students per day at each of the ten schools. On top of this, they ask for public donations of other non-perishable breakfast items to keep the Breakfast Boxes topped up and full of variety.

They have come up with a new initiative in order to boost the public donations – a Class Food Bank Drive! And Provo Primary is happy to support this.  Click on to find out how we can help [Read more…]

Year 3 apply their classroom Numeracy skills to real life at the supermarket

Shopping at IGA

The past few weeks Year 3 have been extremely busy preparing our brains and developing our Numeracy skills for the yearly class shop to IGA.

We have been learning how to measure liquids using milliliters and liters; estimating and reading weight using grams and kilograms; plus we have been learning how to estimate, add and subtract using a decimal point – tricky, tricky!

We had a fabulous time at IGA, practicing these skills, estimating our shopping bill, paying for it and checking the change – it was a lot of FUN! A big thank you to IGA for hosting us.

We concluded our Math topic by creating an edible gingerbread house. Each ingredient had to be recorded, added up and paid for before we then happily devoured our amazing creations YUM! Well done Year 3.

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Mythical, magical Year 4 meet a mermaid at the beach

A definite highlight of the short but packed Spring term, was our visit to the beach! As an introduction for writing our own myths, we learned about Mermaids and Selkies and went off to Iguana Island for inspiration. We gathered shells and other treasure on the beach – watching out for Iguanas! Then we went for a swim ……and MET A MERMAID! We had the chance to talk to her for quite some time before she swam off in to the distance and disappeared beneath the water!

Our amazing mermaid myths are now complete so please feel welcome to come into the Year 4 classroom to read them and to see our mermaid pictures close up.

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Fabulous Flamingo Week 2017 Artwork and Learning

Did you know –  flamingoes’ legs can sometimes be longer than their entire body? Flamingoes can also live up to 30 years old, and sometimes even 50 if they live in a protected place away from predators. To attract a female flamingo, the male flamingoes perform a synchronized dance whereby they stand together stretching their necks upwards, uttering calls while waving their heads and flapping their wings? We all had fun trying to imitate this dance in Year 3. We wondered if the flamingoes laughed and had as much fun as we did…what beautiful happy birds they are!

Each year, we dedicate a week to learn in-depth about the local wildlife in our environment here in the Turks and Caicos. This year we are exploring the world of Flamingoes. In previous years we have studied ospreys, sharks and turtles.  These are all extra special to us here at Provo Primary as our classes are named after these local animals.  Each year, we invite local experts in to talk to us and share their knowledge of the animals, their habitats here in the TCI and about why it is important for us to protect them.

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TCI Heritage Month: Flamingo Class learn to Ripsaw!

As part of our TCI Heritage Month learning, Y4 were asked which area of the Island’s history and culture they would like to know more about. After learning about traditional bush medicines and the history of navigating the country’s 40 islands and cays, the children were very excited for their final session – we were going to learn to “Ripsaw!”

We were fortunate to have David Bowen and friends join us for an afternoon of traditional music and dance. Children were taught the history of “Ripsaw” and “Rake ‘n’ Scrape” in the Caribbean and how this music has its origins in African percussion music. Children had the chance to see and play a range of percussion instruments that demonstrated how people had used everyday household objects to create rhythm and beats.

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The Conch Man visits Flamingo Class

yr-4-the-conch-man-sept-2016-1Year 4 were lucky to have Mr Handfield, The TCI Conch Man, visit them last week as part of their Age of Discovery topic. Mr Handfield is a local artist who works purely with conch shells to create all kinds of art and everyday items. He explained to the class how he had been inspired to develop his skill of cutting, decorating and joining conch shells as a whole new art form. He how has a repertoire of over 25 designs that he produces for sale and his items have been sold and dispatched to countries all around the world!

Mr Handfield has kindly offered to help Flamingo Class with their Design and Technology project this term, as the children embark on the process of designing and making their own piece of jewelry using locally inspired materials and traditions.

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A Quick Video Tour of our Turtle Week


As a final celebration of our ‘Turtle Week’, here is a short video selection of the fantastic activities and experiences that the children across the school engaged in during the week, with a special thanks everyone who helped.  We feel very fortunate that our children’s learning was enhanced by so many community supporters. Please enjoy all the wonderful photos.

