On Preschool and Motessori Method

When my Bela turned two years old, my husband, my mom and I have been debating whether it is time for Bela to enter Preschool or it would be best that we just let her stay at home.

My mom is a retired preschool teacher but she is so used to the traditional method of teaching where kids should be behave and should learn to just stay put on their sit as they listen to what the teacher is saying. That is why my mom was so scared to enrol Bela to preschool as she thought that it might be a traumatizing experience for her at a very young age.

But we discovered, Giraffe, a Childcare Dublin and Early Learning center which offers Montessori Method of teaching. With this method, children are allowed to explore and learn through play. Children will also get to learn and explore in their own pace as each student received a one-on-one lesson from a teaching staff.

Because of this discovery, my mom finally agreed to enrol Bela to Preschool and we are glad that we made the right choice because she enjoyed it. We believe that she is a smart and confident kid now because of her experience in a Montessori environment during her preschool years.

And now that we have Cobi, we will not think twice and Cobi will also get to experience the Montessori Method of teaching when it is time for him to go to school.

Last PTC @ MSS

I attended my last PTC at MSS last March 16 before going to my Ob for a check up. Howell already left for Micronesia so I was alone when I attended the PTC.

Teacher Sarah and Teacher Eulene discussed to me Bela’s quarterly assessment and showed me how she progress from the time she started at MSS up to her last day. (They actually discussed in detail Bela's progress but I will just post here some important comments from Teacher Sarah and Teacher Eulene.) According to Teacher Sarah, Bela started as the student who always says I don’t know during writing but then improved by gaining a little confidence and would ask for teacher’s help and her big improvement of learning to write on her own.

Teacher also mentioned that they would never forget Bela and her love in giving trivia. Such us when they asked Bela to name animals that can fly and Bela answered:

Bela: “Bats. Did you know that bats are nocturnal animals because they sleep during the day and is awake at night.”

Teacher Sarah and Teacher Eulene said that Bela is really ready for big school already which really is something that I want to hear because we are 100% sure now that she is going to big school this coming June. It is just a matter of choice between St. Theresa’s College and St Scholastica’s.

Bela's Enopi WorkSheets

Bela has been under the Enopi program for Math and English since February at her school, MSS. When we talked to the admissions officer of St Scholastica, she reminded us that we should really take time to teach Bela how to write as it is really a requirement for their Jr. Prep class. Howell asked me to look for a tutor that will help Bela with her writing since Bela really has a problem in this area but instead of hiring a tutor, I thought of just enrolling her to the Enopi program since they have worksheets everyday which will train her for writing also.

These are some of her worksheets both for Math and English:

Bela has been really doing a good job and I think she really deserves a price (one of those Branson vacation packages perhaps? She has been asking us to take her on a vacation but sadly we can't go on a vacation with long travels because I am pregnant). She has improved a lot ever since we enrolled her to the Enopi program especially with her writing. Almost everyday they have a homework in Enopi and she can finish her worksheets in less than 5-10 minutes because she enjoys doing it that we don’t have to do all the tricks that we used to do before to convince her to write. I was even amazed that she even knows how to draw simple figures like cat, fish, airplane, giraffe, a figure of a boy and girl, a house, etc which I think is a really big improvement for her.

I did not enroll her for the Enopi program this summer but she is enrolled for the Magic Strokes and Reading Summer program at MSS. Hopefully by the end of summer, her writing skills will be enough already to prepare her for the big school

MSS's Metamorphosis 2010

Bela had her Moving Up Day Ceremony last March 14, 2010 at Philam Life Theater. We came from Pan Pacific as we checked in there a day before so Howell can watch the Pacquaio – Clottey fight. Bela wanted to take a dip at the pool the morning of March 14th but the Pacquiao – Clottey fight took longer than we expected so Bela was able to swim around 1 PM already. The program starts at 2:30 PM, good thing I manage to convince her to get out of the pool and we made it just in time before the program starts.

