The tenth of December 2013: None of us will ever forget the announcement last week that our beloved Madiba had left us during the night. There are different kinds of love, adulation, respect, and admiration but none as powerful as the love of children. Children loved Madiba with unshakeable strength that had nothing to with […]
My name is Jonica. I live in Clanwilliam but I am from Sterkspruit in Eastern Cape. I am really shy, but when somebody laughs or gossips about me, I don’t care. I want my people to be proud of where they come from. I am proud of my world, my people, my culture, and myself
Cederberg Children on Home and Me Read More »
Themba wrote: I just love playing soccer with my friends. I also love playing rugby and I love my dog. Jamie I have a small white cat called Kitty-cat. I love playing with her. I also like to go and play in the veld with my friends. I love to go walking in the veld
Cederberg Children on Friends Read More »
On Tuesday 10th of December, in Simon’s Town Library hall, there will be a gathering of storytellers, musicians and children to celebrate the end of one year – and anticipate the beginning of a new one! Programme: Children aged 10,11 and 12 have been invited from Red Hill informal settlement. Transport by bus has been
Story Festival for Red Hill! Read More »
After the recent two-day workshop in Clanwilliam, so many children asked for more, that CBN has initiated a Stories on Saturdays project. Our partner in this reading initiative, Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project (CLLP) is situated in an old school complex and offers plenty of space for different activities. CBN has been allocated a classroom of
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Grade Four children (9 years old) at Elizabethfontein Primary School wrote about emotions seen on faces. Yellow Happy faces: ‘I draw my friend, and that makes me happy.’ ‘Happy is when you get gold.’ ‘Happy is when the flowers come and the trees get new leaves.’ ‘This face is happy because the girl in that
End of the year exams begin on Monday. Today was the last day suitable to visit the Grade Four class, as promised. At ten o’clock CBN pulled up under a tree. Grade Four were ready. This is a reading school. Today we worked with the idea of emotions, first with story, then with a game
Class visit to Elizabethfontein School Read More »
Jay Heale reflects on changing methods of getting it all down on paper. When I started teaching in South Africa (in the archaic year of 1969) pupils were allowed to use fountain pens, but most still used the old dip-pen, an inkpot and a fresh sheet of blotting paper every week. Yes, really! There was
Books of Africa – Jay Heale writes on some statistics from America, and thoughtfully examines some from his own experience in South Africa. Two sets of statistics have emerged from the United States recently. Well, we know what we think of statistics, don’t we! The US Census Bureau informs us that half of the children
Considered Words 3 Read More »
Ten books with HOME as a major theme Jay Heale’s list of ten books that fit with CBN’s first theme – Home. [Brackets indicate language availability] Picture Books BONGANI’S DAY by Gisele Wulfsohn (Pan Macmillan) [E / A / Xh] A 7-yr-old boy who lives in Westdene, Johannesburg. Photo story of his home, friends, school,
Books around the theme of Home Read More »
CBN was very privileged to host a wonderful dance team at our Heritage Day workshop on September 24th. It began with a visit to Elizabethfontein Primary School with Natalie Leens, Senior Librarian for Clanwilliam. Elizabethfontein is the only primary school that I know of that has an affectionate nickname – ‘Betjiesfontein’. We were treated to
The first in a series of ten workshops planned for the Cederberg area got off to an amazing start with great support from the community and, most of all, the children! An hour before the workshop started there was already a buzz as children arrived at the Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project for the first day.
Cederberg Stories One: September 2013 Read More »
This is a compilation of ideas written by the twenty-five children who attended the first Cederberg Stories workshop during the spring holidays. We live close to the Cederberg Mountains. Every day we can see them when we walk to school, when we look out of the window and when we play outside. They are always
We are the children of the Cederberg Read More »
When I am angry I go to a dark room. That room is so dark there is only one hole that the light comes through. It is quite cold and lonely. I just sit there and I hear voices talking to me. My anger just overwhelms me and the darkness takes over. It feels like
On Friday 18th October in Plumstead in Cape Town about 180 children were waiting in the hall to hear about books and reading. School visits are never the same. Sometimes the group of children is bigger (or smaller), quiet (or restless). Sometimes they have had lots of visits from book people; sometimes they have had
Timour Hall Primary is reading! Read More »
Not often does one drop in on a weekday afternoon at a Cape Town township high school and find a group of teenagers practicing how to address the Queen of Sweden. But this is South Africa and these are young people who can make anything happen, given the opportunity. On Friday, seven learners at Chris
Khayelitsha to Sweden! Read More »
Cederberg Stories: Workshop for Clanwilliam: Clanwilliam Heritage workshop, Home, Landscape and Me – 23rd and 24th September 2013 – Heritage Day and beyond. CBN is privileged to have two guest facilitators at our heritage workshop. One is Peter Slingsby, a distinguished and awarded novelist for teenagers. His novel Jedro’s Bane is set exactly in the
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Yesterday CBN handed over two copies of the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary and donated some English storybooks for the library at Sederberg Primary School in Clanwilliam. The Principal, Mr Barends, noted that they have a real need for books in English for their library, which is currently being revitalized. ‘The department tells us we should have
Dictionary Donation: Sederberg Primary in Clanwilliam Read More »
Thirty children from Grades 4,5 and 6 ( from 10-12 years old) started their own book revolution for National Literacy Day today. Stories were shared, books were introduced and presents handed out. CBN gave a donation of books to the library and every child went home with a story DVD or a book – or,
Cederberg Stories: The Children! Read More »
The smiles say it all! Elizabethfontien Primary School is over the Pakhuis Pass travelling towards the Tankwa Karoo from Clanwilliam. It is a school with no designated library, but books wherever they can fit them in. The donated dictionaries were welcomed enthusiastically – as was the idea of workshops with Children’s Book Network later this
Dictionary Donation: Elizabethfontein Read More »
