First things first

Your precious six-year-old is starting an important new chapter as a Grade One learner in 2022! How well this little adventurer will cope with these new challenges will depend on the skills developed during the last six years.

Development entails the changes that take place in an individual from the day of conception until the end of their life. These changes will never again be as drastic and noticeable as during the first six years of the child’s life.

The brain and nervous system develop at the fastest rate during the toddler years and by the age of six, the brain is already 90% of the total mass that will be achieved.

Development can be seen as a pyramid with certain basic skills at the bottom of the pyramid, which need to develop in order to develop the more complex skills at the top of the pyramid. Your child will now start mastering these complex skills, including reading, writing and numeracy.

According to occupational therapist René Walker, the Grade One adventurer needs to have the following in place for them to handle these new challenges:
• Gross motor, including balance, coordination and endurance.
• Fine motor skills so that the learner can use their hands effectively for tasks, such as writing, drawing, cutting and pasting.
• Auditory and visual perceptual development is of utmost importance as it forms the basis for all other formal learning. Perception involves a child’s ability to see or hear stimuli, which he then interprets in order to use these skills later when he reads, writes or works with numbers.
• Intellectual, emotional, social and language development all depend on early skills, which allow the child to interact with the world around him, which relies on a good concept of themselves.
Important to remember, however, is that a six-year-old child’s main occupation is to play. Playing has many of the same characteristics as education. It encourages concentration and motivates repetition. Playing stimulates the intellect, emotions and body of your child.
May all the 2022 Grade One learners play their way to learning success!