Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 28 Who belongs to my family ?

 Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 28

Who belongs to my family ?

With the start of our new unit called "Body and Family", the Pre-Kindergarten children dove right into the topic of who belongs to their family.

Family (from Latin: familia) is actually a core social concept and institution rather than a purely biological fact. Wikipedia identifies it as a group of people related either by consanguinity or affinity which forms the basis for social order.

So with our Pre-Kindergarten children talking often about their mommy, daddy, brother, sister and grandparents as well as their cats, one would think that the concept of family comes to them quite easily.

Well,we started the journey by talking to the children and some could name some family members, but some children found it difficult, so we set up different activities and stations for them to express themselves. 

First we revisited the photos the parents had sent of their children eating and asked what they and different family members like to eat. The children then matched food and fruit to their own picture and added some carton cut-outs of family members and their favourite food.

This activity was a good pre-assessment to monitor if the children knew how many family members were in their family, but it showed that usually one or two family members were chosen. The children did a fantastic job though feeding their chosen family members which showed great care !

The children then used the carton cut-outs of their family members only and almost everyone was able to find their family members and count them !

Lego are always a great tool for expression, so the Pre-Kindergarten children became very creative putting their family together (including pets), built houses and habitats for them and one child even sent his family on a plane trip!

Our specialist teachers, Ms.Azusa for music and Mr.Brabant for P.E. also helped the children learning more about their current subject by integrating songs like "Daddy Finger" or a very  active catch game called "Mommy got a letter and she dropped it..." (based on the duck, duck, goose game) and the children had a lot of fun with these additional activities.

Playdough is very popular with our Pre-kindergarten children, so they tried to make some family members with that, but this task proved quite challenging. Some of our children are still learning to roll balls which could be heads and bodies or make snakes (for arms and legs), but one of our girls had created a cute Minnie Mouse as a family member.

The children also made a lot of playdough food, we really have a class that loves food, so let's cook again soon.

Everyone also loves books, so throughout the last two weeks we read a lot of books to them and were really amazed by their interest and attention span. We started with easy books just about mommy, daddy and the baby and then ventured into more complex stories about Dora, the Explorer and her family and The little Critters. These books show a variety of scenes and stories in daily family life and when growing up and the children were not only good listeners, but started to get active with pointing and even questions. It shows again the great value of books and reading where you can give feedback and interact with your child.

This week was also Easter and the children made beautiful Easter Bunny baskets with materials donated by our kind DSKI PTA and later the day went for a stroll in the sunshine under the beautiful Sakura trees which were in full bloom.

With the song "Daddy finger" being so popular (and important for motor skills), I introduced a digital version as well. I am known for being very reluctant about screen time, but this short song is a clever version that adds what actually each family member can do with their fingers.

So please enjoy it and feel free to add your own ideas, i am sure your child will love it.

Next week we will review some of our animals and have a look at the bus and the map in preparation for our trip to Animal Kingdom with the families which I am very much looking forward to !

Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 27 Pre-Kindergarten STEM Adventures

 Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 27

Pre-Kindergarten STEM Adventures

The last 4 days before the spring holidays was the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) week at DSKI and what an exciting time the Pre-Kindergarten class, their friends from Playgroup and the whole school community had ! STEM learning is a whole curriculum experience and it can take place throughout the day.

So here are all our adventures:

1) The Magnetic Shape Challenge

Magnetic shapes for open-ended play not only help develop fine motor skills, but they are excellent tools for STEM as they foster creative problem solving as well as understanding of 3D structures and the children can experiment with different shapes, patterns and designs. 

The Pre-Kindergarten children showed a lot of imagination and came up with interesting structures which they proudly showed to Ms.Nini and their other teachers.

2) The ICE Melting Experiment

In a previous experiment the children had discovered that ice melts when in contact with warmth (the hands), but this experiment took the question a bit further: do all bodies of ice melt at the same speed ? After Ms.Anita had frozen one tray with water in rectangle shapes and a second one with animal figurines (Unit !) immersed in the water, she took them out and put them into separate basins. The Pre-Kindergarten children then took turns pouring warm water over the ice. Alas, the ice around the animals melted faster ! Why ?

There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon: Ice containing figurines melts faster than solid ice primarily due to the increased surface area (voids and cracks), enhanced heat transfer (better thermal conductors) and the reduced mass of ice. 

While these facts are big ideas for our little ones, they could witness it happen which is an important experience.

3) The Movement of Balls

For the next experiments the Pre-Kindergarten children made a little excursion to the nearby Kobecco Play Center.

Roller coaster toys are very popular in our classroom, but here was a different type which made the balls disappear from time to time. The children moved the balls faster and therefore learnt about momentum and acceleration.

