Although the focus of the Book Bus project is to improve English literacy, the learning tools used to meet this objective were varied, each activity structured to reinforce the theme of the lesson. Routinely the class would begin with a story enabling learning through actions to demonstrate key words, followed by the use of flash cards to familiarise the children with the shape of the alphabet.
The school children would then be divided into smaller groups to concentrate on more focused written tasks or games, word bingo was particularly successful which enabled the children to both recognize and enact the word which was always fun; the children’s contagious laughter and their competitive spirit were both a reward and an indication of enjoyment for volunteers facilitating the task.
By far and above, the most popular part of each lesson was the craft activity, which was again designed to consolidate the theme. As someone with self-perceived limited artistic ability, I found it fascinating to see how the children approached the craft activities such as colouring and cutting out and this often revealed telling signs of a child’s learning style and personality. Some of the children took their time to meticulously colour their tree templates, using green and brown crayons to preserve authenticity, whilst the more competitive children often took less care with their colouring in order to complete the task first. The most creative amongst the group would use the tree template but creatively adapt this using multiple colours and designs. Cutting out shapes also demonstrated pupil’s spatial awareness and co-ordination strengths and weaknesses. It was sometimes difficult to differentiate between those children who found using scissors difficult and those who wanted someone else to do the cutting out even if they were not lacking in ability. It was a challenge to devise methods to encourage those who had difficulty with this task and on one occasion spent some time rotating the drawing and offering direction to enable one of the children to do this independently.
The smile on the faces of the children at the end of the tasks as they paraded the result of their hard work was always worth it despite sometimes needing a pair of extra arms to cope with the squeals for help from the children. Without a doubt craft time was always the most popular pursuit and overall lent itself well to fulfilling the objectives of the lesson, particularly for those with a kinaesthetic learning style.
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