Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 11 Sankt Martin - Caring, Sharing and Many Friends!

 Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 11

Sankt Martin - Caring, Sharing and Many Friends!

This week the school celebrated Sankt Martin and it was such a joyful event ! 

Sankt Martin is my favourite saint because of his universal message of sharing with each other and caring about one another.

He was a real person who did many good deeds, with the most famous one being the sharing of his coat on a cold winter night with a beggar who was sitting in the snow.

Sankt Martin

This scene is depicted in the Sankt Martin song and played out in Germany with a person depicting Sankt Martin riding on a real horse and breadmen distributed to the children after the march.

There is a video clip by the German national television which was also shown at our Sankt Martin celebration in the school yard and translated by Ms.Julia.

Die Geschichte von Sankt Martin

Martin being very humble did initially not want to become a bishop, so he was hiding in a geese coop and people were looking for him with lanterns, hence the tradition of lanterns. Another version is that after Martin passed away, people used lanterns in the evening at his funeral, but the first version is more child friendly.

The Sankt Martin march and the making of the lanterns with the parents in EY have become beloved traditions by the DSKI community and the children are so much looking forward to the 11.11 when the event is held and they can use their beautiful lanterns, Laternen.

Laterne, Laterne

Already weeks before the anticipation is high and the children love the Sankt Martin songs and sing them every day. We also did a practice march in order for the children to know part of the route and not tire so easily on the actual day.

A new Sankt Martin song which I found some years ago called "Lichterkinder" has a deep meaning in our times addressing loneliless and poverty. 

Lichterkinder

It was heartwarming to see all the children sing this song in the school yard before the march. They all had really practiced well in German and music lessons!

So when we talked about caring and sharing with the Pre-Kindergarten children in the last weeks, they started to understand that one needs to be kind. And that they have many friends at school who care for them.

The children are still continuing to learn about colours and shapes and they are getting very good at naming them and even making imaginary collages with shapes. There was a little robot with heart shaped eyes !

To depict their many friends the children used the triangle shapes which I always make from recycled paper and glued them on paper. When asked what shape we need for heads, they correctly said "circle".

So voila the "Many friends" collages were created and they look so colourful and adorable. The children wanted them to dance, so we helped a little with the drawing of arms and legs by guiding the pencils. 

Many cheerful, dancing friends indeed !

As the friends from K1 are learning about colours and seasons, we sang an autumn song in German class and the children made some purple leaf shape magic sticks which were very popular. 

They were joined by two little friends from Pre-Kindergarten who had made a magic stick using orange leaves ! So many happy faces and a lot of exciting shouting of the words "Herbst (autumn ) und "Blätter" (leaves). 

Der Herbst ist da

Another shape and colour related activity this week for Pre-Kindergarten was the making of Christmas cards for our market (yes, it is that time of the year already)!

This is supposed to be a secret and a surprise, so I have not taken any pictures where you can see the results, but the cards look stunning ...and sparkling. I am sure they will find many purchasers on the market day !

What is always lovely to see is how excited the children are to create, learn something new and then show their knowledge. We have many toys and activities related to colours and shapes and when the children can finally manage a new task, they beam with pride and joy !

To witness this on a daily basis makes the job of a teacher the most rewarding one in the world !

And yes, our littlest friends from Playgroup are also learning about shapes and colours and enjoy gluing collages !

I would like to thank all the parents and grandparents for always supporting our school and the teachers and of course for entrusting your children into our care.

Thank you also for attending the Sankt Martin celebration and for all your caring actions throughout the year and your volunteering as PTA, librarian and helper at events. 

Finally, vielen Dank to Ms.Julia and the Sankt Martin team and our fabulous PTA for making this event a memorable one where the whole DSKI community got together.

Have a good weekend, sharing joy with your loved ones !

With kind regards, 

mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch      

German Saturday School homeroom teacher

Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 10 SHAPES are part of STEM !

 Pre-KG 2026/ 27 Blog 10

SHAPES are part of STEM !

