February 2010 - Ready, Steady, Go!
Sun, 7 February 2010
Young children’s earliest experiences and environments set the stage for future development and success in school and life. Early experiences actually influence brain development, establishing the neural connections that provide the foundation for language, reasoning, problem solving, social skills, behavior and emotional health. The first five years of life are critical to a child’s lifelong development.
We play a critical role in helping our children get ready for school. Studies have shown that children from families that are economically secure and have healthy relationships are more likely to succeed in school. Infants and young children thrive when parents and families are able to surround them with love and support and opportunities to learn and explore their world.
School readiness considers the intellectual, social and emotional maturity levels of your child and while maturity cannot be influenced by external factors, school readiness can be encouraged by broadening your child’s experiences and teaching him or her to make full use of his or her senses and abilities.
School maturity is whether or not your child has reached a level of maturity where he is ready for formal teaching of reading, writing and numeracy. This level is usually reached around age 6 and, because it relies on biological factors, it cannot be hastened. However, having reached this level of maturity is no guarantee that your child will be able to cope with the demands of school and this is where school readiness enters the picture.
School readiness refers to your child's ability to measure up to the demands of formal schooling. Specific skills have to be developed in order for your child to be considered ready for school. Aspects which are examined during a school readiness evaluation include:
- Language skills;
- Activities of daily life (independence in tasks such as eating, bathing and brushing teeth);
- Body consciousness;
- Motor skills;
- Visual perception;
- Auditory perception;
- Cognitive functioning;
- Concentration and attention span;
- Emotional functioning; and
- Social functioning.
The Bua news reported some major changes for schooling from 2010, in an online article on 10 November 2009. Government has moved with speed to respond to the recommendations of the Report on the Implementation of the National Curriculum Statement by the task team that highlighted various challenges to quality curriculum delivery.
Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, said that the changes include discontinuing the use of portfolios for learners of all grades from 2010; keeping only one file for administrative purposes from teachers; reduce the number of projects required by learners; developing Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements for each grade in each year for implementation in 2011; reducing the number of learning areas in the Intermediate Phase; emphasizing the use of English from as early as possible and clarifying the role of subject advisers.
Motshekga said to support these interventions, government would ensure that The Foundations for Learning – a programme for the foundation and intermediate Phase (Grades R-6) will be implemented in all schools in 2010.
For Grade R, this will include lesson plans for teachers for literacy, numeracy and life skills as well as learners’ workbooks, poster and story resource books.
For Grades one to three, the workbooks will target literacy and numeracy, while those for grades four to six will include workbooks for learners for language and mathematics.
Taking all this into consideration, we can be certain of one thing: we, as parents, have our work cut out for us…
Fri, 22 January 2010
We’re all going on a summer holiday…
It is that time of year again; time for New Year’s resolutions, the end of the long awaited summer holiday and time for lunchboxes and getting out those school uniforms.
While you are getting the most out of your last few days of lazing around ...
