Pasuruan regency is known for its furniture craftsmanship; a lot of wood waste from making furniture is generated there. This wood waste is used by Indra Iswati, a teacher at SDN Susukanrejo III state elementary school, Pohjentrek district, Pasuruan regency, as a learning medium for early grade students at SDN Susukanrejo III.
Indra, who regularly participated in the Teacher Working Group (Kelompok Kerja Guru, or KKG) of her cluster, revealed that she came up with this idea after attending the KKG, where the material being discussed was about literacy in the early grades. Indra uses Pancaliga as pictorial sentence reading board. Pancaliga is an acronym for Papan Baca Kalimat Bergambar or Pictorial Sentence Reading Board; it is made from wood waste and is shaped like a window.
“The idea of making this medium came from a classic problem I face every year when teaching early grade students, namely reading and composing words. After participating in the KKG and receiving material related to literacy, the idea of creating Pancaliga medium came to me,” she explained.
Pancaliga is made from furniture wood waste; it has six windows it. Each window can be filled with a word and/or image. The purpose of making Pancaliga is to make it easier for teachers to introduce letters, syllables, words, and compose sentences. When using Pancaliga, Indra also uses supporting pictures at the beginning to help students choose the right words.
Using Pancaliga is very easy. First, the teacher prepares a set of pictorial cards and words that match the picture. “I usually start using Pancaliga by choosing a picture that appeals to the student’s curiosity,” she explained.
For example, for grade 2, Indra prepares a picture of a woman, followed by a child who is reading, and then a pile of newspapers. Next, Indra posts the pictures on Pancaliga and asks the students to guess the right word for each picture. The children are then asked to come forward one by one to choose the right word and enter it in the Pancaliga window.
This learning medium can be adjusted to the grade level. For example, for grade 1, the teacher can make letter or syllable cards. Thus, the game is turned into arranging letters into words or syllables into words.
According to Indra, this medium is very effective and makes it easier for teachers to introduce letters and teach syllables, words, and sentences to early grade students.
“The most important thing is that teachers must always be creative and look for challenging words and sentences from the pictures that will be posted so that students are interested in guessing and looking for the right letters, syllables, and words,” said Indra while sharing her tips.