Awesome Reward Erasers and Pencils, and Star Stickers

I finally found perfect prizes for my pupils who got perfect scores in our Spelling Activity last week!

Reward stars, erasers, and pencils!

We started doing something new in Kindergarten Senior Class last week! A list of words was posted on each child's handbook for their parents to see. They were to help their children read the words and practice spelling them. At the end of the week, we had a spelling exercise. I dictated each word for the children to write. Spelling exercises help children practice the skill of recognizing the sounds of letters and associating them with the printed letters.

I felt so happy last Friday that there were some who got perfect scores! I was excited to shop for prizes for them, but couldn't make up my mind what to buy specifically. Thank God, I found cool items a while ago: erasers and pencils with prints of affirmation, and buy 1 take 1 star stickers! The pencils and erasers are perfect items to give away to my pupils, since they have been doing a lot of writing and erasing lately. :) And oh, the stars, I won't forget of course. I will stick a star on the child's handbook for his/her parents to see. :) I'm sure the parents' efforts would get paid off once they see the shining star.

On Rewards

Giving rewards is a means of positive reinforcement. In my case, I give rewards to motivate my pupils to excel, and to desire to learn. Am I achieving my goal?

When I told my pupils last Friday that those who would get perfect scores in the Spelling Exercise would get prizes from me, I observed that most of them felt both excited and challenged. They kept asking what the prize would be. I told them it's a surprise. After the exercise, one of my pupils approached me.

Pupil: Teacher, what's the surprise?
Me: You'll see on Monday.
Pupil: Teacher, let's do the spelling quiz again!

It seemed that he knew that he was not able to perfect the exercise and wanted to do it again in order to get a prize! It was as if he wanted to tell me, "Let's do the spelling quiz again and this time I would really give my best."

Is giving rewards really effective for children to be motivated to give their best? Will it help encourage children to desire to learn? Thinking... ;)

Family Picture Frames

As part of our family theme, the Kinder Seniors made picture frames for their family photos they brought to school.

My pupils and their family picture frames

Because It's Buwan ng Wika...

...I would like to take the opportunity to write about using the Filipino language. I know it's September already; it's just that it took me days to think about this topic that's why it's only now that I was able to finally compose what I want to say. ;) Because we've just celebrated Buwan ng Wika last month, I would like to express my thoughts on teaching children to use their native language; in our case, the Filipino language.

Yes, I am promoting the use of the Filipino language and teaching children to use, study, and enjoy it.

How Many Books Can You Buy with Your P300?

With my three hundred pesos, I was able to buy 6 board books for children! For several years now, it has been my hobby to rummage through thrift book stores to find great buys. Most of the children's story books in my collection are from Book Sale.

It was not my "book-buying day" when I found a treasure in Book Sale at SM Tarlac. I saw a set of colorful books and out of curiosity, got it and checked for the price.

A colorful set of books!

I was so excited to see the price and to my surprise, this was what was written:

6 board books for P300!

How My Cupcake Baking Journey Began :)

My interest in cooking and baking began as I took a required subject in our course, Food Preparation (FN 11). The subject involved not only cooking, but also studying the chemical processes happening in the preparation of food. Syneresis, carotenoids, oxidation are only a few of the many terms I encountered in that subject. I still remember how hard I studied for our exams, and how my nose bled during exams. I can say that FN 11 was one of the very few subjects that I enjoyed despite their difficulty.

I'm sorry for the very long introduction. Let's get to the main subject of this article: how I started to get interested in baking and decorating cupcakes.

Thankfully, I found time out of my busy schedule as a college student to do some experimenting in the kitchen. Sometime in 2010 I decided to bake cupcakes, specifically. The first thing I did was to rummage through our kitchen shelves and cabinets looking for baking utensils and equipment. I did that so I could know what I still needed to purchase. My search led me to the decision to buy cupcake pans.

Why cupcakes?

My first choco cupcakes, fresh from the oven! :)