First Day High in Grade 1

I am in senti mode yesterday. I took a day off so I can take Bela to school as it is her first day after the summer vacation. I can’t believe that I already have a grade-schooler.

Parents were still allowed to enter the school grounds and so I was able to help her carry her things. She has a lot as she has 15 books, 9 notebooks and 9 folders. I guided her to her new classroom (which was the same room when she was in Jr. Prep) and helped her settle down in her chair. 

She asked me if I have no work and I told her that I took a day off so I can bring her to school. I asked her is she can already manage on her own on her second day and she confidently said yes.

I am a bit worried for her as this is a big school setup already. She will have 8 different teachers for all her 8 subjects. She will even have Filipino and Sibika at Kultura subjects now.

I still see her as my baby. But I know I can’t stop her from growing up. Soon she will be using pls laser for experiments in school, choose her course in college, and many more. 

My prayer for now is that she will be able to adjust well in this new setup. My husband was telling me that he knows that Bela will do well and I should not be worried. I guess what I am feeling now is just natural for mommies. I guess it is time for me to accept that Bela is no longer a baby and I should let her spread her wings.

New Bag for Grade 1

I was reading the memo that I received upon enrollment and I learned stroller bags are not allowed in school. I was worried at first as I just shopped for Bela’s things and she will have 15 books, 10 notebooks, 8 folders, and her other stuff like her pencil case plus a separate lunch bag, so I know that it will be a heavy load.

Thankfully I learned from Mrs. Del Rosario, Bela’s teacher in Prep, that they only need to bring home their notebooks everyday and the books will just be left in school. But still 9 notebooks is a lot so I have to buy a bigger bag for her. She only has small bags when she was in Kinder and Prep, which can’t accommodate her 9 notebooks.

Bela loves animals so I know a bag with animal prints will really make her feel excited to go to school. And so I ordered her bag from Beatrix and she was just the happiest when she saw it:

It is a little pricey compared to her Skip Hop bags and I was not able to find any online coupon to get discounts but this is the only brand that I found which has animal prints and looks durable to hold her things.

I will be bringing Bela to school today. I am one excited and anxious mom.

Good Job Ate

Last Saturday was the distribution of cards at Bela’s school. Howell attended a seminar so I was the only one who met with Bela’s teacher to discuss her progress in school and to get her card.

I actually know from some of my mommy friends who have daughters in Sr. Prep that they are already using the numerical grading system for the Prep so I was actually excited to see Bela’s progress. And I am so proud and happy after seeing her grades as she really did good.

She only needs more practice for Writing but I actually expected this as I know from the beginning that Writing is her weakness. But according to Mrs. Del Rosario, she can see that Bela is really trying.

Her highest score is Comprehension (she got 98). Her inquisitive nature indeed helped in this area. LOL.

Good Job Ate!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.

UN Celebration 2011

Next week will be the United Nations celebration in Bela’s school. Just look at her picture last year when she was still in Junior Prep:

This year, they will be representing the country USA and they were asked to dress as a cowgirl. Good thing Bela has jeans skirt and checkered polo shirt already so I just bought boots and cowboy hat for her.

I attended the meeting at school last October 18 to discuss the UN celebration and they will be having a performance on October 24 (so I better make sure that my sony handycam is ready) and then they will have a Country Fair on October 26 where we will set up Game booths for the kids and a food fair where parents will be bringing food for everybody to share.

On October 27, they will have Peace Treats which is their version of Trick or Treat. Parents are also welcome to attend this activity where kids will go around different offices to get their treats and parents will have a booth where they can also distribute treats to the kids.

I am sure all the Prep students will have fun in the activities lined up for them this October.

On Kumon

Did you know that Bela’s instructor from Kumon asked her to bring 30 worksheets with her on our vacation? My mom was actually not keen on the idea as she does not want to make her grand child work while on vacation. But I still brought it hoping that she will be able to find time to at least do one work sheets a day.

But she was only able to work on it in the plane on our way to New York and did not touch her Kumon worksheets after that. LOL. Well she was jet lag on our first few days and so she is asleep by at most 4 PM, then we are always on the go and of course she is drained already from the continuous travel.

