Skip to content Skip to navigation

Connexions

You are here: Home » Content » Gr. R Module 2 Life Skills - 02

Navigation

Recently Viewed

This feature requires Javascript to be enabled.
 

Gr. R Module 2 Life Skills - 02

Module by: Siyavula Uploaders. E-mail the author

LIFE SKILLS

A Learning Programme for Grade R

Module 1

LOGICAL THINKING AND REASONING

EDUCATORS SECTION

Memorandum

Figure 1
Figure 1 (graphics1.png)

FOR THE EDUCATOR

  1. GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF THE PROGRAMME

The activities of this programme have been designed in accordance with the requirements of outcomes based education. It therefore provides the learners with opportunities to develop their full potential in becoming active, responsible, fulfilled citizens of a democratic, non-racial and equal society. Grade R provides the bridge between the learner’s preschool experiences and the formal school system. Grade R educators use learning outcomes and the accompanying assessment standards to meet the specific needs of their learners. They accordingly plan learning opportunities and activities by which these outcomes can be attained.

The activities in this programme comprise

  • general activities that are aimed at stimulation of the basic components of development, the prerequisites for thinking and learning;
  • specific activities that can be applied in the various learning areas (Literacy, Mathematics and Life Skills).

The programme is divided into five modules. The tempo at which learners will complete the first four modules may be determined by the educator. The fifth module is an enrichment module that can be used at the discretion of the educator, but is not suitable for all learners. Each module incorporates all areas of development and reveals an increasing level of difficulty (i.e. it ranges from easy to difficult).

The learning area is indicated in the frame in the upper left-hand corner of each worksheet, while the prerequisite for thinking and learning is indicated in the frame on the right. Specific questions for bridging and assessment are provided at the bottom of the worksheet.

  1. ASSESSMENT

The assessment standards related to the learning content of each module, together with the relevant learning outcomes, are indicated in the module framework of each module, as well as at the beginning of each learning unit. Hereby the educator, as well as the learner and his/her parents, can know what the standards are according to which the continuous assessment of the learner takes place. Each activity and assignment in a learning unit can be assessed. The average mark for the activity that is relevant to each learning outcome is then indicated on the assessment grid, which will indicate the learner’s capability profile at the end of each learning unit.

Assessment takes place according to a 4-point scale:

  1. does not complies with the requirements;
  2. complies impart with the requirements;
  3. complies with the requirements;
  4. exceeds the requirements.

An assessment frame that indicates the learning area as well as the learning outcome is included at the top of each worksheet (see the example that follows). This means that the activity must be evaluated according to the relevant learning outcome. The educator must assess the learner’s response and mark it according to the 4-point scale.

Example:

Table 1
Mathematics: LO 1
 

An assessment rubric for each of the three learning areas, namely Literacy, Mathematics and Life Skills, is included at the end of each module. The educator considers the results from the preceding assessment frames and indicates an average for the learner’s achievement over the longer period on the assessment rubric.

  1. PREREQUISITES FOR THINKING AND LEARNING
Figure 2
Figure 2 (graphics2.png)

BASIC COMPONENTS OFDEVELOPMENT AND GENERALACTIVITIES THAT STIMULATEDEVELOPMENT

Integration occurs when the above-mentioned basic components of development operate in an integrated manner.

The palm forms the basis for the hand.

The above sketch represents the basic components of development. This is important because it provides information regarding the learner’s development.

Sensori-motor development:

Has the learner attained the motor development milestones at the expected age? Are there serious developmental handicaps?

Figure 3
Figure 3 (graphics3.png)

Physical and social factors

Does the learner suffer from any physical disabilities that retard his progress, e.g. deafness? Does the learner have developmental handicaps, e.g. deprivation or differences related to background?

  • MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Figure 4
Figure 4 (graphics4.png)

The motor development of the child helps him / her to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle. A motor development handicap can lead to tiredness, which may contribute to restlessness, distractibility, poor concentration and problems with coordination. His / her physical body position on the carpet or at the desk may also be unsatisfactory.

  • GROSS MOTOR SKILLS (coordination of the large muscles of the body)

Examples of activities:

  • Climbing activities
  • Jumping activities (ball games and skipping with a rope)
  • Balancing activities (skipping, balancing on one leg, hopping on one leg, walking along a line)
  • FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT (coordination of the small muscles of the body)

Examples of activities:

  • Crumpling paper
  • Using a pair of scissors for cutting, and colouring in
  • Stringing beads, using clothes-pegs
  • Playing with clay / tying shoe-laces
  • MOTOR PLANNING (Understanding instructions with a motor component and the automatic execution of non-habitual tasks)

Poor motor planning can result in poor working tempo and clumsiness and can extend the time that the learner needs to master new learning skills.

  • SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Development of verbal language commences at an early age, well before reading and writing are possible. The young child thinks in language and expresses thoughts through language. This is important for social relationships, as well as for academic achievement, and forms part of cognitive development.

Examples of activities:

  • Retelling of stories / own experiences
  • Development of vocabulary with the help of excursions followed by appropriate class discussions
  • Discussion of world events
  • Songs and rhymes

Correct employment of verbal capability in different situations, e.g. for answering the telephone correctly and communicating a message precisely.

Grade R learners must be able to communicate effectively by means of language, art, movement, music and dramatisation of experienced fantasy.

  • EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Figure 5
Figure 5 (graphics5.png)

Grade R learners need to be taught a clear code of behaviour and need opportunities to develop pure values and attitudes and a strong moral code to promote relationships within the immediate and wider family and community. They need a variety of social experiences and opportunities to learn to cooperate effectively when they are involved with groups.

Learners who are emotionally and socially immature have difficulty with adjusting to the classroom situation and with participating actively. They struggle to control their emotions, are often quarrelsome, are unwilling to take on new things and work in groups, and may withdraw. To develop self-confidence and to be able to learn effectively, they need a secure learner-centred and stimulating environment where they will be challenged to learn.

Examples of activities:

  • Provide the child with an example by showing that you respect the feelings, beliefs and culture of others.
  • Accentuate the child’s positive character traits and help him / her to deal with aggression and negative feelings and develop self-assurance.
  • Therefore: let the child realise that, although wrong actions / behaviour is not acceptable, he / she will still be accepted as a person.
  • Encourage group games and participation in such games.
  • COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT problem solving skills
Figure 6
Figure 6 (graphics6.png)

(Cognitive skills are thinking skills that enable effective learning.)

Problem solving skills

Guide the child to identify problems and to find solutions to problems through creative and critical thinking. Grade R educators offer challenges to their learners to motivate them to realise their full potential and develop into people that think critically and creatively as problem solvers.

  • PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT (Perception is the accurate observation, organisation and interpretation of information transmitted from the senses to the brain.)

The stimulation of visual and auditory perceptual skills is important in the case of the preschool child, because these skills form the prerequisites for effective learning.

  • VISUAL PERCEPTION (the accurate observation, organisation and interpretation of information transmitted from the eyes to the brain.)
  • Body image (a person’s awareness and experience of his or her own body)

Examples of activities:

  • Instructions, e.g. place your hand on your knee, etc.
  • Identifying parts of the body with regard to a doll
  • Tracing the hands on paper and cutting out the images
  • Puzzles representing the body (children could create these themselves by cutting out pictures)
  • Visual discrimination (the ability to discriminate between similarities and differences)

Examples of activities:

  • Old magazines – let the child, for instance, circle all the s’s and r’s
  • Bingo / Lotto games (finding the corresponding number)
  • Visual memory (the ability to remember stimuli perceived with the eyes)

Examples of activities:

  • Arrange 6 objects on a tray – let the child observe them for about 3 seconds – cover the objects – ask the child to name what was seen – remove 1 object – ask what is missing.
  • Flash picture – ask child to tell what was seen.
  • Audibloks visual cards
  • Visual constancy (the ability to recognise that the consistency of shapes in space remains the same, despite their orientation, size, colour, texture, etc.)

Examples of activities:

  • Games involving shapes, e.g. Lotto
  • Selecting and naming corresponding shapes
  • Associating shapes with objects, e.g. O (watch),  (matchbox)
  • Position in space (the perception of the relationship of an object with regard to the viewer)

Examples of activities:

  • Games involving directions (who is standing in front of / behind / to the left / right of you?
  • Using pegs or blocks to build patterns according to a given example
  • Foreground / background perception (the ability to focus on relevant visual information and to distinguish it from other less important information)

Examples of activities:

  • Looking for specific objects in a busy picture
  • Looking for specific objects in the environment, e.g. a palm tree
  • Drawing circles round overlapping pictures
  • Puzzles
  • Visual closure (the ability to complete or add certain pieces of visual information when certain aspects have been excluded)

Example of relevant activity:

  • The child has to complete an incomplete picture
  • Visual analysis and synthesis (the ability to perceive the picture as a whole, to break it up into parts and to reassemble it meaningfully)

Examples of activities:

  • Puzzles
  • Copying dotted patterns
  • Repeating patterns (building blocks)

Learners with perceptual disabilities related to vision have problems with all aspects of learning (e.g. reading, writing, and mathematics), as these aspects provide the basis for scholastic skills.

