Reading – Page 3 – Sibo's blog

Days Have Names Too!

Last week we talked about names that people have – but days also have names and I’m not talking about the boring old weekdays or the lovely weekend days either!

For instance, the 27^th April is Freedom Day. It’s a public holiday and I’m sure you were all as glad as I was that we did not have to go to school or work on that day.

Some public holiday days are always the same – like Christmas, New Year and Woman’s Day. Easter moves around because it is defined as being the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox (in simple terms – that’s some moon event). Ramadan is the same – it also moves around.

Then you get other days that have been declared things like “World Wildlife Day” (3 March), “World Water Day” (22 March) or “World Malaria Day” (25 April) by the United Nations or some other body. There are lots of these days. Just last week we had “Earth Day” (22 April) and we made my book on global warming – Sibo Makes a Difference – available on the website for people to freely read. It’s still there if you want to go and have a look.

On the 1^st of May we have “Workers Day”. This is a public holiday in South Africa but not necessarily everywhere else in the world.

These days, if a public holiday falls on a Sunday – we get the Monday off. Yay!

There are also a number of other days in May but they are not public holidays. Things like “World Press Freedom Day” on the 3^rd, “International Day of Families” on the 15^th, “International Day of Biological Diversity” on the 22^nd and “World No-Tobacco Day” on the 31^st.

There are a lot of other day’s in-between too – but most of us would not easily relate to the topics. If you want to know when and what all the different days in the year are, you can visit this website – it lists them all in a really easy way with clickable links.

Of course the most important day to remember in May is Mother’s Day on the 8^th. We all know that our moms are the most special people – no matter how old we are or they are. Make sure you spoil yours.

Happy Days!

Sibo

World HIV AIDS Day

On the 1^st of December it is World HIV AIDS Day.

Hai Sibo! I hear you say. What does a little girl like you know about HIV AIDS?

It all started when I found out that my friend Lizzie’s brother is HIV positive. Strangely enough – because her brother is positive – a lot of people thought that it was bad to be friends with Lizzie.

What a lot of rubbish!

It’s okay to be friends with people who have family members who are HIV positive. It’s also okay to be friends with the people themselves who are HIV positive. In fact they really need friends – lots of them. It can be seriously depressing to find out that you have been diagnosed with such a thing and having all your friends run away from you is the last thing on earth that you need.

It’s terrible to think, in this day and age of social media, television, radio, cell phones and goodness knows what else – that people still think that they can get sick just by being in the same room as somebody who is HIV positive. Or by sitting on the same toilet, or using the same dishes. Or drinking from the same water fountain or using the same gym equipment. You can hug or kiss a person who is HIV positive and hold their hand too.

Sometimes when the person’s employer finds out that they are HIV positive they even go so far as to fire them – just when they need their medical aid and all the support that they can get.

You need to eat the right food – good nutritional stuff that builds up your body – no junk food. We shared our veggies with Lizzie’s family. It’s important to eat lots of fruit and veggies. But then it’s important for everybody to eat fruit and veggies – not just those who are HIV positive.

Okay – so Lizzie’s brother was stupid. He’d been doing drugs and got the virus from sharing a needle with somebody who was HIV positive. Doing drugs is wrong – we all know that. Not only using needles but sniffing, snorting, smoking – all that stuff is just silly. Plus it’s a waste of your good hard earned cash and it messes your life up so much more than you could ever imagine.

Visit my website and join our readathon on 1^st December. You will be able to read Sibo Thinks Positively – free of charge. On your computer, cell phone, tablet or whatever!

Be nice people,

Sibo

Some tips to help you study for the exams!

If you are writing matric – then this is probably too late for you – but for the rest of us, it might help.

Do some exercise before you write you exam – according to scientists, exercise boosts brain and memory power. They reckon 20 minutes of exercise before you write your exam can help a lot – try hula hooping!
If you read something out loud (okay – don’t try this in the library where you are supposed to be quiet) you are 50% more likely to remember it, than if you read it quietly to yourself.
One of the best ways to make sure that you have learned and understood something – is to explain it to somebody else. Ask one of your parental agents, a sibling or a friend to hear you out.
Create mental connections – Steve Jobs famously said “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something”. Worth a try hey?
Draw diagrams to help you see the information. This creates a visual memory in your mind – which is easier to remember than just words.
Make yourself flash cards for a quick memory buzz. Then you can quickly test your knowledge of key concepts, definitions, quotes and formulas using these flashcards. You can look at them when you wake up in the morning – or while you eat your breakfast.
Take short study breaks. After 45-50 minutes – take a 10 minute break. If you study for longer than this your focus is diminished.
Strangely or not – they recommend changing the places where you study. Don’t always sit at your desk or the dining room table. Sometimes you will learn more if you go and sit under a tree outside!
Do not stay up all night before an exam studying. Getting a good night’s sleep will reinforce all the stuff you have learnt during the day.
Study in a group. This can help you gain extra knowledge or insights.
Reward yourself for studying with a treat. For every so many pages you read (out loud) you can allocate yourself one smartie (because… you are becoming a smartie pants of course!).

Good luck in the exams!

Sibo

Cool career of the week: chemistry teacher

A chemistry teacher can inspire students to explore chemistry by challenging them to create an effective, eco-friendly cleaning solution.

