Our Junior and Senior Band entertained the crowd at the Fool’s Regatta with the caribbean sounds of the steel drums. This was the first public performance for the Junior Band, who have only just started playing together this term. As always, we were very happy to play at this annual community event and have been doing so for over 13 years.
Building Rafts for the Fool’s Regatta
30 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
Earlier this month, we were invited to take part in the raft race at this year’s 19th Fool’s Regatta. The Fool’s Regatta is one of the social highlights of the year in TCI. It is always a fun event and this year the proceeds will go to the Volunteer Fire Fighters and the new National Sailing Centre. The emphasis is on the getting the children involved with hobie-cat, boat, caicos sloop and home-made raft races for all to take part in.
The opportunity to build, decorate and race a raft was a challenge that was eagerly accepted by eighteen of our children from Grades 3 -7. Over a period of two weeks, the children worked in teams after school to see their design move from the drawing board to water.
The “Flame ‘n’ Go’s” team created a spectacular pink and orange craft using an inflatable mattress and plywood; “Peace Out’’ opted for an extremely lightweight creation made of plastic piping and 8 five gallon water bottles; and “The International Boat”, our heavy weight contender, consisted of a wooden frame surrounding two extremely large flotation devices. Look at the slideshow to see the stages of construction. Reported by Mrs. Stefanie.
Grade 1 are Super Spellers!
29 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
On Monday June 22nd, the children in the Grade 1 class participated in a Spelling Bee. It definitely was a nail biter! The children were tested on a total of eighty words that had been taught in school and practiced at home.
All the children tried their best and did an amazing job! We definitely have a class of fantastic spellers. I was so proud, as their teacher, to see their pride in knowledge, confidence and enthusiasm. It’s not easy to stand up and spell words in front of a crowd but they all seemed like pros. The spelling bee finally came down to two children and the word “satisfy”.
Thank you to all the children and their parents for their hard work in practicing. The children were so proud and happy to show their spelling skills in front of their parents. Congrats to Grade 1; you are all spelling champions!
Miss Tracy
Grade 3 Moving Monsters
29 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
In Design and Technology Grade 3 explored how to make things move by using ‘pneumatics’ – a force that makes things move by using air.
They decided to design and make monsters with “pneumatic jaws”. Watch out they may come and bite YOU!
Preschool Dinosaur Dig!
29 June, 2009 1 Comment
Welcome to the Dinosaur Dig! A celebration for father’s day honoring all the important men in a child’s life. We began our gathering by giving these special men a “dinosaur dig hat” and their own large toy dinosaur. The children then sang and acted out “The Dinosaur March” song. They also performed their friend’s song in English, Spanish and silently to incorporate sign language. We then had a dinosaur hunt where the fathers and their child went looking for hidden dinosaurs in the playground. We concluded our party by giving a handmade bookmark with sentiments of love written on it! Oh yes and of course a pizza to share! Miss Evieann
Grade 4 visit the Environmental Centre
29 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
Grade 4 visited the Environmental Centre as part of their Social Studies topic on the Turks and Caicos Islands. They enjoyed finding out about the different types of habitats and animals that live in the TCI. They also had fun using their saved up Golden Time playing in the Children’s Play Park. See a slideshow of photos from the day.
Thank You
28 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
I want to pass on a big thank you to Shelley, our web hoster, for helping with a recent emergency maintenance update. We have been unable to access the blog for a couple of weeks and thanks to Shelley, we are back online and will be posting again this week. Shelley has been a fantastic support over the years, ever since her two children attended the school way back about 9 years ago. Thanks for all your support and help Shelley – it is very much appreciated.
Grade 2 Colour Poems
13 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
RED
Red is a beautiful rose
Red is the colour of a juicy tomato
Red is the colour of a beating heart
Red is wrapping paper that keeps my feelings in
Red is a juicy cherry
Red is the background of my life.
YELLOW
Yellow is the colour of a sweet banana
Yellow is a dandelion
Yellow is stars in the night sky
Yellow makes me shine.
PINK
Pink is the colour of an amazing flower
Pink is the colour of my favourite T-shirt
Pink is the colour of a beautiful flamingo flying
Pink is a beautiful fish in the coral reef
Pink is the colour of my favourite book
Pink is my favourite cake icing
Pink is the colour of my favourite pencil
Pink is the colour of my moms lipstick
Pink is the colour inside me.
Appreciation Word Cloud
12 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
As part of Teacher Appreciation Week I asked the children to tell me words that best described their teachers. These were made into poems and presented to them in our end of week ‘Celebration Assembly’. The teachers were touched by all the lovely compliments.