  • AUDITORY PERCEPTION (the accurate observation, organisation and interpretation of information that is transferred to the brain from the ears.
  • Auditory memory (the ability to remember stimuli perceived by means of the ears)

Examples of activities:

  • Giving a variety of instructions, e.g. touch your head with your hand and jump twice, etc.
  • Reading a short story and ask questions to be answered by the child.
  • Retelling of stories in own words
  • Packing out coloured blocks in the order that the educator suggests verbally.
  • Learning of rhymes and songs
  • Saying a number or letters for the child to repeat.
  • Auditory discrimination (the ability to hear differences and similarities in sounds)

Examples of activities:

  • Clapping or tapping a rhythmic pattern for the child to imitate, e.g. long-short-short-long.
  • Asking the child to say the sound with which his/ her name begins.
  • Pronouncing a simple word, e.g. sun and asking the child to say which sound he / she hears at the beginning, at the end and in the middle.
  • Asking the child to name any objects that he / she can see that have names beginning with a given sound, e.g. “s”.
  • Playing the telephone game: Children sit in line. The first one whispers a word in the adjacent child’s ear and this is repeated down the line until it reaches the last child in the line, who has to say out loud what he / she heard whispered.
  • Auditory analysis and synthesis (the ability to break up words into sounds and to reassemble them)

Examples of activities:

  • Sounding a word, e.g. c-a-t; then asking the child what he / she has heard
  • Saying a word, e.g. sun; asking the child to sound it.
  • Clapping a word or a name rhythmically.
  • DOMINANCE (The preference given by any person to the use of a particular foot / eye / ear or hand). This is part of the process of becoming mature towards the age of around 6.

Examples of activities:

  • Encouraging the child to use the dominant hand as the leading hand in activities.
  • Encouraging crossover exercises, e.g. placing the right elbow on the left knee and vice versa. Do this rhythmically, with musical accompaniment.
  • Play direction games

Learners frequently exchange hands because they are unable to cross over the middleline of the body. Problems around such middleline crossing results in continuous repositioning of the body, which has a negative effect on concentration and work speed and leads to tiredness.

  1. SPECIFIC APPLICATION IN LEARNING AREAS
  2. LITERACY
Figure 7
Figure 7 (graphics7.png)

Examples of activities:

  • Dramatisation of stories / everyday activities
  • Telling of simple stories with the help of pictures
  • Children to arrange pictures from a story in the correct sequence and tell the story accordingly
  • Fine coordination activities (see paragraph 3.1.2)
  • MATHEMATICS

Examples of activities:

  • Counting activities
  • Recognition, description and representation of figures 1 to 9
  • Comparing and arranging numbers
  • Using terms such as more, less, heavier, lighter, shorter, longer
  • Problem solving, e.g. more / less / equal to
  • Making numbers 1 more, e.g. 6 ⇐ 7
  • Counting on, e.g. the first child counts to 3; a second child counts on to 6; etc.
  • Sorting objects according to different qualities (e.g. all the red ones).
  • LIFE SKILLS
Figure 8
Figure 8 (graphics8.png)

Learners show that they are able to apply what they have learnt in different situations in the community. Help them with the challenges that life offers so that they can play an active and productive role in the community. Discussing situations can help to develop problem solving skills, logical thinking and reasoning, as well as creative and critical thinking.

Examples of activities:

  • Create situations under which their potential and skills can be developed fully, so that they will be able to make a contribution to the community, e.g. “emergency situations”, class discussions and dramatisations.
  • Opportunities for entrepreneurship, e.g. making cards to sell
  • REPORT FOR FIRST QUARTER

An example of an (optional) elementary report on the learner’s progress during the first quarter is included for educators who regard it as desirable to report to parents.

