Nope, what you’re seeing in this photo are not envelopes for cash advances. The three small envelopes are part of my son’s school’s Valentine Candy Exchange. To celebrate Love Day in school, the preschoolers were given 3 small envelopes last week with the following instructions:

1. Complete the love sentence in each of the envelope.
2. Sign your family’s names on it.
3. Put a piece of candy or chocolate inside.
4. Seal the envelopes and send them back to school by February 10.

We came up with the following definitions of love that we wrote on the three small envelopes: (1) Love is sharing; (2) Love is giving hugs and kisses; (3) Love is going to the mall with Mommy and Daddy. Instead of our family name, we wrote our son’s full name on the envelopes. We also put two small chocolates inside each envelope.

Last Monday, Valentine’s Day, the children exchanged envelopes with one another. My son said he received 4 chocolates and one lollipop. Those made my little boy really happy!

What did your kids do in school on Valentine’s Day?

This picture was taken last Thursday, February 3 before Justin went to school. They were celebrating Chinese New Year in school and the kids were asked to wear Chinese costumes. His old Chinese suit doesn’t fit anymore. We couldn’t find anything for him to wear on this day at Robinsons Galleria. The night before Thursday (talk about last-minute preparation! LOL!), I called up his Dad and asked him to look for a Chinese outfit for our son at SM Megamall, which is very near his office.


Luckily, hubby found this one. As you can see, the robe is still too big for our son. We improvised a bit because instead of the pants that went with this robe, which is way too long, we made him use his old black slack pants, so he could still move freely while in school. This costume also came with a Chinese hat with long braided hair. The hair, however, isn’t visible in this picture, sorry, folks! And oh, did you notice, his hands are ready for Kung Fu fighting?

Anyways, there used to be an area rug on the spot where this picture was taken. We had it removed because when Justin was just two years old, he would crawl on that rug and would develop skin rashes afterwards. Gee, he’s got sensitive skin just like mommy, but that’s a different story!

So there, that’s the story of my Kung Fu kid.

Last Friday, February 4, 2011, the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes in my son’s school had their reading recital entitled “Mother Goose on the Loose! at AIC Gold Tower Penthouse Level. My husband and I missed our morning work to make it to this important event.

The pre-kindergartners were given their reading piece around the middle of January, so they had a few weeks to study it. My son’s reading piece was the nursery rhyme “If All the Seas Were One Sea.” It didn’t him long to master his piece; one of his teachers even told me twice before the recital that Justin is a good reader.

The pre-kindergartners had their reading recital in the morning and the kindergartners in the afternoon. The kids also prepared production numbers before and after their reading recital. The pre-kindergartners’ opening number was the song “You Are My Sunshine.” Here’s a video of that performance.


Then, the reading recital began. My son was the second pre-kindergartner to read. Here he is reading his piece.


The pre-kindergartners’ closing number was a medley. We have a video of their performance, too, but the file is too large to upload. And before going home, we had our family picture taken at the stage!


Say cheese!
Because he did well in his reading recital, I’m thinking of buying my son an Elmo bath towel for kids, just a little reward for a job well done.

Wednesday of last week, January 26, I was surprised when my son told me that he had Math homework that he needed to do and bring to school the next day. He had to solve simple addition problems. I told him we’d do it after I’m done with work. (Note: My son is only 4 ½ years old and he is in pre-kindergarten class.)

But my son couldn’t wait that long so he started doing his homework on his own while having lunch and watching TV. As you can see, he is a multitasker just like me. LOL! He used his fingers for counting, but he had a harder time when the numbers that he needed to add went beyond six for either hand.

PHOTO


To help him solve addition problems better, we practised some more before he slept that night. I asked him questions like “Daddy has five pesos, and Mommy has 4 pesos. If you add 5 and 4, how much will you have? To add humor to our Math lesson, I followed that up with this question: Will 9 pesos be enough to buy gold coins, to which he replied, “I don’t know, Mommy.” But will 9 pesos be enough to buy a new toy? My little boy answered: “No. I need 1-0-0 (Php100.00) to buy a not-so-expensive toy.” Smart boy!

Anyway, I didn’t know that preschoolers these days are doing addition problems already. I learned addition when I was in Grade 1. I didn’t even have to go to preschool then. It was already big school for me right from the start. However, with these changes, I believe kids should enrol in preschool first before going to big school. That makes them more equipped for the challenges ahead.

My son’s school held their annual Christmas production at the auditorium of the Philippine Stock Exchange at Tektite Towers in Pasig City yesterday morning. The show was called “Christmas Spectacular,” an adaptation of the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” by the Rockettes. The Rocketttes are a precision dance company performing at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, New York during Christmas season.