I was worried that she might throw tantrums because she did not take a nap. Since it is the graduation of the graduating class, major part of the program was for them and Bela’s class performed in the middle of the program already. They dance to the tune of “A Whole New World” and Bela knows the lyrics of the songs and the dance steps by heart. Then after that, they recited the poem “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” They also had another performance at the end of the program where all the students performed to the tune of “Paraiso” and “Better World.”

There was also a part in the program where all the class where asked to stand up on stage one by one and each students were holding their Certificate of Completion. The Best in English and Best in Chinese award where also awarded per class. Bela received two awards: Wonderful World Learner Award – for her excellent work in Social Studies and Attentive Listener Award – for paying attention and listening so well to others. (I have made a separate post about her awards because Howell was a bit disappointed at how they give the awards to the students so you can read more about that here.).

After the event, we went to Hong Kong restaurant in Macapagal and met up with the rest of my family to celebrate Bela’s graduation and another special occasion.

You can view more pictures here.

Bela's Clock Project

I was supposed to blog about this but I forgot about it as I got hooked reading the site neckacne.org and all their information about neck acne. I only remembered about this project after I received all of Bela’s projects from school when I attended her last PTC.

They usually don’t bring home assignments but one Friday, Bela went home with a paper plate and a note from teacher that we should help our daughter in making a clock that they will use in school to study how to read time. Of course the artistic dad got excited to do the project that he did it right away as soon as he arrived from work that Friday.

I printed the pictures and Howell planned to use it as the background for the paper plate before he paste the numbers in but Bela doesn’t want her picture to be used as background. She kept on saying “No dad, I am not a clock.” LOL. So what Howell did is used a cardboard and that is where he pasted the pictures and used the cardboard as the holder of the clock and this is the finished product, Howell’s labor of love for her Bela.

When Bela went home that Monday, she was so proud of her clock because it has been the class’s favorite because everybody was amazed with her picture with the dolphin and the elephant. Even her teacher told me that they always use it as a sample when teaching the kids how to tell time because Bela’s clock is bigger compared to her classmates’ and the numbers are readable. Of course, the daddy is so proud of her work of art.

Bela's Awards & Howell as a Father

Last March 14 was Bela’s Moving Up Day Ceremony. I yet have to make a separate post about it but this post is all about the awards that Bela received from school.

They had a Recognition Day which was held last February 25 but sad to say, we were not informed of that special event and we only get to find out about it when they announced it during the Moving Up Day and they showed slide show pictures taken during the Recognition Day. Howell and I felt a little disappointed that parents were not invited to witness this special event since we wanted to be there when the awards were given to Bela. It is not really a big award but as parents, we wanted to be there for Bela in every important event in her life.

Going back to the awards, below are the two awards that Bela received:

1. Wonderful World Learner Award – for her excellent work in Social Studies
2. Attentive Listener Award – for paying attention and listening so well to others

Side Kwento: During the Moving Up Day ceremony, only the awardees from the graduating class (Kinder – Butterfly Class) were all called on the stage to receive their awards, medals and certificate. As per the lower level class, they only asked the parents of the awardees for Best in English and Best in Chinese to go up the stage to hand them their medals. All the kids were on the stage while the parents of the awardees put on their medals to the kids. Howell was taking a picture of Bela then and according to him he saw from Bela’s eyes her sadness when she did not receive a medal. Howell and the lolo was really affected and they felt really sad, not because Bela did not get the Best in English or Best in Chinese award, but because they felt sad because they somehow felt the pain that Bela felt that time. I tried to explain to them that it is just okay and that Bela will be okay and besides Bela already received other awards, but I guess as a father and grand father, they really felt sad for Bela.

