Assignment 7

Observation
Woodlands School
Teacher and learners attitudes, habits, approaches, preparedness and
adaptability.

I am observing a grade 2&3 class for the next couple of days. The teacher has a
routine that she follows every day and it makes the children happy and safe,
because they know the routine. Every morning they will start the day with a
good message from the Bible and sing a couple of Christian Hymns on the
carpet. Then after that they start with their work for the day.

The teacher is nicely prepared for each day and knows what she is going to do
with them. She first explains the work to them then they will get a worksheet to
complete. For some work they will do more of a practical lesson than an oral
one. The children are very involved with the lessons and are not afraid to give
their opinion or ask questions. Because it is such a small class (8 learners) each
child gets individual attention and doesn’t fall behind with any work.

The learners are very adaptable with other teachers. They go out for other
subjects to different teachers. For Music, Afrikaans, PE and computers and is
very respectful in the other teachers classes. The teacher is also very adaptable
to certain situations. As one day there weren’t a teacher at school and she had
to take the grade 1 class with her class as well, she stayed calm and organised
and could still give her learners their work to do that has been planned out for
that day and assist the grade 1 class with their work so they won’t fall behind
with their teacher not being there.

The teacher has put a lot of effort into her class to make it fun and a memorable
learning experience for them. The discipline in the class is very good and the
children enjoy their work a lot. The children always feel comfortable to ask the
teacher if they don’t understand something, which is a good sign to me, it
shows that she is always willing to help them and that they can trust her.
Teaching and learning styles

The teacher uses different techniques of learning styles to accommodate all of

the learners.

 She made use of a physical (tactile) learning style with a lesson about the
five senses and the children enjoyed it so much.
 She also used the Social learning style where they had to work in groups
and discuss a book that they have read.
 Verbal learning style is the style the teacher mostly used for the lessons.
 She used the Solitary learning style when they had to work by themselves,
doing their worksheets.

So basically the teacher uses a lot of different teaching styles to teach and make
the learners keep interest and not get bored with the way she is teaching.

Classroom and school environment

Woodlands School is a very small private school and their aim is to give children
individual attention and assist with any learning problems they might have. The
classes do not exceed 16 learners per class and because of that the learners
receive a lot of individual attention. The children are very close to all of the
teachers and their discipline is very good.

Woodlands School also encourage a healthy eating plan. The learners are not
allowed to have any sweets, chips, fizzy cold drinks or any other unhealthy food
in their lunch boxes during the week. Only on Friday’s they are allowed food like
that. If they do have those things in their lunchbox it will get taken away from
them and be kept safe until Friday where they will receive it then. The school
also only has tuck on a Friday. The reason for this is, that if the children eat
sweets and sugary treats at break time they won’t be able to concentrate the
way they should afterwards in class. I think this is an excellent idea to follow and
to make the children aware of what is healthy and what is not.
Activities

Theme Activity
Five senses Doing the five senses practically and
doing a worksheet on it.
Maths Counting with beads (story sums)
Computers (Microsoft Word) Teaching children to work in Microsoft
Word. Learning how to copy and paste,
and format pictures.
Art ( Animals) Making decorative art pieces for their
pencils (animals)
Art ( Life Orientation) Listening skills Making telephone using paper cups