Parents’ Update July 7-11, 2008

First of all, let me thank the faculty for doing such a great job of taking care of the children while I was away last week. Last week, I was in Bangkok for four days to attend a conference on multilingual education. Around the globe, national governments are enacting multilingual educational policies, not only to address the multicultural exchange happening across countries, but also to address the inherent multilingualism of nations. In the Philippines, for example, we boast of 180 local languages. I had the privilege of presenting a paper (together with Aleta Villanueva, a Raya parent and also a school director) on the dual language program happening in Raya. The Raya founders and faculty believe that bilingualism is part and parcel of our vision of the Raya student. And we hope that as parents, you will help us encourage your children to be fluent and expressive in both languages. For language is not only a tool for communication, but also a reflection of their culture, heritage and being.

TEACHER ANI

Nursery Tutubi, Pawikan and Pipit

This week is an exciting week for stories for the Nursery Class! Not only we’ll be having Germs Are Not for Sharing and All By Myself as our springboard stories, we’ll also be having a resource person to cap the week off. He will be sharing a fact or two about fruits and vegetables to supplement our lessons on identifying parts of the body, developing healthy habits and staying away from sickness. Shapes and colors shall be followed up and will be integrated in activities such as sorting, vocabulary building (long/short, small/big, on/in/out) and comparing objects. We will also get to know our national hero Kuya Pepe better as we answer the question, “Why is he national hero?”

Our cooking class is doing well. It’s very interesting to see our kids practice doing chores that will be helpful to them for life. Please support this endeavor by practicing at home, as well. This will be helpful for both you and your kids.

Thanks!

TEACHER RUTH

Kinder Adlaw and Bulan

What are my Rights as a child? This is what we’ll try to discover this week as we enter this month’s theme: My Family. We’ll get to know the members of our family, their roles in our lives and their importance in upholding our rights as kids. With the help of our springboard books Butsiki, the first Pig in Heaven and Kung Dalawa Kami, we’ll also explore the importance of keeping ourselves and our surroundings clean; things that does not belong and those that belong together in a group; keeping ourselves healthy; and sounding, writing, and identifying the letter Ff.

And on Friday, we’ll be having special guests in school, it’s our first Parent’s Day! Chosen parents will be talking about their families in Kinder Adlaw and Bulan respectively.

I hope everybody enjoys this week!

TEACHER ISBEL

Prep Bathala and Kabunyian

The Prep kids had a wonderful time looking at each other’s baby things and pictures. They were all cute and adorable. They all felt special too upon learning the meaning of their names :)

Next week, we will start our discussion about families. We will talk about the family members and their various roles using the literary pieces Sabi ni Tatay, Sabi ni Nanay and Chenelyn!Chenelyn! We will also touch on the characteristics of the Filipino family and indigenous peoples. In Science, we will tackle germs and diseases and do Number After in Math. We will also write about the uniqueness of our own families and create a reproduction of our family picture using another medium in Art. Finally, on Friday, we will have two guest parents, Kitty Del Castillo (Prep Bathala) and Yael Espino (Prep Kabunyian), who will share about their family.

Please help them choose a family picture that they’d like to bring to school over the weekend :)

Thank You!

TEACHER JEANNE

Grade 1 Matapat

Family comes fifth! For our fifth week in school, the grade 1-Matapat will be talking about family. Our springboard pieces this week are: Ang Aking Pamilya and All Aboard with Five Lolas. In Math, we will review and practice our addition skills and will also start to add with carrying. In Science, we will talk about hereditary traits. The Filipino family will be our topic in C&I. We will cover abstract and concrete nouns, proper use of the words: ito, iyan, and iyon, and consonant blends: br-, cr-, dr-, and fr- in Language Arts. For their oral report this week, they will bring a family picture to show and talk about with their friends. Finally, to end the week, Ms. Derlie Babiano (IO’s mom) will graciously give the Matapat class a peek into their family.

TEACHER TONI

Grade 2 Marangal

Hi parents!

Our stories for this week are Apat na Mata and Two Friends, One World. We shall use these as springboard for our Science lessons on the eye and the tools that aid our senses. In Math, we will learn the properties of addition and practice adding two-to-three- digit numbers. We shall also learn more about adjectives this week through our lessons on magkasingkahulugan at magkasalungat in Filipino and irregular adjectives in English. In Citizenship and Identity, we will talk about ang balangay and move on to mga Pilipinong namumuno sa pamayanan. Lastly, in Art, we will have a discussion on the different kinds of lines, shapes and colors, and the meanings they convey.

Have a happy week!

P.S.
It’s Nikka’s birthday on July 9! Happy birthday Nikka! :)

TEACHER MICHELLE