In their current unit the Pre-Kindergarten children continue to learn about "Colours and Shapes" while making new discoveries every day.

When creating the Pre-Kindergarten curriculum almost 20 years ago, I choose these subjects as the first unit as they are highly attractive to small children because their developing brains need to make sense of the world and seek out visual stimulation and structure. They learn a.o. pattern recognition, pre-literacy and fine motor skills.

Of course puzzle pieces are also shapes, so the Pre-Kindergarten children started the week by playing with different puzzles and then making some dot art.

The children's fine motor skills are developing really well and everyone was able to peel the dots off and stick them into the appropriate circles of a leaf shape. We could witness that the children mostly use their favourite colours.

The next day, on Tuesday we came together with friends from K1 and K2 as well as parents and grandparents to craft the lanterns which we will use for the Sankt Martin celebration and march on 11.November. 

The teachers had cut a cross shape with windows featuring the children's favourite shapes and they all enjoyed colouring, putting stickers and gluing colourful wax paper. 

After assembling, the lanterns looked delightful and we did a little walk singing and took a group picture in the yard. 

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents attending the lantern making, we are all looking forward to the lanterns shining brightly.

I am attaching once more the lantern song which the children really love and the song depicting the story of Sankt Martin sharing his coat with a beggar which has become the most famous of his good deeds.

Laterne, Laterne

Sankt Martin

On Wednesday then, the Pre-Kindergarten children created collages with three shapes (circle, triangle, square) in a multitude of colours. The children chose all their favourites, glued with patience and the results were really stunning. I would like to frame these beautiful collages for everyone to admire !

The next event was celebrating American Day on Thursday ! All classes had a jiving session with Ms.Daria in the MPR and when we entered with EY the Pre-School children were still dancing and the younger siblings were surprised to witness that. 

Soon everyone joined in and the rhythm was really fun and upbeat ! For lunch there were US themed bento boxes with chicken, fries and a pie ! Yum !

In the afternoon the children used blue and red to colour American flags (stripes and star shapes) which they took along for a group photo with the gentlemen from the US Consulate who had especially come to visit us and held an interesting quiz session for the older children at school.

Thank you very much to Ms.Daria and the US Consulate for their support !

Finally, on the last day of the school week, on Friday, it was time for the Pre-Kindergarten children and their friends from K1 to apply their curiosity and knowledge of shapes in an interesting STEM experiment using Playdough and plastic straws. 

First the children formed a lot of balls (something which everyone is really good at!), then they inserted the straws to make either a triangle or a square. 

After standing the shapes up, the children did the wobble test. They found out that the triangle is strong, but the square moves easily. What a great STEM discovery !

The reason is that triangles have fixed angles (rigid geometry) while squares have four sides and corners that act like loose hinges and deform easily when you push.

While the explanation is a bit too difficult for our age group, the discovery was not and their amazement was genuine. And yes, we had children say, the triangle does not move, but the square does. What a great way to include STEM in our daily play with easily accessible materials. Please try this experiment at home !

So we had a fantastic end to an interesting week with lots activities around shapes. If you would like to know more about why shapes are part of STEM, kindly refer to this text:

Quote:

Geometrical shapes are part of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) because they form the foundational language of how physical structures are designed, how space and measurements work and how natural systems grow. 

Mathematics (Geometry): Shapes are defined by mathematical rules, angles, symmetry, and coordinates. Math uses shapes to calculate area, volume, perimeter, and spatial relationships. 

Engineering & Technology: Engineers rely on the structural integrity of different shapes (such as why triangles distribute weight or why cylinders and arches resist crushing forces) to build bridges, skyscrapers, airplanes, and computer-aided design (CAD) models. 

Science (Natural & Physical Worlds): From the hexagonal structure of honeycombs to the round growth patterns of plant stems driven by cell expansion and turgor pressure, shapes appear naturally as the most efficient physical solutions in physics and biology. 

Wishing you a great weekend with your little scientist !

With kind regards, 

mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch      

German Saturday School homeroom teacher