Here is a collection of all their words represented in a ‘word cloud’. The bigger the words, the more children used them. Their appreciation truly speaks for itself!
Thank you everyone for making all the teachers feel appreciated this week. Provo Primary is certainly a very special place to be a part of.
Portraits of our Leaders in the TCI
11 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
All of our classes study aspects of the Turks and Caicos Islands (T.C.I) as part of their Social Studies Curriculum. The Grade 2 class did some research about our past and present leaders. They created portraits of each leader using recycled material. These are displayed in the classroom in chronological order. Take a closer look at our leaders on our slideshow. The music playing is our National Song – ‘This Land of Ours’ written and composed by Reverend Dr. Conrad Howell. Click on to read the words to this song.
Yummy Teacher Appreciation Breakfast
9 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
The teachers were treated to a delicious ‘Teacher Appreciation Breakfast’ this morning provided by a very generous and thoughtful group of parents. There was a variety of amazing dishes including some scrumptious home-cooked goodies. Thank you – it was all really yummy and thoroughly enjoyed!
Swimming Lessons Start
9 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
Swimming lessons for our Kindergarten, Grade One and Two children started last week with great success. The aim of the first session was to assess the children’s confidence, water skills and swimming ability. All the teachers were thoroughly impressed with the children’s efforts and are now ready to further develop the children’s skills in the following weeks. A big thank you to the Turks and Caicos Yacht Club for allowing us to use their beautiful pools. They are perfect for teaching swimming at this level. Also to Carolyn for taking all the photos so that we can all see our children learning this important life skill. Parents, please email the school if you would like the password for the movie above.
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week
8 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
At Provo Primary School, we think our teachers are very special, they work extremely hard and not only teach, but offer guidance, emotional support, care and many other things to our children. They are a huge part of their lives.
Anybody who has spent any amount of time with a large (or small) group of children will know how exhausting this in itself can be. At the end of the day or the week, teachers are tired, but they still do more.
Sometimes we forget all the extra things that our teachers do. We think of their work day as 8.30-3.00PM with long evenings, weekends and holidays to relax. This is, not entirely true. Teachers often work long hours outside the classroom, planning, preparing or marking work, sorting classroom materials and putting up displays, writing reports, even sorting out cupboards and preparing for hurricanes. All this they do in their own time, at weekends or before and after school.
What normally keeps teachers going is the children. Our reward is seeing them develop from the beginning of the year to the end. The hugs, the pictures, the smiles make our efforts all worthwhile.
This week is a time when we can all appreciate and think about the things that teachers do. Thank them and tell them they’re doing a good job, notice their displays and think about all the love and hard work that they have put into them. Smile and encourage them, when they look tired and understand that it takes a very special person with a kind and unselfish heart to be a teacher, especially one who works at Provo Primary.
THANK YOU,
Alison
Grade 5/6/7s Flower Poetry
6 June, 2009 1 Comment
Our Grade 5/6/7s were inspired by the beauty of flowers and how they touch our lives with their vibrant colours and tender petals. Here are three of their soul-touching poems …
I LOVE YOU SO DEAR
My beautiful flower,
White like new fallen snow, scent sweet like a lollipop,
Yellow center like the sunset at the end of the day,
Each petal curling like a great teacher’s hair
Laying lightly on her beautiful face.
Three boastful buds, dark purple with yellow dots
Like stars in a never ending night, waiting to be let loose
And see the world around them.
Oh Flower tell me how you feel,
Are you sad or happy, would you wish to be anything but?
I wish to be you, do you wish to be me?
For you are so small and I am so big,
Your buds are patient, waiting, just waiting to be let free,
I know you’ll be as sweet and soft as the one in front of you.
ROUGE
This flower as red as a cherry
Petals like ruffles on a ball gown
With vibrant yellow, in between,
You could pick this flower to say I Love You.
If this flower could talk, what would it say?
Would it be modest? Would it be kind?
If this flower could dance,
Would it dance like a ballerina?
A modern dancer?
A jazz dancer?
If this flower could wish, what would it wish for?
A beautiful world?
Love, like the love of Romeo and Juliet?
Faith, like the faith of a teacher has in her student?
And what about me?
What would this magnificent flower think of me?
Me,
Me,
Me…
CRIMSON GARLAND
A dash of crimson, in a bright flowing gown,
The petals wither on the wind, as detailed as a finger print,
The tree swelters in a molten volcano.
O flower, O flower, what are you feeling?
O flower, O flower, what do you wish?
For you are a touch of radiance in the gloom of the murky forest
You have enough power to bring out the joy in a still tree
You are a phenomenon of dominance.