The huge ball bath was also a big hit with the children where they floated, sank, counted balls and identified colours, all of which are STEM activities. And they absolutely loved this sensory experience which showed in their laughter and smiles.

4) A Balancing Act

This Play center also offers a nice array of soft shapes for balancing and the children challenged themselves to walk or run across which was a fun and not always easy activity.

The children learnt through trial and error that they need to adjust their body (center of gravity) to the changing shape of the support and this helps develop their spatial reasoning! Great job balancing, Pre-KG children.

5) AI (artificial intelligence ) Presentation

K1 Misha's father, Mr.Kamenev, held a very interesting presentation about AI which gave a good insight into the pros and cons of this tool.

The Pre-Kindergarten children listened carefully and even though they were a bit too young to understand, they enjoyed Mr.Kamenev's performance of a robot who wants to put butter on bread, but only follows the instructions fed to him which were given by the children and the older ones probably understood the downsides of AI.

6) The Magic Dough Demonstration

Every good baker knows that if you mix flour with water and kneed it enough, it becomes solid dough. Really ? What if it turns liquid when you release it? 

Cornstarch and water are called oobleck which becomes solid when pressured (starch particles lock together) and liquid when you stop applying pressure. 

This made for a fascinating demonstration by Ms.Kotomi for the children who are used to playdough or baking and for a fun and messy aha! moment experiment.

7) The STEM room activities

On the last day of the STEM week Mr.Brown had set up some fabulous stations with activities for the children to explore and discover. The Pre-Kindergarten children loved the shape bubble wands, the treasure hunt for dinosaurs, the balloon static experiment and especially the shadow puppet theater. 

They were fascinated by the fact that the cardboard figures came alive in the light and changed size according to the distance. 

The Playgroup children and parents were lucky that this event was held on a Thursday which is our Playgroup day, so everyone could join the fun and discoveries!

What a wonderful STEM week we had at DSKI where the school community could learn so much about this topic in an engaging way !

Please make sure to try some of the activities at home or outdoors, it does not take much preparation, but the results and learning for the children are amazing.

Have a beautiful spring break full of fantastic discoveries !

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 2025/ 26 Blog 26 The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the joy of creating

 Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 26

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the joy of creating 

The children's (and adults') world really would be a less colourful and cheerful place without the charming books by Eric Carle.

One of his most known and beloved books is "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" ( Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt) which is truly a masterpiece as it combines beautiful illustrations, an interesting story line that appeals to children (too many sweets for that little caterpillar) with colour recognition, vocabulary and math skills as well as an easy explanation of one of the most amazing metamorphosises nature provides. Who would have thought an egg becomes a caterpillar, then a cocoon and in the end a beautiful caterpillar?

On top of it the book is interactive and I had generations of children let a little caterpillar crawl through the little holes in the book while making munching sounds. I just love it !

We have read the story in class before, but started this week reading the book with a bigger language focus and a brandnew version kindly donated by Mr.Guo.

The children were fascinated and thought that a lollipop is really not good caterpillar food.

Colouring has become very popular with the children, so they all coloured a caterpillar and flowers in either green or their favourite colours.

Craft is also well liked by the children and it does not only foster fine motor skills, but language and imagination. As you can see throughout previous blogs and this one, the Pre-Kindergarten really love creating things and they are focused throughout the process and very proud and happy once they see the result.

So we included some caterpillar craft and when asking the children what colours they would like to use, they came up with green and pink. We helped to cut the many circles and saw the joyful faces of the children when the circles glued together became the shape of a caterpillar and then with antennae and eyes they looked very cute. There were some discussions on how long the caterpillar should be and were the eyes would go, so we could see the children were really thinking about the  process.

The week continued with crafting and the children revisited our entrance board where the arctic animals are featured and decided that they needed a hot air balloon and some eagles in the sky, so we printed an image of an eagle spreading his wings and the children made eagles with our left over paper plates (remember the polar bears). They were absolutely fascinated by the result and let their eagles fly and flap before hanging them up together with a small origami fish for food. And the hot air balloon made of shapes looked very nice, too ! Great inquiry into shapes and animals,Pre-KG !

This week on Thursday was the assembly of K2 who are good friends (including older siblings ) and role models for our little ones. The K2 children showed wonderful creativity by making their own story and all the stage props and did a fabulous job conveying the story in amazing costumes and headpieces. The Pre-Kindergarten children were spellbound and watched the presentation with fascination.

Das habt ihr ganz toll gemacht, K2, inklusive Piratenlied auf Deutsch!

As it it always good to move to a story, we also introduced an interactive song to the children showing the metamorphosis in a beautiful way to dance along. Please feel free to dance and move with your child, it is really enjoyable and will help with the vocabulary as well.