I was also surprised since Bela approached me one night when she saw me sorting through the pictures of her Moving Up Day. And this is what she said:

Bela: “Mom you know, I don’t have a microphone during the show because I did not do good. Only those who have digi-medals (that is how she calls the medals) get to have a mic during the show.”
Me: “No, that’s okay baby. You only need to dance that time and you don’t have to sing so you don’t have a mic.”
Bela: “No mom. Wynette and Jade has a mic because they did good and they have digi-medals.”
Me: “But you have an award too and the digi-medal (the gold seal of their school) is pasted on the paper which is your award.”
Bela: “I don’t want my digi-medal to be on paper. I want it to be put on my neck and teacher will give it to me on stage.”
Me: “I know you did a good job Bela. Maybe Jade and Wynette did a much better job so maybe next time you should work harder so you will get a digi medal too.”
(Actually I don’t know how to answer her this time and how explain to her the situation.)

I guess Howell is right that it does have an effect on the kids. But now I am just trying to explain to Bela that next time she should work much harder so she will get to have a digi-medal too. But Best English or not, Bela did us proud.

MSS Field Trip

Last February 20, Bela together with the other MSS students had a time of their life during their culminating activity for February, which is their Field Trip.

The call time was 7:30 AM. Bela must be so excited because we did not have a hard time waking her up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she quickly asked us if we can give her a bath because we will be going to Ocean Park with her classmates and teachers.

My dad drove us to school as we will all be taking the bus to reach all the three destinations listed in their itinerary. We were just in time because the bus left as soon as we are settled in our seats.

Our first destination was the DollJoy Museum in Pasig. It is a workshop and a doll museum in one. They did the tour simultaneously – the students inside bus number 1 will have their time inside the museum first and when they are finish, that is the only time that students from bus number 2 can enter. Since we are bus number 5, we are the last one to enter the museum and it is already almost 9:30 AM when we are finally done with our tour. We were informed that the mermaid show at Manila Ocean Park will start at exactly 10:30 AM so we have to hurry. We were not able to check out the souvenir store as they were telling us to hurry up so our bus can leave and make it to the 10:30 AM Mermaid Show.

We were really not lucky as our bus driver doesn’t know his way around and he was even rude and is shouting constantly at Bela’s teachers. When we reached Ocean Park, the Green Cocoon had a group shot outside as we thought that we did not make it to the Mermaid Show. But I think the show started a little late as we were able to catch at least half of the show.

After watching the show, we were given 1.5 hours to explore the Oceanarium. Of course Bela went crazy checking the fishes and the other sea creatures. We still have 45 minutes when we’re done with the Oceanarium so we decided to go the second floor to try the Glass Bottom Boat ride. This is one of Bela’s favorites. Then we went to the souvenir shop for some souvenir shopping for Bela.

We had lunch after and we went to CCP Complex, at the office of RealShip Corporation for our yacht ride. It was a 45 minutes cruise along Manila Bay and it is the best way to end the day.

Bela really had a wonderful time and Howell and I did too even if we were really so dead tired after that long day.

You can view more pictures here.

CNY @ MSS

Since majority of Bela’s classmates at school are all Chinese and the owner of the school is also Chinese, the Chinese New Year celebration is a big event at their school. So last Friday, MSS celebrated Chinese New Year with a bang.

All the kids were asked to wear cheongsam or any red-colored dress for the event. (That is why we went to Binondo last week to look for a cheongsam for Bela.) They had a puppet show, a dragon dance and fireworks too.

I think this is Bela’s first time to witness a dragon dance so I am not sure if she will get scared of it or not. My mom was telling us that Bela’s first reaction when she saw the dragons was that she covered her mouth so my mom thought that Bela got scared. But instead of fear, it was actually excitement that Bela felt as she run in front to be close to the dragon. She even peeked inside the dragon’s mouth and pose beside it for a picture.

Howell and I can’t take a leave from work so my mom was Bela’s photographer that day. When they fetched me from my office that day, Bela was full of stories on what happened that day which is a real sure sign that she really had fun celebrating Chinese New Year with her classmates and teachers.

You can view more pictures here.