Sibo’s Science Story Competition

National Science Week runs from the 1 – 8 of August. The theme this year is International Year of Light and Light Based Technologies. This is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology. The idea behind it is to underline that science really is for everybody – young and old alike – and it is all around us. Various institutions – not only science centres – around the country celebrate this event by holding different kinds of activities. There are also expos in shopping malls, special talks, workshops and many other events.

I am also celebrating. I’m having a science story competition and you are invited to write a short story using the “cool words” that appear at the end of her weekly blog in the African Reporter. Don’t worry if you missed them – you can also visit her real blog http://blog.sibo.co.za/ and find them there (plus the meanings).

The winning stories will be printed in the Springs Advertiser and African Reporter and will also feature on Sibo’s website and blog (http://www.sibo.co.za) . First prize will win an autographed set of Sibo’s Story Books (12 titles). Second prize wins 6 Sibo titles (of your choice) and third prize wins 2 Sibo titles (of your choice).

Rules

The story needs to have a science slant to it – using at least 15 of the 21 cool words.
It should not be more than 500 words
Both adults and children are welcome to enter.
Entries must reach us on or before Friday 14^th August 2015.
You can email them to sibo@sibo.co.za .
Fax them to 086-242 2187
Or send them via post to :

Sibo’s Science Story Competition
Postnet Suite 180
Private Bag x1
The Willows
0041

Cool words: array; galvanize, dollop, follicle, discombobulated, argle-bargle, chuffed, acne, photonics, snigger, dank, tolerance, agitated, nook, dodgy, miffed, pow-wow, skulk, vamoose, vim, heebie-jeebies.

You’ll either have to use a dictionary if you don’t know what any of these words mean… or trawl through all the blogs. If you find a blog without a cool word – it was written in the holidays. We don’t do cool words in the holidays.

Good luck!

International Book Giving Day

Hey everybody!

Did you know… 14^th of February is International Book Giving Day. Yes yes, I know it’s also Valentine’s Day – but let’s ignore that one for the moment because really – everybody knows about Valentine’s Day already, but who knew it was International Book Giving Day?

So I was thinking… if you’ve got some books that you have outgrown or finished reading or simply don’t have space for anymore – maybe you could drop them off at the Addie offices and they could give them to kids or schools that don’t have lots of books.

Don’t you think that’s an awesome idea?

And they do not have to be only children’s books – maybe your parental agents (aka your mom /dad guardian / whoever) have novels or other books that they would be prepared to give away too.

Or… your school or church could organise a book drive – collect up lots of books and pass them over to people who don’t have books of their own.

Or you could donate some books to the local hospital.

If you think of a clever idea of who and how to donate books to – email me quickly (sibo@sibo.co.za) and let me know so that we can share it with everybody else… in the world.

Yes! That’s what “International” means – it means that the whole world is going to be giving books on the 14^th of February.

The thought of living in a world without books gives me the heebie-jeebies (remember – that’s the word we learnt last week). Sad to say though – too many children in South Africa don’t own a single book of their own.

We can all make a difference to somebody’s life and give a book.

Or maybe you are one of the people who do not have a book of your own. Just think – you might be able to get one on the 14^th February.

If you are feeling really generous, you can buy a brand new book and donate it to somebody who needs it. Ginny is going to do this. She’s going to donate some of the books in the Sibo Series to a needy school.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sibo

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Your new word for the week:

Word: vim

Meaning: (noun) Lively spirit; energy; enthusiasm

Example: Sibo is full of vim when it comes to International Book Reading Day!

School is Cool

Hi everybody!

My name is Sibo.

One of the things I love most in life is helping to save the world.

Pah! I hear you say. How can little kids save the world? That’s just silly! Actually, it’s not so silly. If we all do a little bit – like have a shorter shower and turn off the tap when we brush our teeth – then we save water.

And… we all know that water is very precious. Simple hey?

Turning off lights and unplugging your cell-phone charger is another easy-peasy way to help out. We can all do it. We can make sure that our families do it too.

I also really like learning new things. Now that the holidays are finished – I think it’s cool we can go back to school. I’m looking forward to learning lots of new stuff this year.

I know… sometimes it’s a drag to have to get up in the mornings for school… but just imagine if we had holidays all year round (I can hear lots of you yelling yaaaayyy – now that would be really cool) but think about it. We’d be bored silly after a few weeks. We’d probably be a bit stupid too, because we wouldn’t know much.

Plus… we probably would not be able to read.

I love reading. I read a bit every day. Not only the stuff we have to read for school, but I also enjoy reading for myself. Books are like friends – even better in some ways because you can always rely on them. You don’t need to ask your mum if your book can come and play (duh!) – you can just pick it up and start reading. You can get stuck into a good story and forget all your problems. You can have awesome adventures without ever leaving your house.

This is going to be a regular blog where we can all share stuff. You can email sibo@sibo.co.za and send letters, pictures, photos, lists of books you’ve read, hints or tips – anything you feel like. Or if you’ve got questions you can send those too. I’ve got a friend – The Earthman – who is really smart and knows about most things.

Visit my website – http://www.sibo.co.za for cool stuff that you (and your teacher) can download free. Like colouring in sheets, activity sheets and there’s even a song.

Looking forward to next week.

Sibo

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PS: I like learning new words – I’m going to share a cool new word with you each week in case you like learning new words too:

Word: Heebie-jeebies (HEE-bee-JEE-beez is how you say it)

Meaning: A feeling of nervousness; jitters, creeps (noun)

Example: I get the heebie-jeebies when I don’t have a nice book to read!