O flower, O flower, do you feel envy?
O flower, O flower, Never fear because you are phenomenal,
Phenomenal, phenomenal.
This Year’s Yearbooks have Arrived!
4 June, 2009 1 Comment
Our 2008/2009 Yearbooks arrived today and everyone was eager to collect their copy and immediately started flicking through its colourful, photo-filled pages. This year we have two yearbooks, a Preschool-Grade 5 book produced by Krys Mann and a Grade 6/7 book produced by the class themselves. Both are packed full of memories of our year and I am sure they will be enjoyed for years to come.
For the past five years, Krys has worked diligently to put together these amazing books. The collection is a wonderful record of the children’s time at the school for each family to treasure forever. It is also an amazing historical archive of our successful school, highlighting the happy, creative and holistic approach that we believe compliments our highly academic curriculum. I am sure that I am joined by many grateful children, parents and teachers in thanking Krys, we all truly appreciate all the hard work, time and effort that you put into creating these for us.
Grade 6/7 Create ‘Six Room’ Poems
4 June, 2009 3 Comments
Six room poems began with students writing a draft on a paper divided into six sections or rooms. In the first room, the students described a strong image of something that they had seen outside in nature. In the second room, they described light and colours associated with their image and in the third room sounds they might have heard. The fourth room was for any questions about their image, the fifth room for writing feelings and the sixth room for repeating words. In the final draft, the students could use any or all the rooms to create a poem. Here are two examples of the stunning six room poems written by the grade 6/7 class.
THE VALLEY
A beautiful valley down below
A valley with the greenest grass A field of Welsh flowers so yellow The surrounding world crowned with radiant light Smothered in the sound of peace Speechless by the power of Nature and its amazing features.
THE WONDERS OF THE VIBRANT SUN
A fire like ball Sinking into the plains of Africa Casting its vibrant light onto the land Creating shadows behind anything in its path, All you can hear is the brushing of trees, And the movement of wild animals, taking everything in. It made me wonder why in Africa the sunset is so unique. And then it was gone, leaving behind a beautiful bright sky Full of oranges, reds and yellows. Spectacular, Spectacular, Spectacular…Grade 1 Visit the Conch Farm
4 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
The Grade 1 class has been learning about the different and unique features of the Turks and Caicos Islands. One thing that is very unique is that we have the only conch farms in the world. So off they went to visit on here on Provo. See a slideshow of photos from their tour.
At the Conch Farm, they were able to see live conch (pronounced ‘konk’) at different ages. They were even able to pick up some two year old conch! After walking by all the pools that contained conch of different ages, they came to the end of their tour. Here they got to pick up and touch Sally and Jerry, the wild (yet trained) adult conch. Some of the children used words like “slimy”, “gross”, “cool”, “wet” and “tough” to describe Sally and Jerry.
The trip to the Conch Farm was a great way for the children to get up close and touch live conch. They highly recommend your family takes a trip out to visit Sally, Jerry and all the other conch! Thank you to everyone who helped make this trip and tour possible.
Visit the Conch Farm website to learn more. You can also go to Conch World when you next visit the island of Grand Turk.
Earth Day Tree Growing Well
3 June, 2009 Leave a Comment
Our Grade 3 class visited Cheshire Hall today. Cheshire Hall is a 200 year old Cotton Plantation. It is a historic site and the ruins are looked after by the National Trust. The Grade 3’s have been studying the cotton industry as part of their TCI Social Studies curriculum and visiting the site really brought the topic alive.
Whilst at the ruins, the children took the opportunity to check up on the tree that we planted on Earth Day. They report that our Jamaican Caper is doing well!
Grade 5 Shell Poetry
29 May, 2009 2 Comments
All the children in Grades 3 – 7 have enjoyed writing poetry with Miss Bonnie this week, using the ‘Private Eye Program’.
The Private Eye is a program about the drama and wonder of looking closely at the world, thinking by analogy, changing scale and theorizing. It’s based on a simple set of tools that produce “gifted†results. Hands-on and investigative, The Private Eye uses everyday objects, a jeweler’s loupe (magnifier), and simple questions to develop higher order thinking skills, creativity and scientific literacy: “What is that like?â€Â “What else does it remind me of?†“What else does it look like?†These analogies, written in the compressed form of metaphors and similes, become the bones-for-poems.
Each of the children in Grade 5 wrote a poem after looking closely, through a loupe, at a scallop shell. Here are a couple of them. Can you guess which shell they were looking at? Can you see how the shells inspired their poems?
