A Story Book and Exercises to help kids THINK about Self awareness and Acceptance of others.

Excerpt from Beyond Potential STORY BOOK: “I Have Toes!”

(By Janet Knight & Illustrated by Danielle Schwartz)

Look! I have toes,

Five on each foot

In two little rows.

One, two, three, four, five.

Six seven, eight, nine, ten!

Ten little toes

Toes in rows!

I have a nose,

you have a nose,

His nose looks like

a big red rose!

What does he do with a

rosy nose?

Sniff, sniff.

Of course!

Smell the rose I suppose!

All people have knees…

Thin knees, fat knees,

smooth knees, knobby knees.

You have knees that look like trees!

Are your knees trees?

Look! She has a belly.

You have a belly.

He has a belly that

shakes like jelly!

Hey mister!

Is your belly jelly?

 

His hair is long.

My hair is curly.

Your hair is straight,

Her hair is whirly.

Long…. Curly…Straight…. Whirly!

Hand, wrist, elbow, shin.

Thumb, finger, shoulder, chin.

Teeth, tongue, eyes, grin.

This is my shin…

And my chin… 

….and my grin!

(More verses and pictures - all about self awareness - are to be found in the rest of this Beyond Potential Story Book.)

ENRICHMENT EXERCISES:”I Have Toes!”

THEME ~ “ME”

VALUES ~ SELF AWARENESS & ACCEPTANCE OF OTHERS

1. Self-concept: One of the first steps in healthy emotional development is for your child to develop self - awareness.

~ As you read the story-book point out your child’s own little toes, nose, shin, chin.                                 

~ Talk about people you know and discuss their knees or belly.

2. Self-esteem: Sources of self-esteem are both internal (the child experiences pleasure at having accomplished a task), and external (positive feedback from parents who recognize the child’s achievement.)

~ Ask your child to point at the toes, the rose and the nose, the knees, and so on. Let her repeat the words, and show her that you are pleased at her achievement.

3. Body awareness: Play a game with your child like “Simon Says” and see if she can mimic your actions.  ~ As you say: “Simon says, ‘Put your hands on your head’”, do the action as well. (Go through all the body parts so that your child learns all names.)

4. Awareness of others: Go through the family album and point out grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. Talk about them, their relationship to your child and about things they do; e.g. “This is uncle Albert, he is a policeman.” Or “This is your cousin Barney, remember when he came to your birthday party?”

5. Differences: Compare the pictures of people in this book. Talk about the colours of their clothing, their hair styles, their facial expressions, their ages and sizes.

6. Fantasy and reality:

~ Look at the picture on page 16. Ask: are pigs really green and red and purple?

~ Look at the picture on page 18. Ask: Do trees have hair? What is green and hangs down? (Leaves.)           Do trees have brown toes? (Roots.)

7. Pronunciation:

~ Play a game with your child and repeat all the rhyming words in the story. Listen carefully to hear if your child is pronouncing the words correctly. DO NOT CORRECT your child, just say the words again and allow her to practice.

The Buzzi Bodies Story

Twelve years ago, a group of enthusiastic teachers began to work on a programme of lesson plans and resources for pre-school and primary school children. They saw the need for a high quality, challenging and structured programme that would enhance and enrich Early Childhood Development in South Africa.

In 2012, “Buzzi Bodies” was developed as a gross-motor development programme.

Our Mission:

• ·         We aim to equip pre-school, foundation phase and intermediate phase children with the skills they need to excel in a wide variety of sport codes offered in both private and public primary schools.
• ·         To teach children the specific skills and terminology needed to participate and excel in these sport codes while building confidence and most importantly while having fun.
• ·         To incorporate the teaching of colours, numbers, names of sport apparatus, good listening skills, and the ability to follow instructions into the Buzzi Bodies programme.
• ·         To optimise the potential of children by providing a comprehensive age-appropriate and structured programme of stimulating activities.
• ·        To prepare children for life by focussing on the values and skills needed for success and fulfilment in the future.

The Buzzi Bodies Focus:

•  ·         Physical Development / Physical Literacy. (Gross and fine-motor development, Locomotor and non-locomotor movement [balance and co-ordination], Manipulative movement [hand-eye coordination], Fitness, Brain gym, Exercise, Growth, Nutrition, Health.)
• ·         Cognitive Development. (Acquisition of knowledge, experience, thinking skills, problem solving, analysing.)
• ·        Emotional Development. (Self-esteem, security, EQ– emotional intelligence.)
• ·         Social Development. (Interaction, moral principles, values, conflict resolution, negotiation, etc.)
• ·         Perceptual Development. (Spatial orientation, fine & gross motor skills, directionality, recognition, the senses, comprehension, sequencing, etc.)

The Buzzi Bodies Programme Creator and Facilitator:

Brett Adam taught in both the Foundation phase and Intermediate phase for seven years. Apart from teaching various subjects, he was primary school counsellor and sports coach. He is the Marketing Manager of ‘Beyond Potential’, and also developer and facilitator of the “Buzzi Bodies” physical education and gross-motor development programme.

Brett taught PE in the Foundation and the Intermediate Phase for a prestigious private school. He has the following qualifications: BEd (Unisa), Level 1 First Aid, Level 1 Bakers Cricket coaching qualification, Numerous counselling and grief and bereavement certificates/courses, and an ITE (CTI) Information Technology Engineering Diploma.

The Buzzi Bodies Physical Education – Gross Motor programme:

Children enjoy a 30-45 minute Buzzi Bodies lesson every week at their school. (2 coaches – 5-15 children)

Each lesson is broken into three parts:

·         Warm up and description of activities

·         Lesson content / actual activities / practicing actual skill

·         Conclusion / feedback and cool down

Each lesson is well prepared and is designed to achieve at least one specific gross motor development goal.

Coaches take notes throughout the lesson for assessment purposes. Any issues or achievements are noted and a full 10 page report will be given to the parents three times a year.

The Buzzi Bodies programme starts with simple fun lessons and progresses to more difficult activities as each child becomes more confident.

Buzzi Bodies goes the extra mile:

·         Buzzi Bodies coaches run free holiday workshops every term for children on holiday care.

·         The Buzzi Bodies Coaches are more than willing to organise and run sports / family fun days at schools (Send information to parents, organise sponsors and provide entertainment for the children.)

·         We also run workshops for teachers, giving them ideas for Gross-Motor activities that could be done during class time. Teachers can don their “takkies” and participate in many of the activities we usually do with the children!