Parents’ Update June 23-27, 2008

The grade 1 and grade 2 students were treated to two special guests last Friday: Tito Michael and Tita Mitzie from the organization, Manlilikha Artisans’ Support Network. The objective of the Manlilikha group is to promote not only Filipino crafts from Luzon to Mindanao, but also the artisans behind it. It would be such a privilege if all Rayans could actually go to see the paper mache makers of Paete, the carvers of Pakil, the weavers near Lake Sebu, or the potters of Vigan.  Tito Michael and Tita Mitzie gave the graders an overview of crafts from Luzon to Mindanao, even bringing some samples. Our hope is that our children will be interested to learn these crafts and work towards ensuring they are passed on from generation to generation. We hope that your children will tell you about the indigenous crafts we hope to teach them in school this year.

TEACHER ANI

Nursery Tutubi, Pawikan and Pipit

The question, “Who am I?” along with the many questions each kid asks everyday we will try to answer this week in Nursery.

Distinguishing between colors, expressing likes and dislikes, identifying different distinguishing characteristics of Filipinos and identifying and sounding the letter M are our target lessons for this week. We will be reading the books Little Giant and My Many Colored Days as well as sing simple songs and do finger painting. We will try to develop oral language skills as we communicate in both English and Filipino. We will continue to discover what our bodies can do as we take our first venture into gross motor activities and lessons in music.

On Friday, we too will be starting our first occupations class on cooking. We will be naming cooking implements found at home as well as try our hand at making sandwiches. Also on the same day, Mommy Thalia of Pawikan and Mommy Melanie of Tutubi will be sharing each of their child’s very special story in class.

So far it has been an interesting journey for us teachers spending each learning day with your kids here in Raya. We hope the same goes for the kids and you, too.

TEACHER RUTH

Kinder Adlaw and Bulan

Regular classes begin this week and we’ll be starting to see your kids in school everyday! With our springboard stories Diego and Marie and Digong Dilaw, we’ll be exploring our surroundings using our 5 senses. We’ll be identifying the different parts of our body and their use, look at Filipino kids and their physical characteristics, enrich our Filipino vocabulary (ang iba’t ibang bahagi ng ating katawan), count and write numbers from 1-10, and sound out, identify and write the Letter Mm. On Friday, we’ll be playing with our senses as we do fun games with our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and hands!

It is the start of our busy weeks here in Raya, but I promise that your kids will have the best time here in Raya as we play, learn and explore together in Kinder.

TEACHER ISBEL

Prep Bathala and Kabunyian

We learned that our body parts may be different from others in terms of size and length. We also found out that our fingerprints make us unique and special! :)

For the coming week, we will use the literary pieces, Dalawang Puyo and Mirror,Mirror, to continue our discussion about the different parts of our body and how they make us different from others. We will also do fun activities involving our eyes and ears in Science and do a review of numbers 1-20 in Math. An introduction to Nouns in both Filipino and English will also be done next week. Lastly, we will make our own paper dolls, play Piko during PE, and try our hand at Microsoft Paint.

TEACHER JEANNE

Grade 1 Matapat

Valentine’s Day arrived late this year in the Grade 1 classroom as we talk about hearts this week. Our springboard pieces are Super Benj and Si Ching na Takot sa Dilim. In Science, it’s going to be all about the heart, as we talk about how it works and how we can take care of it, its parts and its functions.In Math, we will talk about halves and quarters of shapes. In Language and Reading, we will talk about nouns and kailanan ng pangngalan. We will also work on the consonant blends gl, sl and pl. In C & I, we will discuss the rights of Filipino children. Lastly for arts, we will make a heart mailbox and folding their own paper hearts.

TEACHER TONI

Grade 2 Marangal

Hi parents!

Another exciting week awaits the Grade 2-Marangal students. We will use the stories Si Joey at ang Gulay Gang and The Greediest of Rajahs and the Whitest of Clouds as springboard pieces to talk about the importance of good nutrition and to know more about one’s self. We will also hear the life story of Juan Luna as introduction to our lesson on “Mga Tanyag na Pilipino Noon at Ngayon.” In line with this, a well-known children’s book illustrator will be visiting us on Friday to share his experiences as an artist and the things he did to develop his talent. In Math, we will learn the place values in a three-digit number and write 3-4 digit numbers in expanded form. The art activities that we will do this week are making of stamps out of vegetables and making a kite.

A very pleasant week to all!

TEACHER MICHELLE