Curriculum and Things

I was finally able to speak with the Art teachers from the main campus. I think I'm doing good so far with the lessons I'm giving but I still have a lot to teach the kids. The two I spoke to had been very nice and accommodating. I should have joined them during their orientation but at the time, I haven't signed my contract yet that I was not really sure where I stand in the whole scheme of things at school.

I'm currently comparing my notes to the checklist they gave me. I'm confident that we'll be able to reach those goals but right now, I'm a bit overwhelmed. I have to admit though that the checklist is easier to understand than that Rubicon which just swam like crazy before my eyes when I tried to read it.

There are other things I have to do still. Remember the New Year's resolution last year? Well, it remained in theory. The 2010 scrapbook? I did until May. I'm still doing the rest of the year but it's not as fast as I would have liked. I thought I'd just do a page a month but it turned out that our year was the busiest so far. Man! I even have 6 pages in some months because of all the activities and events that we went to.

The wedding album? I went as far as preparing the base sheets. The scrapbook albums I do for other people are quite embellishment-friendly. But personally, I prefer a minimalist approach and I still wasn't able to finish things that need finishing. Ha! Sometimes, when I should be doing this, I find myself reading books or online. I don't even have a Facebook account to lose myself into! I think it's an escape from responsibility thing.

But don't worry, my dear clients, the things I do for you, I can do easily and finish on time. But the things I do for me, I end up being saddled for months. Ha! That should change.

An Invitation and a Christmas Production

Hoooookaaay..... Merry Christmas everyone!! In advance... because I feel so free right now. Free from deadlines. No work until after New Year, I told myself. Well, aside from the teaching thing. Then again, that's not really work... and the other things I do are not exactly work because they're all fun to make!! The second half of November and the first week of December had been really, really busy. So, I'll just fire away.

First is the invitation I did. This is how it came out, and I did 150 of these which I delivered two weeks ago. The theme is movies so this is what came about. The envelope is a clapper and the invitation itself are oversized movie tickets. I just wrapped it around with a burgundy ribbon. The father asked, "Why do you have to put ribbon around it?" He's hysterical, good thing for him, he's a very good friend.

If you're reading my tweets, you would have read me talking about the train. The train made from corrugated boards. Well here it is. These are the before pictures:


And this was this was taken earlier during the performance.

This supposedly was a dungeon wall where Izzy, Rosie and the Broken Toys were kept by the Abominable Snowman. This was made from newspaper, tissue paper, glue and paint. Thank you Neil Buchanan and Art Attack for teaching me to use these four materials to do just about anything!! And these two were my very able and very giggly assistants, Zara and Edjee. They're amazing! It's easy to meet deadlines with these two.

This was the set for T'was the Night Before Christmas. I wish I could have gotten a better photo because, modesty aside, it turned out so well in person. The stars hanging were made by the kids, pre-kinder to fourth grade. I promised them I'll hang them so I did with the help of Mang Eli. You have to keep your promises to kids!! If you can't, don't promise anything at all.

A closer take with the lights on. For before photos, please check out previous entries.

The three of us after the show.

These are my co-teachers with my assistants. From the left, Grace (prek/k homeroom teacher), Anna (3rd/4th grade teacher), Weng (Music Teacher/Music Director for the show. She's amazing! You just have to help her out to achieve what we're able to do tonight.), Edjee, Maya (Administrative Coordinator), Zara, Maan (Teacher Assistant) and me. Steve (1st & 2nd grade teacher) and Mark (PE teacher) were a bit shy to face the camera.

And us again. :)

It was so much fun, I tell you. Better than last year's in terms of children's performances and the general vibe and as if everything just comes together by Divine Intervention, like Anna mentioned after the show.

I also mentioned something about a magazine. Well, I'll pick them up on Friday and I'll post something about that on Sunday.

Well, I think I'll sleep now... finally. :)

Set Pieces for Christmas Production

Here are the photos of the set pieces. Thanks Art Attack's Neil Buchanan for teaching me the use of bathroom tissue in papier mache. Those extra corrugated boards definitely have use. The frames were made of 3/4" plywood scrap strips from carpentry. :)

Here's the fireplace.

