Cross-town Dash for Digger.

Wednesday March 22, 2023 was one of split-second timing. My colleague, Lauren from old Auckland Park days, invited me to read ‘The Digger that Did’ to the Grade 3 girls at St Mary’s School, Waverley, Johannesburg. I had a mad dash to get there by 13.30, after two other morning engagements, but the old school route from my daughters’ days at St Mary’s unrolled like a movie reel in my memory and I got there with ten minutes to spare.
Lauren was waiting at the edge of the carpark and took me straight through to the new modern hall. She is a wonderful technical assistant and we had the presentation set up by the time the girls and their teachers arrived. The author visit is the kick-off to the Grade 3 creative writing project, so I wove writing techniques into the background presentation. Some of the girls remembered the ship stranded across the Suez and listened, fascinated, as the story unfolded. They joined in digging with Digger, pulling with the tugboats and sucking with the dredgers – I was so impressed that our inland girls knew the functions of all the ships.
We had a long and interesting question time afterwards. The girls really got the story and its context and asked detailed questions about many different aspects. I'm really sorry that we didn't get a photo that day. The girls loved their bookmarks. Lauren has promised to send me examples of their creative writing when their project is complete. I can’t wait!

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