AUTHOR: Linda Bradfield SCHOOL: St John’s College Pre-Preparatory CLASS: Grade 2 (8 years old)

1. AUTHOR: Linda Bradfield SCHOOL: St John’s College Pre-Preparatory CLASS: Grade 2 (8 years old) LEARNING AREA: Life Orientation and Literacy COUNTRY: South Africa Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

2. Background: St John’s College is an independent Anglican boys schools situated in Houghton, Johannesburg. It’s motto is LUX, VITA, CARITAS or LIGHT, LIFE, LOVE which we uphold with our strong Christian ethos. Pre-Prep: The Pre-Prep consists of 10 classes made up of four Grade 0 classes, 3 Grade 1 classes and 3 Grade 2 classes. Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

3. Motivation: Global Issue – Nation Building • The radio station 94.7 gave me my motivation. They are running a campaign called ‘LEAD SA’. I felt that nation building is an important global issue, and one that my Grade 2 classes could understand. • Personally, I am trying to research the impact of project-based learning incorporating technologies, on the interest level and ultimately on the achievement levels in boys. Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

4. The Project: Objective: To produce a book of 72 collages depicting typical South African characteristics. Each section of the book is to be introduced by a different writing genre. Once completed the book will be displayed on the school website and on our Pre-Prep Wiki. The radio station 94.7 will be invited to visit our school to receive a copy of the book. Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

5. Discussion: I posed the question: “What makes South Africa a wonderful country?” The boys wrote all their suggestions on sticky notes. These were all pasted up on a large sheet of paper and we then began an affinity process of grouping the sticky notes into common groups. The main groups (6 in total) were written up on the SMART Board. We then checked that all the sticky notes could be placed in a group. Each boy chose a topic within each of the main groups to research. Some of the selections had to be done by drawing from a hat. Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

6. Research: • I gave the boys a lesson using search engines on the Internet. I also spent time explaining the moral and safety issues of using the Internet. • I sent home a document explaining to the parents how they could making ’surfing the net’ safer for their children. • The children then created their own folders under ‘My Documents’ on their computers. Each folder was named with the child’s name and his research topic. • The children then searched the web for appropriate pictures to be saved in their folders. Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

7. Subject Relevance Literacy Reading for information Writing ICT Use of search engines Create folders Save to folders Microsoft Word Auto Collage Storymaker Life Orientation 21st Century Skills Critical Thinking Decision Making Collaboration & Communication Creativity Information, Media & Technology Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

8. AutoCollage: Once the children had saved sufficient pictures in their folders they used Microsoft Autocollage to make a collage. They were encouraged to critically examine the collage to ensure that their topic was correctly reflected and the necessary changes were made if another picture had to be added or one deleted. The collages were all printed to form a book. Microsoft Word: Each group was introduced to a different writing genre that would best reflect their topic. Example Landscape group – acrostic poem Cities and Towns – rhyming couplets Wildlife – experiential writing Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

9. Examples of the children’s collages Sunsets in SA Flora Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

10. The Big Five Soweto Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

11. Microsoft Word: Each group was introduced to a different writing genre that would best reflect their topic. After discussion, a Word template is used by the children to compile their written work. The boys were encouraged to experiment with font style, size and colour. Example Landscape group – acrostic poem Cities and Towns – rhyming couplets Wildlife – experiential writing Sportsmen – news article Inventors - description History - recount Schools – description Shape Poetry Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

12. South African Cities and Towns Port Elizabeth, a beach Lots of boats, history to teach ChilimaNkanza Farming towns, cows and horses And peaceful river courses Shaye Hutchings Cape Town, Mother City, Table Mountain. Waves, beaches, where’s the fountain? Jamie Diesel. 2010 stadia, lots of seats Vuvuzelas, shouting to the beats Ethan Berriman Johannesburg, city of gold Busy, noisy, big and bold ZaahidSuliman Soweto, noisy, dirty, busy and happy Singing and dancing, oh so chatty. James Wetselaar City Zoos and Parks, what a sighting Birds, Insects and snakes Wonderful and exciting Miles Li. Shopping Mall, very busy, lots of shops Plenty to do, plenty to buy, it is tops. Sean Faesen. Seaside towns, fun and sunny Waves, Ice-cream, oh so funny Max Mukami Durban, beach, waves and fun Holidays, playing in the sun ReagilePhora Country Towns, nice little houses, sandy roads Beautiful scenery, flowing rivers, croaking toads. Thuli Vein. 15

13. SOUTH AFRICAN WILDLIFE Herbivores They eat grass and plants. Rhinos, elephants, zebras and giraffes are all herbivores. KwindlaMangaliso Snakes Snakes are cold blooded and they are reptiles. My favourite snake is the black mamba. Stefan Milos AMPHIBIANS Amphibians are slimy. They live near water and they have short legs and they have googly eyes. Frogs are Amphibians and frogs have a green body they have spots on them. Henry Rochester WILD CATS Wild cats are the ancestors of our house cats. They are carnivores like the lion, leopard, and cheetah. By Nicholas Koutromanos. Small Five The small five are leopard tortoise, rhinoceros beetle, buffalo weaver, ant lion and the elephant shrew. By Ekow Daniels Big five The big five are my favourite five animals. They are the lion, rhino, elephant, hippo and buffalo. Fraser McLardy. Reptiles Reptiles are cold-blooded and lay eggs and have skin to shed. Like a chameleon and a crocodile. Adrian Lapin Spider and Insects Spiders have eight legs and insects have six legs. Praying mantis is a wierd insect. Edwin Mattiuzzo ANTELOPE They are buck with horns and they can run very fast. In South Africa we have the spring buck, water buck, eland and kudu. Nicholas Papadakis Carnivores A carnivore only eats meat. A carnivore is a predator. A loin is a carnivore. A cheetah is a carnivore. Vladimir Ionescu Birds South Africa has many different kinds of birds. There are eagles, the blue crane, the red hornbill and hadedas. KhayalamiNtuli 29

14. Extension Opportunities • Photostory • The children who completed their collages and written work were introduced to Photostory • They then used the same pictures from their folders to create a story which we hope to put up on the ‘joinhands’ wikispace to share with other children globally. Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep

15. Review Personally this project was most fulfilling, with each of the 75 boys in the grade producing an autocollage and a valuable piece of written work. Throughout the project the boys were motivated and excited, bringing in material from home either via e-mail or as hard copy to be scanned and used in the collage. The boys enjoyed being able to take ownership of their work by doing the affinity process. I was thrilled with the number of boys who were so keen to go on and complete their photostories on their own. To achieve these there was much peer collaboration as I was still busy with the main purpose of completing the book which I have made available to 3 UK schools. Linda Bradfield – St John’s Pre-Prep