The Provo Primary School Blog

On Friday 26th June, our six Grade 6 students graduated from Providenciales Primary School. Each student made a speech highlighting memories of their time at the school and they were presented with a diploma.  Four of graduates will stay on at the school for Grade 7.  One has chosen to go on to the British West Indies Collegiate School here on island and one is off to Buckingham, Browne and Nichols in Cambridge, Massachusetts.   We wish them all well with their future endeavours.

Monkey came to us from the Amazon rainforest.  He has been with the Grade 3 children for two years and is a much loved and cherished member of the class.  Last year in Grade 2, he learnt to read and to do multiplication and this year  in Grade 3, he has learnt lots about writing stories and fractions.  He completed all his end of year SATs – scoring well above average for monkeys his age!  He had a glowing report, although he sometimes ‘monkeys around‘ in class and will need to work on this!  He has successfully graduated Grade 3 and will be moving on up with the class into Grade 4 in September.  Congratulations Monkey!  He is especially looking forward to learning the steel drums with his new teacher, Miss Helen.  Monkey works very hard during the school day, but after school and at the weekends when we are not about, he swings in the trees, eats bananas and plays with all the toys!  See a slideshow of photos, taken mainly by some of the Grade 3s, of all the things that he gets up to when we’re not at school.   Maybe next year he will have a new friend to play with.  Miss Mani has thoroughly enjoyed having Monkey in her class and there is a rumor going around that there may be a new animal joining the Grade 3 class next year!  I wonder what it will be?

The Grade 6/7 entertained the school and their parents with two performances of their end of year production of ‘The Lion King’.  Creating the show with help from some of their teachers, they worked hard together to write and learn their parts, choreograph their dances, and practise their singing and recorder playing.  They displayed amazing acting, dancing, singing and musical talent and the audience was thoroughly captivated and entertained.  Well done, everyone, a truly outstanding production!  Watch highlights from the show in the movie above and see a slideshow of photos.

The day of the Fool’s Regatta raft race finally arrived and each team eagerly met at the beach with their raft to make their final preparations. As well as Fastest Raft, prizes were being awarded for Best Design and Best Spirit.

For the “Flame ‘n’ Go’s” team, tensions were running extremely high as they had not had the opportunity to test their boat in the water!  Both other teams had completed their water trials earlier that week and were confident that they would float.  It would all be down to race technique and speed across the water.

The race itself was extremely exciting and closely contested from start to finish.  Watch the video above to see the outcome!  Also, see a slideshow of some superb photos of the day with some fantastic close-ups of the raft race.

A big thank you to the team mentors for coaching and guiding the teams through the process, sourcing materials, and their much needed technical support.   Reported by Mrs. Stefanie.

WIV 4, our local TV station, also made this report on the event.

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.

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.

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

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!

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 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.

I want to pass on a big thank you to Shelley, our web hoster, for helping with a recent emergency maintentence 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.

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.

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.

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.

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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 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.

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

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…