4 July 2008
ASSALAAMU ALAYKUM Parents Races: To add a little spice
to the event, we are inviting parents
to register for the parent races
prior to the event day. We will be
offering consolation prizes to the
winners of the parents’ races. Please
register at the office on or before
Friday, 25 July 2008.
Request for savoury donation:
Please read the attached letter
ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GOGOGO
concerning the savoury donations.
The MOG 2008 countdown has begun. We have
Food Vouchers: We once again will
22 days left for the Boorhaanol sports event
have lunch on sale at the MOG
of the year. All athletes are earnestly training
Sports Day. On the menu we will
to compete for their respective houses. RED
have Akhni, boerewors rolls and
HOUSE VERSUS WHITE HOUSE. Who will
chicken braai or a new surprise item.
be the winner this year? We will all soon find
Vouchers for the lunch items will be
out.
on sale at the office from
Wednesday 16 July 2008, IA
MOG REQUIREMENTS AND REQUEST MOG Dress Code:
Attached please find the list of Red All participants must have on a black
house and White house participants. track pants, takkies and the colour
MOG Sponsorship Cards: All parents t-shirt of the house they represent.
please be reminded that the MOG If they do not have a Boorhaanol t-
sponsorship cards need to be in by shirt they are welcome to wear any
Friday, 25 July. You have 3 more weeks red or white t-shirt.
to try and win the prize for the most !!!DO BRING ALONG YOUR FAMILY
money collected on your MOG AND FRIENDS!!!
sponsorship card. The prizes will be
displayed in the foyer by Wednesday 9
July, Insha-Allah
“AFTERCARE TIMES AND
PENALTIES”
FOOD FUNDRAISER, FRIDAY, 11 JULY
The aftercare staff requests that all
Please find the menu attached for next weeks, parents please fetch their child on or
food fundraiser. before 5:30pm.Please note that a penalty
fee of R1 per 1 minute is charged for late
collection of your child. This fee is payable
SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAMME to the aftercare supervisor in charge
,immediately. Teacher Kashiefa is willing to
take your child with her to her home if you
are really not able to collect your child on
time. Her address is, 224 Astana Street
Schotches’ Kloof. Shukran for your
understanding. Shukran to all those parents
who do fetch your children on time.
Teachers Requests
All parents are requested to please
bring the signed report cards and
portfolios back to the class teachers
DO NOT FORGET THE JIMMY JUNGLES as soon as possible.
OUTING ON WEDNESDAY, 9 JULY, IA.
Grade O: Teacher Shamielah
ARTS & CRAFTS: Clay Fun, Paint Mania requests that parents please send a
and Dance Drama. That’s what we have new flip file to school; this file will
installed for the arts & crafts be a continuation of your child’s
programme next week, IA. portfolio.
Grade R & Level 2: A belated
condolence message to Mog. Nuh and
Salma Sedick on the lost of their
beloved great grandmother. May
Allah bless her with Jannatul
Firdouz, IA.
perspective. The unhealthy competition I’ve
witnessed is: ubiquitous, focused exclusively on
rewards or punishments, belligerent, rude, critical,
and unfair. A classic example is the child who,
after a day at school where grades are the only
object, is forced to play in a youth soccer league
Birthday where parents emphasize trophies, coaches berate
Happy birthday to all learners and staff listed kids, spectators scold every mistake, one team has
vastly greater talent than the others, and not every
below, may Allah bless your lives with barakah
child gets to play.
and ghair, Insha–Allah:
Ebrahim Ishmail (3/7)
Tasneem Arendse (5/7)
Miekaeel Harris (6/7) Life doesn’t have to be that way. What I’ve seen
Ilyaas Ismail (9/7) that is healthy is what I’d call “cooperative
competition.” This may also seem like a
Daanyaal Martin ( 13/7) contradiction in terms, but when competition
Nurah Samuels (13/7) creates just a little anxiety, demands fair play, and
Raees Keraan (14/7) emphasizes fun, children’s performance can be
Uzair Solomon ( 15/7) enhanced and they learn to make moral decisions
independent of adult caregivers. Cooperative
Salma Sedick (18/7)
competition emphasizes the following:
Uzair Ismail (20/7)
Abdul Malik Adams (30/7)
Praising effort, not outcomes. Although
Maajida Jakoet ( 30/7) vapid praise is useless, pointing out incremental
accomplishments builds self-esteem. The
baseball coach that tells her player, “You
swung hard and made contact” is doing a better
Parenting tip job than the coach who simply says, “Nice
swing,” and
Can't Post a far better job than the coach who
screams, “Come on! Park that thing! You swing
Healthy Competition – It’s not and Oxymoron! like a baby!”
