Children (and adults too) love to do jigsaw puzzles. My children are one of those who grew up doing these things. We had a lot of different jigsaw puzzles to keep them occupied, amused, puzzled, challenged and able to do problem solving by exploring, matching making mistakes and even prolong concentration and minding the minute details.

As a matter of fact, my son just asked me this question the other day: “How come jigsaw puzzle pieces are bigger for children and very small for adults? Is  it because the picture is more difficult for puzzles with 500 pieces that if big pieces are used it would be a huge, huge jigsaw puzzle?”

We laughed about it. I even joked, yes, a 500 or 1000 piece with big jigsaw pieces would be very big and would over the entire garage floor!

I have observed that there is a renewed interest in doing  jigsaw puzzles with a thousand pieces (or more) where the details are rather intricate and complicated. Families are doing these, as well as friends. The puzzle sits on a special table or a corner of the house, undisturbed except for time used to work on it.

I think, online activities took away the fun from doing these things. I may have a impose a weekday in this household where no one will turn on the computer and that includes me. Difficult to do but I may have to be firm about this.

Play is what counts most when we want children to be creative, imaginative and be able to learn.

Play does not just entail giving them high-end toys and gadgets. Play entails a lot of self-expression, using things that are there in  new and innovate ways, doing explorations and experimentation, allowing them to think openly on things that are “normal”

If you are the kind of parent who fear for your child’s safety, be there to guide them as they explore their surroundings.

• Let them play with dirt, you can wash it off later.
• Let them create with play-doh, you can wash their hands afterward.
• Let them help in the kitchen, they will learn about a lot of things there. The mess can be dealt with afterward with them helping out.
• Let them lie down on floor tiles and do floor time play with manipulatives like Lego bricks, blocks and toy cars. Let them build their own cities using materials that they made themselves.
• Let them do arts and crafts.
• Let them pick flowers, run after butterflies, catch bugs, dig soil and feel the leaves of the plants.
• Let them jump on rain puddles (not flood).

In other words, let them experience the joys of how it is to be a child. It will be a joy for you too to discover how it is to be a child again

Children learn best by observing and doing things.

Our only son says he likes to be a chef so he constantly bugs asks me to let him help in the kitchen.

I know I should encourage him to do so but you know how it is with children and kitchen. Anyway, when we decided to finally open that box of Jell-o No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake, he offered to do the crust.

It seemed an easy task for him to mix the butter, sugar and crust mix. Whatever stray food particle that got on his fingers, these were licked. He is 8yo, what do we expect? I had no worries for the mess because he took care of it

Hmmm…maybe he can do the Oreo Cheesecake with his elder sister while I finish reading an unfinished article about rv insurance.

Oh by the way, this is the finished product

photohunt

For those who are looking for places where one can learn a lot about our culture through visual presentation, Zero In Periphery presents Ateneo Art Gallery, Ayala Museum, the Lopez Memorial Museum, Bahay Tsinoy and Museo Pambata.

This is a celebration of different art niches in different locations aiming to instill not just the love for our culture but the appreciation of the past and its impact on how we are today as a people.

1. Ayala Museum: The Ring of Fire, the First Southeast Asian Ceramics Festival

This exhibit ran from September 21 to October 4, 2009. This featured ASEAN potters, 16 Filipino potters and 10 ASEAN potters. Ceramic artist Hadrian Mendoza convened and organized this event whose primary goal is “to foster a community among Southeast Asian peoples that celebrates both the diversity and unity of the region through the art and craft of pottery.”

Ayala Museum is located at De la Rosa Street, corner Makati Avenue,Greenbelt Park, Makati City.

2. Ateneo Art Gallery: Beyond Frame, Philippine Photo Media

On October 1 till December 15, 2009, this exhibit has 14 different artists spanning three decades of captured scenes through photographs.

Ateneo Art Gallery is located at Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

3. Lopez Memorial Museum : Deleted Scenes, exhibit is running from November 12, 2009 to January 9, 2010.

Deleted scenes include behind the scenes work: editorial sketches, paintings based on films from LVN Productions way back in the 1950s, old books, documentary films and Harper’s Weekly clippings about the Philippines done in the late 1800s.

Lopez Memorial Museum is located at the Ground Floor of Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

4. Bahay Tsinoy: Remembering exhibit running from November 12, 2009 till January 9, 2010.

This exhibit aims to project images of two cultures: Filipino and Chinese people who suffered during World War II in the Battle of Manila and Nanjing Massacre.

