Elementary School Lessons

A Science project about the environment: a house, trees and ornamental plants.

Sample house with a red roof and red door made by me. That is the younger daughter in the background making the paper house that we will use for the project. Click here for the pattern of the house.

Below are the daughter’s hands at work putting together the paper that will become a house:

Initial design idea in the photo below. We lacked paper so the front floor of the porch is cut short, lol. That was the paper that we used for the houses. I needed to add that part because that was where the railings of the porch was attached.

We decided to put up the trees after the daughter has cut the “leaves” or the green parts, the trunks and the wee fruits. I drew the design on the construction paper and she cut these out. Notice the lopsided roof, that was still unattached at this point.

Details are important to make this “imaginary” house and backyard seem real, hence the doghouse which very much looks like Blue’s Clues home, flowers that look real (some are made of fabric while the rest are embellishments) and trees at the back of the “property”. We then went on to put together the itty-bitty craft creations by pasting, using thumb tacks and using toothpicks for the flowers. Roof has not yet been glued.

Finally, after putting together the finished products: trees were attached to the trunks, fruits were pasted on the trees, roof was glued to the house, flower pots arranged neatly, doghouse glued near the entrance/gate and mini-fish pond added, we were all done. The mini-pond consisted of blue construction paper and its plastic container/cover glued on top to make it look like water. Daughter cut the fish while I made little rocks out of black construction paper scraps.

Notice the China flag in the background: while I was putting together the details, the daughter made the China flag she will use for the United Nations’ Day parade.

We were done before 5pm even if we started before 9am. In between I had to cook lunch and wash the plates <- taken cared of by the eldest child. Tiring day it was but definitely worth all the effort.

The youngest child’s class was asked to make a “backyard” consisting of a house, trees and ornamental plants.

We decided to use paper materials for this one. It was tempting to use toys of course because that would be easier to do and accomplish though not necessarily a better option because of the expenses it will occur.

We mostly used colored construction paper and scrapbook embellishments from Filstar which we bought from a nearby bookstore. Since I still have some embellishments for my handmade notepads, we only got what we needed for this project.

Materials:

• 2 feet by 1 foot styro board
• green velvet paper for the “ground”
• a big bottle of glue
• scrapbook embellishments like shimmery flowers, chipboard embellishments and foam shapes among others.
• ruler
• scissors
• toothpick
• patterns for the houses 
• creativity/creative ideas
• lots of patience

It was difficult at first to “see” how we like to have her backyard but eventually, after we brainstormed ideas and gathered materials we might need, we came up with a plan. I had no problem with the younger daughter accomplishing a lot, she is the artsy one who can do arts and crafts with very little supervision. She did a big chunk of the project herself including putting together the parts that make up the house.

Here is a glimpse of what we put in the backyard.

More photos to be published soon. Photos and post published here.

Two Saturdays ago, our little Tenderfoot Scout had an all-day City-wide Scouting Movement with his fellow scouters from The Boy Scouts of the Philippines Quezon City Council.

The activities were held at the Quezon Memorial Circle and attended by many schools from Quezon City.

There was a parade of colors before the activities were given. The scouters played games, got acquainted and played more games.

It was a tiring but super fun activity not just for the scouters but for their families as well.

Mabuhay!

October 24 is United Nations Day.

I’m so glad we go to a school that supports this special day. If truth be told, I am disappointed with schools that celebrate Halloween but NOT United Nations Day. Harrumph.

Here is a photo of the younger daughter with her classmates all dressed up with the country of their choice.

She chose China. The husband at first suggested that we get her a Chinese dress but the daughter insisted we should not buy: RECYCLE was the teacher’s tall order.

We had her wear the husband’s red silk Chinese polo (am thankful we still had this in the closet), with the long sleeves rolled up and a belt to make it look smaller than it actually is. Black leggings and her school shoes that look like the traditional Mary Jane Chinese shoes completed the get-up along with a long white scarf and a bond paper with the word China stapled on it to make it look like a sash.

The children were asked to bring food that represent the country they chose.  We brought shumai or siomai for the class while others brought a lot of different food.

Yes! I am, or my blog is, giving away a Cisco Linksys E4200 router IF I get the most number of respondents:

All you got to do is go to my blog post:

http://teacherjulie.com/2011/10/17/cisco-linksys-e1000-router-parental-control-review-e4200-router-giveaway/
And answer the 4 survey questions.

That’s it, easy peasy!

The youngest daughter’s weekend project consists of making a house and backyard with lots of trees and flowers.

I was able to get a lot of ideas in the web when I searched for patterns. In the afternoon I tried to do a house and a tree.

The daughter loved it! She can’t wait for the print outs for the detailed outline so she can make her own.

Here’s what I made: presenting my low-cost housing unit and a tree, ta-da!

The youngest daughter enjoyed “decorating” the outside walls of the house when they came home from school:

I “copied” this pattern but I used my own measurement. For the 4th wall, I had difficulty adjusting it to be able to get a square. I obviously ran out of paper which made the house pink in front and white on the sides and back.

Am excited to get more supplies at the bookstore for this project. Can’t wait for tomorrow to come 😀

My kid’s growing up so fast and he is immensely enjoying himself doing  many activities with school friends.

The bag in the photos is my son’s must-bring because it has inhaler, wet tissue pack, ID and baby powder in it.

Dear son,

Your school days begin at the time you wake up at 5am to get ready for school. Sometimes it’s easy for you to wake up effortlessly but more often than not, you have to drag yourself out of bed.

Most of the time you and your sisters are able to have breakfast before the school bus goes beeping at around 5:45am. If Kuya Driver is early, you all bring your breakfast to school.

You come home with your sisters tired, but happily chatting away how your day was spent in school. And yes, you rarely come home “clean” as you get to play with your classmates while waiting for the school bus to bring you back home.

This was a Science project about the stages of physical development.

Was it just a few years back when you tried to play kadang-kadang while you were still a homeschooler? I still feel you just turned six years old when in fact, you turned 10 two months ago. Now, you are learning about the reproductive system among other things and getting all O’s in Math when the report card was given.

You love the outdoors even if you risk having asthma attack at night when you get tired. Being a Boy Scout is not easy but you found joy in it so much so you are on your second year of being one. Why, you even spent a three day camp with your schoolmates last month and tomorrow is another big day with Scouts from other schools.

And what about the Dramatics Club? Last year’s performance was something I know we are proud of and something you enjoyed because this year, you joined the club again. We are definitely looking forward to see you perform again. My fervent wish is to listen to you recite a poem again in Filipino or watch you perform a folk dance.

There are a lot more to discover, learn and conquer and I know you will be able to do these things you enjoy doing.

You are growing up so fast!

I love you to the moon and back!

Your mom, Teacher Julie