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Year 5/6 Turtle Puppet Making Design and Technology

yr-5-6-turtle-puppets (8)Years 5 and 6 were very fortunate to work alongside Lempen Puppet Theatre Company last week when they visited Provo Primary.  To support our environmental focus on ‘Turtles’, Lempen Theatre Puppet experts Daniel and Liz ensured that our students Design and Technology skills would be put to the test. Listening to the story of ‘Fisherman Joe and the Three Brothers’ set the scene for our very own moving turtle puppets!

 

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Year 3 and 4 Create Beautiful Turtle Paintings

yr-3-4-turtl (1)A HUGE thank you to local artist Lucie Winton-Stubbs, from Diftwood Studios, for coming in to help create these beautiful paintings together with our Year 3 and 4 children.   What a multitude of skills and techniques were taught as she carefully took them through the process step-by-step.  I think you will agree that she encouraged oodles of artistic flair and talent to be creatively released onto the canvas. Aren’t they wonderful?!  Look closely and you will see lots of individual details – just like their creators, there are many similarities and yet they are unique in their design!

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Year 4’s Turtle Tagging Experience

Year-4-turtle-tagOur Year 4 Flamingo class quite literally dived into the world of the sea turtle, joining Jackie Walker from Amanyara Nature Discovery Centre, and Amy Avenant and Katharine Hart from DEMA at Coral Gardens for an educational visit to witness first-hand how sea turtles are tagged in the TCI.

 

 

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More in-depth learning about turtles in KS2

ks2-turtle-week-april-2016 (5)‘Turtle Week’ was a busy, fun and turtley exciting week in KS2.  We are very grateful to Miss Katharine and Mrs. Amy  from DEMA and Miss Jackie from Amanyara Nature Discovery Centre for sharing their vast knowledge and for creating such a wonderful collection of fun and exciting turtle activities!

“I felt the turtle activities were really fun and made me really happy,” said BD.

“I learnt that leatherbacks have collapsible lungs so that they can dive deep,” commented ED.

“I enjoyed Turtle Week because it raises awareness of the turtle situation, especially here in the T.C.I.,” added JW.

We started ‘Turtle Week’ first thing Monday morning with a superbly informative talk by Miss Katharine Hart (DEMA) about the current situation of turtles in the world, their life cycle and the different species. Then after break the children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 took part in a round-robin of activities on the benches and field with Miss Katharine, Mrs. Amy (DEMA) and Miss Jackie (Amanyara.)

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Kindergarten’s Terrific Turtle Week

k-turtles-speech-bubbles-apSee what all of the Kindergarten children said they’d learnt during Turtle Week when we asked them…

Kindergarten decided to team up with the Year 1 class and carry out some fun activities together.  We split into 3 groups and worked on 3 different activities which were all about turtles of course – drawing turtles, writing poems and making hatchlings. Have a look at our photos to see exactly what we did and how much fun we had.

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Turtle Tales from our Times of the Island

toti-Summer-2002-CoverHas our ‘Turtle Week’ at Provo Primary inspired you to find out more about sea turtles in the Turks and Caicos Islands? If so, then perhaps you may like to relax in a hammock, or on the beach, and read through some wonderful articles from our locally produced magazine – The Times of the Islands.

Keeping Tabs on Turtles – Beach profile monitoring for marine turtle nesting areas.

Turtle Travels Unraveled – “Stay at home” turtles are valuable to boosting local populations.

Mother Sea Turtle – A look at the importance of turtles to the Tainos as food and myth.

A Promising Prognosis -Tackling TCI’s turtle fishery.

Thank you to The Times of the Islands team for collating and passing these on to us.

Enjoy!

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Looking Ahead to ‘Turtley’ Amazing Turtle Week!

turtle-newsletter-image-april-2016 It is ‘Turtle Week’ next week at Provo Primary School and it is going to be a fun-filled educational and conversational exploration into the world of Turtles here in Turks and Caicos. Find out more in our ‘Turtle Week’ Newsletter.

