Staff Blog

Food is made up of nutrients that are very essential for our bodies. It is good to teach kids the importance of eating nutritious foods. 

Every July is Nutrition Month for all schools in the Philippines. On July 28 we had our culminating program for Nutrition Month. Lots of activities were prepared and the kids were very excited. There were coloring activities, preparing and cooking food and classifying pictures of different foods. The kids enjoyed the coloring activities. They also liked being involved in preparing and cooking food. The kids were divided into groups and each group was assigned a food to prepare and cook.  The different groups made garlic bread, chicken nuggets, fruit cocktail and calamansi juice.

During the classifying foods activity, the groups cut out pictures of different foods and classified them into three categories:  Go, Grow and Glow foods. Then they glued the pictures on a poster explained their work.

One of the students who was reporting for his group kept practicing his lines and asked, “Teacher, sakto ba ko? (Teacher, am I right?) Go foods give us energy, Grow foods give us protein and Glow foods give us vitamins and minerals.”  I answered him with a nod of my head and a thumbs up.

At the end of the program, the kids enjoyed eating the food they had prepared and cooked.  Yum! 

“Its not about what the teacher covers; its about what the students discover”.

The month of February at CCHS is not only Love Month but also Science and Math Month.  As a part of our science activities, we went on a science field trip last week to the University of the Philippines’ traveling Science Exhibit.  The kids enjoyed trying the various inventions and technology presented at different stations.  They were eager and curious as they roamed around the large room.

One of the children led me to one of the booths.  He told me to touch a small piece of gold colored metal. Suddenly I felt like I was being electrocuted!  Then the student said, “See, Teacher, the feeling is so weird!”  He called some of his friends over to try the experiment with him.  They held hands while the one of them touched the metal.  They all laughed when they each felt the current pass down the line through their bodies. 

Hands-on learning is important.  It motivates children to be more curious about the things around them.

“No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.”

            At first I was unsure and nervous about how to establish a teacher-student relationship with this sweet little girl.  I had noticed she sometimes got upset when a lesson was hard for her.  But with proper encouragement, motivation, and guidance, she now seems to have developed a readiness to face the challenges of our lessons.

            It started off one day in Math when she called to me, “Teacher, ale.”(which means please come over here).  I was puzzled about what she wanted.  She whispered to me and said, “Can you sit beside me?”  This gesture helped me realize she was having a hard time with the lesson.

            As the days have passed, this has become our routine.  When she needs me, she just calls my name and nods her head.  Calling my name and nodding her head is our sign language and we both understand.

            Recently one day during our Math class, I tried to sit beside her without having received the sign.  She resisted and said, “No teacher, I know this.” I learned that day to wait for her signal.

            Establishing a teacher-student relationship is very significant.  It is how we as teachers establish trust and boost a student’s confidence.  Perhaps, we are not only a teacher, but also a friend.

Being a teacher implies that when I am inside the classroom, I possess various roles.  I may be a model, a facilitator, a motivator, a surrogate-parent and so on.  Being a teacher at CCHS is a fulfilling job for me because I know every student has some specific learning need.  I may not be able to totally fulfill all their needs, but I can help each child attain more. 

Young kids always love to play and be imaginative.  Recently one day in Civics class was a particularly good day of fun and learning for me and my students.  Our topic on that day was studying about the various beautiful, historical, and well-known places in the Philippines.

I told the kids we were going on a trip.  I started our class with, “Kids I want you to close your eyes.  Pretend we are going to ride an airplane to Manila. We’ll start in Cebu and go visit the beautiful places in Luzon.”  Then the kids opened their eyes and looked at the pictures of different places in Luzon.  We “visited” Rizal Park, Fort Santiago, the Rice Terraces, and a lot more.

I was amazed at the interaction during the lesson.  The students asked a lot of questions and were curious about each place.  They wanted to know more about different places in our country, the Philippines.

And as I finished the class that day, I knew the kids had learned a lot and I felt fulfilled as their Civics teacher.