Elementary School Lessons

One of the key factors in the curriculum change for K to 12 Basic Education Program is the STVEP or Strengthened Technical Vocational Education Program.

Here are a few reasons why this is so:

• Agenda No. 4 of the K to 12 Basic Education Reform 10 point agenda provides for the re-introduction of technical and vocational education in public high schools. Tech-voc curricula for Grades 11 and 12 are now being developed. At present there are 282 tech-voc high schools nationwide specializing in Arts and Trade, Agriculture and Fishery.

• Tech-voc education is one of three major strands of the program, the one that specifically aims to make high school graduates immediately employable by providing them with skills needed by business and industry, in case they won’t or can’t go to college. The second strand is geared towards college education while the third is oriented towards music and sports. The Tech-Voc Unit will coordinate with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the competency Levels 1 to 4 and Certificates of Competency for teachers and students. The private and public sectors and international institutions are also tapped to help develop a standard curriculum for these tech-voc schools.

• Agriculture and Fishery is an important factor in the STVEP curriculum. There are currently around 125 agri-fishery technical vocational schools that work with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and DepEd. The Memorandum of Understanding between DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala provides the sharing of resources by the two departments for the benefit of students disposed to learn skills in agriculture and fishery.

• Arts and trade will cover a whole range of skills, like building construction, drafting, electronics, food trade, machining, PC hardware servicing, welding, cosmetology, refrigeration and welding, plumbing, and garmentsEntrepreneurship will be taught in Grades 9 and 10. In effect, the K to 12 program is expected to turn out not only employable high school graduates but also graduates who are disposed to put up their own business and consequently create employment for themselves and others. Small entrepreneurs are generally regarded as engines of sustainable and inclusive growth.

Read more about the topic here: STVEP

Dear Teachers of my Children,

I know you and the school (the school we love the best!) put the learning of our children entrusted in your care as one of your topmost priorities and for that we are grateful.

My husband and I understand that in order for our children to learn more and understand the concepts they need to learn and understand, they need not listen to boring lectures while sitting for more than 6 hours just doing so. We know that you do your best to make learning interactive, dynamic and leaves lasting impression to young minds so that so these children are able to learn.

Let me just tell you that as a former classroom teacher, this former homeschooling mom who still currently teaches special needs students, I have been trained first and foremost to focus on “Process and not the Product” which means I am not too fond of children asked to memorize facts that they know no significance of.

All those wonderful ways of learning I mentioned: interactive, dynamic, creative and engaging are what the school, your school is all about and those are the reasons why we have stayed, why we have been with this school since year 2000.

Yep, that long.

I know the children need to have homework and if I may say so, this is the least of my worries because you teachers generally don’t give difficult ones.

I know that through projects they learn even more because they not only get to read about certain important topics but they do tasks that make them learn and understand more.

But here’s the thing…

Can you at least give us time to gather the materials needed for these projects or some unusual homework tasks?

I for one am rattled for things the children NEED  TO BRING THE NEXT DAY even if we have our own school supplies stash at home. Yes, we do have this kind of school supplies stash because going to a store or bookstore for a 1/8 illustration board or some art papers is just plain waste of time, energy and effort.

Since you have the lesson plans made in advance, is it possible to give the children enough time to tell their parents the materials they need for school, and not just ask them to bring these the next day?

My kids can bring cartolina pieces in primary colors the next day but don’t expect us to have yellow green or pink to be brought to school the next day.

A 1/8 and 1/4 illustration board? We have these too, but not bristol board.  

Maybe bring a folder the next day? We have these in long and short sizes, in color brown and beige but not in red or purple.

Envelope? We have these too in long and short sizes, in the common color brown but not in yellow or green.

Wood cut in specific lengths and sizes, a saw and some nails. <- Wait that was from a different school.

We can have these colors IF only you give us time enough to get these for you. Over the weekend perhaps?

I am not really complaining you see, if we are given enough time to get what the children need, you won’t hear us complain because we support our children in everything they do to be able to maximize their learning. 

I really hope you understand because this is not too much to ask for.

Sincerely,

A whole lot of moms and dads out there, not just me and my husband.

