Update on CCubes

CHARICE CULTURAL CENTERS FOR CHILDREN: “C CUBES”

What, Where, Who, Why? A cubicle in a mall, a Chaster’s living room, an annex to a corner store, an audio room in a library--operated by a local team of Chasters who share the best practices in fostering emerging literacy and bilingualism through music in children ages 3-13. The purpose is to broaden the reach of Charice’ music and narrative of hope.

If you are interested, please consider attending one of these organizational meetings. If you are nowhere near these places, consider initiating one near you.
June 22 or 23 for Chasters in Laguna and Batangas, Philippines. Proposed venue is Summit Point Country Club, Lipa City
July 4 for Chasters is San Diego, CA. Proposed venue: Good Shepherd, Mira Mesa
August 1 for Chasters in Tokyo, Japan. Proposed venue: New Sanno Hotel
August 14 for Chasters in Okinawa, Japan, Proposed venue: Bldg 852, KAB

Chaster Teams go through a 3-month training program prior to their initial 6-month volunteer work. At the end of six months, teams may renew, regroup, merge with other teams, or disband. Chasters form team by first finding a partner that shares the stated purpose of CCubes then form a team with one or two Chasters and their partners. By their participation, the partners become Chasters.

Two or three teams in the same locality share the honor and responsibility of surveying interest in, proposing, launching, and promoting a CCube. Launching a CCube is a neighborhood event that involves children and their parents. Parents’ commitment is to bring their children every other week for six months. The curriculum coordinates each CCube activity with suggested follow-up activities at participating families’ homes. The following is for pre-schoolers.

SESSION 1 FIRST MEETING OF PARENTS AND PRESCHOOLERS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Equipment: iPod or disc player, metallic board, magnetic circular cards, magic slates, crayons, paper, toy xylophones, chalk, (Optional: sandbox)
Activity:
1 Introductions
2 Program Orientation
3 With Charice’ Joyful Joyful in the background, recite the opening prayer.
4a Teach concept of long lines and short lines, left to right strokes. If available, use finger to draw on a sandbox. Children then draw horizontal lines on magic slates or with crayon on paper.
4b Draw horizontal lines and circles. Develop concepts of circle above the line, below the line, and on the line through a parlor game. In this game, children hold hands in groups of two or three, forming small circles. Draw a chalk line on the floor. Show what spot is above, on, and below the line. Then do Simon sez, “Get on the line.” Etc. Next, name each group and do Simon sez one group at a time.
4c Develop concepts of 1, 2, 3, 4 while drawing four horizontal lines with left to right strokes.
4d “Me, a name I call myself” has a place on line one. Give each child a turn to put ME on line one.
4e On the toy xylophone, strike the note ME and recite the line, “ME, a name I call myself.”
4f Get each one to strike the note and draw a circle on the line.
4g Draw a big circle above the four lines and call it Sun. Draw rays coming from the sun and let one fall below line one. Draw a circle there and call it RAY.
4h Then below Ray draw a circle on a short line and call it DOE. Draw an outline of the female deer’s body. Teach to sing “DOE, RAY, ME, the first three notes that happened to be.”
4i Show magnetic flash cards in circular shapes of DOE, RAY, and ME. Explain they are words and are made up of letters. Name the letters. What do DOE and ME have that RAY does not? What does ME have that neither DOE nor RAY has?
4j Reinforce the concepts of 123 by counting the letters.
4k Have several of each card and play card games on the board, giving each child a turn to place them correctly on the board.
5 With Charice’ Note to God in the background, recite closing prayer.
6. Explain to parents the homework for the same day next week at their homes and what to expect same day two weeks later at CCube.

HOME SESSION 1 MOMS AND DADS TEACHING HOPE TO SONS AND DAUGHTERS FROM CHARICE' LIFE STORY
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The opposite of hope is despair and it has serious implications on society. Every hour in Japan and the U.S., six persons cease to see meaning in their lives, lose hope, and commit suicide. That’s three in the U.S. and three in Japan, the first and second largest economies of the world. Many others drown their despair in drugs, or in destructive behavior, accounting for the large prison population in the U.S. and incurring expense that’s driving California toward bankruptcy. At the root of despair in adulthood is failure to nurture hope in childhood.

Lesson from Charice’ story: Mothers, you are the first channels of hope. Your sons and daughters must see hope written on your faces and hear hope from your lips. Raquel taught Charice to hope while she dressed her up and coached her for the singing contests. She taught Charice to hope when she took her to Quiapo Church and, on their knees, laid their burden on the Lord and took His yoke of sweetness. The burden came from the taunts of the mean-spirited when Charice suffered setbacks in Little Big Star. But from that moment of deeply felt prayer, Charice confided to Boy that big things began to happen. She would later tell Oprah that God listens to her prayers.

Activity 1-1: Moms teaching sons and daughters the song Joyful, Joyful, Lord, we adore Thee. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVQqunb1a5Q). The 3-5-year-olds will love dancing to this tune. After a few minutes of dancing with them, do the time out sign, sit down, and use flash cards to go over the first line until they can sing along. Count the letters in Joyful. Name the letters. Dance at the completion of each reading activity.

SESSION 2 FAR, SEW, LA, TEA

Materials: Cloth, big needle with thread, tea bags, bread, cup, jam, circular flash cards of FAR - TEA
Activity:
1 Begin with a dance to the music, Joyful, Joyful…
2 Recite the words of the song for opening prayer
3 Review the last lesson at CCube. Count and name the letters. Read the words.
4 Ask a girl to draw a long horizontal line from left to right, then a boy to draw a long line above it, etc.
5 Draw a big circle above the lines and call it SUN, then drop RAY. Draw a short line below the first line and place DOE.
5a Ask a child to place ME then sing….the first three notes that happened to be.
6 Parlor Game: Form a big circle and jog along the circle. “We are going to far-away places around the earth. They are a long, long way to run.”
7 Stop and place FAR above ME. Reinforce the concepts of above, on, and below the line with the parlor game of the last lesson.
8 Count and name the letters on FAR. Count and name all the letters from DOE to FAR.
9 Teach the song from DOE to FAR.
10 Show the needle with thread pulling thread through the cloth and call the action SEW.
11 Count and name the letters on the SEW flash card. Then count and name all the letters from DOE.
12 Who does a lot of sewing? Grandma, or Lola, or LALA. Place the LA flashcard and say,”LA follows …”
13 Count and name the letters of LA, then count and name the letters from DOE.
14 Teach the song from DOE to LA.
15 Show a TEA bag, put it in a cup and call it “ a drink with jam and bread.”
16 Place TEA on the board, count and name the letters, then count and name all the letters.
17 Parlor Game: Adding letters. Form groups of mixed ages. Give each child a flash card and ask each group to add the letters they have.
18 Ask the DOEs to gather together. The RAYs, the MEs, etc. and sing their names in sequence.
19 Complete teaching the song ”…if you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything.”
20 Two meanings of note: the notes DOE, RAY, ME… and a letter. In the song Note to God, Charice used notes to sing the song but used paper and pen to write a note to God.
21 Recite the Note to God for closing prayer.