Education Program Update - Kanzi Academy

The Head Teacher at the Kanzi Academy has provided us with another informative update from her and her students this past week! Please enjoy!

Jambo from the Kanzi Academy! This week has flown by! The Kanzi Academy has had a wonderful week. Having had even more rain, we have been on lots of walks; observing change in our environment and discussing the "what-ifs" of too much rain, not enough rain, and so on. It is fascinating how "tuned in" the children are to their immediate environment and the importance of the right climate. Their awareness and learning has obviously been helped by their recent practical activities with regard to their planting and growing. There has been much sorrow with regard to the "control" plants, which have been kept in the dark, planted in stones, or deprived of water. Their "passing" has been met with some sad faces!

Student's observing their "shamba" outdoors

One of the biggest and most noticeable changes here at the moment is that everything at Campi ya Kanzi is very green! Being able to describe our environment on lovely walks has made it easy to introduce Class 2 to the world of adjectives; which they are really enjoying. Adjectives are wonderful tools for vocabulary expansion. No longer do I hear "Good morning Sarah, your dress is nice"... I rather hear "Good morning Sarah, you have a beautiful, colourful, blue dress on today!". Their awareness of placing adjectives in sentences has really given their sentence writing a colourful boost!

In Physical Education, the children's confidence in swimming has moved on from a couple of timid souls clinging to the side with a look of terror on their faces, to now being able to make some effort to swim a width with a kick board. In fact, two children are swimming very well, one with no float at all!

We have been out "data gathering" as part of our maths this week. I am introducing the children to recording data in different ways. At this age, it is all about "playing with numbers" and realizing that numbers can be used in different ways to provide us with information. So we are going to put a graph together entitles: "What is your favourite soda". We have walked around Campi ya Kanzi to gather such information which has been fun and informative.

Relaxation has become even more relaxing for the students now that we have our fantastic new yoga mats. Thank you Antonella! I have introduced the children to positive thinking while relazing. I talk to them about their favourite colour,  about making it big and beautiful. Then we make this colour into a sheet and fill it with positivity and things that we love and/or are good; things that we need. Then we "allow the sheet" to float down and cover us. I talk to the children calmly and gently about "noticing their breathing"... and usually end up with one or two asleep! It's a lovely time, and certainly the children are learning to be aware of themselves, their bodies and their minds.

Students with their new yoga mats!

This week we are having a gentleman come to teach the children (and myself) Transcendental Meditation (TM). I will give further updates on the progress of this once we are finished our course.

Feeling very relaxed during relaxation time!

Art this week has been all about rainbows! With our current exposure to rain and sun we have been seeing so many beautiful rainbows, which have then prompted all sorts of discussion from they are formed!

Continents has been our topic in Geography this week and the children have really embraced it! They have really enjoyed noticing how the oceans "join up" and have loved exploring world maps and the glops. With most of the children never having experienced a cold climate, they cannot imagine what snow or ice is like, but this will soon change, as in science they are learning about materials: man made and natural and if they can change or not. This will extend to the making of ice-lollies, so they will be up close and personal with something cold and tasty!

Painting rainbows in Art!

As ever, if you have any question, or would like to know anything further about life at the Kanzi Academy, please feel free to post any questions here!

Karibu tena! Sarah