Books on Wheels specialise in the following educational equipment and distributes these to schools, education and other government departments throughout the Republic of South Africa: • Mobile Libraries • OBE Mobile Activity Centres • Mobile Laboratories • Technology Resources • Mobile Television/VCR/DVD/Overhead Projector Cabinets • Computer Workstations • Books • Reference Materials • Library Resources • Shelves & Cabinets • Televideo’s This activity centre is an ideal learning aid in complimenting the implementation of the Revised National Curriculum Statements (NCS). Every class should have one in order to provide opportunities for the learners to develop skills and enhance learning. An educator's guide is included with the Activity Center. It is easy to put the new OBE system into proactice with the Cool Kid School Kit OBE Activity Centre. Resource Packs Resource packs can be bought and stoted in the activity centre. This resource materil enables the teacher to facilitate learning for all three learning areas. The contents of the resource packs range from puppets to building blocks to skipping ropes. Here is a list of some of the resources available in packs: • hoola hoops • abacus • stop watch • cash register • play money • plastic fruit and vegetables • masks • tape recorder • clock • number line • one-hundred chart • plastic mat • red, blue, yellow and green powder paint • hog hair paintbrushes • wax crayons • wallpaper glue • medium, plastic balls • bean bags • balance beam • skipping ropes • beads and laces for threading • pegboards, pattern cars and pegs • stacking cups of different sizes • children's story books • posters • dice   -number   -shape • games   -colour   -shape   -numbers   -sequencing   -matching   -classification   -memory • domino sets interlocking cubes and cards • plastic shapes • small chalk boards • coloured chalk • large mathematical blocks • building blocks and boards • mechanical construction set   -wheels, screws, nuts and bolts • dolls in a basket • wooden cars • home play equipment   -cups, saucers, jugs, pots and pans • set of play telephons and cell phones • clay • tennis balls • family puppets • 12-48 piece puzzles The activity centre (with the resource p[acks) is ideal for assessment too. You can work with small groups of leaneres at a time while the other learners are occupied by completing worksheets. In this way you will be able to assess whether each learner has achieved the specific Assessment Statement related to that activity. Remember that the Assessment Statements are the minimal requirements that the learner needs to achieve for that grade in that Learning Area before they progress to the next grade. Guidelines on the use of the Activity Centre in OBE The activity centre is the ideal teaching aid for every classroom. It has more value than a video machine and a television, because it is an interactive tool. Our leaners today need an education that is both effective and appealing, and this activity centre caters for both these needs. LANGUAGE • Attach a curtain frame for a puppet show. Puppets are ideal tools for teaching and reinforcing language. Learners, too, can operate the puppets and are more willing and confident speakers when a puppet speaks for them. • Attach a canopy and turn the centre into a shop. The learners can practice polite forms of greeting. • Learners can use the activity centre as an office. Set up the telephones or cell phones. They can have a conversation or dialogue on the topic of your choice. MATHEMATICS • Attach the canopy and turn the centre into a mini market. The learners use the cash register and play money to buy and sell. They reinforce money skills in a fun way. SOCIAL SCIENCES (HISTORY) • Use the activity centre as a display unit for all the resources you need for a topic, e.g. When my granny was young. Have the learners bring interesting objects from home that their granny or granddad used to use or play with and display these. Books on a topic can also be displayed on the table top for the learners to look through in their spare time. SOCIAL SCIENCES (GEOGRAPHY) • The learners can make puppets from used containers and 'junk'. These puppets can be used with the puppet stand to bring a message across about taking care of our environment. • The learners can make different planets. They can suspend a display of the planets on the activity centre or suspend the sun and moon in relation to the earth. ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES • Display and store a number of hats and other articles that show typical wear for different occupations. This could stimulate discussions about the various types of work that members of the learner's family do. • The learners play with the activity centre as a shop where the goods are priced individually, e.g. make a tuck shop with 'fake' sweets and cold drinks. They need to understand that goods, and even services have a price. ARTS AND CULTURE • The learners can make posters that adveretise the selling of their products for an entrepreneurial activity such as a cake sale or vegetable market. LIFE ORIENTATION • Use the activity as a kitchen unit. This can be used to demonstrate safety issues, e.g. placing a pan on a stove so that the handle faces inwards out of reach of a little brother or sister. • The centre can be used outdoors during a PT lesson where all the equipment is conveniently stored. NATURAL SCIENCES • Experiments can be carried out safely using the activity centre as the central, focal point of a small group. The objects can be clearly seen by the learners as they stand around the centre making observations, e.g. displaying how water condenses from the steam of a kettle onto a cold plate. TECHNOLOGY • The learners can be challenged to make their own canopy for the activity centre. They would be given materials such as sticks, string, newspaper (or colourful tissue paper) and glue. The best design could be displayed and the learners could receive rewards for the most effective effort. You will get great pleasure from this activity centre, and as you equip the centre with more resource materials, the possibilities become endless. The Educator's Guide will help you to initiate the use of the centre in the implementation of the Revised National Curriculum Statement (NCS). You are sure to invent many uses of your own too. Wishing you effective, rewarding teaching! This activity combo can be used for various activities linked to the OBE curriculum. • The storage unit is manufactured from mild steel and powder coated in bright colours for maximum visual impact on our young learners. • The powder coating makes it durable and easy to clean and maintain. • The solid steel structure secures the content and storage of content is safegaurded against vandalism and theft.• The unit is mounted on 4 rubber wheels (locakable front wheels) for easy maneuvrability. • All equipment, educational toys, charts and stationary to be stored in the bottom section. • The frame of the canopy is manufactured from steel and dressed with colourful awnings in canvas. It is removable and fold away for storage. It can be erected for different activities i.e. Selling of entrepreneurial products, production of "food" on the "stove plates" (Technological activites) etc. • The canopy can be removed and replaced with the stage/TV. The 'stage' gets decorated with colourful curtains and is used for hand puppets, dolls, etc. (communication skills, life skills, etc.) The TV can be utilised for classroom projects such as story telling, speeches, etc. Who said learning is not fun? This is the answer to our new generation of learners who need stimulation and whose interest we must captivate if we are to sell the most vital product our country has to offer: education. One of the greatest headaches in the developing world today is providing library facilities at schools. Even a small primary school library housed in a room, say, 12 metres long and 7 metres wide, will cost at least half a million rand to fit out with even the most basic furniture, catalogues and titles. And so, because libraries and books are so expensive and beyond the budgets of most communities or education departments, it is all the more imperative that we teach our learners a fundamental appreciation of books; how to share them, look after them, use them correctly and know how to manage, file and retrieve them. This mobile library unit goes a long way in helping to do that. With the help of teaching aids such as wall charts, the learners will be able to familiarise themselves with the operation of a fully equipped library/media centre. A handy book, Starting a Resource Centre can also be ordered with this mobile library. With the advent of outcomes-based education, textbooks are no longer adequate. There is now a greater demand than ever for a resource unit where both teachers and learners can get instant information on almost any subject. Every school will require some practical way of making reference and library books available in a cohesive manner. The mobile library unit offers everything the dedicated media/library teacher would want to convey to his/her colleagues and learners, such as: • storage with safety, security and mobility • accessing and record keeping of (new) books • stocktaking and instant knowledge of unreturned titles • responsibility when borrowing or using a book • a chance to succeed with Outcomes Based Education.