Here are a few tips on how to make paper houses.

If like me, you are design-challenged, it is better to look for available patterns in the internet to use for your paper houses.

Here is another post I made about making paper houses with some step-by-step instructions done by my then grade 3 daughter.

Here is a post about the materials to make paper houses.

Below is a photo of a pattern for a Gingerbread house that I was able to print out. Note however that I added space on the squares because these extra space will be what you will fold to glue to the other “walls” of your paper house. Note the yellow paper with extra flaps for gluing.

This is the end-product of the paper houses where the Gingerbread house pattern above was used:

For the houses, you can just add details to make it more “home-y”. We did not elaborate too much on the houses we used for the project on communities because as a teacher myself, I doubt who made “perfect” projects being submitted by children. If I were to “grade” projects, I will not choose the ones that are obviously not done by the children themselves.

Anyway…

For the tree, we just spread glue on brown paper and rolled it to form the “tree trunks”. We cut one end to use as “roots” and as braces to make the tree stand. The other end was flattened so that the “leaves” can be glued over it. Two green papers were glued together with the flattened end on one side. When the glued paper dried, we cut to form the green part of the tree.

Church paper house.

School paper house:

For both the church and school paper houses, I made my own patterns here. To avoid unnecessary usage of paper, use used paper as your pattern to be traced on the paper that you will use for the final product. Textured paper is better because these give the structures some “character”.

Just add details to make these paper structures look “real”.

There I hope I was able to help you make paper houses.

Parents, do not wait for the teachers to ask your children to make a community, you can have your children make their community like the wonderful Christmas villages we see during the Christmas season.

Our youngest child had her first Communion last Friday and here is she (with a photo I had to sneak taking, lol)

It was a bittersweet day for the family. The two older children were not able to go to this blessed occasion but I am glad my mother and brother as well my sister-in-law and their daughter witnessed the event.

The Scouting Movement in the Philippines used to be a big deal. Schools had other ideas and did not give that much importance to the Scouting Movement and this became a minor school activity: not all are required to be scouts, only those who are interested.

As a former member of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (from early grades till high school), I put importance to the Scouting Movement and had my children join. For three years (that is how long the two former homeschoolers have been going to regular school), they are members of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of the Philippines. My eldest daughter is a Rover Scout.

On his third year in the Scouting movement, my son is now a patrol leader. Their patrol was the only group that had a complete attendance during the investiture and overnight camping last weekend. There was only one who did not attend the overnight camping but they still had the highest percentage of attendees compared to other groups.

Hurray!

Here is a copy of the Panunumpa ng Scout and Batas ng Scout.

If you (yes, you, the parents) and/or your child plan to apply to Quezon City Science High School, here are the things you need to do:

Quezon City Science High School Requirements:

• 2 or 3 long envelopes (with stamps) with the child’s name and complete address written on the front
• 2 or 3 pieces 1 x 1 OR 2 x2 pictures
• 2 photocopies of Grade 5 grades/card
• grade 5 original grades/card
• for schools that have no numerical grades, ask the school guidance counselor or teacher-in-charge to give numerical equivalence of the grades
• letter of recommendation from the school principal

Grade Requirements for Applying to Quezon City Science High School:

•  For Math, Science and English: average of 85
• Other subjects: average of 83
• General weighted average should be at least 83

The first screening for Quezon City Science High School SY 2013 – 2014 will be on October 22, 2012. It will run for one hour only.

First screening test will mostly be about general subject areas.

For those who passed the second screening, an interview will be scheduled.

The youngest child (younger daughter) chose to make a comic strip (among five other tasks) for their English project for The Hundred Dresses book. We started conceptualizing and making sketches for the comic strip but she was a bit reluctant to finish. The hubby suggested that she use digital art drawing using MS Paint instead.

She finished the comic strip faster than the actual hand-drawn illustration.

Here is the first part of her comic strip, from the chapter “The Hundred Dresses” from the book with the same title, authored by Eleanor Estes. The book was written in 1944.

The Hundred Dresses is a sad, sad story, according to my daughter. It is, because ti was about bullying and being judged and being made fun of.