But she was able to finish all her worksheets for May when we came back here in Manila. Thanks to the lola, who took time to assist Bela as she does her worksheets everyday.

Bela will be going back to Kumon starting Thursday next week and I am glad that she can submit all her May worksheet when she goes back.

Old Friends

I was browsing through Bela’s pictures and I saw her picture with her former classmate from Toddlers Unlimited when we accidentally bumped into them in Rockwell last month.

Tricia was Bela’s classmates in the Jumping Joeys class in Toddlers Unlimited and I was so surprised since they still know each other. Tricia was 3 years old then and Bela was just 2.5 years old when they became classmates so I thought that they will not recognize each other but I was wrong. Look at their pictures, they even had fun posing and playing with the moving animals on display:

I exchange my cell phone number with Tricia’s mom and they are inviting us to come over at their place for a play group. I hope that we can find a free time to do that one of this weekends as I just saw the excitement in their eyes when they saw each other again so I know that they really miss each other.

Jr. Prep's Field Trip

Bela is just so excited and everyday she has a count down on how many more days are left before their field trip.

The Jr. Prep is scheduled to have their field trip on Wednesday, January 26. Only one companion is allowed so I will be the one joining Bela (and I am just happy as this will be our quality time together). They will be visiting:

• Ark Avilon (Bela was asking me if she needs to bring spotting scopes to see the animals. I haven’t been to Ark Avilon but I know it is just a small zoo so I don’t think we will need one. LOL)
• Go Nuts Donuts factory in Laguna
• Fun ranch

I remember there was one time when Bela kept on telling me that she wants to go to Fun Ranch with her friends from school and so now this will be their time to enjoy each other’s company outside school. I am sure all the kids are excited.

I have no plans to bring hubby’s SLR camera so I already borrowed my brother’s Lumix camera so it is light weight and very simple to use. Tomorrow, Bela and I will go shopping for the snacks that she wants to bring for the field trip and it is a go on Wednesday. I just hope that Mr. Sun will not hide from us so the kids can really enjoy the day.

My Little Fashionable Bela

My Bela is really growing so fast. She is just five years old and she already have a mind of her own. Just like when we went to the mall, she really begged me to get this for her:

This made me realize that I have one fashionable lady in the making. Because of this, I have thought of her when I read about Regency Beauty Institute because I know there is a possibility that she might consider studying in this prestigious beauty school someday.

Regency Beauty Institute is a fastest growing Cosmetology school in the US. From their humble beginnings with just two campuses, they are continuously growing and they now have 80 campuses across nineteen states. They are also known for giving the best hands-on training as their campuses look like up-scale salons.

Aside from giving the best training, they will also help their students look for jobs after training with them as they have connections with salons, spas, cruises and even runways.

If ever Bela decides to study in Regency Beauty Institute in the future, she will definitely get my full support.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com or contact Regency Beauty Institute – 7100 Northland Circle, Suite 312 – Brooklyn Park, MN 55428

UN Celebration at St. Scho

I already uploaded the pictures that hubby took during the United Nations celebration at Bela’s school but I forgot to blog about it.

It was held last October 22, 2010 and Bela’s class is representing the country Hawaii. I just bought the grass skirt from SM and had her use her pink ballet uniform to go with the grass skirt.

The program started with the costume parade where each class went around the campus. Then there was a program at their Little theater where each class will perform. The two Jr. Prep class dance to the tune of the Lilo & Stitch song and Bela really gave her all to sway her hips to dance the hula. LOL. Just look at her video.

Then she was also selected to be a part of a group of kids who will sing the closing prayer. They sang “Jesus loves the little Children.”

As always, Howell and I were proud and beaming parents after Bela’s performance.

My Tea Pot

Today is Book Week for the Prep Students of St. Scholastica and each class will perform a song as their book piece. Bela and her classmates will be singing the expanded version of I’m a little Tea Pot. They need to wear a Sunday dress, a white gloves, doll shoes and white stockings plus they have to make a tea pot head piece.

