The SFAS Daycare Kids Learn Beyond the Classroom

Last August 27, 2013, the SFAS Daycare children, headed by Mrs. Maricel Navigar, earned a chance to learn beyond the classroom. They embarked on a day trip, funded by their donors (of Tapulanga Foundation), to the Capitol Lagoon and Robinson’s Place.

The kids were supervised by two teachers and three parents throughout the field trip.

The Capitol Park and Lagoon, a major landmark of Bacolod City, sits at the heart of the city. The kids got to see the fish, the famous carabao (water buffalo) sculptures, and the Capitol Building itself.

After lunch, they headed off to the mall. Here, most of the kids, who didn’t know what an elevator or an escalator was, had their first ride.

The kids also had their first cinema experience with the Disney-Pixar film Planes.

Mrs. Navigar believes that kids do not easily forget things they learn through real things and experience. This notion, she says, was the main purpose of the field trip.

Buwan ng Wika 2013

Students and teachers, all clad in traditional Filipino costumes, gathered once again at the covered court as the St. Francis of Assisi School of Silay City brings to a close the Buwan ng Wika celebrations last August 30, 2013.

The culmination activity started off with a live band performance and was a series of dance performances. Students from various grade levels competed in different areas: native creative dance, pop dance, folk dance, and chorale poem.

From "Manong" to Sir Romnick

Born 26 years ago, Romnick Sadio and his family lives just a tricycle ride away from the St. Francis of Assisi School of Silay City.  His older siblings never finished school, and neither did he.  After two years in high school, he had to stop, due to financial problems.

Romnick Sadio was fifteen when he joined his father at the ponds, where thirty other people also worked. He worked there in the afternoons, wondering if this would end up as his career after three, six, maybe even ten years. He thought about his nonexistent diploma, and the other half of high school that he missed. Life at the fish pond was tough. Yet this place, he later realizes, led to an opportunity.

Romnick knew of SFAS. A few kids, scholars of Tapulanga Foundation, from his neighborhood studied there. He knew of the Ledesma family — he should, because they owned the land where he worked. They also happened to own the school. This thread of connection found him being called to the school one day.

It had been almost four years since Romnick left high school. He admits he hesitated for a moment. To finish high school now meant he would be an eighteen-year-old among a class of fourteen-, fifteen-year-olds. To just his classmates he would be "Manong" Romnick, he thought, and it bothered him.

But one does not find himself given an opportunity every day. Romnick knew very well the hardships of someone who belonged to a family that had never seen any of its children on stage, with a diploma in one hand and the principal shaking the other. Next to this, being Manong Romnick in class was nothing. So, at eighteen, he took the exam, received a scholarship, and became a student once more.

Romnick Sadio earned a college grant in 2009. He never met her in person, he says of his sponsor. All he knew was that she was called Mrs. Ada Ledesma-Mabilangan, and that her support fueled his way into college.

He’s blessed, he says, very blessed to have been given a chance to study again. Romnick feels as if everything was a dream – the last two years in high school, his student council presidency, the youth congresses and seminars he was sent to, his college diploma, his bachelor’s degree.

It has been six months since he earned a degree to his name, three months since his first day at St. Francis of Assisi School. He had started to teach cooking, drafting, even arts, to the high school students. The man who stands before the students is no longer Manong Romnick, an upperclassman, their old school president. He is Sir Romnick, the teacher.

The World Through Nica's Eyes

Nica Galvez, barely five years old, sits in a class of thirteen students. It is another day at preschool. On her desk is a piece of paper. On the chalkboard the teacher writes a title and, like everybody else, Nica copies down the title on her paper.

Draw anything that you learned from the story I showed you yesterday, her teacher tells the class. Draw what you learned, draw what you remember.

Nica clearly remembers the story. It is one of the first stories anyone has heard of in their childhood: the story of creation. Her teacher tells them the story, bit by bit, every day – a tale of light and darkness, of flowers and butterflies and the mountains and the sea, of Adam and Eve. On days when the projector is available, they get to watch video clips about the story. They listened well to their teacher before, so they know exactly what’s going to happen: there will be light. Flowers will bloom, trees will grow. Adam is about to appear.

As the twenty-minute video played, Nica gushes softly with her classmates. Nica Galvez is often quiet in class. She’s shy, but with friends she speaks more. She’s not very different from other girls. She does, however, have a higher blinking rate than her fellow preschoolers in the room. But besides this, there’s nothing about Nica Galvez that betrays any hint of the catastrophe that could have permanently changed her life, and how she literally saw the world, two years ago.

