Hi everyone,

A huge congratulations to those children who participated at the Eisteddfod and did both themselves and the school proud. It is a very scary thing indeed to maintain your composure as you walk out on stage, in front of a crowd with bright lights shining in your face, and the quiet confidence that GHSS children show is commendable.

In class, we are finishing up our Main lesson on Egypt, and there were a few eyebrows raised in the staffroom when I mentioned I needed enough metal tooling sheets for 26 small coffins- one for each child in the class. Rest assured however, these are simply miniature pencil box coffins to sit atop the children’s desks, which they have artfully decorated with Egyptian designs. 

Learning about the Ancient Egyptian culture and beliefs has been fascinating- its not just all mummies and hieroglyphs, you know! It seems that the Egyptians were also a wise old lot, who loved a good proverb or two. Here are some of the children’s responses to the proverbs:

“Emotions are good servants but poor masters”

Emotions are good things to have, but don't let them rule over you. For example, when i was in the Eisteddfod to play violin, I was very frightened. So frightened that I felt like running off the stage! But if I had run off stage, that would have been letting my emotions take control of me. Which isn't always a good idea!

-Poppyanna-

“I think this proverb is a great one. It means that you should have emotions, but don't let them take over your life.”

-Alba-

I think that this is true, because it’s happened to me a few times. I remember times when I was so angry that I said things I didn't mean, or so confused that I just burst into tears. When it mentions that emotions make good servants, it is quite right, as without emotions helping you, the world would be boring because you wouldn't have an opinion to express. When you think about it, emotions inform your opinion on everything. For example, if you went to a restaurant and they got your order wrong, your opinion then might be negative because your emotion towards them was negative.

-Luiza-

“You shall exist for millions and millions of years”

I think there is a lot of truth in this proverb. For example, my grandad is dead, but he still lives on in the memory of his relations. In addition, he will be talked about by future generations.

-Joe-

To me, this proverb means that you may be gone but you have lots of other people that will remember you. They may have a song you wrote, or just a picture or photos. This is one of my favourite proverbs.

-Lilla-

It’s not literally saying you’re immortal, but it means, “don't say mean things if you can help it.” You will make lots of people happier and you will feel good too.

-Sienna-

“As you think, so shall you become”

This is true for me. If you think, “I’m gunna throw a book at you”, it is as bad as actually throwing a book at them. If you're always thinking bad thoughts, then you’ll always be grumpy and bad-tempered. I cant imagine somebody always thinking bad things, yet being happy and carefree. It would be non-human.

-Anu-

“As joy is not without its measure of pain, so neither is sorrow without its portion of happiness.”

Say for example that I wrote a song about my cat that died, I would be happy that I did, but also sad that I no longer had him. This one is my favourite.

-Evie-

This one means that often you can’t be happy without a bit of sadness. For instance, when I went to Canada, it was amazing that I saw all my friends, but when I had to leave, it was upsetting.

-Gavin-

As we move onto our decimals main lesson, the children will be designing a food van and creating a miniature version of it, with lots of decimal calculations taking place  with prices, area, perimeter and even foreign exchange rates.