A wide variety of activities are planned, many of which will be led by community volunteers and supporters.  These include a turtle puppet workshop with the Lempen Puppet Theatre Company; presentations and workshops with local environmental experts from DEMA and the Amanyara Nature Discovery Centre; a first-hand experience of tagging a turtle at Coral Gardens; the creation of an acrylic painiting under the guidance of local artist Lucie Winton Stubbs and a viewing of phenomenal turtle photography by David Gallardo and Sean Brady. We would like to thank all of these people in advance for sharing their time and expertise with us.  Their contributions, together with our teachers plans, will help make our ‘Turtle Week’ turtley amazing!

 

 

Turtles! Turtles! Year One Loves Turtles!

yr-1-turtles-may-2015 (4)This term in Year 1, we have been exploring and learning about the Turks and Caicos Islands. We’ve researched our coat of arms and flag, as well as the national colours and what those colours represent. Along this topic, we have also started to learn about the local wildlife and plant life found on Providenciales.

We were lucky to have Mrs. Bonnie come into our classroom for two sessions and with Mrs. Bonnie, we investigated sea turtles. We read a book called ‘One Tiny Turtle’ and used the book as a jumping off point to find out information facts about turtles. We now feel like experts! Did you know that leatherback turtles can grow to be as long as an adult human? Or that when turtles lay eggs, they don’t just lay a few eggs, they lay a lot of eggs?

In our last session together, we watched a short turtle video that showed how turtles glide in the water. We used the video to help us complete a turtle poem. We came up with a few lists of words to help describe turtles and also to describe what turtles like to do. Please have a look through and see the children in Year 1 having fun with poetry!

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Shark week works, we LOVE sharks!

shark-week-april-2015 (1)Inspired by the recent visit of Rob Stewart (shark photographer and conservationist) to the TCI, our own ‘Shark Week’ was a fantastic mix of a whole range of activities, including visits from local dive photographers and the TCI Shark Action Team.

Early Years were lucky enough to have a visit from Mr. David Gallardo who wowed the children with his stunning underwater photography of sharks and his description of his one to one encounters. Year 3 also had the wonderful opportunity of a visit from Mr. Sean Brady who delivered a presentation on sharks and showed his amazing photography too!

The whole of Key Stage 1 and 2 then had a visit from TCI Shark Action Team on Thursday…

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During our Shark Week, Year 3 went Shark and Teeth Crazy!

yr3-teeth-april-2015-6In Science we have been looking at Teeth and in Numeracy we have been looking at Fractions. To combine our shark learning we decided to make some pop-up sharks with different coloured teeth. Look out for these beautiful sharks when you are out snorkeling next time!

Our challenge was to find the fraction of different coloured teeth for our individual sharks. We are now the fraction teeth experts but can you recognise who is behind each shark mouth in the photos?

 

 

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Shark Week at Provo Primary

shark-stanley-bookEach year we dedicate a week to learning about wildlife in our local environment. Shark week follows on from our successful Osprey Week last year.  This week across the school, classes are investigating sharks.

We would like to thank all the community members who will be offering their expertise.

On Wednesday, David Gallardo (photographer) will be sharing his amazing photography and diving with shark experiences with Jk – Yr2.

On Thursday, Tina Randall (Shark Defenders), Jackie Walker (Amanyara Nature Discovery Centre) and Amy Avenant (DEMA) will be joining together with our Yr. 1-6 teachers to offer a morning of shark activities that the children will rotate through. Activities will include: fact finding, crafts, poetry and drama.

Bring your cameras on Friday and take some family photos with the Stanley Shark photo board.

Find out more about Stanley Shark and what you can do to help protect sharks at http://www.sharkdefenders.com/

Healthy Reefs Need Sharks!

shark-talk-mar-2015-3Years 5 and 6 were extremely fortunate to attend Brayton Hall and listen to a talk delivered by Rob Stewart. Rob Stewart is an enthusiastic advocate for sharks and the maker of the documentary film ‘Sharkwater’.

Feedback from students indicated the following:

‘A great way to show how children can be advocates for something in which they believe in.’

‘A well-prepared talk which was easy to follow and understand.’

‘Rob was clearly passionate about sharks and extremely knowledgeable about them.’

