Shoe-ssess

Let me preface this with .... I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS SOONER!!!!

The Kinder Koala's Shoes culminating activity was held October last year. And it took me more than 4 months to blog about it. Sorry, Hadrien! You'll see .... I'll make it up to you.

The theme on shoes came after "sari-sari" store. In keeping with the theme, instead of footprints, the path leading to the Kinder Koala's room was peppered with cut outs of various kinds of shoes, hand painted by Hadrien and his classmates. This set the stage for a month-filled activities involving shoes. Even if Hadrien skipped school for about 2 weeks to attend Tita Bel's wedding in Dubrovnik, he was on shoe-theme mode making sure he took pictures of the shoes he saw:




These were nifty additions to the kinds of shoes he learned in school - sneakers, ballet shoes, slippers, boots, ice skates, etc. His new-found expertise on shoes also added a good 5-minute to our routine everyday as he showed off his knowledge on the parts of a shoe - outsole, insole, heel, vamp and accessories (e.g., glitter, buckles, velcro, straps, etc). Or when he insisted on wearing black leather shoes and white sport socks on days when he was already dressed in shorts. (At this point, I might suggest adding to the lesson which shoes go with which outfit... sneakers do not need shoe polish or that black polish should not be applied to brown shoes.... but I digress...) On some days, he went through our shoe drawers to to point out that shoes could be made out different materials - such as rubber, leather and fabric.

They were supposed to go on a field trip to Marikina to see how shoes are manufactured. But because of Ondoy which inundated Marikina and other parts of the Metro, they decided to collect shoes and other donations for people who make shoes. This was a great lesson in itself.

During the culminating activity, the Koalas recited "There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe" and another poem which they composed. They also sang and danced to a couple of shoe songs. They held an exhibit where they showed off their shoe designs (both sketches and actual finished products) and allowed us to see and touch a sampling of shoes. We were allowed and encouraged to ask the kids questions. And they were mostly NOT shy to answer our questions. It was an activity filled morning - with the parents and yayas getting the chance to play shoe relay and nibble on shoe-shaped cookies.

I must mention that T. Jojie even came dressed with a pretty-shoe-printed blouse. Talagang sticking to the theme!

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere!

Baz's 5's and 6's (aka Prep) class had a culminating activity on flowers last week. For about a month or two, they learned about the different parts of the flower, what flowers are used for, what flowers need to survive. They also learned about 2 painters who were famous for their flower paintings - Vincent Van Gogh and Georgia O'Keeffe.

They had 3 field trips. The first to see different kinds of flowers at Greenbelt Park - a bit poetic since as we were growing up, the park near Shakeys that became Strumms, now Greenbelt 5, looked like a lush mini-forest. The second was to Flower Farm in Tagaytay where they saw greenhouses, learned that chrysanthemums are "tricked" into thinking that there was continuous sunlight by the use of light bulbs strung across the flowerbeds. The third was to Market! Market! where they interviewed people from a flower shop, learned about the flower trade, how to make flower arrangements and put some math into action by buying flowers and making sure they received the right amount of change.

In science, they dissected a flower and saw first-hand what the stamen, pistel, ovules, ovary - in addition to the run-of-the-mill stem, leaves, roots, petals and sepal. They witnessed capillary action at work when they put white flowers into 3 separate jars containing yellow, red and blue dyes - causing the flower petals to change colors. They learned how to measure flowers and chart the lengths.

During the culminating activity, the 5's and 6's opened their very own flower shop - aptly named Flowers & Flowers. We were wisely instructed to prepare P10 and P1 coins and were given an order slip showing how much our order cost. Raffy had his film-tubes of coins and Baz counted out exactly how much he needed - P95 to be exact. The business part out of the way, Baz went into flower-arrangement-mode. His aesthetic was Ikebana-esque. And he snipped and cut away like an expert.

Then we got to see their paintings - all inspired by Van Gogh and O'Keeffe. I couldn't believe how artistic these kids are. There's something to be said about not requiring kids to do projects at home. Their skills are really harnessed and honed - no parents doing their kids' projects here! Still, it's a lot better than I would have expected from these 5 and 6 year olds.

To cap the activity - the kids sang "Starry, Starry Night" - a song inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's life and paintings.

Obviously, we're mighty pleased about what our kids are learning at Keys. And what's more, they are REALLY REALLY happy in school.




Next post: Hadrien's shoe culminating activity....

Daddy Is Not Independent

For a long time now, we've been trying to get the kids to sleep on their own beds in their own (shared) room. But every now and then, we'd give in to pleas to allow them to sleep with us. Lately , I felt that I wasn't getting enough restful sleep with elbows and knees periodically nudging me so I began to put my foot down. Today, as Raffy was prepping them for bed, I overheard Baz say: "Daddy, you're already almost 40 and you're still sleeping with Mommy! So you should be more independent."

What did you say, Daddy?