As a psychologist who works with summer camps Focusing on strengths. Instead of
across the country, I am often asked whether comparing a player to his teammates, such as
competition is good or bad. Proponents of competition “Why can’t you kick the ball like Robbie?”
speak fondly of their athletic victories and about focus on strengths. The coach who tells his
wanting the same thing for their campers. Competition, player, “You’re passing well. Let’s try that
they say, builds character. It’s a competitive world out corner kick again.” is capitalizing on what’s
there, so we had better prepare our children. Critics of intrinsically rewarding to a child by focusing on
competition want every child to feel like a winner her strengths.
always. They don’t want to pit one child or one group
against another, nor do they want external rewards, Having fun, but not at the expense of
such as grades or trophies, to motivate participation. others. The joy of any game should not be in
the winning or losing, and certainly not in the
harming of others, but in the playing of the
No camp director, teacher, coach, or parent I know game and the cultivation of relationships. To
wants the kind of competition that makes children that end, cooperative competition emphasizes
unduly anxious, that interferes with their performance cheers, not jeers, and handshakes, not prizes.
and creativity, or that makes them uninterested.
However, to eliminate competition simultaneously Engaging children in discussions about
eliminates opportunities to learn humility and grace. their own behavior. Instead of criticizing or
Research on the negative aspects of unhealthy praising a particular action, teammates and
competition is mostly solid, but using it as a rationale adult supervisors can ask questions like, “Tell
for eliminating competition altogether may throw the me about your decision to pass the ball to
baby out with the bathwater. Jessie” or “What’s the boo-ing about for you?”
Emphasizing teamwork. Every individual
Although some believe that “healthy competition” is behavior affects others. Pointing that out to
actually a contradiction in terms, I have a different children as it’s happening builds strong teams
and communities.
a horse looks like a cow. What builds character
The cornerstone of cooperative competition is how is having others like you for who you are, not
the adults in charge frame the game or activity. how you perform. What builds character is
Just about any game can be set up in a friendly or having adults who provide success experiences
unfriendly way, just as any activity can be and set good examples for children. What
explained in a way that promotes anxiety and hurts builds character is being supported in
performance and self-esteem. achieving a challenging goal.
Consider this example from an expert on games
who suggested an interesting variation on musical
chairs. Instead of having the last player standing sit One of the best examples of this kind of
out on each successive round, have the entire leadership I ever witnessed was,
groups try to sit on fewer and fewer chairs. That coincidentally, in a game of musical chairs at
way, no one is ever out and, some would argue, camp. The first person out was actually one of
there is no risk that anyone would feel like a loser. the cabin leaders. He threw his arms up in the
air and shouted, “Now here’s how you leave
the game!” He then boogied out of the circle
by combining some break-dancing moves with
I’ve played this game at camp with kids and a little song he made up on the spot. You can
discovered several things. First of all, it results in imagine what followed. Each successive child
more injuries than regular musical chairs. Trying who got out make up his own hip-hop song-
to get eight or nine kids to sit or somehow balance and-dance routine. There was no arguing, of
on a single chair has the potential to be an course, because the campers saw that it was as
excellent cooperative game. However, there tend much fun to stay in as it was to get out. No one
to be lots of stubbed toes and pinched fingers. felt like a loser. Everyone just laughed and
Second, there tends to be more peer criticism than asked to play again.
regular musical chairs. I heard kids say, “You’re
too fat to hang on” and “My sister’s more
coordinated than you.”
It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how
adults frame the game.
What I learned was that no game or activity is
inherently healthy. The wacky version of musical Reprinted from the Internet – Dr Christopher
chairs cannot guarantee that some kids won’t feel Thurber.
like losers when it’s all over. It is entirely possible
that the more coordinated children will feel good
about how they were able to scramble together and
balance on the chair, and the less coordinated will REMEMBER TO DIARIZE
feel as if they’ve let the group down, or worse. Of
course, it’s also possible that if someone ran that
activity better than I did on my first try, the entire SUNDAY 27 JULY 2008
group would have fun and leave feeling good MINOR OLYMPIC GAMES
about themselves.
That is precisely my point. Skilled teachers,
coaches, camp staff, and parents can supervise Was salaam
baseball, musical chairs, or painting and make it
either a constructive or destructive experience for
children. There are rules to follow, skills to learn, Nuha
and strengths to capitalize on. There are
friendships to be cultivated, ethical decisions to be
made, and successes to be experienced.
What builds character is not keeping a stiff upper
lip when your team loses or when your painting of