We have been learning all about each other’s families and home countries in our Social Studies class. This has been an exciting learning opportunity as we explored maps, globes,  cultures, traditions, iconic symbols, and as well as the other ways we can say hello in different languages.

We explored the Philippines, the country we live in. Our teacher, Miss Cammy is pure Filipino and two of our other friends are Filipinos but also have Chinese roots. We learnt how the flag looks like and where it can be found on the map and globe. We also learnt how there are thousands of beautiful islands in the Philippines! We want to visit all!

Philippines is known for celebrating lots of festivals. Last October, we talked about a very popular festival in Bacolod called “Maskara” – Mask Festival. We made our own Maskaras to celebrate this festival.

 We also tried on different native clothes from the Philippines called Barong Tagalog for boys and Baro’t Saya for girls.

Not all of us have tried local delicacies such as Kutsinta and Ensaymada which is especially good to eat during breakfast or snack. We enjoyed eating these during our Picnic.

It was nice to learn how there are a lot of Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines and that’s exactly why a lot of Filipinos practice Chinese cultures and celebrate Chinese holidays. Last October, we celebrated the Mooncake Festival. We tried Mooncakes and made Chinese Lanterns to celebrate this day.

We flew half way around the world and visited Canada. Canada is such a big and beautiful country! It has a lot of scenic views and beautiful landscapes. What we liked about Canada is snow! We wished it could snow in the Philippines too! Canada’s flag has two colours – read and white, and also has a maple leaf at the center.

Canada is known for pancakes and Maple syrup, we ate these during our picnic. It was really yummy!

We got to learn more about Canada, it’s iconic places, and symbols through the book our friend brought. We were also lucky enough to bring home some goodies like stickers and pencils.

We also made beaver crafts, which is considered as Canada’s national animal. We were so astounded to learn about beavers and how they chop up wood with their teeth just to make their homes. We wonder if we can see a real-life beaver some day.

Our next journey was China! Miss Shaira and one girl from our class came from this country. We learnt more about the Chinese culture and iconic places such as the Great Wall of China.

We also got to try on traditional Chinese clothing for girls, and of course we also got to taste more mooncake! Yum!

 We also learnt a little bit of Kung Fu, which is a Chinese martial Art the requires a lot of patience, focus, and concentration.

We also stopped over Japan!!! Two of our friends came from this country! We we were so astounded by the Japanese culture, especially in terms of technology.

The Japanese are well known for their inventions and innovations. Most of us have been there. We also found out that Japan also has snow!!!

We were also able to try a popular Japanese streetfood called Takoyaki which is basically like a ball of pancake with baby octopus inside. It was so yummy!

Our classmate taught us how to use chopsticks. It was quite a struggle in the beginning, but we’re sure with more practice we will be able to master it eventually. Our friend also brought in lots of yummy sweets he enjoys eating with his family. It made us miss our own family so we brought some home to share with everyone.

One of the other things Japan is know for is the their beautiful Cherry Blossoms. We cannot find this type of tree in Manila so we decided to make our own for decoration in the classroom. Cherry Blossoms are so beautiful! We learnt that it only blooms at a certain time of the year and people travel all the way to Japan just to see it.

We were also able to try on the traditional Japanese costume which is called a Kimono, for girls and Hakkama for boys. It is so elegant and comfortable! The styles can vary depending on the occasion.

We also made some sort of fish art that represents a carp – a very important type of fish in the Japanese household as it helps in cleaning the waters.

We also visited South Korea. What we loved most about this country is the food!!!!! We were also introduced to a cartoon called “Porroro”, which is our friend’s favourite.

 We made traditional Korean Taeguk Fans which we can use especially on a warm day. Some of us got mixed up with the colours (oops!).

We were lucky enough to taste traditional Korean Kimbap. It was almost like a sushi roll from japan but it was thinner and had more vegetables inside.

Another country we visited was Australia. Two of our friends live here. We learned that Australia is both a country and a continent! It’s quite easy to go to from Manila as it’s very near.

We were able to try Australian food such as Tim Tam, Fairy Sandwiches, Vegemite Sandwiches, and as well as Lamingtons. Some of us have never tried these before. It was so yummy we that we couldn’t stop ourselves from eating!

Watching travel videos from Australia really enticed a lot of us to visit this country. We were especially amazed by a sport Australians really love, which is surfing. We even watched videos of how some children learn how to surf as young as 6 years old! Australia is also known for a lot of cute animals such as Pandas and Kangaroos.

We also visited Belgium. It was a little difficult looking for Belgium on the map and globe as it was quite small, but with a closer look we were able to master locating it.

Despite the size of this country, we were very astonished by its magnificent culture. We really want to visit Belgium one day. One of the things we enjoyed the most was learning a traditional Belgium dance. This dance required us to dance as a group, it wasn’t easy as most of the steps required fast movements!

Belgium is known for a lot of delicious food, however what it’s really known for is it’s waffles!

We had so much learning about the world. We can’t wait to learn more about the other countries!