March 2014
Hello to all our subscribers. Thank you so much for your continued support of e-classroom.co.za. So many things are happening digitally in South Africa and we are excited to announce that we have secured the rights to bring you the Smart Science® virtual science laboratories! Smart Science® online ‘hands-on’ labs provide outstanding science education created by Scientists for learners which provide:
- Inexpensive and efficient STEM education.
- Built-in scientific inquiry facilitating student discovery of science.
- Online hands-on real experiments, not simulations.
- Online lab reports, easy to write and grade.
- Archive of lab reports obtained with a simple mouse click.
- Retention of lab reports and all student work for 5 years.
- Differentiated reading levels
Teachers are able to save preparation and cleanup time while providing safe hands-on laboratories that are better than traditional laboratories. Smart Science® labs provide real experiments and authentic data collection. They provide student-formulated hypotheses, inquiry, and discovery and are the only online labs with content reading, content writing, and historical perspective! Please email me for further details: [email protected]. The Internet had its 25th birthday last week, and it is really such an incredible resource that our learners need to be given opportunities like these to make the most from what it offers.
The Microsoft Global Forum has just taken place in Barcelona, Spain and two teachers were selected to represent South Africa with their projects. One of our teachers, Cheryl Douglas from Cape Town received two ‘Third Runner Up’ positions. We are very proud of you Cheryl!
I love what Richard Knaggs shared about ‘Origin’ which is a collection of songs recorded and produced by Parklands College learners utilizing PARKLANDS COLLEGE STUDIOS (“PCS”). This is a ground-breaking film and sound recording studio at the College which they have great plans for. Richard says, “Due to the extraordinary talent at the College, what started out as small individual sound projects has blossomed into a great collection of world class material. This album will become the first of many and will fall under the project name “Project Sound Reach”. The proceeds of the album will fund the further development of the studios, as well as the recording of local, unknown, original talent, that will be included on future albums. The vision for Parklands College Studios is for it to become a launching pad for young, creative South African media and music talents, in all areas of the industry. Please LIKE Parklands College Studios (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Parklands-College-Studios/772709886090417) and listen to and purchase ORIGIN (https://itunes.apple.com/album/origin/id810078379).
Old Mutual ‘Tell me your dream and win’ competition
I’d like to remind you of our recent competitions we have online. The Old Mutual ‘Tell me your dream and win’ competition entry details are available on their http://dogreatthings.co.za/education/ website and our competition page: https://e-classroom.co.za/old-mutual-dream-competition/ where scholars can win R 5000.00 and R 10 000.00 for their school.
Collect-A-Can 21st birthday competition
Collect-a-Can also have a fantastic 21st birthday competition with a total of R 400 000 worth of prizes to be won nationally. The entry form can be downloaded from our website: https://e-classroom.co.za/collect-can-21st-birthday-competition/ It is a wonderful initiative for making a difference and earning some-thing back at the same time.
Spur creative writing competition
We congratulate our February Spur winners for the creative writing competition: Alexandra Scott from Timour Hill Primary and Simone Reeken from Weltevreden Park primary School. Please note that the competition continues until May 2014 and we encourage you to invite your learners to participate.
We would like to thank our recent sponsors. Without them, we would not be able to provide this wonderful free service to you:
Please look out for our digital Teacher Guides and Learner Books for Social Sciences (Grades 4-7) that will be online during Term 2. Please do give us feedback on these. We are always looking to improve our services to you, so we welcome your suggestions.
Until next time.
Serving you in education,
Natalie
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