The Butterfly Dance Song

The children wanted to hear the story again and again, so we added the fruits and a counting activity this time. We were happy to see that many children know the word "plum" now !

Being so very observing, the children also knew that there was a big Caterpillar outside in the yard, so they went to introduce their little ones to him. They had much fun crawling inside as well and peeking through the holes.

Back inside we decided it was time to create the last stage of the book- the butterfly. The children used some special pencils from Germany by Staedtler which turn into watercolour when wet and they did such an amazing job colouring beautiful butterflies !

We backed their drawings with some old pamphlets from the Fashion Museum (no waste) to give them sturdiness, then made a body with a straw and antennae with pipe cleaners. Again the children were playful and full of joy when putting their butterfly together.

Then finally it was time to let the butterflies fly, the higher the better...so the children went up the slide and let their creations flutter around. 

What a wonderful and creative week again at Pre-Kindergarten ! If you do not own this lovely book yet, here is a short clip for you and please let your creativity flow when making scenes from the book with your child !

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Have an amazing weekend !

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 2025/ 26 Blog 25 O-Hinasama and celebration food

 Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 25

O-Hinasama and celebration food

This Monday was the day before O-Hinasama Matsuri, a traditional Japanese festival that is held every year on 3rd of March.

The O-Hinasama festival (also called girls or dolls festival in English) dates back to the Heian period when girls were given a set of dolls, the O-Hinasama, representing the emperor and empress and their court. Families pray for their daughters’ health and happiness, hoping that their daughters also will become kind, strong and courteous.

Ureshii Hinamatsuri

Many Japanese families display an elaborate set of dolls often handed down from generations or just the main two dolls representing the Emperor and Empress.

 It is one of my and my daughter's favourite festivals and as I would like the Pre-Kindergarten and DSKI community to know about it, it has become a tradition for the Pre-Kindergarten class to set up the two dolls the school owns at the entrance for everyone to admire.

Animated O-Hinasama Song

After setting up a beautiful display in the hallway, the Pre-Kindergarten children sang the traditional song and then made their own set of dolls with paper plates and beautiful origami paper as kimono.They chose the pattern to their liking, drew some charming faces and put their finished dolls on display.

The next day the children worked on their colouring skills and proudly showed their finished drawings in front of their handmade dolls! Great job, everyone!

After singing to the song again, the Pre-Kindergarten children wanted to dress and feed the baby dolls in the classroom which really showed their caring side.

The school lunch held a nice surprise as it was based on the chirashi-sushi which is traditionally enjoyed on O-Hinasama Day.

At the end of the day everyone proudly took home their lovely crafts and a small present from Ms.Anita in form of a Sakura flower bookmark.

Food is not only one of the current unit subjects, but really cherished by the Pre-Kindergarten children, so the next morning they invited some friends from K1 to join a little bento making party in our play kitchen. It was heartwarming to see how well the children played together and how much joy they showed !

Ms.Azusa in her music lesson continued the theme with a Japanese song called adaptly " The Bento song" and again the children had so much fun.

As the unit combines "Animals and Food" and the Pre-Kindergarten children have learnt so much in recent weeks, we gave them a small assignment in form of a matching task. We put three animals on the table and ask the children to allocate the correct food items. 

They mastered this perfectly and their actions were accompanied by full sentences in English...lion eats meat, elephant eats water melon and bananas, horse eats grass and carrots ! The children have advanced in their language and become very knowledgeable !

Later in the day we collaborated with K1 and K2 and visited the Sheraton Hotel together to view their stunning full set of O-Hinasama doll made by amazing craftsmen. It was my pleasure explaining the different dolls and ornaments to the attentive children and teachers.

On Friday we looked at the pictures the parents have kindly sent me and talked about what the children are eating. The Pre-Kindergarten children were very excited to see themselves on the photos and again were able to talk about the food and match items correctly. Great progress, everyone !

As the Pre-Kindergarten children could not have sweets for the O-Hinasama festival, but they enjoy healthy fruits, we ended the week with another "cooking" activity. The children cut mango into smaller pieces to create a sunflower around grape "seeds". Not only did they cut well, but the fruit sunflower looked very appealing and tasted even more delicious.

This was a nice treat for a very busy week which also featured many visitors to the school, a 3D printer seminar for the teachers (STEM) and two sports matches for our upper Primary on Friday ! Both, the DSKI basketball team and the DSKI soccer team won their matches and we were so proud of them. Some of these children have attended Pre-Kindergarten and it was wonderful to see them grow up into kind, fair and confident players.

We also have many siblings across all grades and it makes me very happy that we can all collaborate and learn from each other ! Next week is the K2 Assembly which I am also much looking forward to.

Enjoy the plum blossoms this weekend !

With kind regards, mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch      

German Saturday School homeroom teacher