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The children learned about the local area and the diversity within it when they visited a local supermarket, the bustling Friday market in the city centre, a bakery and a second hand shop. These excursions sparked meaningful discussions about packaging and food miles, enhancing their understanding of environmental sustainability. Engaged in the concept of reducing, reusing, and recycling, learners eagerly identified litter along the roadsides.
Learners were proud to show off the currencies of their home countries and it was fun to look at the intricate details on the coins and notes using magnifying glasses. We also played a memory game with different currencies as well as a shopping boardgame and lotto fostering a positive attitude towards competition. In class they enjoyed role-playing as both shoppers and shopkeepers. As our exit point the older learners applied their newfound skills when selling snacks to their younger and older friends in school. They decided the proceeds from the sale were to be spend on a chocolate cupcake party as well as on helping people in need. They also requested to go on a walk to pick up trash after the break.
We thoroughly enjoyed various stories and songs, including the classic "5 Current Buns in a Baker Shop". They also practiced the rhythm of spoken language with the ‘grandma is going to the grocery store’ jazz chant. Some learners also designed their own currencies and made rubbings of existing coins.
In addition to our regular literacy practice we ‘read’ shopping lists for in class shopping. We also made lists using stamps or by writing in powdered sugar.
Th shopping topic provided ample opportunities for students to engage with money-related math. Through hands-on activities, we explored higher numbers and practiced simple operations, counting in tens and using pretend euros. Worksheets allowed us to circle the coins we would use for payment, while our advanced learners in the golden group tackled challenging tasks like calculating the profit from our snack shop. Activities like creating price tags and barcodes offered opportunities for tracing and writing numbers.
We also weighed items using non-standard units and measured ingredients for cooking. When dividing in halves and quarters we linked this to telling the time on the clock.
The learners were sorting and classifying the shopping: even identifying without looking different types of packaging. Upcycling activities such as making collages using advertisement folders, transforming milk cartons into wallets, fashioning bracelets from plastic bottles, and weaving their own shopping bags exercised learners’ creativity.
They also enjoyed the tactile experience of molding dough into pastries. Their sensory explorations were further enhanced during our cooking sessions in class, with students experiencing a range of textures, smells, and tastes. Not entirely surprisingly, many found the aroma of the soup and meatballs to be more enjoyable than the taste itself—a phenomenon not observed with the sweet treats from the baker or our class cupcakes.
During our trips we continued our learning about keeping ourselves safe in traffic. learners were also regularly involved in making choices for example about what to buy or spend money on.
We ended this engaging topic in Carnival spirit: it was great to come to school dressed up in a costume of our choice and join the whole school in a colourful parade.
Have a lovely break!