Following this, our Year 2-4s were also able to join in as Rob was able to squeeze in a time to come to the school and talk to them too – thank you Ali for arranging this.

Community members are invited to a public screening of ‘Sharkwater’ Saturday evening – see details here.

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Shark Conservation Poster Winners

shark-poster-winners-mar-2015What an amazing level of participation – a total of 63 students, from Year 1 right through to year 6, entered the Amanyara Nature and Discovery Centre’s Shark Conservation Awareness Poster competition last week.  The message was clear on every child’s poster – sharks are important to the marine ecosystem and we need to protect them, both here in the TCI and globally!

We were extremely impressed by the high standard of research, aesthetic presentation skills and the phenomenal level of creativity that went into each poster’s design.  Recognition of the time and effort that each child had put into their poster was celebrated in a special assembly on Wednesday and each child received a special certificate – well done, everyone!  All of the posters were displayed around the school and, at the end of the assembly, we all got the opportunity to view them together.

All the posters will be displayed at the Rob Stewart Sharkwater Talk and Screening event at Brayton Hall this Saturday and also at the Turk and Caicos Reef Fund Cocktail Party fundraiser on Wednesday at Provo Golf Club – we hope to see you there at either or both events.  Our Year 5 and 6 students have been invited to a special Sharkwater school presentation this Thursday.

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Design a Poster – Why should we care about sharks?

tci-sharks-mar-2015Did you know that sharks are an important top predator in the ocean and keep the ecosystem in balance? During the week of March 26-29th, 2015 Rob Stewart: director, photographer, and conservationist will be making a special trip to TCI and our older students will have the opportunity to hear him talk about why we should care about sharks? Rob is an active shark advocate. He participates in many global shark conservation campaigns and will be here in TCI to increase education and awareness about the importance of sharks in our environment.

Today in our KS2 assembly, the students were introduced a special poster competition linked to Rob’s visit.  It aims to be a way for students to express their knowledge and love for sharks.  Entries need to be in by next Friday (13th March). 5 posters from our school collection will be chosen by teachers to be entered. Students of winning posters in the overal competition will receive some shark goodies.  They will also be given tickets to Rob’s Community Presentation, at which their poster will be displayed.

Continue reading to see more information about the poster competition and Rob’s Community Shark Presentation that we hope you will be able to attend.

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What would you like to find out about ospreys?


World Osprey Week began this morning with a welcoming display of newly purchased osprey books on our stage.  Classes have enjoyed the opportunity to come out to read together over the day and to find out more about ospreys.   Children and adults alike were encouraged to write down questions which were then pinned onto our display board.  As the day went on more and more questions appeared.  It was interesting to listen as children and adults discussed what they thought the answers were.  We were delighted to see that there is certainly some pre-existing knowledge amongst us, but clearly there is still lots to learn about this majestic bird. What an exciting week of discovery we have ahead of us!

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World Osprey Week – 24th – 28th March

osprey-smiths-reef-TCI-22-02-14Did you know that it is first ever World Osprey Week during the week of 24th – 28th March?  This is an exciting opportunity for families and schools to learn more about our local ospreys, to follow the amazing migratory journeys of satellite-tagged ospreys around the world and to make contact with schools on  migratory flyways.  Check out Rutland Ospreys website for more details and see our school as one of the Osprey Flyways Project Schools

Here in the Turks and Caicos we are fortunate to have ospreys nesting close to the beach for us to observe.  With ample food all year long, our sub-species lives here throughout the year. Why not plan a family trip to one of the nesting sites in Turtle Cove or Leeward to watch these majestic birds of prey.

 

 

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Suzie, the Green Turtle, Returns Home to the TCI

Suzie, an adult female green turtle and first turtle in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) to be fitted with a satellite transmitter tag, arrived back in the TCIs’ coastal waters on Sunday after an amazing 6,000 kilometre migration around the eastern Caribbean.

Earlier in the year, Brian and Natasha from the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR) came to visit our Year 3/4 class to talk about sea turtles (See our previous blog post).  The children created some turtle art work and this is currently displayed at the Environmental Centre opposite the Children’s Park in the Bight.   Click on to learn more about Suzie and her travels.

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