EXAMS, GROUP WORK & REWARDS

When I arrived at school today, the children throughout the school were practising for their exams.  The photo below is how the children usually learn through "chalk and talk". Copy and learn. This was their practice test before the two week block of exams commenced.

 But on this day, I brought something new for them to try…GROUP WORK! I had three "hands on"  activities for them to rotate through. There was no room for them to move around their classroom (which used to be a small room in a house), so I had to exchange the materials at the end of each rotation. The three activities were..

1. Investigating odd and even numbers
2. Writing the numerals and number names
3. Using dice, creating and solving addition sums.

This is my newest best friend, Melekot the  Rasta Man.
He bakes beautiful cakes and muffins for the teachers and students to buy for 5 rand each.
I often buy the big slices of cakes and give to the children who have nothing too eat.

The Grade 3 class  collectively won the "Best Results" on their Afrikaans Test this term. Miss Beanie, their teacher, took them to the new Burger King in downtown Johannesburg. Many of the children (if not all) have never been to a place like this! They were so excited , as was their teacher Mr. Wendy. Miss Beanie said that most of the children took some of their food home to share with their siblings and parents. This is an African way of life "to share with others, whatever you have". None of the children paid for this treat. Big hearted Miss Beanie did ;0) (Plus it encourages other children to do well on their exams next time!)