Bahay Tsinoy is located at Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center, 32 Anda corner Cabildo Streets, Intramuros.

5. Museo Pambata: Invisible Children, exhibit running from November 26, 2009 to January 5, 2010.

Museo Pambata’s exhibit zeroed in in Invisible Children, discussing their rights and privileges as stated in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). These rights are made known and taught to the children through various modes: letters, poetry, videos and other visual presentations.

Museo Pambata is located at Roxas Boulevard corner South Drive, City of Manila.

These are interesting places to visit with your children during the Christmas break. During difficult times likewe are experiencing, it is good to go back to our roots and learn about how we have evolved as a people.

All photos except Zero In and Deleted Scenes by: Arvin Ello

Environmental modifications are changes done in a classroom or at home (for those who have home-based therapy or who do homeschooling). These are done not only to improve instruction but to minimize visual stimulation.  Behavioral excesses like fidgeting, not focusing on tasks on hand and looking at visual stimulation tend to be minimized too.

How can one go about environmental modifications to ensure maximum result when it comes to teaching?

Keep the room clutter-free.

Try to keep the room free from clutter: open shelves, posters on the wall and even on the ceiling. Use storage boxes and cabinets that can be closed to remove the supplies from eye level. Cluttered-free environment means less things to focus on aside from the tasks on hand.

About school supplies:

There are school that ask students to bring supplies to be used for the school year. These are gathered together and put in containers for sharing. Sharpened pencils go the same way too, as well as papers and glue.

This is more practical and less likely to waste time because the students would not have to rummage through their bags searching for the supplies they need.

There can also be a weekly schedule of a student in charge of taking care of these supplies: sharpening the pencils, making sure all crayons are present in the crayon box/jar, putting these back in storage and replenishing paper supplies.

Appropriate furniture

Cubby holes for bags, jackets, hats and lunch boxes are a must to keep these things away from the learning/study area. Books and other reading materials should also be kept away. School supplies can be kept in cabinets with doors.

Having these furniture will make rooms clutter-free and there fore have less visual distractions.

Lighting

Bright lights can be a distraction. If possible, lower the lighting.

Sound

One of the ways to improve concentration is to have insulation in the room. Children tend to react to some external and environmental sounds like a ball game, a helicopter and even students walking outside the hall way. Carpeting helps though these might be a problem with students who have allergies. Curtains made from heavy materials can also help as well as cork boards on the wall. Rubbers on chairs and tables’ legs will also help minimize the noise.

I am sure there are still a lot more environmental modifications that can be done to improve instruction and minimize distraction. Why not start with these basic ideas and improve on them as you go along?

Have fun teaching!

There are some people who, though briefly we have met them, gave a considerable impact to our lives. We may have met them briefly, worked with them or even met them just once but they left a somewhat lasting impression.

Yes, these people are few and far between. In my career as a teacher, I have encountered students who made these impressions with me and very few of them, I worked with very briefly.

This thought came to me last night when we were on our way to our favorite fast food place. My youngest daughter said “orange” in a way that was familiar. Yes, she too remembered a student I once had, IT. It may have been the way he pronounced the word that daughter remembered but it was more than that to me.

IT has been “passed on” to the other special ed teacher in the center where I used to work due to scheduling problems. It has been more than a year since I saw him so it came as a surprise when my youngest daughter remembered him.

IT came to me by accident. He was not referred by a doctor. They came looking for me because his mother was referred to go to that center by an OT they have been seeing in another center. He has been diagnosed with autism but I think the parents are in denial about the condition, especially the father.

He was not too enthusiastic to learn at first. It took a Superman action figure “speaking” to him to make him sit down and do the tasks prepared for him. Later on, it took Mr Potato head to give the instructions.

Together we learned to write his name. Together we learned to do rote counting, reading the number words as we went along. Together we learned about colors and how these are colors names are read. Together we learned about shapes and how these can be drawn. Together we learned to sing action songs.

I am curious how IT is now and where he is placed in terms of school placement.

I am thankful that I got the chance to work with IT. I learned a lot from him and from his mom who is very understanding.

One more thought…

Children with special needs can not be grouped by POS systems like merchandise on display even if they have the same diagnosis because they are all different from one another.

They can not be labeled with precision and related sameness and compared with other children who have the same diagnosis.

On hindsight, perhaps IT was not given to me “by accident”, he was given to me on purpose.