Table 2
MODULE FRAMEWORK
LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT STANDARDS
NUMERACY(LO 1)NUMBERS, OPERATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPSThe learner will be able to recognise, describe and represent numbers and their relationships, and to count, estimate, calculate and check with competence and confidence in solving problems.(LO 2)PATTERNS, FUNCTIONS AND ALGEBRAThe learner will be able to recognise, describe and represent patterns and relationships, as well as to solve problems using algebraic language and skills.(LO 5)DATA HANDLINGThe learner will be able to collect, summarise, display and critically analyse data in order to draw conclusions and make predictions, and to interpret and determine chance variation.LITERACY(LO 1)LISTENINGThe learner will be able to listen for information and enjoyment, and respond appropriately and critically in a wide range of situations(LO 2)SPEAKINGThe learner will be able to communicate confidently and effectively in spoken language in a wide range of situations.(LO 3)READING AND VIEWINGThe learner will be able to read and view for information and enjoyment, and respond critically to the aesthetic, cultural and emotional values in texts.(LO4)WRITINGThe learner will be able to write different kinds of factual and imaginative texts for a wide range of purposes.(LO 5)THINKING AND REASONINGThe learner will be able to use language to think and reason, as well as to access, process and use information for learning. We know this when the learner:1.2 counts to at least 10 everyday objects reliably;1.3 says and uses number names in familiar contexts;1.4 knows the number names and symbols for 1 to 10.We know this when the learner:2.1 copies and extends simple patterns using physical objects and drawings (e.g. using colours and shapes);We know this when the learner:5.2 sorts physical objects according to one attribute (property), e.g. red shapes.We know this when the learner:1.1 listens attentively to questions, instructions and announcements, and responds appropriately;1.4 develops phonic awareness:
  • recognises that words are made up of sounds;
  • distinguishes between different sounds, especially at the beginning and ends of words;
  • segments oral sentences into individual words (using words of one syllable at first);
  • segments spoken multi-syllabic words into syllables (e.g. ba-na-na), using clapping or drumbeats;
  • recognises some rhyming words in common rhymes and songs such as ‘We are going to the zoo zoo zoo, you can come too too too’;
We know this when the learner:2.5 asks questions when he/she does notunderstand or needs more information andresponds clearly to questions asked of him/her;2.8 tells own stories and retells stories of others in own words.We know this when the learner:3.1 uses visual cues to make meaning:
  • looks carefully at pictures and photographs to recognise common objects and experiences;
  • identifies a picture or figure from the background;
  • makes sense of picture stories;
  • matches pictures and words;
  • uses illustrations to understand simple captions in story books;
3.5 begins to develop phonic awareness:
  • recognises initial consonant and short vowel sounds;
  • recognises and names some common letters of the alphabet such as the letter the learner’s name begin with;
  • recognises some rhyming words in common rhymes and songs such as ‘We are going to the zoo zoo zoo, you can come too too too’.
We know this when the learner:4.1 experiments with writing:
  • creates and uses drawings to convey a message, and as a starting point for writing;
  • forms letters in various ways (e.g. by using own body to show the shapes, writing in sand);
  • understands that writing and drawing are different;
  • ‘writes’ and asks others to give the meaning of what has been written;
  • talks about own drawing and ‘writing’;
  • role-plays ‘writing’ for a purpose (e.g. telephone message, shopping list);
  • uses known letters and numerals (or approximations) to represent written language, especially letters from own name and age;
  • ‘reads’ own emerging writing when asked to do so;
  • shows in own writing attempts beginning awareness of directionality (e.g. starting from left to right, top to bottom);
  • copies print from the environment (e.g. labels on household items, advertisement);
  • makes attempts at familiar forms of writing, using known letters (e.g. in lists, messages or letters);
  • manipulates writing tools like crayons and pencils.
We know this when the learner:5.2 uses language to think and reason:
  • identifies and describes similarities and differences;
  • matches things that go together and
compares things that are different;
  • classifies things (e.g. puts all toys in box, books on shelves, crayons in tins);
  • identifies parts from the whole (e.g. parts of the body).
5.3 uses language to investigate and explore:
  • asks questions and searches for explanations;
  • gives explanations and offers solutions;
  • offers explanations and solutions;
  • solves and completes puzzles
LIFE ORIENTATION(LO 1)HEALTH PROMOTIONThe learner will be able to make informed decisions regarding personal, community and environmental health.(LO 3)PERSONAL DEVELOPMENTThe learner will be able to use acquired life skills to achieve and extend personal potential to respond effectively to challenges in his or her world. We know this when the learner:1.2 describes steps that can be taken to ensure personal hygiene;1.4 demonstrates precautions against the spread of communicable diseases.We know this when the learner:3.1 says own name and address.
Figure 9
Figure 9 (graphics9.png)

THE BATHROOM

Personal care, hygiene and safety.

