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The Evolution of Student Government

These past two weeks have ushered in campaign period once again at the University I teach in. I can’t help but admire how the whole student government campaign process has changed since I myself was a student. On one hand, I see it as a positive sign, but on the other, it kinda strikes me how our whole political system needs to be improved on.

For one, today’s campaigns are so commercialized and exaggerated. In the realm of real world politics, platforms seem to take a back seat to this commercialization. In the student government world, I can still see how platforms are still important to the kids running. I think this is a good thing, especially since that’s what winning leaders should be made of: good governance and not just good connections.

Nonetheless, I still see how different campaign materials and the like have gone since the time I ran for student government. I remember in my time, we would have to make posters by hand and have just a few “professionally” done posters. Now, large tarpaulines are all over campus.

Before, we would wear pins on our same-colored shirts, but not have them printed with slogans and catch phrases, especially since it was SOOOO expensive to have a small batch of shirts printed. Today, each political party has several designs available.

Before, we would hand out bookmarks and stickers. Today, they hand out pins and baller bands. I wouldn’t be surprised if soon this goes from just personalized ballpens to custom water bottles to promote their parties.

It’s not that these changes have become detrimental to the way student government goes. It just gets me to thinking how much money goes into the production of these. While for the student government, I don’t see it as a problem, mainly because it’s not like they will try to recoup their expenses by being a corrupt student leader. But in real life politics? That makes me question the whole process.

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Arts and Crafts, Classroom Escapades, Lesson Plans, Preschool | 2 Comments

The Seniors Tie Dye Project

For our discussion on clothing (as part of how we take care of our body) and colors, I decided to let the kids experiment on tie dying this week I started out the week with a discussion on primary and secondary colors, particularly how primary colors can mix together to make a new color. Since then my kids have been calling red, blue and yellow “magic colors” because they can become something else when mixed.

We also discussed the different types of clothing we wear and for what purpose (i.e. raincoats, aprons, gloves, socks, costumes and so on and so forth )

For a culminating activity, we made rainbow shirts!

The kids had a blast! So did teacher I was a bit worried at first about how this would have turned out, mainly because my past experiences with these activities were not very good. Luckily, my partner, Teacher Joy, had experience in this and did great in mixing the dye. I usually put too much water and I used to use vinegar instead of salt in the mixture. Plus I used to “cook” the shirts. Apparently, that was wrong! Haha!

This time, what we did was to prepare the different colors of dye then tie up the shirt and dye it section by section. Plus I squeezed out the excess dye before moving to the next color. Success! For the shirts that kinda had extra white spaces on it, we decided to use the stampers to add some flair

Again, the kids exclaimed “this was the bestest day ever, Teacher!”

We did the shirts yesterday and today, before heading home, we tried it on!

Posted by Teacher Ria in Teacher's Corner | 0 Comments

Keeping Kids Safe In School

One of the biggest things I worry about as a teacher is my kids’ safety. Be it during play time or dismissal time, I want to be sure they are as safe as possible. This is why I always tell remind my co-teachers that we should never have our backs turned to the kids. Perhaps I may be hypervigilant about this, but it has always been one of the things I am overly attentive with. For example, even during dismissal time, I feel uncomfortable leaving the kids with their nannies in the waiting area because it’s not very child-friendly. For one, it’s hot. Secondly, it’s cemented and quite a small area. That’s why I always ask my kids to stay inside the library or play area while waiting.

I have had my fair share of accidents in school, despite my vigilance. The worst of which was when one little girl ran down the steps and hit her head. Even though the step was somewhat padded, because of the pebble wash under the padding, she got a HUGE bump on her forehead. What made things worse was I was unable to reach her mom immediately and the child’s nanny did not inform her as well that I wanted to talk to her until late in the evening. That was definitely the worst experience ever.

The thing I fear the most, though, is accidentally losing a child from the school premises. Thankfully, we have strict guidelines and procedures for pick-up time and during class hours to ensure that the kids are not taken without our knowledge, even if this is by their parents. We make sure that one of us will physically hand-off the kids to the parent/driver or whoever is assigned to pick him/her up.

Here are other safety tips and reminders for all of us teachers:

1. Childproof your school furniture, including electrical sockets, table corners and doors.

2. Have nanny-safety seminars once a semester to remind them of rules and reminders about kid safety.

3. Empower your teachers with CPR and emergency training.

4. Make sure your fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and emergency sets are in place.

5. Install a security system (such as CCTV’s) as well as heavy duty Kwikset locks/handles and barrel bolts that kids cannot manipulate on their own (yes, even a four year old can manage to unlock doors!) so there’s no way they can’t get out alone.

6. Do emergency evacuation drills periodically.

These are just a few safety tips and reminders. Do you have other suggestions?

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Posted by Teacher Ria in Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Assurance and Insurance.

Getting insurance for local business is perhaps one of the things any preschool (or business for that matter) should prioritize. Having this assurance can help quell fears and allow owners to really feel safe about their investments. To be honest, I was not a very firm believer in insurance, particularly life insurance, but because of my friend who shared with me how the insurance policies her parents had taken out when they were younger helped her after their deaths, I realized it does have good value. With regards to educational plans and these types of insurance, I’m not very sure.

Next to life insurance, I think it is very important to have your home insured. After all, this is where you spend most of your time in, right? When getting insurance, it is important to make sure you understand the fine print of what you’re getting. Some agents may sweet talk you into things and you may not realize you can get more for your money. Nowadays, online sites can aide you with this as you get a whole range of estimates that best suits your needs, such as these links on Home Insurance in California and Illinois life insurance. You can even get multiple quotes that will allow you to choose the best for you.

Overall, I think getting insurance does have a lot of great benefits. It is important, however, that you take into careful consideration what company you will deal with. Sure there are a few fly by night, unstable companies there, but there are a lot of reputable companies that can provide you the assurance you need.

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