Here are a couple of windows that will be on either side of the fireplace.

And here's the beginning of a dungeon wall. Edjee is helping me lay those stones. :)


I'll post the finished product later on. I doubt if I'll be able to finish this tomorrow. By the way, we're in the gymnasium closet, in case you're wondering why there were balls and hula hoops everywhere.

School Updates

Finally, I remember taking a photo of our Art Classroom. So, here it is! It's a bit small especially if I try to squeeze in 13 students in there. But I love it!


It's a corner room and during the day, we have lots of natural lighting. It doesn't look as bright as it really is usually because I took this late in the afternoon today. That window faces west. Ok, just a bit of a tour. I had that big black display board (literally, a blackboard) made to replace the white board that was on that wall previously. The white board was moved to the wall on the left side (not seen) of the photo. On the yellow sheets on display, those are cutting exercises by first and second grade students. On the far right of the board, those are warm/cool color and complementary color charts by third and fourth grade students. The bunting across the room is a triangle-cutting exercise by prek/k students.

On the windows, those are Chinese paper lanterns, a few that were left from their straight line cutting exercise. The low shelf is for supplies and the tall one is for papers. Beside it is a former cart I had replaced with several cubes to put pencils, scissors, pens, pencils, etc. Behind me is another supplies shelf where all the student folders are, paints (watercolor, oil, acrylic, poster, washable paints, powder paints, etc), color pencils, color markers, etc. I forgot to take a photo of that.

The tables were prepared for an exercise using hand prints in primary colors with color by number borders in primary colors as well.

Now, this one, these are several props for our Christmas production: stockings, doll key, elf tools, wreath, a rimmed hat, train conductor hats and a toy soldier hat. All these were made from recycled materials (corrugated boards, a-few-year-old felt paper scraps and five-year-old washable paints and glitters). I thought I took a photo of the set pieces. Oh well, tomorrow, I'll do that.

This Schedule is Frightening But Awesome!

Last week, I started working on the props for our Christmas Production. It's a big deal for the kids so I want the set and the props to look at least presentable and sparkly. I've been helping out on set designs since high school and again, when I taught the first time in that same school. This is the first time in which I'm actually the one doing it myself, along with help from my assistants Zara and Edjee, and the wonderful Mang Louie, head carpenter at IRRI. He truly makes things easy for me.

As of today, the frame for the set pieces are done while some of the props are ready to be painted. I requested for carpentry assistance on Monday. I hope I can show some photos (I know I'm slacking in the documentation department) of these things I'm doing.

Also, tomorrow, I'm going to meet with a mother of a debutante for her daughter's invitations and souvenir mag. The previous agreement, that was three months ago, would be I'd write the articles myself in addition to the layout and design of the magazine that should be finished in, well, five weeks? Ha! I'm Supergirl!

That's why I'm panicking now so I won't panic later on. There's a week and a half difference between the two occasions.

Tomorrow is November

... And we feel Christmas in the air, which also smells good. :)

First off, I am no longer accepting orders for Christmas giveaways. It is going to be a very busy month ahead and I won't be able to attend to your requests at this point. I wouldn't want to disappoint you because I accepted orders when I know I won't be able to fulfill them and deliver on time. I am sorry, but I do hope you remember me next year. :)

Starting Wednesday, I'll start working on the set pieces and props for the children's Christmas production, T'was the Night Before Christmas, to be presented on the second week of December. This should be fun!! It will take much of my time and away from my table, which is what's already happening. That saddens me. It's laziness more than anything else. If I want to do my sorely neglected personal projects, I should make, not 'find', time for them.

Anyway, I'll take pictures as I go along. And I hope this lethargy won't get in the way of my posting pictures of these props.

July Update

Hello everyone! This is not good. This once a month update is almost close to nil but it's such a busy last few weeks but yes, I'm doing good.