The singing of the Philippine National Anthem was led by my son and his four other classmates. My son was one of the flag kids and one of the wooden Christmas soldiers in their Christmas production. I will have a separate post for videos of my son’s performance; I’m just having a hard time uploading them right now because of my wonky Internet connection. Below are pictures of the various production numbers at yesterday's show.


Nursery, Pre-K and Kinder level children performing “True Colors”


Teacher K. as Santa


Pre-K and Kinder level girls performing “Santa’s Gonna Rock and Roll”


Toddler level children performing “Toyland Ball”


Nursery level children performing “Here Comes Santa Claus”


Nursery, Pre-K and Kinder Level children performing “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree”


Picture-taking with Santa
It’s a good thing that the the show ended before noon. We were still able to have lunch at the mall as my son requested, and I still had time to prepare for the Mommy Bloggers’ Christmas Party in the afternoon. Yes, I had a very busy schedule yesterday. You betcha I didn’t have time to shop for Baldwin hardware anymore.

I had to set aside my writing task about business card printing (full color printing, that is) yesterday morning to give way to my son’s Halloween party in school. I actually had to skip work in the morning because parents were encouraged to join their kids in school for their Halloween celebration.

I actually didn’t buy my son a new Halloween costume this year because last year, I bought two costumes, Zorro and skeleton costumes. The skeleton costume was still too big for him last year, but yesterday it fitted him perfectly.


With Mommy before going to school


Ready for trick-or-treating!


With Diego, one of his best pals in school


With his classmates inside their classroom


During their class presentation on stage


Class picture after the presentation
I went home ahead of my son and his yaya because Justin still wanted to play with his friends in school. I felt so tired when all I did was sit and take pictures of my son. Signs of aging? I hope not! LOL!

Last Friday, October 15, was World Culture Day at Justin’s school. Last year, the students were asked to come to school wearing national costumes of different countries. This year, though, the children were only asked to wear a special headband with the flag of the country that the child is representing. Justin’s pre-kindergarten class could choose any country in Europe. I chose to make a Swiss flag for my son.

Aside from the flag hat, the students should also bring an item related to the country for Show & Tell. It could be an artifact or décor, costume, book, doll, delicacy, or music. The first thing that came to mind (and the easiest to find!) was Swiss chocolates, so I asked my husband to buy one for my son.


Justin with his Switzerland flag hat and his Swiss chocolate before going to school last Friday
Does he look like a bishop or what?

Justin’s pre-kindergarten class has a project that gives parents and children an opportunity to do something together. Mommies or daddies can read the book Don’t Wake Up Mama! by Eileen Christelow to their children. The book was about how five little monkeys showed their love to their mother by baking a birthday cake for her.


After reading the book, parents and their children should bake or cook something together or just let the kids have the chance to feed their parents. This should be captured in photos that each family had to display in their family page in a scrapbook provided by Justin’s school. Justin and I agreed to make champorado (chocolate porridge) for this school project. Here’s what our family page looked like:




I’m not really that creative when it comes to school projects, but I hope this will suffice!

Last Friday, October 1, 2010, Justin’s school held a Parent-Child Bouncing Day at Bounce Inflatable Parties in Ortigas Avenue Extension in Pasig City. Of course, the kids (and parents!) were super-duper excited!


Waiting in line to get inside

Things are starting to shape up

Justin with Teacher Kara


And down he went!


Ball crazy!


Bouncing and giggling with his classmates!


Teacher Joann, Teacher Joy, Princess, and Justin


Justin, Diego and Diego’s mom
Bounce Inflatable Parties is open for corporate events and special occasions, such as birthdays, weddings, and debuts.

Bounce Inflatable Parties
Warehouse A1, Prince Arcade
CTIP Compound, Ortigas Ave. Ext.
Rosario, Pasig City
655-0424; 748-3760

Last Thursday, September, 23, Justin’s school held an animal parade. Nope, the kids did not bring live animals to school. Rather, the students were asked to come to school dressed up in animal costume or to wear a shirt with an animal picture or print. They also had to bring a toy animal to school (the BIGGER, the better!). My son wore a dark green tiger-print T-shirt. He also brought his big Barney to school on that day.


Posing with Barney at home


With Diego, one of his best friends in school


With his classmate Juaquin


With his classmates inside their classroom
The kids really enjoyed this day. The parents, too, moms especially, had a grand time taking pictures of their precious little ones in school.