Thanks to Bela’s lolo, my Tito June, who made this nice Tea Pot head piece for Bela:

My Tita Jie was the one who bought all the materials and my Tito June did all the hard work. It is actually a hat disguised as a tea pot as my uncle got the size of Bela’s head and carved a hole inside so it will fit in Bela’s head.

Bela is so excited to wear this for the show later. Of course the stage mother is more excited than Bela.

Mission Accomplished

This is a very busy week for Bela. She had a party at Hospicio de San Jose last Tuesday and thankfully it is a holiday so she doesn’t have to go to school before the party. Then it is Book Week in School and they will have a program to celebrate Book Week on Friday. They are required to wear a Sunday dress, with doll shoes, long white gloves, white stockings and tea pot cover as their head dress. Good thing she has a dress which I think can pass for a Sunday dress so I don’t have to go shopping for her costume and big thank you to my uncle who made the head dress for Bela.

On Saturday will be her party at the Creamery and it is also the first day of practice for the Christmas show of her ballet club. I am thinking now if I will still make her attend practice which is from 9 AM – 3 PM or I she will just skip the first day of practice so she will have a good rest before her party.

For two days also (Wednesday and Thursday), we have been going to malls to look for the shoes that she will wear on her party. Thank goodness we found one today.

So I guess I am close to accomplishing my mission for this week for Bela. The only thing left for me to do is pack her loots bags, prepare the things that we will bring for Saturday and then it is party time!!

Hawaiian Girl

Bela will be wearing a Hawaiian costume for their United Nations’ celebration this Friday. This will be the first time that Prep students will participate in the UN celebration so the teachers, the students and of course the stage parents are all excited.

They will have a costume parade on Friday and I already filed a leave for work so I can be there for Bela. After the parade, they will have a program also. I heard Bela singing “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world” and she told me that this will be their song for the program. When I went to school last Friday to attend the meeting, I also saw Bela’s class practicing their dance number to the tune of a Hawaiian dance.

I can’t wait to see Bela on Friday. I am sure she is excited as us as she just loves to perform especially if we are her audience.

Prep Class UN Celebration

Looks like hubby and I will need acne laser treatment after this week as our acne will surely start to break out again as we will surely be working late everyday until Saturday.

The Prep class of St. Scholastica will celebrate United Nations this Friday and Saturday and Howell and I volunteered to help the teachers and the other parents to decorate one of the rooms with a European theme for the Exhibit this coming Saturday.

We decided to make a tarpaulin as our backdrop so at least even if we can’t find a lot of European decorations, we already have a nice European backdrop for the room. Hubby volunteered to do the tarpaulin and as of this writing, he still has to make tarpaulins of four cities and it should be finish today so we can send it for printing tomorrow.

So I guess hubby and I won’t be sleeping tonight so we can finish whatever we need to finish. All of this is our labor of love for our princess Bela.

Protection from Dengue

I received a circular from Bela’s school informing parents of the preventive measure that the school is taking to prevent Dengue since dengue cases has doubled for this year. So all prep students will be asked to wear the following on specific days:

Monday – School uniform with knee high socks
Tuesday – Grade level t-shirt and jogging pants
Wednesday – Maong pants and t-shirt (I rarely buy t-shirts for Bela as I don’t find it good on her but now that they will be required to wear t-shirts once a week, I have to look for wholesale lots of t-shirts so Bela will have a lot of t-shirt to use during their civilian day).
Thursday – P.E t-shirt and jogging pants
Friday – school uniform with knee high socks

All the parents are really happy with this step that the school have taken to protect our kids from dengue while they are in school. I know that dengue is a very serious illness and so I am really happy and I feel at peace now that my Bela will at least be protected from dengue.

Kudos to the school administration of St. Scholastica.

Lingo ng Wika @ St. Scho

Last August 19 was the Prep Tugmang Bayan at St. Scholastica. They sent out invites so the parents can come to school to watch their kids perform.

Bela was so excited as she has been working hard to memorize the two poems that they will recite for the program: “Ang Maya at Pipit” and “Pinya.” She will often complain every time I asked her to practice at home but we were so surprised because she knows all her lines.

