Class Updates
Kindergarten
School starts at 8. From 8-9 our children do free play. From 9-10 its morning ring time. This term we taught the children three new songs as well as new games. The children really enjoyed the song in Swahili, which is a language they were hearing for the first time. They also did a lot of rhymes and rhythmic clapping games which helps them with the rhythm of life.
As regards our rhythm: On Mondays from after break they do finger knitting, a lot of children enjoy it especially the boys. Tuesday is painting day. Playing with colours is something the children enjoy, and each Tuesday they remind the teachers that today is for playing with colour! Wednesday’s we do weaving and making spider webs. Our nature walks are on Thursdays. Students love walking through the farm and community. This term the pigs have had piglets, so they had a great time at the sty. They also visit the horses and the biodynamic garden.
Usually we do free drawing after the walks and you can clearly see what each child enjoyed most from the walk. On Fridays we do moulding and collage work with seeds and leaves. Everyday before home time we do story telling. Children have a chance to share a story as they remember it from the previous day. Friday is also exciting with sports taking place just before home time where the children mix with the higher grades.
Class 1
During the first term, the class ones learnt about straight and curved lines which led to letter formation. They enjoyed listening to the stories of the Numberland King which led them to the four operations (+-x/). They were lucky to have a visitor from Japan, Yuko, who taught them how to make paper cranes. In handwork they knitted a handband. The children loved playing recorders for their first time and they learnt to play a song. They did a lot of rhythmic work.
Term two falls in the winter season. It has been quite chilly but the class ones braved the weather and come for lessons.During morning ring we do a lot of movement which helps them to warm up.The children enjoyed listening to Shona (the local language) folk stories which lead them to learn Shona syllables. During story time their eyes would flash and follow teacher’s actions. They showed that they were really into the stories.
The four characters that the teacher introduced while teaching the four mathematical operations were well understood. They did role plays of the characters and most enjoyed Mr Tommy Times cart wheel.
Taking walks and observing changes in nature as the season change is a joy to children. They observed that the new shoots start from the top of the tree and that the tree start having shoots despite also having old leaves.
Class one children are a happy energetic class. They are so eager to learn new things.
Class 2
They learnt the practice of mirroring in form drawing as well as learning lower case letters and enjoyed the stories that came with it. They loved the story of Mrs Tidy which they learnt during Maths when they were learning place values, which led to Tens and Units. Drawing the little huts for the tens and units made it very easy for them, and they show a lot of dedication in their work. They were also able to read and draw different types of abacuses.
In handwork the children knitted headbands. They also made paper cranes and boats with Yuko together with the class 1s. They loved Eurythmy.
Class two children were always showing the class one children that they were the loving brothers and sisters. They were always ready to help them in doing different chores like sweeping the classroom and filling the bucket with water. Most of the class two children have grown taller and show a lot of friendliness.
The class two children were able to do rhythmic tables with an improved group coordination. Work on rhythm and coordination is however still needed for the few who fall out of rhythm at times.
Children enjoyed learning about bees during their nature stories block. It was a blessing that we have beehives around but unfortunately none had bees. We then investigated why the bees decided to run away from the beehives. So many interesting reasons were given proving that children had grasped the topic well. After such one child picked a wasp comb and brought it to school thinking that it was a bee comb we were very lucky because another child brought a proper bee comb giving us an opportunity to compare the two.
Shona syllables were well grasped. Most pupils were able to make words using the syllables. They enjoyed listening to folk stories and made good drawings. Their handwriting and use of space has improved greatly. Class twos are showing a lot of maturity in their work. Its like they are saying ‘this is us.’
Class 3
The class 3s have been working well together. They enjoy form drawing, and loved listening to the creation stories as well as acting out the stories and painting and drawing different days of creation. These stories made it easy for them to learn the naming, describing and doing words. We started with action words and it was so interesting how children loved imitating animals as well as playing different actions while others were guessing which action it was. They grasped the Naming words most quickly, likely because of the creation stories they did. They were recalling how God named everything he was creating each day. Painting words took quite a lot of morning rings before the children could really confidently say the words, but after they had taken the big role of always saying a sentence with a painting word before we start our lessons and after we finish lessons it has made a big difference.
In Maths they learnt about place values. During the first term they were doing the hundreds, and moved on to work on thousands during the second term. This was very exciting for them. You could hear them saying ‘Now we are doing Maths for big boys and girls.’ They also learnt about money and this was one of their best lessons since they had brought it from home as well as making cards they wanted to sell to each other during this lesson. We continue our work with the times tables and children always came up with different games we can do along with the tables. A lot of children can do from 2x tables to 7x tables. They enjoy singing different songs that come with the tables.
They enjoy doing gardening. Mostly they worked on the school orchard and also had a chance to talk to Admire one of Kufunda’s permaculture teachers. They have learnt how to make compost during community work. In handwork they sewed small bags. The class 3s were quite fortunate to be making a model of an African Village as a project with the class 4s during the time of their house building main lesson. They are really excited that at times after home time they stay behind to be working on this project.
Class 3s have really grown and they are now showing their uniqueness in how they handle certain tasks.
Class 4 and 5
The class 4 and 5s of 2019 is a composite class which compromise one class 4 child and six class 5 children. Though the two classes have different curricula catering for different age groups, some subjects have been taught unilaterally since concepts covered are the same for instance mathematics, language, arts and Shona.
The children have been busy this year working further with fractions, area, perimeter and volume; ancient civilization and most recently beginning Zimbabwean history and geography.
The class has grown in strength and has had three additional students this year. There are also indications that two more students could be joining the class next term before the end of the year. Kufunda Village school is slowly gaining recognition in the areas around and beyond the farming community.
The greatest development to the school has been the completion of the new classroom block. The block was designed as a multipurpose structure and serves as a hall and a two classroom structure. This development has brought great relief to the school and the village community at large. This new school site accords the class fours and fives greater space for their woodwork program to be started next year in full swing. The woodwork program has been scheduled to start next year in order to accommodate our current grade four student who will be in grade five next year. A new woodwork shed will be erected outside the new block then.
Recently the school embarked on a project to construct an Africa Village model. The Classes three, four and fives were tasked with the construction of the Village model. Children have enthusiastically worked on the project way after school hours. The African Village model is going to serve as both a resource and a learning centre for the whole school and future classes to come.