My four-year-old son and I arrived to school early last Friday, so he had time to play with his friends before classes started. Normally, I would walk him to his classroom and he would give me a kiss on the cheek before he joins his classmates inside.

That particular day, however, was different. My son told me, “Mommy, I’ll go to my classroom on my own. You just stay here, Mommy.” Because this is the first time I was hearing this from my son, I asked him again, “Are you sure?” to which he replied, “Yes!”

Ouch! That hurt! Just when did he start not needing Mommy?

I asked him later that day if his teachers talked to him about going to the classroom without Mommy. He said, “Yes, you don’t have to walk me to my classroom anymore because I’m a big boy now.”

I said okay, but that still hurt!

Exactly 8 days after we bought Justin’s Train book at Market! Market!, my son can now read the book on his own! First, he asked his Daddy to read the book to him. Before he went to bed that Saturday, he asked me to read the book to him again. For the succeeding days, he would try to read the book on his own using his fingers to guide him as he reads. He would stop at an unfamiliar word and would ask us how to read them. A few days before today, he was actually able to memorize the first five sentences of the book.


When I was working this afternoon, I heard him reading the book again on his own, and this time around he didn’t ask anyone for help with the words in the book. He read the entire book with ease! Just to make sure, I asked him to read the book to me. True enough, he can read everything. The book has a total of 19 sentences.

Here’s the entire text of the book Train by Jane Brett:

"The train is ready to go. All the passengers climb aboard. Toot! Toot! The driver sounds the whistle. This train is going to the top of the hill. It is a very long way to get there! Can you follow the track?

As the train climbs the hill, the driver puts in more coal. Big puffs of smoke come out of the engine’s smoke stack! Look! Some people are waving as the train goes over a bridge, past a river. Everybody in the train waves back.

Up and up the train goes and passes through a tunnel! On the other side at the next station, more people are waiting to get on. There are walkers, a cyclist and a family who are taking their dog.

Will there be enough room for everyone on the train? When it finally reaches the top, everybody gets off. Can you see where they are going? Now the train is ready to go back down the hill."

I know they’re being taught sight words in school, but they’re not reading sentences yet. I’m also not sure if his fascination with trains (the book is train-shaped, too!) has encouraged him to learn to read the book by himself. You see, he wasn’t as enthusiastic to read his other books, unlike this one. We also did not force him to read; he did it on his own accord. I bought him another book, a car-shaped book, this time, but he’s still not touching it, and we’re not really pushing him to read it. I guess that’s the best way kids learn. Justin is now 4 years and 2 months old as of this writing.

Last Friday, Justin’s school held its first Parent-Teacher Conference for this school year. My slot was in the afternoon, so I had to take a break from work to be able to attend it. Because there were no classes that day and Justin was getting bored at home and because he won’t allow me to go without him, I brought him along together with his yaya. They just played in the school playground while I went inside his classroom to discuss with his teachers my son’s performance in school.

Developmental Portfolio (DR) is their term for a report card. The school also uses letter grades to evaluate the student’s progress in different areas: M means Mastered, G means Good Progress, W means Working on Skill, and NY means Not Yet. The following areas are evaluated: Physical Development (Large Muscle Coordination and Small Muscle Coordination), Personal Development (Emotional Development, Work Habits, and Self-help Skills), and Readiness Skills (Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing, and Math).

In his DR, Justin received 5 M’s, 57 G’s, and 15 W’s. He got all G’s in Large Muscle Coordination and Emotional Development. His teachers also wrote this comment on his DR: Justin enjoys playing with his friends but also looks forward to chatting with the adults in school. He will confidently volunteer himself even when asked to do unfamiliar activities or tasks. He has become quite independent in the last few weeks."

Last Friday afternoon, July 23, 2010, Justin, his Dad and I went to his school for their Back-to-school Night. Like last year, the parents were introduced to the kids’ teachers and were shown around the classroom to see the class curriculum, some of the things the children do inside the classroom, and some of the kids’ artworks.












Last year, the kids were treated to a free magic show and ice cream. This year, the school opted to serve refreshments for those who attended. Because I already had a light snack at home before we went to my son’s school, I politely refused the treats being offered, not that I don’t like them.

It’s just that I’m on a diet right now in preparation for my second round of blood tests in August. I’m really working so hard to lose weight and to get my triglyceride and bad cholesterol (LDL) levels back on track. Popping diet pills is the last thing on my mind right now, so yes I’m sticking to my diet plan. As for the delicious goodies on the refreshment table, thanks, but no thanks! Maybe next time!