Sagewood Preprimary School helped to save the Rhino

Sagewood Preprimary School embarked on a project to bring awareness to the Noordwyk community when they built a Rhino float to use on the School Fun Walk. And this was further extended during the theme on mammals. Our children were made aware and taught the importance of conserving our wildlife and in particular, our endangered species i.e. Rhino.

Our children gave a donation of R1500 towards Rhino conservation and as a reminder of the pledge to save our Rhino they did the hand prints on a cloth mural. Kirsty Brebner, the Rhino Project Manager from the Endangered Wildlife Trust did a presentation to our children on Rhino conservation and received the donation.

Scuba Diving talk by Chantal Smith

Chantal Smith a PADI qualified Dive Master, spoke to the Pre-primary children about scuba diving. She had a full set of scuba diving equipment with her and showed the children all the important components and explained how they were used and why they were needed when scuba diving. She then showed the children some videos of scuba diving in different areas of the ocean around South Africa. The children loved learning about and being able to see the different parts needed for scuba diving and being able to see what it would be like to be under the water with the fish and sharks around South Africa.

Cloud in a jar experiment

Written by Michelle Hackmann (Pink Class Teacher)

During our science circle time we felt a piece of cotton wool and said how it felt. We then saw what happened to the cotton wool when water was added to it. We then discovered how the cloud fills up with water and the water then makes the cloud heavy and the water turns into rain and falls to the ground. Creating a cloud jar was a great way to extend our morning discussion on clouds and how rain is formed.

The process

We covered the entire floor with two layers of paper towels. Then each child was divided into groups of two and was given a jar filled 2/3′s with water. In addition, each child shared four cups of colored water (we added food color) with a partner. Every child was also given a dropper to work with. Once we had all the water and colored water in place, I added a “cloud” (shaving cream) on top of the water in each child’s jar. I then demonstrated how to add drops of color on top of the shaving cream then to watch carefully as the color made its way through the “cloud” and then dropped into our clear water down below. Now it was time to let the children explore the process on their own. They were so focused and interested in coloring their clouds and as the colored water started to flow below the cloud, the children saw the colored rain drops in the clear water. 

They were amazed and discussed it in great detail.