Day: 4 June 2015

Talent Show

 

Chuffed Sibo

We had a talent contest at our school.

It was such fun.

Everybody was allowed to enter, but they did not have to. So those people that were shy could just enjoy all the activity and watch. There were all sorts of categories – hula hooping, singing, dancing, acting and impersonating famous people. Then there were also things like drawing, painting, embroidery, sewing, growing stuff and even cooking.

To advertise the show, Miss Ball (my favourite teacher) had an event in hall.

She showed everybody that she is learning to hula hoop. She’s okay at it – but not great. Then she got her sister in to show the kids what it is like to have a real talent hula hooping. Miss Ball’s sister, Iggy, is small and skinny and has tattoos!

She whirled that hoop like you would not believe – it went so fast that you could hardly see it on occasions. She did all sorts of fancy tricks too.

It was marvellous. Never mind appreciating her talent – half of us wanted to rush out and learn how to do those impressive hula hoop moves too.

It was a useful example, because some of us thought we could sing. When Lizzie’s brother recorded us singing on his cell phone and we heard ourselves – we realised we all sucked!

Although some of the other kids sing really well.

I decided to rather go in for the growing stuff. We had a few weeks to practise and sort ourselves out – so I decided to grow some beans in a smallish container. I made a nice trellis for the beans out of some wooden dowels that I bought at the hardware store. Plus I decorated my pot nicely.

Miss Ball invited sort-of-famous people (like local radio presenters, the mayor and the editor of the newspaper) to come and judge. She also went and asked all the local shops if they would be prepared to donate stuff for prizes.

Everybody was so nice. They all pitched in and gleefully participated.

We had a fabulous time.

I was really chuffed because my pot plant won – although I did think it was cheating a bit because it was the only entry in that category!

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Seriously cool word(s) for the week: Argle-bargle

Meaning: plentiful but meaningless talk (or writing)

Example: The guy who opened the talent show gave a talk that was so full of argle-bargle we all nearly fell asleep.

Helping Hand

Wayne being a pain

I was so chuffed for my friend Lizzie.

She’s been having hassles at school. But this time she studied very hard for the exams and did really well. She was even top of the class for some of the subjects.

I gave her some help when it came to life sciences and she even beat me.

Hah! I must be a good teacher. Mind you, Dad always helps me study – and I just passed along the hints and tips that he gave to me. Sharing is good when it means that everybody can do well.

One of my other friends, Wayne, was miffed because Lizzie beat him too and can you believe it – he was nasty to her. Poor Lizzie was so upset – she had no clue what she had done wrong.

I looked at him and asked… “What’s your problem?”

He said he always came first in Maths and he did not like it when somebody else did better than him. Now he would have to work even harder so that he could beat Lizzie in the next exams.

Oh my hat! What a chump.

I think you should be glad when your friends do well at something. You should be proud for them too.

You wouldn’t like it if they were mean to you if you achieved something special. Would you? I know I wouldn’t.

Even if they get a new bike and you’ve got an old rusty one – so what! Be happy for them.

Sadly, it seems to me that some people tend to resent other people when they do well. Even if they win the lotto or get a promotion at work – instead of celebrating with the person – they get all grumpy and mean.

Lizzie and I went out for delicious ice-cream milkshakes to celebrate the fact that she did well in her exams. We invited Wayne to come with us too – but he said no-ways. He was too busy doing his maths homework to waste time on having ice-cream. Silly boy!

Lizzie got to work out the 10% tip for the waitress while I sat back and slurped up the last drops of ice-cream with my straw.

It’s great having smart friends.

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Word for the week: Chuffed

Meaning: pleased or delighted

Example: Sibo was very chuffed when Lizzie came top of the class in English, maths and science.

 

Healthy Snacks

Sibo with fruitFeh! I was always under the impression that being a kid meant we could gobble up as much junk food as we like… chips, sweets and cakes.

But I was reading the other day how easy it is to get addicted to junk food. And if you get addicted when you are a kid, it’s harder to kick the habit when you get older.

Worse – all the negative side effects were a bit shocking too. Who would have thought that eating too much junk food can cause tiredness and weakness? Seriously.

It’s so easy to grab a packet of something junky when you are hungry and chomp it down – but the problem is, a short while later you are usually hungry again. And so you grab another packet of something… and another and another.

So what could we eat for healthy snacks?

Yoghurt is a good one. It’s easy to pack in a lunch box and it’s full of vitamins too.

Another healthy snack is nuts – although preferably they should be unsalted.

Stuff like celery or carrot sticks is also good – you know what mums always say… eat up your carrots – they are good for your eyesight!  Raw slices of peppers – red, green or yellow are yummy too. Did you know that a pepper has more vitamin C (the stuff you need when it’s winter and you don’t want to get a cold or the flu) than an orange. Sjoe! I was quite surprised when I found that out.

Of course oranges are good – although sometimes they are a bit sticky and messy to eat at school. All fruits are good snacks – but one fruit that is really easy to eat and full of goodness is a banana.  They are also an instant energy boost because they are full of sugars like sucrose, fructose and glucose. They have lots of iron in them – which is great because many children in South Africa suffer from anaemia (iron shortage) and eating bananas is an excellent way of fixing this. Plus the potassium in bananas promotes healthy bones – which, as growing kids, we need.

Don’t drink too many sodas either – water is better!

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Word for the week: Acne

Meaning: a skin condition characterized by red pimples on the skin, especially on the face, due to inflamed or infected sebaceous glands.

Example: She rubbed the peel (the inside bit) of a banana skin on her face each night to help improve her acne. (This is a true tip – try it out.)

Delightful

Sibo and the rainbowDid you know that 2015 is International Year of Light and Light-Based technologies?

Probably we mostly think of light as being that stuff that Eskom turns off every now and then, but it’s more, much much more.

Can you think of some other ways that light is used?

Hmmm… what about CD or DVD players – they use lasers. In 1982 CD players became the first laser equipped device readily found in the home.

Ooohhh – but what exactly is a laser?

Well, regular light from the sun or from a light bulb really contains all the colours of the rainbow. But you have to split it up to see this. You can split white light up into its colours using a prism (raindrops act like tiny prisms when they make a rainbow in the sky).

A laser is a special source of light of only one pure colour (or wavelength). You can’t break up laser light into other colours.

So what is so cool about laser light?

They can focus. It’s not like a torch at all. Just think when you shine a torch, the beam of light goes wider and wider. But a laser beam can be focussed to a very small spot (it does not spread out) and can shine for long distances.

That laser spot contains lots of energy. So much so that it can even be used for cutting stuff like thick metal.

Even more exciting, small laser beams are used in surgery, like scalpels.

Eish!

BUT… lasers can be extremely dangerous if used irresponsibly. Recently, some kids at school got permanent eye damage from fooling around with laser pointers. In fact, you are now no longer allowed to take lasers to school in the Gauteng province. Shining a laser pointer into somebody’s eye is just silly. Don’t do it.

We haven’t even touched the surface about all the cool stuff lasers can do. If you know of some other uses of lasers – why don’t you write me a letter care of the African Reporter – I’d love to hear from you. Or email me.

If you visit my website – http://www.sibo.co.za you’ll find a cool experiment on how to bend light.

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Cool word for the week: Photonics

Meaning: Photonics is the science and technology of generating, controlling and detecting photons, which are particles of light.

Example: When I grow up I want to study photonics.