This catastrophe involved the faint glint of a pair of scissors, a searing pain in her right eye, a cloudy vision, and the doctor’s advice that Nica needed eye surgery. All because of a squabble between Nica and her brother, one day in October 2011.

Four months later, Nica braved the operation. Soon, she finally, anxiously took the white bandage off her right eye. Once again, the world was clear and unspoiled, in her eyes, just as it had always been.

There are still moments when she gets cross-eyed. Close your eyes, her teacher would tell her, and when she opens them again, everything returns to normal.

Her right eye doesn’t hurt anymore, she says. Both her eyes are fine, her vision flawless. She blinks more than her friends do, that is all. And yet there’s nothing else about this young girl that betrays any hint of that two-year-old catastrophe. It seems it would have to take more than a silly little incident like a sibling fight and a pair of scissors to change how Nica literally saw the world.

But the memory of her eye injury, or of the operation, is the least of her thoughts right now. At the moment, Nica Galvez clearly remembers the story her teacher had showed them yesterday. She remembers light and darkness, the mountains and the sea. She thinks of butterflies, and of Adam and Eve.

Little Nica picks up her crayon, and she starts to draw.

Pinoy Games

It was a morning full of games, colorful costumes, and happy abandon for the entire school last August 7.

The school's celebration of the Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa (National Language Month) opened with a mass and found every one, student and teacher alike, dressed in traditional Filipino garb -- from a simple camisa de chino to the barong, baro't saya and malong to terno and Maria Clara gowns. Even teacher Sir Joevani stood out among the crowd with his bright yellow bandanna and elaborate pants.

The day's highlight, however, was the series of traditional games, hosted by P.E. teacher Mr. Jomar Eguid at the covered court. 

With the upperclassmen as facilitators, these games included ones we're all familiar with -- popping balloons, the longest line, the sack race, and relays that involved spinning, eating bell pepper, or catching chicken eggs.

Teams with more neckerchiefs or pañuelos get an advantage during the Longest Line game.

Shoot the pencil into the bottle: one of the more "difficult" games involving a lot of concentration.

The players quickly carry their teammate in a combined version of A Trip to Jerusalem and newspaper dance.

Players getting ready to catch some wildly flying eggs.

At the end, even teachers don't miss out on the fun!

Clay Therapy Club

All work and no play makes one a dull child, they say. 

That's why institutions like the St. Francis of Assisi School of Silay City encourage students to engage in extracurricular activities.

At SFAS, students from grades 4 to 10 get a chance to choose from a total of 18 school clubs, including the Arts and Crafts Club, the Book Lovers Club, the Chess Club, the Football Club, and the Volleyball Club. By joining a club, students learn to act as a team and take on leadership roles. They get to expand their friendships and meet others who share their interests and ideas.

One of the newest clubs at SFAS is called the Clay Therapy Club, headed by Ms. April Suating and joined already by seventeen members.

The SFAS Clay Therapy Club members with their first master piece

Self-expression may come naturally to some students. Others, however, sometimes struggle to express their feelings, especially with words. 

"Clay has the capacity to quickly absorb and express what we are feeling, especially when we are not clear about our thoughts," Ms. April shares. 

Dubbed as the "Cinderella of art therapies", clay therapy can be a powerful -- and creative -- medium for conveying emotions and issues like fear, anger, and grief or loss.

                                                   Outputs of the Clay Therapy Club members

By nature, clay makes for both catharsis and creative escapism. Molding, shaping clay stirs up layers of emotions that makes it easier for the student to express themselves through their clay sculptures.

Club members engrossed with their clay work

Every meeting starts with Ms. April announcing a theme for their clay work, and it ends with a group sharing session, where Ms. April also gives the students advice and helps them become more open with their feelings.

Grades 1 and 2 Students Practice Giving and Sharing

The Grades 1 and 2 students of St. Francis of Assisi School had its outreach program at Adela Elementary School in Silay City last July 17, 2013. The Franciscans were welcomed by the Adela Elementary School students, teachers and their principal, Ms. Inocencia Deris. This yearly project has been successful in helping the students realize the importance of giving and sharing.

Participants of the outreach program: Grades 1 and 2 students of St. Francis of Assisi School 
and Adela Elementary School

SFAS and AES students enjoyed eating snacks together.

SFAS Grades 1 and 2 students brought "little surprises" 
to the students of Adela Elementary School.