Closed questions :

  1. Which room is this in the house?
  2. How many taps are there in the bathroom?
  3. Can you see danger? Colour it in.

Open-ended questions :

  1. What could happen to the girl on the chair?
  2. What could happen with the burning candle?
  3. What could happen if someone steps on the soap?
  4. Is it necessary to run the bath so full?
  5. Why is it necessary to take a bath, wash your hair and brush your teeth regularly?
  6. How does your bathroom at home differ from the one in the picture?
  7. Which dangers are in your bathroom at home and how can you make it safer?
  8. How can you save water in the bathroom?

Bridging :

Where else, at home or elsewhere, can water be saved and how?

Activity :

Demonstrate the proper way to brush teeth.

Use a doll to demonstrate how hair should be washed, or wash one of the learners’ hair.

Discussion :

Discuss different kinds of toilets and their hygienic use, as well as the necessity to wash your hands after having been to the toilet.

Table 3
Life skills LO : 1.2
 

Logical thinking and reasoning

Creative thinking

Figure 10
Figure 10 (graphics10.png)
Figure 11
Figure 11 (graphics11.png)

Table 4
Life skills LO : 1.2
 

Logical thinking and reasoning

For the educator:

THE WEATHER CHART

We can use a weather chart to teach the learners the days of the week in sequence.

The next page contains a weather chart that can be pasted onto cardboard to reinforce it. The page after that contains the strips with the days of the week. These strips must be cut out so that they can be fitted onto the weather chart.

Give different learners the opportunity to, for example, find the strip for Monday. The learner must then show the strip to the other learners and fit it on the weather chart on the corresponding day. They all repeat the name of the day : Monday.

Allow the learners to help you compile a simple graph for the week’s weather, for example:

Table 5
SUN 2   WIND 1   RAIN 3   CLOUDS 1

The number in the second square represents the number of days in the week that the specific weather condition prevailed.

Closed questions:

  • What day of the week is today?
  • What day was yesterday?
  • What day is tomorrow?

Open-ended questions:

  • What do you do in the mornings?
  • What do you do in the afternoons?
  • What do you do in the evenings?
  • Does your family choose one day in the week to do something special?
  • What are weather charts used for?
  • To whom are they important and why?

Bridging:

  • Where else do you find weather charts? (In newspapers, on TV, etc.)

Activities:

Use old newspapers to cut out weather charts. Discuss weather charts with the learners to make them aware of the different weather conditions.

Let them check the length of their shadows early in the morning, at noon and late in the afternoon and discuss the role of the sun with regard to time. Plant a stick in the ground and allow them to observe the change in its shadow in the course of the day.

Game:

Allow the learners to try and tread on one another’s shadow or to try and get away from their own shadows.

SEASONS

The weather chart can be used to help the learners to become familiar with the seasons. First teach them the names of the seasons.

Discussion:

Discuss the current season, for example winter.

  • What clothes do we wear in winter and why?
  • What food do we like to eat in winter?
  • What sports do we participate in winter?
  • What types of fruit do we get in winter?
  • How does winter differ from summer?
  • Which season do you like the best and why?

Activity:

Make a large class scrapbook. Each learner makes a drawing or brings pictures of the following:

Winter clothes, winter sports, fruit we get in winter and food we like to eat in winter.

Allow each one to cut out and paste the illustration or picture. The learner writes down simple words next to each, for example soup, coat, tennis, orange. This helps the learners to match the words to the pictures and to “read” them.

Table 6
Life skills LO : 4
 
Figure 12
Figure 12 (graphics12.png)
Figure 13
Figure 13 (graphics13.png)
Figure 14
Figure 14 (graphics14.png)

Make seven copies of each picture so that you have, e.g., a sun for each day of the week (in case the sun shines every day of the week).

Content actions

Download module as:

PDF | EPUB (?)

What is an EPUB file?

EPUB is an electronic book format that can be read on a variety of mobile devices.

Downloading to a reading device

For detailed instructions on how to download this content's EPUB to your specific device, click the "(?)" link.

| More downloads ...

Add module to:

My Favorites (?)

'My Favorites' is a special kind of lens which you can use to bookmark modules and collections. 'My Favorites' can only be seen by you, and collections saved in 'My Favorites' can remember the last module you were on. You need an account to use 'My Favorites'.

| A lens I own (?)

Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

| External bookmarks