Friday 2 September 2011

Official Spring Day.

Yesterday was the date officially recognised as the first day of Spring here in South Africa, but climatologically, the real date and time is, 23rd September, 9:04pm UTC, (Coordinated Universal Time), also known as International Atomic time (TAI). Spring equinox in the Southern Hemisphere, this is when the sun crosses the Celestial Equator from North to South. (See diagram below). This is also the start of Autumn or Fall in the Northern Hemisphere. UTC time is the time used on the Internet and other places that need sub second precision. In the so called "good old days" we used GMT.






Diagram above:Wikipedia.


All though it's not Spring yet according to UTC, we had our Spring day at school today. It was also "civvies day", when the learners could come in their everyday clothes. Each learner had to pay R10 for the privillage, all funds raised in this way go to a school for the physically disabled  in our district. The photos below were taken in the Foundation Phase corner, grades 1 to 3. of the library. 


Click on photos to enlarge.




Mrs Stork's grade 2 class at story time on "civvies day".



Mrs Jordaan's grade 2 class. Had to pretend I was checking messages on my cell phone to take these photos. 


The story for today was "Joseph and his amazing coat." They were most horrified that his brothers were so nasty as to sell Joseph to slave traders, and very glad when all the brothers had to bow to him in the end. 


There are three grade 2 glasses, Mrs Thomas' class comes on a Wednesday. 


1 comment:

Kay L. Davies said...

Every little child's reaction to Joseph's brothers is the same, worldwide, I think, Phillip. I remember being horrified myself, long ago. Your photos of the children are adorable. Good ruse, pretending to check your messages!
Well, spring is my favourite season, whenever it officially starts. To me, it starts when I can smell it in the air. Because Canada has four such distinct seasons, there is always a time when "spring is in the air" and recognizable by anyone who takes the time to sniff for it.
Now I find myself wondering if summer, autumn and winter have that tell-tale first sniff.

— K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel