Science On the Move - Traveling Exhibit of PSC

Last week was my son's school foundation celebration week. The kids had to perform mass demo and since the school itself is not very spacious for such, they had to do it at a more convenient city coliseum. During their practice, I found out the Traveling Exhibit of Science at the ground floor of the coliseum. I made a mental note to drop by there with P.

The day came for their performance came and after which, we ventured to the exhibit. I wasn't planning on going there that time but he insisted on going in after he saw one of his friends inside.

Plenty of things to see although way beyond his level but the fun of discovering the manipulative exhibits and running around with friend were enough to keep us inside for almost an hour.

Sad thing is my cam batt conked out and I wasn't able to take any picture except for the one below. :-(


Photo taken with my outdated phone. Unknown little girl was brave enough to try one of the exhibits.

The Mushroom Planet

Since P has started going to a regular school as a K2 last June, and Teacher M has also started part-time teaching outside the house, our learning-at-home activities has dwindled. Instead, Teacher D tried to fill in the gap and provided ebooks like the Mushroom Planet series.

P has already finished the HP series and wants to watch the final movie sequel. But of course, it will be until this Nov that people have to wait for that. As of the moment, it is the Basidium-X that the father and son are occasionally talking about.

But since last week that P had the exam week which only requires them to be at school for an hour (compared to the regular 3 hours), and coincidentally TM is also a bit off from school, we were able to go back to a little lapbooking. P has also been complaining that the teachers at school are teaching him things that he already know. This past week has just been a good chance for us to learn NEW things. We were finally able to finish his Invertebrate Page. This is after a few months of doing the vertebrates and hibernating afterward.

We were also able to finish cutting out the Wizard of Oz stuff but have yet to gather enough stamina to really glue them on. (Ah! We might really have to buy some supply of glue as we have been running out of it.)

At about this time also, (between June to Aug. this year,) P has also tried his hand on journal writing. I might have to scan the entry soon. It's barely a page filled but for a five year old who doesn't really like writing, it is an accomplishment. He was able to write down most of the words there except for some like Science, etc. Well, TM is not pushing now. Crossing my fingers that he would continue to have a positive attitude towards it.

Nighty night as P is a bit under the weather this past week. ;)

Pilip on Harry Potter

5-28-2010

When I finished book one of the Harry Potter, I thought that I was going to read it again.
I didn't know that there was a "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."
Then, when I was looking into my father's bookshelf, I saw the books of Harry Potter.
Then I got the book 5 and looked inside it.
Then, I showed it to my father.
Then when I finished the book 3, I was excited to be at chapter 16.
But then, when I was reading, it should have been three champions but there was four and the Hogwarts champion was Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter.
But there should be one champion in each school.
Before I read HP, and my father explained about it.
When I was at Chapter 1, book 1, I didn't know that the Dursleys didn't like Harry.

-Pilip, 5 1/2, Gryffindor

(This is a short response on reading Harry Potter books as dictated to Teacher Mom.)

Reading Harry Potter

Since late last month or early this April, Hubby introduced Harry Potter to kiddo. The little boy has taken a liking to the series that he is now starting on the 3rd book. Since we don't have the paperback version of Book 1 and 2, he has to make do with an ebook file.

He would read and read and try to talk about it in between. This has led the adults (Hubby and I) to reread the books again or at least browse and try to remember things from the books so we can talk about it. This was mostly Hubby part coz Me has more chores to do and not very much interested to start the series again. But I do try to snatch a few pages to where Kiddo has left off every now and then.

If only I can remember where the photos are so I can include it here. Hmm..racking the brain now.

Official Field Trip '10

The Daycare Days are almost over as we journeyed through the Kids Field Trip. I know that it wasn't really that perfect but the point that everyone really prepared for this and enjoyed is all worth the effort.

P has joined the place for almost seven months and it has enriched his childhood life. Sure, it may not boast of a lot of fancy academic haven but the friends and other people that he had made will surely be a good part of his early life.

It had been originally planned to go to the butterfly garden for obvious reasons but changed it a day before. Here's the list on the what and where.

Kamarikutan: Hang out and see the Koi fishes which has really grown well since we first saw them three years ago. We had to pay 15 as entrance fee, while all the while, I was just hoping to be able to eat a sandwich instead. Hmm...just go with the flow even tho P did ask why we didn't eat anything there after the stop.

ABAB: THIS is the highlight of the day for me, as Teacher Mom. Antonio Baustista Air Base. The other places in the list is quite accessible but this one might need a special arrangement for a visit. The kids got to see the Sikorksky and Nomad up close and take pictures. Here's some real action at least.

Kuyba: Not really sure with the name of the place coz it's pretty new and still being developed. We got here after a long, dusty and bumpy ride. I honestly wasn't able to appreciate the place coz of the ongoing constructions, and the hot and and very sunny weather at that time (around eleven in the morning.) This might be a good place to visit on an earlier time or late and cool time of the day.

PWRCC: This is a field trip itinerary default. Since we've been there recently (last Dec. '09), a quick tour was fine with me. The midday temperature is a big factor. But P seemed to have enjoyed our last trip here that he was still excited to be back in the place and see the animals in the wildlife center. Not necessarily the crocs but rest of the wildlife in the bigger and less maintained area. Him and another boy were the only ones. It seems that most of the people on the trip simply wanted to head to the next and final stop to eat and cool ourselves.

Balsahan: Initially has 10 peso fee but nothing came up at all. ;) It's been a long time since TM has last been here and the ride was surely something I would not want to relive. The water is almost perfect for the kids to play. Even P who has bit of thing against bodies of water was convinced to get his feet wet. That is something that I would remember and hopefully he will too.

Oops! After the typical quick stop and dash trip to various places, we still have one last place to go. The Baker's Hill. At this point of time, most of the kids are already tired and sleeping. Everybody is almost all ready to head home except for a last quick stop to buy baked goodies to take home. The head teacher and day care worker did the logistics planning pretty well. After the heat, and tiredness, it was a fun-filled field trip.

End of the Month, Feb 2010

Math:

TM made Lola's goodies into useful props for the Math lesson on money. Just a little set up to practice addition, decision-making etc. It also doubles up as a reward and snacks after a play/study session.


Wrapped up Half-hour Clock lesson for now. We managed to find some paper play money and this had helped in mastering the 10's, 20's..At least, he can now add in tens (up to 100) and perhaps a bit of 100's. We haven't got the 1000 bill yet. We have yet to collect and wash real coins for our class use. We should have started with coins but what's the big deal. It's quite hard to collect the coins and use it when we need loose change. :)

Here's what our limited paper money resource bought at 1 peso each in front of a school.

10 - 5 pcs.
20 - 5 pcs.
50 - 2 pcs.
100 - 2 pcs.
500 - 1 pc

Finally managed to print out the Singapore Math 1B placement test. Addition skill is improving, and we still need to work on subtraction. After browsing other resources to work on subtraction, we started a bit of MammothMath samplers on addition and subtraction. The latter is still a sweet and slow work of progress.

Science:


As planned, we finished the five classes of vertebrates: Birds, Mammals and Fish

Even if TM wasn't really planning to do the invertebrates, we decided to start the starfishes and introduce the echinodermata.

The science part were thru a lapbook. We are still working on it. Hopefully build it (finalize in the lapbook) by mid-March.

Reading:

No lapbooks for language this month. Instead, we worked on Reading Starter 1 and Reading Spectrum 1. P finds the first one quite easy. He generally can answer every part of the post reading questions. The format is very consistent in every post-reading questions.

As for the Reading Spectrum, the selections are also easy but the post reading exercises varies every now and then. Different approaches on vocabulary, thinking skills and phonics. P finds it a bit challenging sometimes when the question format is a bit unfamiliar. But so far, he manages alright.

We haven't had a lot of bedtime stories since we got sick at the start of the month. Hopefully, we can get back to it by next month.

Geography:

Not much Seterra Geo this month.

Art:

Got a chance to do a little t-shirt printing with Tita B's last Feb. 22. P designed his own shirt, a heart and two frogs. He was really proud of his handiwork ;)


Thanks Tita B!

2 Little Hands Baking

We invited a friend over to play one afternoon. They also had a chance to play little baker last Monday. Here they are and this is what they made.

For February

List to cover for the month of February:

Science - Mammals, Fish, Birds
Lang.&Lit - Oz relating to mammals like Dogs,
Math - Wrap up Clock half-hour, try move into Minute BUT if not, do MONEY
Geography - Review Southeast Asia, move on to Mid-east Asia

January 2010

Science

Vertebrates:
Reptile - lapbook, origami (snake)
Amphibian - lapbook, origami (frog)

This month, we had been working on the animal lapbook. This should have been better if followed accordingly from water to air habitat but Teacher Mom decided to let the kid have a hand on deciding which one comes first. It should be fun at this point anyways.

TM prepared(pre-cut) the papers, searched for the books and P did some interesting reading and gluing at the library. We can't take books out of the library.

Language and Lit

The Wizard of Oz

a. Included a little of geography. We now know where to find Connecticut on the U.S. map. Our next will be Kansas.

More to do on ti next month. Tornado, dogs, etc.

Math

Clocks

Last month, we started on the clock thing. Used Mammoth Math pages outdoor. We actually went far this time, at Baker's. But P seemed got an overload with the minute part. TM went overboard. We have to slow down for a month. We'll be reviewing this before this month ends.

Geography

We discovered another good software to play maps. Seterra. We had occasionally played this one this month. We've covered Southeast Asia. But TM has already explored Northern and Mid-east Asia. Located usual places mentioned in the news (CNN) such as Pakistan, Afghanistan. ;)

The Diary of Riding Bike Without Training Wheels

Here's the timeline how we started on this independent bike ride journey;

Dec. 2009 - Mid-month, a few weeks before the year ends, we decided to remove the training wheels of his bike. He got this bike since we got here back in 2007. We thought that it was time for him to learn without the training wheels before he finally outgrow the bike.

We started with pushing him but he was still scared of the idea. U, a neighborhood friend, had tried on his own and he looked like he might learn faster than P. After two days of pushing from behind, we sort of forgot about the bike. (We actually had our backs hurting ;> ) P still needs more courage to try it on his own.

Jan. 19, 2010

While I was preparing my compost, P started to try to ride the bike. When the F saw this, he tried to help push his bike. It wasn't much. We took turns on this. As I was about to call it a day, P finally managed to ride a meter or two all by himself, without falling. The Father was ecstatic. We were all surprised and happy. Ah..my pushing almost over. He may not need our physical help anymore but mere moral support instead. We can simply give him technical suggestions and cheer him on. He has overcome his fears finally.

Ja. 20, 2010

After the big hurdle of overcoming his fears yesterday, we set on more opportunity to practice. We still had to push him a bit but since he has overcome his fear and he was willing to try on his own. He tried very hard that by the time we finished and had to wash in the bathroom, he complained about his hands and wrists hurting. I had to explain to him how he should put his weight on his butt and not on his arms as he ride.

Jan. 21, 2010

We shot a video today of Pilip riding a bike by himself.

On to another day of practice, along with his friend today. P seems to be decided on learning to ride on his own. Even with his friend around, he has concentrated on riding by himself for sometime. They did have enough time to play together, nonetheless. When the friend left, we got on to some "serious" practice. I took a short video finally as we cheered him on. This week was a milestone. It was fun. Hopefully, he'll get better by the end of this month. That's one week to go. :)