"Leemgrond Leempies"

Based on the idea I found on the blog: "The Wizzard of Boz", the second graders and I learned about the best type of soil to plant in. We each made what we call in Afrikaans a "Leempie"
They enjoyed it so much. They enjoyed creating something of their own and then watching the "hair" grow.
I believe they learned far more from the playful and enjoyable experience than they would have, had we just discussed the different types of soil.

Here is a link to the steps I found which were very helpful.
Soil Sammies

I did however notice that our grass took more than 10 days to grow. It obviously depends on the type of grass seed, the soil, as well as the amount of light the Sammy was exposed to. We had a couple of very rainy days, and very unhappy Sammies. But as soon as the sun came out we would put them outside and they turned out rather happy indeed.

 After 10 days ours looked like the one shown below.

It is maybe wise to use transparent cups so that you can see how much water is inside. If you cannot see you have to keep picking the whole head up to peep inside and that takes a lot of time.

Motivation System with a salary

A co-teacher shared her idea for motivating her learners as well as encouraging them to obey the class rules. She calls it "SETTLE-MART' HELPS STUDENTS BECOME SETTLED AND SMART"
Her model is to give each learner 100 points at the start of a week. Learners can then lose points when they disobey or act out of hand. At the end of two weeks the points are then converted into a salary. She then opens her shop and the learners can come buy goodies. The size of the goodies they get depends on the points they have left at the end of the two weeks.

You can read more about her model at:
more about the salary system

I have tried this in my classroom practicals last week.

Benefits:
-The learners are crazy about the idea of being able to buy something
-They can learn something about earning your salary

Disadvantages
-This model doesn't allow you to praise good behaviour but focuses on the bad behaviour
-You as a teacher therefore keep pointing out bad behaviour.
-It feels like you are playing bad-cop.
-If you use a 100 points with foundation phase level learners they cannot grasp the number yet, so taking away points doesn't have the desired effect because they cannot feel how they are being punished by losing points.