Both Howell and I went to school to watch her perform and so she was so happy and was so proud to introduce us to her friends and teacher. Before the program started, we saw her looking for us as she specifically told us that we have to watch her and so we really made it a point to visit her on her designated chair and told her where we were seated so she will know that we are watching her perform. She was even waving her hand at us when she was on stage already as she is just so ecstatic that both Howell and I are there to watch her performance.

After all the Prep students recited their poem, they all danced to the tune of a Badjao song (because their adapted region for their Buwan ng Wika is Mindano) and according to Bela this is her favorite.

You can view more pictures here.

Bela in Muslim Costume

I know I should be looking for landscape lighting as I promised my husband that I will present him with something later so we can order it this weekend but I have to stop first my search as I can’t wait to post Bela’s picture here:

Last August 2 was the opening ceremony of their Buwan ng Wika program in school and all Prep students were asked to wear Mindanao costume. We actually received the letter one week before August 2 so my mom was in panic as we don’t know if we ca find a ready made costume for Bela’s size as it is really difficult to find one for her as she is a little small. And I am not sure also if Prim will still accept to make a costume for Bela as it is just less than a week for her to make the costume.

So what my mom did is look for the Muslim costume that my sister wore when she was in Grade 4 and have it repaired and this is the finished product. Who would have thought that the costume Bela was wearing was just recycled from an old costume. LOL.

They will have a program on the 19th and parents will be invited to come to school to watch and Howell and I are already looking forward to it (stage parents. LOL.)

School Hunt: STC and St. Scho

I can’t believe that time really fly so fast. Next year, Bela will already be an incoming Kinder student so this means that it is time for another school hunting once again for me. I can’t believe that big schools start their admissions early. I started calling them last month and I really panicked since most of the schools have already set their deadline for accepting enrollees at the end of that month. And even though our insurance will be expiring soon and I have to look for term life insurance rates, I put my search on hold to start preparing the requirements needed for Bela’s application to the different schools that we are considering.

I initially wanted to consider schools in the Makati area but after listening to my friend’s advice, I realized that it will be difficult for Bela to wake up early to travel to Makati everyday. So I narrowed my search to big schools in Quezon City and Manila area.

Out of all the schools that I considered, I got good reviews for St. Theresa’s College in Quezon City and St. Scholastica’s College. Bela already had her interview at STC last October 12. I was really praying the whole time she was inside the Guidance Counselor’s room as I know Bela can be really stubborn at times. LOL. She will not answer you if you ask her a question if she doesn’t want to and since she has a fever that day, I am really scared that she might throw tantrums.

But I was really surprised since the interview only lasted for 15 minutes or so. The Guidance Counselor said that Bela already knows a lot of things and she is really fluent in English. When I asked Bela what she did inside, she said that her new teacher asked her to work on alphabets, numbers, shapes and color. We already paid our reservation fee so Bela is secured of her slot at STC.

We also got an application form at St. Scholastica’s. We have completed all of their requirements but we haven’t submitted it yet. Actually, I really like STC already. It is near our place (just 15 minutes drive), I love the environment as it is inside the villages in QC so it is really quite and safe unlike St. Scho and I received consistent positive feedbacks about STC. So I am still thinking if we will still pursue our application with St. Scho or not. But we’ll see. At least her slot at STC is already secured so I am sure that Bela has a big school to attend to next year. LOL.

Halloween 2009

Bela and I just stayed at home during the weekend as Howell already left for Germany. We spent the day just watching Bela’s favorite shows and she saw the episode of Little Einsteins where they went on a mission to distribute invitations Halloween for their party.

Bela got all excited as she fondly recall her Halloween experience last year. I heard from her current school that they will be distributing party invitations Halloween too to celebrate Halloween. I am sure Bela will be so excited when she receives her invitations party Halloween from Teacher Sarah and she will have fun wearing her costume and go Trick or Treating with her other classmates.

The last time I heard, they will be ordering Invitations Halloween Party from www.invitations-shoppe.com. I am sure they will not have a hard time as the design for the invitations will be proof emailed to them within one hour after they ordered so I am sure we will be expecting to receive one soon.