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
Wonderful Women Who Care for Us
10 Aug – 14 Aug 2026
Week 27
Women's Day week - gratitude for the mothers, gogos and women teachers who hold children's worlds together.
Well-being
Gratitude practice: each child names one thing a woman at home does for them and chooses one way to help her back this week.
Identity & Belonging
'The women in my family' drawing - draw and name them; strong-women stories from home are welcomed at ring time.
Communication
Thank-you card dictation: the child dictates a message for their special woman, the teacher scribes it, the child decorates and 'reads' it back.
Exploring Mathematics
Bead and pasta necklaces in repeating colour patterns as gifts - copy a pattern, extend it, then create your own.
Creativity
Tissue-paper and scrap flower bouquets with stick stems, tied with wool, for the special woman at home.
Physical & the World
'Wash-day' circuit: scrub, wring, hang the cloths, then balance the basin (beanbag) on the head across the yard - as the strong women do.
⏰ Morning ring
- Women's Day: in 1956 thousands of brave women marched together
- The women who care for us: mama, gogo, aunties, teachers, nurses
- Girls and boys can both become anything
- How can we help the women at home this week?
📖 Story
Original: 'Gogo's Strong Hands' - gogo's hands plant the garden, cook the pap, plait hair, wipe tears and clap the loudest at graduation. Children mime each action of her hands.
🎵 Song
'Thula Thula' (traditional lullaby) - first line: 'Thula thul', thula baba, thula sana' - sung gently, as women sing to babies.
🏃 Outdoor
Basket-on-head balance races with beanbags - honouring the way women carry, with a steady walk not a run.
💬 Words this week
woman mother grandmother aunt strong brave thank care
umama (isiZulu - mother)
make (siSwati - mother)
manana (Xitsonga - mother)
gogo (isiZulu/siSwati - grandmother)
kokwana (Xitsonga - grandmother)
👁 Watch and record
Threading and fine-motor control; pattern-copying accuracy; spontaneous gratitude language.
🎓 Grade R stretch
Retell the 1956 march in simple sequence; count to 20 with beads; build three-colour patterns (AAB and ABC).
📱 Message home to parents
Theme: Wonderful Women. Monday was the Women's Day holiday. Your child made something for a special woman - expect a gift! Ask them about the brave marchers of 1956.
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.
