Our Back to School Journey…

How have you been? Are you kids going back to school already? Kuya Angelo’s first day was quite tough. At first he was too excited but upon entering to his old school he became fussy and cranky. Infact,he was too hesitant to enter his classroom. Can’t blame him though, this is something new again for him although he’s been in his school from FS2 to Grade 1. 

   
 But after explaining and comforting him he eventually agreed to go inside. I hope in a week or two he’ll be more confident to his new teacher and classmates.

Anyhow, since we are in back to school mode. I’d like to share some of new things we did for the past week. Aside from giving him a short prayer and sending him with words of blessings every day. This school year, I started to make his lunch something special. 

Oh no! I’m not speaking of bento lunch or baon serye. I just simply added a lunch note in his lunch box and water bottle.   

 The first time he came back from school he was too excited to tell me that he was so surprised and he couldn’t throw the bottle. 
Then I realized that since we are away from them for few hours lunch is the perfect time to remind them of our love!   These lunch box notes are super easy and convenient. Simply print them and send them as is, and your child will feel loved all throughout his or her school day.

I also started to write encouraging words on our easel so when they woke up they can see/read a love notes from mommy!  

  
   
These little touches are sure to make them SMILE😄

***water bottles are free from itiswrittenonthewall while the lunch notes are from pinterest free printables.

Learning through play – Cereal Box Activity..

This activity require little prep, do not require a lot of fancy supplies or even a lot of printables. Oh, the creativity begins! Keeping toddlers busy yet having fun, all you need is an empty cereal box and markers.
  

This is also quick to set up and simple to teach the objective and let your child explore to expand their learning. 

   
    
    
    

 Activities that teach do not have to cost a lot of money, or take a lot of time to prepare. I believe   you can do so much at home simply!

   
 

Congrats Kuya Angelo!

For recieving the Best Achiever Award in your class.

  
May God continue to bless you with wisdom, understanding and knowldege thay you may be wise like King Solomon.

  

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5

Daddy, Mommy, Tita Raquiza, Inigo and Isabelle are so proud of you our little achiever!

  

How I Limit The Screen Time In Our House

Let me tell you a secret on how you can limit the screen time in your house despite the Spring break.

When I received the email that the school will close for two weeks, I think of an ideas that the little man will not insist of watching Disney Junior or play the Ipad the whole day.

When his break started we made an agreement that I can only allow him to watch or play the Ipad if he’ll do all these things first.

It’s not GUIDELINES it’s our HOUSE RULES…

1. Practice TELLING THE TIME.







2. READ at least ONE book



3. Answer the BRAIN QUEST Questionnaire





 4. LEARN NEW THINGS 

Today he learned singular and plural using our floor puzzle. 





5. PRACTICE his MATH SKILLS





6. And lastly, ALWAYS HAVE TIME to PLAY with his SIBLINGS.





No compromises. No complaints. No Negotiation. Just do these things. And once those things were done, he could watch or play the Ipad for two hours in a day.

The List is simple, it’s short, and in an one week trial so far, it has shown promising results.😛

Wednesday Activity – Melted Mini Bundt Cake Crayons

We have a bunch of broken crayons I have been saving, but can’t find any way of how Kuya Angelo can still use it.

Then I thought it would be fun to try to recycle the crayons. And come up with something he will surely love.

The first thing I did was to pulled out the mini-bundt -shaped baking tray I bought from Day to Day.

Then we remove all the paper and break the crayons up into small pieces. We tried to fill the molds up so they were pretty full but without having any bits hanging over the edges of the shape.

Next place baking tray in oven until crayons melt. (About 15 mins.) I watched them closely until they are completely melted.

Remove tray from oven. Let cool for a few minutes, then put into the freezer until they harden.

Place baking tray on counter, turn it over and pop it out.They should fall out easily.

Aren’t they gorgeous?

Hello 2015

Happy New Year Friends! Pardon me but I’ll start my post with the latest achievement of our eldest son Kuya Angelo.

I am proud to say that he was awarded First Prize in their Spelling Bee Competition and not only that he’ll be qualified for the Emirates Level.

The second level will be conducted during the First week of February. School toppers of every school will participate in this level. Every participant will get a certificate and all the top winners will get a trophy. Whoa! This will be a great opportunity with him.

It was only during his winter break when we really focused and worked hard. We are doing it religiously. Every day we made sure that we are allotting time to finish the booklet.

The booklet contained words from A- Z and during our first few days we really made a lot of misspelled words but that doesn’t stopped him from learning. In fact he became more diligent and eager to learn.

And it paid off! I couldn’t ask for more! I can’t contain my happiness! Stage- mom alert talaga!

Congratulations Kuya Angelo! I knew that you are gifted and truly God’s Champion! I prayed that God will continue to bless you with wisdom and shower you with His graces.

Daddy, Mommy, Inigo and Jelly Bean are so proud of what you achieved.

A is for Apple painting and stamping

After the awesome writing and counting lesson we also tried to used apple for a more fun filled activity.

I chopped the apple vertically and little A
got started right away – dunking and stamping, dunking and stamping, again and again. Then we used the Q-tips for adding the leaves.

And then he started to draw apple tree, I was so amazed that he was like demonstrating on how to paint apple tree. He was so sure that if we mixed green and red it will be brown color. And that what he used for the trunk, and then he added nest and birds and apples. I was just watching him as he was enjoying the day.

The end result {besides a toddler with multicoloured hands}? A beautiful masterpiece that could be hung and displayed or used to wrap a gift.

Writing and Counting Skills – A is for Apple

We have been doing a lot of math and writing activities over at our house this week!

In connection with little A’s lesson in school we did the A is for apple fun learning activities. In case you’re wondering why I mainly focus with writing simply because writing is not his cup of tea. He always have reasons every time we are doing exercises so as much as possible I wanted to add spice to our lesson.

All the printables are all free to download from 2teachingmommies.

Pretend Play – Picnic in our room

After a long week holiday today is back to normal and the school starts again. Luckily, little A’s sleeping habit didn’t changed despite the holiday kaya walang naging problema sa gisingan.Yes!

Anyhow, this week theme is about Being safe and healthy and his assignments are to bring plastic and pictures of fruits.

I bought assorted fruits from Gift Market for aed 2 each. At dahil natuwa ako I’ve got all the fruits na meron sila like grapes, apple, mango, orange and banana. When I saw the fruits kasi all I’m thinking was we could use it for our pretend play.

And I was right the moment little A saw the fruits he asked me if we could have picnic in our room.

Who am I to say no to a very thoughtful boy! He knows kasi that im not allowed to get tired so I should be resting kaya he brought everything into our room.

Of course I should insert some points here and explaining to him that fruits are healthy and we should eat fruits. After a brief discussion of the importance of eating healthy foods, he started to prepare our food. He served cookies and breadsticks.. yan ang healthy!! haha

We had so much fun that even when we are done eating, we continued our play by using our white board and marker to draw some fruits and practice his writing and
spelling skills.

Simple toys can make a big difference to a child’s imagination!

Have a blessed Sunday everyone..

Mathematics and Literacy

I guess you knew by now that I am a newbie mom of a preschool boy and it’s quite obvious that I always document every assignments or activities that he has been learning from school or at home.

After all we parents are our child’s first teacher, right?!

Little A is learning his math skills. Now, he can write the numbers 1-20 which surprised me kasi I thought hanggang 15 pa lang sia.

And then he told me that he learned new numbers and wanted to write it as well. I was amazed, of course! hehe

However, in literacy he learnt to form letters using the formation rhymes. You must see him writing each letters as in ang cute!

For instance he’ll write S while writing it he will say “slither down the snake” or for P “down the pan across the plate”. Basta kabisado nia lahat ng rhymes ng letters nakakatuwa. Mana sa tatay! Very smart!! hehe

That’s why we practice forming the letters through blending and segmenting.

Kids will always have excuses when it comes to writing skills but through constant practice you will see a big progress.