July is Nutrition Month

Nutritious is Delicious!

That was the theme of G's school for July, the nutrition month. They have lined-up several activities to celebrate it. One was a pizza making activity to be conducted by Greenwich. When we received the letter asking if we'd let G join, Chard and I were a little hesitant. The event would start at 8:30 AM, and G would need to be in school even earlier! How can G make it on time when he usually wakes up at 8?!?

Lately, probably due to school, G's circadian rhythm has changed. He goes to sleep really late, around 11PM, hence the waking up late. We prepare him for bed early, lights off after a few minutes but it takes him 2-3 hours before dozing off. I even sometimes sleep first before he does, his tatay - most of the time :D. I'm not worried though since he takes long afternoon naps so his rest and sleep hours are still relatively okay.

Pizza making day! I woke G up at 7AM. He was taking his breakfast and was still a little sleepy when Sir Steve (school service) was already honking outside. Oh dear, it was just 7:30 and G didn't even bathe yet. Good thing, Teacher Lenith who leaves near volunteered to pick him up a little later. I immediately bathed him, changed him into his PE uniform and while putting his socks, we heard another honk. Teacher Lenith! To cut it short, he made it on time :)

The plan of just driving him to the place wouldn't be possible since it would be on a Wednesday and Lucky (our old lil pink car♥) is not allowed on the city streets. So how can we wake him early enough to be ready for school? I thought of a way so we signed and paid the required fee. The day before the event, i asked his Lola to try and make him take his nap a little earlier. If that fails, i told her to let him go without a nap so i can put him to bed early when i get home. We did the latter.

Pizza making day! I woke G up at 7AM. He was taking his breakfast and was still a little sleepy when Sir Steve (school service) was already honking outside. Oh dear, it was just 7:30 and G didn't even bathe yet. Good thing, Teacher Lenith who leaves near volunteered to pick him up a little later. I immediately bathed him, changed him into his PE uniform and while putting his socks, we heard another honk. Teacher Lenith! To cut it short, he made it on time :)

The Greenwich branch conducting the activity was in SM Fairview. I wasn't with G (we had work that day) so i just asked Tita to take pictures. According to Tita, G was not really cooperative. He joined the group just for a few minutes then asked to be carried. I figured, it was probably because of the time - also, he overslept a little :D. (We learned later, he was coming down with flu). But at least he was able to make his own pizza. They even let him bring it home for us. How sweet! ♥

The final activity for the celebration was a little program at G's school. A few days before, G's teacher texted me asking if i can read a story to the kids. After fixing my schedule, and thinking that wouldn't be so hard since i'm just going to read to G's class with about 5-6 students there, i said yes. I also learned after a couple of days that i was the one to choose what storybook to read, there were no specifics except the story should mention 'food.' I looked for something theme appropriate from G's books but didn't find anything. I went to Books for Less to hopefully find a bigger story book so the kids can see and be more engaged, but there was nothing. Then i got a text message from Teacher Neth if i would be needing a projector. Wow, a projector just for the class? Hmm, why not. I can download an ebook instead and the kids would be able to see it better. Yes, a projector would be good! So the night before, i searched online for a free downloadable ebook, but was having difficulty due to the nutrition theme. Finally, Chard saw one but it wasn't free, you need to purchase it for a few dollars. He was able to download a free copy but was, of course, watermarked. I thought, the kids won't mind, that would do. I needed to go back to my studying.

 

Morning came and since the event would start at 9AM, we went to the school early hoping i can finish earlier since we still needed to go to the office. When we got there, i saw a program setup! A stage, a projector, little seats and big ones! It was a school program, and i am supposed to read in front of this big crowd! ahm, uhm.. I.Have.Stage.Fright!!! It doesn't matter who or what age group, if I'll be infront of an audience i get scared, i get nervous!! I was trying to calm my nerves, the teachers were encouraging, but it wasn't working.

When i started reading, my voice was shaky and i was trembling. I tried so hard to stay calm, looking at the audience every once in a while but i stared at the monitor most of the time. The title of the book was 'Apple Schnapple.' It was a great story, really appropriate for the theme since it tells how to choose a healthier snack over sweets. But nevermind, it was a mess. I was a mess. The kids were hardly listening; I bet they didn't even understand what i just read.

I wanted to explain myself! I wanted to say that's not how i read to G. I am engaging and fun and really cool! But of course i didn't. I was just glad that G wasn't old enough to be embarassed by his own mom. :-( Good thing, Teacher Lenith saved the day! She gave a little recall about the story 'Mommy Chari' just read. One really funny answer about what you'll get if you eat too many sweets was 'heart attack!' hahaha. At least, the kids were responding, they were listening afterall.