War Shell
Barb wire getting boiled in molten lava
Bullet wounds in fallen soldiers
Blood on the white silver sand
Tears of loved ones on the lonely bed
Terrible cries of agony on the battlefield
True and noble soldiers put to the test.
My Shell
An early morning sun
Patterns like waves on the beach
A racing cheetah in the forest
Lines that are parallel,
A sandy beach from a distance,
Zig zag lightning strikes.
Grade 3 ICT Repeating Patterns
29 May, 2009 Leave a Comment
The Grade 3’s have been looking at patterns and how they are made. In art they designed their own patterns; then made a block print from it. They repeated and rotated their patterns. They also designed some patterns using their ICT skills; they found the computer much quicker and easier to produce a design.
They used their design pattern to dress their models. Take a closer look at their designs and patterns in a slideshow of their models. Would you buy their designs? Do you think they are trendy?
In order to develop their skills further, Mrs. Krys, a graphics designer, has volunteered to come in to help the children to create designs using Adobe Photoshop. We look forward to seeing how they get on.
Reading Buddies have fun!
29 May, 2009 Leave a Comment
Buddy Reading is a fun way to enjoy reading. Today, our 2nd Graders read together with our Kindergartners. Reading to the younger children gave the Grade 2s a real sense of pride as they modeled their good reading skills.
The Kindergartners liked being with the older children and enjoyed listening to the stories that they chose to share.
Our Grade 1 and 5 classes regularly buddy read together. The Grade 5s read to the Grade 1s and vice-versa. Over the year, they have become familiar with one another and this has helped nurture a mutual enjoyment of reading.  Buddy reading helps promote the development of reading skills, builds fluency and the children’s self esteem blossoms as they become more positive about their ability to read.
Bounce-a-thon 2009
28 May, 2009 Leave a Comment
The Bounce-a-thon today was a great success with all of our Preschool, Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten children bouncing to help raise money for books, playground equipment and computers. Each child bounced for one minute by themselves and their total bounces were recorded. They then had five minutes with their friends to bounce together. The children had a blast. There were lots of smiles along with a wide variety of unique bouncing techniques.Â
There was also a healthy ‘Fruity Fun Bake Sale’ with delicious fruit kebabs, smoothies, lemonade and homemade baked goodies.
Again, we would like to extend a big thank you to all the families, friends, community supporters and other generous donators, together with the children themselves, for their enormous efforts.
Yeah, Mrs. Bonnie and Mr. Joel are here!
28 May, 2009 Leave a Comment
For the past 8 years, Mrs. Bonnie and Mr. Joel have been coming to the island to volunteer at Provo Primary School. We love having them here and the children really look forward to their visit each year.
Mrs. Bonnie is an extremely experienced teacher and lives on the beautiful island of Victoria in Western Canada where she currently teaches university student teachers.
Whilst at Provo Primary, Mrs. Bonnie will help out in a variety of ways with her main focus being on poetry, science and Grade 6/7 guided reading. We look forward to some exciting activities such as squid dissection, which I know is amongst one of both hers and the children’s favourites. Mr Joel will help with teaching swimming this month and will also teach some American history.
We really appreciate them giving up their time to be here with us again this year. Thank you Mrs. Bonnie and Mr. Joel.
Body and Brain Triathlon
20 May, 2009 Leave a Comment
Our ‘ Body and Brain Triathlon’ incorporated three challenges: Spelling, Mathematics and Aerobics. The event was a phenomenal success with the children rising to both the physical and mental challenges. They all did their best with their spelling and number activities and enthusiastically danced, skipped, yoga stretched, shot hoops and circuit trained to achieve their personal best in their class aerobic activities.
We would like to extend a big thank you to all the families, friends, community supporters and other generous donators, not to forget the children themselves, for their enormous efforts.
Kindergarten Learn about Pets
20 May, 2009 Leave a Comment
Miss Sarah’s Kindergarten class have been learning about pets and have turned their role play area into a pet shop.  They wrote a list of all the animals they could think of that would make good pets. They brought in their own toys from home to fill the pet shop, and wrote name labels for the pets it sells. They wrote about their perfect pet, which animal it would be and why.
In Numeracy, the children have been identifying coins and counting pennies and they have been using real money when paying for pets in the pet shop. In Literacy, they have looked in non fiction books to find out facts about pets. They wrote some out and shared them with each other at circle time. They also painted pictures of their favourite pet, enjoyed do-to-dot and colouring activities and made paper plate rabbits which had lots of parts which needed cutting out and sticking together.
What a super example of how our topic based curriculum is carefully designed and implemented to allow children to plan their own learning through a variety of enjoyable first hand experiences that are meaningful. See a slideshow of them busy at work.