Bela’s Journal Report: January 25 – 29, 2010

Can you suggest any of the best wrinkle treatments available? I will really go crazy and grow old dealing with my current yaya. I already rant about it on my other blog and today is her last day so instead of ruining my day thinking about it, I will just post Bela’s Journal Report for January 25 – 29, 2010.

Dear Mom & Dad,

It is the last week of the month and we had a great time learning new lessons and activities prepared for us.

This week, we had one more exciting activity as reinforcement on transportation. Last week, the kids enjoyed the Calesa ride and this time, they had fun riding a motorcycle, tricycle and motor bike. They were trilled and had fun riding the said vehicles. It was another exciting activity and we can say, what a ride!

Of course, even if it’s been a busy week, we hadn’t forgotten our lessons. For phonics, we introduced two CVC families: /an/ and /ag/. Some kids did not have a hard time blending the letters together while some still need to practice blending and reading. However, we are still doing more drills on this to help them in reading the words much faster. We also talked about rhyming and sight words.

For Math, we still continued to give drills on numbers that comes before, to help them fully master the said concept. We introduced the concept of ordinals (First (1st) – Fifth (5th). We also discussed story sequencing.

For Science, we introduced the different means of communication. They enjoyed our various activities: Call a home plus a fun chat with Mom & Dad. The kids were excited to use the phone and also to talk to their Mom & Dad via the internet and the web cam. Aside from that, they learned how to fax a message using a fax machine and had a great time exploring the different communication gadgets like: Cellphone, walkie talkie, telephone, newspaper, magazine and computer.

Another fun filled week has ended. We await next week’s activities as we will have another fantastic and exciting week.

Bela's Journal Report: January 18 - 21, 2010

Bela is really doing good in school (do you think I should look for unique gifts for her? LOL.) Her teacher said that she is showing more interest in her writing drills and so I am really happy because that is one of our concern for her if she will be going to big school this school year.

To continue with my posts about Bela’s Journal Report, here is her Journal Report for January 18 – 21.

Dear Mom & Dad,

We are having so much fun learning about different kinds of transportation. Indeed it is more exciting when the kids see the real thing and distinguish them from the pictures we show them in class.

Last Tuesday, we were fortunate enough to get a chance to ride a kalesa. The kids were truly ecstatic with this one of a kind experience. When Ysabela was asked if she wanted to be the pretend driver of the horse, she refused and was content in riding at the back of the carriage. Although she was quite hesitant in coming near the horse for a solo picture, she was still able to smile a little.

In class we have been quite busy learning about different kinds of transportation, reading cvc /at/ words, ordering objects that are first and last and sequencing numbers by identifying what’s before a given number. Ysabela understand a big part of the lessons imparted in class. She has no difficulty in concepts such as = and not =. Number that comes after, more or less, <>. Plus she is able to read most cvc /at/ words except for the word vat. More so, drills on reading cvc words will be very helpful to make her excellent reader.

Our Foundation Day Celebration was also a wonderful experience for the kids as they all blew the birthday candle for MSS’s 9th year foundation.

===

Side Kwento: I was a bit surprised when I read from the report that Bela is hesitant in coming near the horse as I know that she loves riding and seeing horses. So when I asked her why she doesn’t want to touch the horse, her answer was:

Bela: “Because the horse is stinky mom.”

Bela’s Journal Report: January 11 – 15, 2010

Assessment Week for the Cocoon

Dear Mommies and Daddies,

Good Day! Talking about what we did during the vacation was surely memorable for all of us. Last week, we had a great time learning new lessons and enjoyed the activities prepared for us.

It’s assessment week again! Aside from their lessons and doing their activities for this week, each kid spent his / her time and gave his / her best in answering his / her worksheets. They were excited in waiting for their turn to answer. Some were a bit anxious when teacher called them but eventually got the hang of it after.

As busy as we are with assessment, of course we did not forget to learn our lessons. We discussed the medial letters /o/, /i/, and /u/, different kinds of water transportation, comparing set: more or less, greater than or less than and number that comes between. To make it motivating and fun for everyone, we prepared art activities like paper boat and raft. At the same time, we enjoyed playing with them in the water play area. We also had a show and tell of the water transportation that the kids brought to class.