The school even gave me a little token. I was really touched and i promised myself I will be better next time. :-)

♥♥♥

Trigger happy with G! ♥

Our first collaging attempt! ♥ (late post)

Every Friday, G comes home from school with an assignment (aligned with the week's or month's theme) to be done over the weekend. For July, their theme was 'All About Me' and the culminating activity was to make a scrapbook or collage featuring, of course, Gabriel the Great! :D

We brought out all our art supplies and some leftover gift wraps, we had so much fun with the cutting and gluing and sticking and folding and painting. Also, expenses = 0!!! (well not 0 technically coz of course we bought those stuff before, the point here is we made use of what's available)

Here are some of the pictures. But be warned - this is our first try - so please manage your expectations. :D :D :D





glitterized :D



gluing, sticking painting!

spelling?

yes, it's 3D haha

skill level = 100000000



♥ butterfly kisses ♥



After digging for pictures to use, it made me realize how backlogged we are on printing. :(


finish product!



♥♥♥

Gabriel was assessed!

It has been a week but i still can't get over the conversation we had with G's teacher.

After a little background check on our family, she presented her assessment as well as her goals for G to achieve by the end of the school year. Some of the things she told me and Chard on what G needed to work on, like longer attention span, learning to pack away things after use and following teacher's instructions - i totally agreed with. But her other observations - i was in disbelief!

* Cannot kick a ball
* No concept of alphabet
* Unable to identify colors and shapes

Are you serious?! Are you sure we are talking about my son, Gabriel Hijo Tumapang Pang? G  can kick a ball while it's at rest, he can kick it while it's moving, he can kick it while holding it, he can toss it then kick it. He can kick a ball! He can even catch a ball now. But i was keeping an open mind. He probably hasn't been given the opportunity to show his soccer prowess yet. haha

No concept of alphabet? This is another 'seriously?!?' A close friend who is a teacher explained that a child needs to recite his alphabet perfectly before they can give him a 'check' on that. I get that since sometimes G really doesn't want to do stuff especially when he's told to - but what was used was 'NO CONCEPT'. This is really weird because  G is always reciting his alphabet even during 'quiet time' and i figured he would have done that in school too - G was never the quiet, shy boy. Also, i mentioned before how he is into spelling.

Unable to identify colors? Just the other week, G suprised me when he wanted to color something with 'pits' (he meant peach :D). And then just yesterday he told me the color of his towel is blue light ( he meant light blue:D). Gabriel already knew his primary colors before he was 2. And shapes? He knows his basic shapes and even knows his heptagon until dodecagon.

I asked how she came up with these assessments. I didn't get a sound answer because we were running out of time. When i told her that Gab already knew these things, she just removed it from her list. I understand that these are just intial assessments, but how can she create a proper program for G if she can't see what my son is capable of doing?

After thinking it through and going over the assessment for the Nth time, i came to realize - she has identified the socio-emotional needs of G, and that is more important. It is actually the reason why we wanted him to go to school in the first place, to learn how to socialize with kids his own age, to know how to react when a kid grabs a thing from him, to know how to control his emotions. We, especially yours truly, are not particularly experts on handling our emotions so that would be hard to teach our son, we need experts' help on that. :) The cognitive side, that we can handle!

And that's just what we have been working on this week. One of the identified need for improvement is G's use of palmar grip in holding the pencil. Upon further inquiry, Teach was able to identify the culprit, his iPAD! By making this sometimes the yaya, i knew it would eventually come around and ask for its pay. This week, we limited his use of iPad, kept all his paint brushes, brought out the pencils and colors and started writing and coloring.

Here are some of his work...



he can write his ABCs :-)


We also learned that one activity to improve his hand muscles is to play with clay or play dough so i looked for an easy recipe in the web. Here it is:

2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp oil
2 cups water
1 cup salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar (to help it keep longer) (we skipped this)
food colouring or edicol dye

Mix all together in a pan except dye over low heat and constantly stir until it gets sticky (about 5 mins.). Turn off heat and let it cool. Divide dough and add food coloring. They are not as hard as the commercial ones but at least you know they're safe. :-)

The encounter with G's teacher made me realize one thing - i should stick to what i know about my son and yet keep an open mind for other people's observations.  Not everybody can and will see how wonderfully talented my kid is. I should understand that it's  a lot different to look through my eyes when it comes to him. And i shouldn't discount the fact that I probably see him as this since he is my own. :-)

♥♥♥

After reading my post, it made me realize how im fretting over this ONLY almost 3 yo kid. hahaha. But I can't help it, research shows how important the forming years are and how working adults are benefiting from having a good early-childhood education. So I will try to be there every step of the way. :-)

Gabriel's story!

The final requirement to pass one of my major courses this term was to make a mashup. I immediately decided to work on a subject i know very well, my Gabriel Hijo. ♥ Write-up to follow, i hope you'll enjoy watching :)

MMS 102

FMA7

Pinteresting indoor fun: painting!

We had a lot of leftover from our outdoor painting escapade so we extended the fun indoors! This week, it has been our activity...

Everynight!

drying his work

hangs it to dry



"exhibit" :P



G's work

G's work

Tatay's work



Nanay's work (i was teaching him how to do these but with his tooth missing, he has difficulty blowing :-( )



Gab's work

and every morning!

Finally, we consumed all the paint so we're moving to another project: G's 'all about me' collage!

♥♥♥