We have been preparing our little ones for the ANAs for a few weeks now.  It’s not a part of the year that I enjoy at all.  It is not child friendly to make Grade One learners sit down and write a formal examination. The test is not difficult. However, throughout the year we do not seat the children in rows. They do not have to cover up their work.  They do not have questions read out loud to them and they do not do multiple choice.

We work in cooperative groups.  We encourage our children to think creatively.  We allow own methods of working out problems and encourage discussion with the group. Concrete apparatus is always available for working out Maths problems.

So having to sit down silently in formal rows for an hour per test was quite challenging for our children.  Actually it was quite challenging for the teacher too!   After they were all over I apologised to the children for making them do such un child friendly activities.   “I know it must have been very difficult for you,” I said.  One child said – “Oh no, I loved it!”

I asked for a show of hands.  “Who just loved the ANAs?  “-   75% of them raised their hands!  Why did the others not enjoy it?  These were the answers – ‘boring’   ‘quite hard’ ‘too easy’  ‘took too long’

Well I suppose you can’t please all of the people all of the time!  I didn’t like that it took time away from our normal teaching time and the way the questions were set.  The results are purely for the Education Department to see if the benchmarks for each grade are being met at all the schools.  These marks will make no difference to how we assess our children’s real progress.  Some of the children who we expected to get 100% did not.  Some whom we thought would not do well, did!  It all depended on how well you listened to the instructions and whether you were a test writing kind of child or not.  Some children, especially young children, do not do well in a test situation. It has nothing to do with being a fast or slow learner.  I am glad they are over and I am delighted that the kids did well.

Although my energy levels are not up to their usual standard I am back into the full swing of school.   Wednesday saw us taking a field trip to Kirstenbosch Gardens – always a fabulous place to visit.

Spring in Kirstenbosch

Ann and Andrea our facilitators were amazing.   They told the children all about our useful indigenous plants and how they use the flowers that grew in their own gardens to good use. The puppet show about Monty Mongoose and his friend Bushy the Squirrel went down a treat.

Enjoying the puppet show

There was no rule that said do not touch and the children used all their senses to give them the best learning experience on this field trip.  They listened to the sound of water, frogs and birds, felt the leaves between their fingers and smelled the fragrances of the flowers. They even got to taste the nectar!

Listening for the sounds of nature

Can you hear the frogs?

It was wonderful to learn that a Strelitzia has been named after Nelson Mandela. It is called Mandela’s Gold.  The girls loved examining its beautiful flowers.

Mandela’s Gold in the background

Trees over 1oo years old are marked with a special badge as Kirstenbosch has just celebrated its centenary.

A tree over a 100 years old

The girls got to creep up on Egyptian Geese Parents and count their babies.  They started with thirteen but sadly there are now only seven.

Ann and Andrea knew that children this age need to move a great deal and they were allowed to jump over streams, off rocks and even roll down the grassy banks.

It was a really fun outing and one I am sure the girls won’t forget in a hurry.

Our week ended with a Pyjama party on Friday night.  The parents got to have a couple of hours free of children while the teachers had a fun evening with their children.  I hope you all made good use of the time to recharge your batteries and bond.

Beginning the evening with Lego

Bonding with friends

Having Fun

Watching a Movie