Another busy week has ended and we deserve a great time with our loved ones this weekend. Have a nice and blessed weekend!

Bela's Journal Report: January 5-8, 2010

I can’t remember the last time I posted a Journal Report of Bela from school so I will just start with her first journall report for 2010.

January 5 – 8, 2010

Dear Mommy & Daddy,

Happy New Year! We would like to extend our warmest greetings to everyone. It is the first month of the year 2010 and we are excited to learn again. It is a new year indeed and that means new exciting lessons and activities for us.

Our theme for this month is about transportation. This week, we discussed land transportation. We enjoyed making paper mosaic of different land transportation as well as playing and exploring different kinds of it. We already introduced the medial letters /a/ and /e/. At first, the kids were confused but as we got along with the discussions they were able to get the concept of medial letters. In Math, we introduced the concept of comparing sets: equal or not equal. The kids were excited to sort objects according to their set. We also learned the concept of number that comes after. We were able to review numbers and counting numbers in order.

We are just on our first week in school and we still have more in the coming weeks. We look forward to more exciting activities ahead of us.

Excited to Go to School Today

Bela was so excited to go to class today. She was even the one who wakes me up to ask me to prepare her for school.

The reason why she is so excited is because she is bringing to school today some of her water transportation toys. Modes of transportation are their topic for this month and for this week, they will discuss different water transportation and so they were asked to bring some of their water transportation toys. Bela brought with her, her Little Einsteins submarine with Leo, Backyardigans Pirate Ship and the new Water raft toy of her dad.

At first she doesn’t know what a raft is so Howell has to show her pictures of water rafts from the Internet so she can picture out what it is for. Since the toy water raft is a bit big, she is asking me if we can go to the beach so she can play with it. I saw the panama city beach condo rentals and thought that Bela will have fun here playing with her water raft, but since I am pregnant, I don’t think any travel would be possible until I give birth. So for now, she just has to enjoy playing with her water raft and her other water toys in her small bath tub. LOL.

She will be arriving from school in a few hours and I am sure she will have a lot of stories to tell me on what happened at school as they play with their water transportation toys.

MSS’s Christmas program

Last December 13, was MSS’s Christmas program entitled “Pamaskong Handog ng MSS.” The program was held at the Philam Life Theater in UN.

They have been practicing for weeks and Bela’s teachers even gave us a CD of the songs that they will be singing so they can practice it at home. Bela loves to perform, she loves to sing and dance, but the problem is, all the songs that they are performing are in Tagalog. We tried to make her practice at home by listening to the CD but Bela is really not interested.

They had a general rehearsal last Saturday but the theater gates were closed as they want it to be a surprise for the parents and boy we were really surprise.

Bela performed four times during the program. The first one was during the opening number where all students sing and dance to different Christmas songs.

Bela’s second performance was when her class sang “Diba’t ang Pasko.” I was really surprised because she knows the lines even if it is in Tagalog. There was a microphone in front of her but it was too high but she was really doing all the extra effort (she tiptoed a lot) so she can reach the mic and sing the song. We were all laughing while watching her.

Then they did a dance number to the tune of “Season of Smiles” and Bela knows all the dance steps by heart.

Her last performance was indeed a surprise for us as she was one of the chosen student to perform for the Grand Finale. They sang “Handog” by Florante. I was really surprised because she knows the lyrics of the songs though she was saying the words in slang. LOL. We were all laughing while watching her because her teacher (whom she sang the song with), had a hard time in trying to make Bela stop because Bela still continued singing even if it is not her part of the song already. Her teacher has to sit down to get the mic away from Bela. LOL.

When the program was finish and when we fetched her from the stage, this is what she said: “Mom, I am a superstar.”

Hay, Bela is one performer talaga. We are really proud of her!!

You can view more pictures here.

