Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Summer Project with Standard Three

This is a significant and fun week for me in Kenya for two reasons – it is my final week and it’s also the beginning of the Summer Project at Precious Vision – 4 weeks of  ‘fun education’ with a different topic each week. This week I am so pleased we are covering ‘Space’. I feel like a kid again, reading through science books with big, colourful pictures and thinking of fun activities to learn about the solar system!

Worksheet on the solar system created by GVI volunteer, Bryony, for her class

Standard Three are a fantastic class but they are a little slow at getting to grips with their English reading and writing, so I thought up a few exercises which weren’t writing-heavy – namely copying some 3-point information down off the board about the sun, moon and the earth and then getting the kids to draw each of the heavenly bodies next to the points. 

The sun, the moon and the earth illustrated on the board for Standard 3

This worked really well, though I had to simplify the information-points after discovering that the very concept of a planet was completely alien to the class (excuse the pun). A successful exercise nonetheless! The use of a semi-inflated globe helped to show the vastness of Earth.  

Also, after much trauma trying to fit the order of the planets from the Sun to Pluto on one A4-sheet turned landscape...I (ingeniously) taped two sheets together and produced a black-and-white cartoon-like version of the planets, numbered them and will teach them how to spell and identify the different planets in class later in the week! 

Bryony's "ingenious" worksheet!

This is all perhaps a little optimistic and possibly won’t go to plan (as is the style of lessons at Precious!) but the kids love a bit of colouring in and hopefully making some Rockets and a space-mobile to hang in the classroom by the end of the week will keep them interested!

Bryony with Standard 3 after their lesson on the solar system

The summer project is a fantastic idea, it keeps the kids safe and having fun with their friends and enables us to educated them about something’s wider than the set curriculum they learn during the term. It’s a brilliant week for me to leave on a high!

Bryony, August 2010


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