Teaching Resources
The Year Programme
43 themed weeks across the four school terms. Today falls in Week 25 — Small Creatures - Insects and Bugs. Every week gives you the ring time, the words, one activity per learning area, a story, a song, an outdoor game, what to watch for, and a message to send parents.
SELECTED WEEK
Transport
11 May – 15 May 2026
Week 17
How people and goods move - rich vocabulary, sorting and counting, rooted in the taxis and bakkies children see daily.
Well-being
Passenger safety talk and practice: sit still in the taxi, arms inside the window, hold a grown-up's hand at the rank.
Identity & Belonging
Draw your journey to school - walking, taxi or bakkie - and tell the class your route.
Communication
Taxi role-play: driver, conductor calling the route ('Hazyview! Sabie!'), passengers asking politely for their stop.
Exploring Mathematics
Wheel maths: sort vehicle pictures by number of wheels (2, 3, 4, many); count all the wheels in the toy-car basket.
Creativity
Shoe-box vehicles with bottle-top wheels on stick axles; milk-carton boats to float at the water table.
Physical & the World
Wheelbarrow races and old-tyre rolling along a chalk road with a stop line.
⏰ Morning ring
- How did you come to school today?
- Transport on land, in the air, on water
- Count the wheels: bicycle 2, tuk-tuk 3, car 4, truck many
- Taxi hand signals - how do grown-ups call a taxi here?
📖 Story
'The Tortoise and the Hare' (Aesop) - fast is not always first. Act it as a slow-motion tortoise versus a zooming, napping hare.
🎵 Song
'The Wheels on the Bus' (traditional children's song) - first line: 'The wheels on the bus go round and round'.
🏃 Outdoor
Chalk road circuit: 'vehicles' (children with hoop steering wheels) obey a child traffic officer, with garages, stops and a robot.
💬 Words this week
taxi bus car bicycle truck wheels fast slow
imoto (isiZulu - car)
movha (Xitsonga - car)
ibhasi (isiZulu - bus)
bazi (Xitsonga - bus)
isitimela (isiZulu - train)
xitimela (Xitsonga - train)
👁 Watch and record
Sorting and classifying skill; counting wheels to 4 and beyond with one-to-one correspondence.
🎓 Grade R stretch
Class transport graph: how does each child come to school? Tally, write the numeral totals and compare most/least.
📱 Message home to parents
Theme: Transport. On your next trip, count the wheels you see and name each vehicle. Talk about holding hands near the road.
The whole year
14 January - 27 March 2026 (11 weeks, 53 school days; unified national calendar - no separate inland/coastal clusters in 2026)
Myself and My World: settling in, separation security, my body, senses, family and home. Colours red/blue/yellow/green, shapes circle/square/triangle, numbers 1-5.
8 April - 26 June 2026 (12 weeks, 54 school days; public holidays: Freedom Day Mon 27 Apr, Workers' Day Fri 1 May, special holiday Mon 15 Jun, Youth Day Tue 16 Jun)
My Community and the Working World: the people, places, helpers and transport around us, farm life, and winter. Numbers to 10, shape consolidation, positional language.
21 July - 23 September 2026 (10 weeks, 46 school days; National Women's Day observed Mon 10 Aug; Heritage Day 24 Sep falls in the holiday)
The Natural World and Our Heritage: wild animals, small creatures, water, plants, spring, birds, and Heritage Month. Numbers to 10 and beyond, patterns, measurement.
6 October - 9 December 2026 (10 weeks, 47 school days; learners close 9 Dec, educators 11 Dec)
The Wider World, Big Dreams and Celebration: life cycles, storms, sky, sea, money, aspirations, summer safety and the year-end concert. School readiness consolidation for Grade R.