Career Week @ MSS

She knows how to argue her case, she knows how to reason out, and she is into “whys” now and is very inquisitive and observant. Do you think I should start looking for LSAT prep as early as now as it looks like Bela can be a good lawyer someday? LOL.

But as I always say to Howell, we will support her with whatever career path she chooses to take. When you ask her now on what she likes to be when she grows up, she will tell you that she wants to be a doctor. That is why during their Career Week at their school, she decided that she will come as a doctor.

Last November 23-27 was Career Week at Bela’s school where they invite different professionals from different field to visit the school and give a little talk to the kids on what they do. On Monday they were visited by a doctor and dentist. Tuesday was their time to watch a chef prepare sumptuous meals for them and there were some kids who were also asked to help the chef as she cooks something for the kids. Wednesday was the visit from a banker and accountant. On Thursday, the kids visited a nearby fire station where they were given a demo on how to kill fire by the fireman. Then they were treated for a ride at the fire truck as the kids were all on top of the fire truck and the truck brought them back to school. Bela had so much fun and she has a lot of stories to tell us as soon as she reached home.

Friday was their culminating activity where the kids where asked to come as their favorite community helper. Bela dressed up as a doctor. My aunt just asked our neighbor to make Bela’s uniform and Howell just printed a doctor’s name tag. Good thing she also received a doctor’s set during her last birthday so she brought all of her doctor tools too.

Howell and my mom were also invited to visit the school that Friday to share to the kids some knowledge on what they do as a Barangay Chairman and IT Specialist. If you ask Bela, what do Barangay Chairman do, her answer would be:

“Barangay Chairman works together with the other community helpers in taking care of the community.”

And for IT Specialist, “Daddy cures sick computer. If computers are sick daddy will use the yellow tool to cure them.”

Here are some pictures during the Career week:

Halloween @ MSS

Last October 22 was Bela’s Halloween Party at MSS. They did a costume parade while dancing to the tune of “Nobody, nobody but you.” I was so sad because I was not able to watch her perform since I can’t take another leave that week since I just took an emergency leave a week before that when I took Bela to the doctor when she got sick.

Good thing hubby was able to take a leave and so she was able to capture it in photos while my mom was able to take a video also. It was so entertaining watching Bela perform as she has no stage fright. She was dancing energetically and her teacher have to ask her to go down since it looks like she has no plans of going down the stage. LOL.

Here are some pictures:

Her gown by the way was made by Prim. This will be her ballerina dress that she will wear on her birthday. I just added wings so she will look like a fairy ballerina. LOL. You can view more pictures here.

Relief Giving Program of MSS @ Malabon

Last Saturday, we joined MSS (Bela’s school) in their relief giving program for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy in Malabon.

The directress of the school together with her staff decided to just have a simple Costume Party this year. They initially asked the kids to come in costumes depending on the theme assigned to their class but instead they will just asked the kids to wear whatever available costume they like and they will not have any party at all. So the cost of buying the costumes can just be given as donations so the school staff can buy goodies for the victims.

Last Friday, they even had a video presentation of the effects of the typhoon so the kids were really made aware of the unfortunate things that happened to the victims of the typhoon. After the video presentation, the kids even helped in packing the goods.

We were asked to be at school at 8:45 AM as they will leave at exactly 9 AM for Malabon. (Since I slept late the night before, my dark under eye circles are really obvious. LOL). We left with Mommy Emmie (MSS’s directress) and with the other teachers. Most of the staff is already at the venue preparing ahead of us.

When we reached the church, there is already a long line of the people waiting for their goodies. It was raining hard the night before and even early Saturday morning so it was just us who were able to join the activity. Bela helped Teacher Sarah and the other Teachers in giving out cookies and sardines while I helped Mommy Emmie and Teacher Haidee in giving out the pail loots. Of course, hubby took pictures.

All of the people who lined up were really thankful for the help that they received from MSS and I am really thankful too that Howell, Bela, my mom and I were able to join them for this great cause.

You can view more pictures here.