The repairs and maintenance activities at the school are almost done. Has to be because school opens on August 5th. The supply room is finally organized and waiting for new supplies to come in as ordered. The Art Room is finally taking shape. The library shelves have been delivered yesterday so probably the librarian is finally organizing the books delivered the last couple of weeks. I might post some before and after pics later on. I hope nobody expects some Nate Berkus makeovers here. We just purged, cleaned and reorganized furniture around.

The papercrafting business is doing really well also. I'm very thankful to have the time to do them despite other things. Other things being other projects outside of the usual things I do and the domestic day-to-day stuff nobody can really escape from.

Ah! And there's something else I want to talk about. I am an architect and was very active professionally until about six years ago and shifted to what I do now. The reason I left the practice is another story altogether but what I want to say is, I was hired by an architectural firm to revise, rewrite and design their company profile. Yay!! They got me because I'm an architect, I know the business so I know what I'm going to write about.

I'm so very excited about this most recent project because as much as I love papercrafting, I also love writing. And I've been craving to write something in a more professional capacity. So, when they called one day and asked if I could, I grabbed the chance. They also put forward a couple more projects for later this year: a brochure for their spa and training center, and souvenirs for their daughter's 18th birthday in December. I'm very, very thankful for this.

2010 has been very, very good to me and my husband, most especially to him. It's been awesomely fantastic so far. I can't thank God enough for such beautiful year so far.

Moving Up Day

Yesterday was the kids' last day in school and of course, their Moving Up Ceremony. I did that background signboard or whatever you call it. The logo and the header are printed in large format. Then, the tarpaulin was stapled to a wooden frame without a plywood skin so it's lighter and easier to transport and haul up those undulating panels. We wanted it to be reusable so I decided that the other elements are paper cutouts in primary and secondary colors. Many thanks to IRRI's carpentry for making us that frame and helping us attach it behind the panels.

As to what the stage looks like... well. Until now, I'm still bad at arranging plant stuff. So I just framed the background with plants like so. And IRRI lent us a truckload of plants! I didn't know what I'd do with them so the others I just lined on the floor in front of the stage. In person, the whole front including the stage actually looks like a rain forest. LOL!

I Just Got Back from School

I will share with you what my students were working on for the last 11 weeks. It sounds very grand, but it's actually just 11 hours total because we're only working for an hour every week. It's an After School Activity at Brent-IRRI in Los Baños, Laguna, and it's on Scrapbooking and Photography. Sound a bit much? Yeah, I think so too. Maybe next year I'm going to separate those classes.

Anyway, I'm not really a photographer but I know some basic things I could teach the kids like utilizing natural light, effect of the combination of light, shade and shadow in photography, golden hour (but my class was in mid-afternoon so it was just words), rule of thirds, get close to the subject, holding the camera straight, etc. So these are just some samples of what they did:

By Iman Ismail, Fourth Grade

By Isabelle Douthewaite, First Grade

By Xyla Fitzwell, Second Grade

By Anna Heuer, Kindergarten

By Mami Hosen, Third Grade

Aren't they neat? They just used digital point and shoot cameras for this, but for their grade levels, I thought they did really, really well.

The other part of our ASA is Scrapbooking. Below is a stack of scrapbooks they did. They scrapped the photos they took. I prepared the materials for covers and cut the interior pages. They put together the covers and we punched the sides for the binding rings. We didn't really use any fancy brand-named materials. We just want them to experience to make their first ever album.

Instead of patterned paper, we used giftwrapping paper. We used ordinary acid-free glue stick for all the papers, and a different kind of glue for embellishments. I bought a lot of buttons, ribbons, flowers, feathers, transfer letters and sequins in various shapes. There were a lot of leftovers so I divided them to six, bagged them and gave the rest to them. They were sooooooo excited about that. Next year, I think I'm going to let them use 'real' scrapbooking papers.

So, here are the scrapbooks they did.



There will be an exhibit of their works on Friday, April 30. I sure will be there to support them while they present their work. I'm telling you, these are the sweetest, most innocent kids I ever met. And they did some really, really wonderful job.