Celebrating Maria Montesorri’s birthday today at Hole in the wall under the trees and in some some sun down by the riverside.
A fabulous picnic with parents guardians and staff in honour of Maria Montessori. We all did our part picking up trash on the way back in the spirit of Loving our planet.
MOLO FROM DAWN
Greetings from the beautiful Wild Coast in Winter! The aloes are blooming, the ocean is alive with fish, dolphins, whales and birds and the Ncinci One's are blossoming!
August was Woman’s Month and it was a very challenging one at Ncinci One’s Montessori. Talk about testing the strength of a woman………..but it definitely does make you stronger and wiser…and needing another box of hair colour!
Overseeing the building works at Ncinci One’s Montessori and dealing with the challenges has not been an easy task. But I am very glad to say that the thatching of the new classroom is well underway (by the 3rd thatcher), a lovely old-school thatching tata….with a nice thick roof in the making.
Garden Road Montessori owner, Delicia Moraleda and her family brought sunshine, happiness and educational materials to the children of Ncinci One’s Montessori today. It really was true Mandela Day Celebrations, which will be remembered by all in time to come. It took Delicia way more than 67 minutes or even 67 hours to:
It has been busy days at Ncinci One’s Montessori! We hosted our first parents workshop on Saturday, 3 June 2017. Dr Eybe Meents came and spoke to the mama’s about “How to keep your children healthy”. He covered the topics of immunisation, de-worming, nutrition, recognizing serious illness and avoiding injuries and intoxication.
Ncinci One's Montessori attended the National SAMA Conference, which was held in Johannesburg at the end of April 2017. It was a very well organised, inspirational conference and I have never networked as much in my life - it was really super! Truly connecting with old Montessorians and meeting new one's.......absolutely divine! We are very pleased and excited to share the lovely news, that Garden Road Montessori have 'adopted' Ncinci One's Montessori as their charity for this year's fundraising.
WOW! Time really does fly when you are having fun. Ncinci One's Montessori celebrated it's 1st birthday this week and the week was full of good happenings again!
The best birthday present we received is that we are all so excited about the new building that is going up and the expansion of our school! We say a huge thank you to The Kamvalethu Foundation and Susan Gallagher for making this happen.
The past 6 weeks have been magical at Ncinci One’s Montessori. The children are all absorbing and developing at a rapid rate and it is really great to observe and be a part of.
Once again Ncinci One's Montessori was blessed with supporter's generosity. I received a phone call from Stephanie Haywoood who said she had a few boxes for us from Buccleuch Montessori in Johannesburg. When Stephanie and Julian arrived at Ncinci One's Montessori in their loaded vehicle, we unpacked 11 boxes! WOW!
What a Super September we experienced at Ncinci One's Montessori! Not only was it Spring month, where we got beans, onions, carrots, butternut, spinach, tomatoes and flowers planted, but it was also International World Peace Day on 21 September and South Africa's Heritage Day on 24 September. The Ncinci One's joined Sing Peace Around the World at 10h30. They sang the song "Light a candle for peace" in isiXhosa and the chorus in English.
The Mthatha Round Table/Transkei Yamaha Funduro was held at Hole in the Wall this past weekend. There were many visitors to the area and the weather was perfect for the event.
They are happy, busy days at Ncinci One's Montessori and there is a lot of singing going on at the moment. Ncinci One's Montessori is proudly joining the International Day of Peace event, Sing Peace Around the World on 21 September 2016 at 10h30 where we will be joining 64 840 other children globally in singing the song and our children will be singing it in their mother-tongue, isiXhosa. It is joyous to hear them singing in small groups, as they walk home after school.
Our 3rd term started with a bang, in more ways than one! The first great thing that happened, is that JB's sister, Cindy Owen, from Dog Days Adventures in the UK , gave me a brand new Samsung J5 phone, which is now the school's official, much needed camera.Thank you very much Cindy for a great gift! The children happily returned to school on the 18th of July and on the first day back I asked the children if they had had a good holiday.
Ncinci One's Montessori is really a very special little school with the rural Xhosa children taking true ownership of their school. The 16th of June was a public holiday in South Africa and Friday the 17th was a school holiday in South Africa. On June the 16th, 4 of the children went to the Assistant teacher's home and asked her if they could please come to school on Friday - Corina gladly obliged. 10 Children attended school on Friday the 17th and I think we were probably the only school in the country that was open.
February was a busy month for us - human angels came to visit us!! Jacob and Bruun from Stichiting Obonto in Holland,(in conjunction with Canisius College) are sponsoring the refurbishment of our new Montessori pre-school. Halalala!
Then more human angels from Oudtshoorn/George/Argentina arrived. A huge thanks to Amy Markus, Michelle Nortje and Fridl de la Rey who arrived here with a packed bakkie and trailer with things for the school, as well as with Lucas Ghione.
We attended a Community meeting this morning and the eblders and villagers have given the go ahead for our new pre-school, with big smiles. Off to Komkhulu "the Great Place" on Wednesday to get an official letter - Yeah - all on track - smile :)
It's been a busy week for JB and the guys.......the new floor finished, the inside of the rondawel is scraped and ready for plastering, the top of the wall has been filled in and the grass has been cut and is looking good. Thank you guys! Plastering starts tomorrow. Almost time to open!
This is the second Montessori pre-school project I am opening in the rural Transkei and we please need your support to ensure sustainability of the project. Montessori education must not be reserved for wealthy city children, it must be available to everyone!
Things have been progressing steadily at Ncinci One's Montessori and we were very lucky to get exposure for our project in the Daily Dispatch Newspaper, as well as a 10 minute radio interview on the Power FM breakfast show. I think our name is spreading nicely!
Observation has been the name of the game at Ncinci One's Montessori the past week, and am very happy with what I am observing. The children are becoming fully engaged with their indoor environment and this is wonderful to observe.
Corina, our assistant, is proving to be an excellent Story Teller, of traditional Xhosa life. She has the children in stitches at story time...
Another lovely week has passed at Ncinci One's Montessori - the children are settling in very well and are happy to be at school. We are still looking for sponsors for 3 children please.......
I just had to share some of the Montessori Moments I had today :-) Oyama has never worked wth the Pink Tower and she built it horizontally today - thinking of Jonathan Woolf's story - i just stood and gazed at her :-)
Packing and packing away left to right is just becoming the norm - I love it!
Observation has been the name of the game at Ncinci One's Montessori the past week, and am very happy with what I am observing. The children are becoming fully engaged with their indoor environment and this is wonderful to observe.
