Cape Town - Learners at Cypress Primary School in Bridgetown experienced a new world of literary wonder with the launch of the new Ackerman Reading Adventure Room at the school.
The reading room formed part of a step-by-step programme to support educators and learners in achieving the government Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (Caps) outcome.
The reading room was a brightly coloured, space-themed environment created by Living through Learning (LTL), a registered NPO that aims to resuscitate the literacy of educators and learners in disadvantaged schools, and was funded by Wendy Ackerman.
Ackerman, a businesswoman, philanthropist and an ex-teacher of many years, spent the morning engaging with the learners in their new learning environment while reading stories for a Grade 1 class that would be using the room and its resources.
The Reading Adventure Room provided an environment conducive to learning, a literacy curriculum, reading and writing materials, unique fine and gross motor skills development materials, and training for educators to deliver a step-by-step programme to achieve the government Caps outcomes.
During the launch, LTL facilitator Clarice Joubert demonstrated a bit of what the learners and teachers could expect from the programme, such as a play dough motor exercise that enabled learners to improve their motor skills as well as a reading lesson to improve their literacy.
“Getting learners to read and write effectively – which so many of us take for granted – improves the future of everyone in society. Literacy is critical to economic development, as well as individual and community well-being,” said LTL executive director Natalie Roos.
Principal Marsh van der Rheede said: “This is a very positive addition to the school as without reading, our children will not be able to prosper. We want quality education for each child and in this room the teacher will work a partial class which will ultimately enable them to work with all learners more effectively.”
She said the physical size of their classroom was small but teachers often had 50 to 80 learners in a class which strained their ability to share resources, ensure full support to all and thus welcomed the additional support, guidance and learning materials gained through this initiative by Ackerman.