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
Plants and Growing
17 Aug – 21 Aug 2026
Week 28
What living things need, taught through hands-on planting - patience, care and measurement.
Well-being
Garden-care roster: watering and weeding pairs take real responsibility; practise gentleness with every living thing.
Identity & Belonging
Adopt-a-plant: each child's named bean jar or seedling is theirs to care for daily - ownership grows care.
Communication
Bean-jar diary talk: describe today's change ('the root came out first!') and learn the words sprout, shoot, wilt.
Exploring Mathematics
Sequence seed-to-plant cards; measure each seedling with bottle tops or blocks and compare with last week - taller or shorter?
Creativity
Grass-head people: soil and grass seed in an old stocking or tin, drawn-on faces - watch their 'hair' grow; flower crowns from weeds.
Physical & the World
The growing dance: curl up as a seed, sprout slowly, stretch tall to the sun, sway in the wind, wilt without water, revive when the rain comes.
⏰ Morning ring
- What does a seed need? Soil, sun, water - and waiting
- Parts of a plant: pull up a weed and find the roots
- Check the class garden - what has grown, what needs us?
- Plants we eat and plants for shade and beauty
📖 Story
Original: 'The Impatient Little Seed' - a seed keeps popping out of the soil to look around and must learn to wait in the warm dark before the great growing. Children play being patient seeds under a blanket 'soil'.
🎵 Song
'Oats and Beans and Barley Grow' (traditional) - first line: 'Oats and beans and barley grow'.
🏃 Outdoor
Transplant seedlings into the class bed; nature scavenger hunt - find something growing, something dead, a root, a seed, something that smells.
💬 Words this week
seed plant root leaf flower sun water grow
imbewu (isiZulu - seed)
mbewu (Xitsonga - seed)
imbali (isiZulu - flower)
xiluva (Xitsonga - flower)
👁 Watch and record
Follow-through on plant care without reminders; comparative measurement language (taller than, shorter than, the same as).
🎓 Grade R stretch
Keep a dated bean diary with drawings; measure in cubes and write the number; label root, stem and leaf on a drawing.
📱 Message home to parents
Theme: Plants and Growing. Your child is growing a bean at school. At home, pull one weed together and look at its roots - plants drink through them.
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.
