July 27, 2006. Fr. Ted, Marifel and I trooped to Cainta, Rizal to Marcy and Mitos Buenaventura’s home, whose first floor was converted into Karangalan Library, for one of BASA/LCDF’s daily reading sessions (M-F 11:30-1pm) and extra activities on Saturdays. Mitos, the wife of Marcy, is a cancer survivor - her recovery was one of the reasons the couple offered their home to be used by the Row 4 students of Karangalan .
When we arrived, the younger kids were already working on their capital and lower case Y’s (the letter of the day).
They took a break from their writing so we could start the reading session.
Fr. Ted lead a bodily-kinesthetic prayer.
Marifel asked the kids what songs they wanted to sing.
They suggested “With Christ as my vessel, I can smile at the storm”
Here's Marcy (in orange) with the kids in prayer.
I volunteered to read the Tagalog version of “Grandma and Me” a story about Bea, an only child of an OFW, who lived with her grandma.
In the story, Bea lived apart from her parents, but knew that she was loved. She and her grandma would bond by reading together and singing songs about Jesus. Here we are singinging “Jesus Loves Me”.
Game time! Words from the story are used in reading games.
There's a game for the younger kids who can recognize initial sounds.
And here's another one for older students who can read whole words.
After the vocabulary games, the kids resumed writing. The older kids went to a separate group for decoding more difficult words -volunteers from LCDF help the children overcome their shyness and encourage them to read more advanced words.
Free choice followed:
Some kids chose books,
the rest chose other activities.
Fr. Ted liked this one, obviously!
Volunteers from LCDF plus Fr. Ted (in green), me, and Marcy.
Volunteers with Marifel C (in blue).Before 1pm, the kids took a snack-to-go (prepared by the volunteer parents) and walked back to school.
* * *
The kids need clipboards for their writing activities. We need about forty. Twenty kids come in for the daily sessions, but as many as forty come on Saturdays. Would you like to source the clipboards for BASA or volunteer in another capacity?
If you would like to replicate this project in your area, drop us a line at friendsofbasa@gmail.com or get in touch with Marifel Castriciones at 0915-445-53-97.
A Visit to Karangalan Library (Karangalan Village, Cainta, Rizal)
