LIFE is a GIFT - MERRY CHRISTMAS- FROHE WEIHNACHTEN !

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 17   

LIFE is a GIFT - 

MERRY CHRISTMAS- FROHE WEIHNACHTEN !

While visiting the exhibition of “Living things are my mirror “ at the Artist Museum last week, we saw a wonderful bag created by Ms.Machiko Miroco with the phrase “Life is a gift”.

Every day we have the pleasure of teaching our energetic group of Pre-Kindergarten children, who spend happy times in their class discovering many new things and living life to the fullest.

Especially these little children teach us every day the joy of life and the fact that we should be very grateful to have it.

As we are preparing for Christmas, the children have been playing with the nativity scene (“Krippe’) and are very taken with the newborn Baby Jesus.

They have been asking to get our baby dolls to play with and they are doing a good job of taking care of them and even feeding them.

Celebrating life is also celebrating birthdays and we had our first Pre-KG child turn 3 this school year.

Happy 3.birthday, dear Veronica, we are so happy to be part of this joyful occasion!

Her friends then received heartwarming gifts from her parents, including a pair of warm winter socks hand knitted !! with love. Thank you so much ! Domo arigatou gozaimashita to Veronica”s grandma for such a precious momento!

Veronica then shared more socks and treats with ALL of her friends in Early Years which was lovely !

Gifts were further on the agenda when the Pre-KG crafted some beautiful stars as presents for their parents. 

Good job everyone and nice cutting skills !

Then the children were lucky to have our art Teacher Mr.Lubin visit the class and help the children make sparkling presents boxes to be put under the beautiful art Christmas tree which he masterminded. What a wonderful idea !

Finally, this week was the time to celebrate Christmas at our school. 

A big thank you to the very engaged Christmas team, Ms.Renu, Ms.Elena and Ms.Hanna who prepared a beautifully decorated photo booth in the MPR and so many fantastic ideas for a  scavenger hunt for all the age groups !

The children had a lot of fun and the upper grades quite a bit of guesswork with who was the grinch (aka robber ) in the movie.

Another highlight on the last day was the visit by Santa Claus (Nikolaus) who seems to have a direct line to our teachers and PTA and therefore brought the children some very educational gifts.

Everyone loved Santa and the beautiful books ! 

Thank you very much indeed !

So we finished the school year with a lot of joy in our hearts and gratitude for all the blessings.

Thank you to the children for their daily smiles, our school parents, PTA, boards members, colleagues, sponsors, office team, bus driver, caretaker and cleaning team.

We need everyone to make things work at our school and provide a safe and happy environment for our enthusiastic children.

Wishing you all a joyful Christmas time and the very best for the New Year 2022 !

Ein frohes, gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest und die besten Wünsche für das neue Jahr 2022!

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher

PS Pictures to follow at the end of the year, so please stay tuned ! Thank you !

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 16 GIVING and SHARING

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 16   

GIVING and SHARING

Giving and sharing are values that should be applied and practised throughout the year and one’s life, but the festive Christmas season often shines a spotlight on these principles.

The Monday of this week was the 6th December when in Germany and other countries we celebrate another beloved Saint, namely St.Nikolaus.

He is the patron of merchants, seafarers and may others as well as children. Traditionally children put out their boots or a plate on this day and receive some sweets and small gifts.  

So the Pre-KG children learnt about St.Nikolaus and sang a song. 

Lasst uns froh und munter sein

They also crafted his red hat out of a triangle and a round cotton ball. 

Then the children received a nice St.Nikolaus surprise in form of a small chocolate (from Anita) and a lovely teddy bear (kindly donated by Aiki’s father, Mr.Puerto). 

They were very happy - Muchas gracias !

As we have started our new unit of “Animals & Food”, the children also enjoyed a card game featuring many animals and the ABC that has proved so popular with the class. The cards showed pictures of another charming book by Eric Carle, called simply ABC. it is a treasure trove of popular and lesser known animals.

The children had so much joy playing and talking about the animals on the cards.

This proves that one of the best gifts you can give to your children is time. 

Time to play, time to listen, time to discover, time to nurture their curiosity and of course time to cuddle.

This week my gift to the Pre-KG children was to share again my love for art, so we went to the Artist Museum on Rokko Island to see an exciting exhibition with paintings by Ms. Machiko Miroco, called “Ikimonotachi wa watashi no kagami” (living things are my mirror).

The exhibition shows her colorful and unique paintings, some of them very big and most of them featuring animals or food which made them perfect for our current unit.

The Pre-KG children were curious, amazed, thrilled and excited and also enjoyed the wonder tunnel very much.

We are grateful to Ms.Miroco for her fantastic art and to the staff at the Artist Museum for their kind attention and their permission to take photographs.

The children and teachers had a very interesting, special  and enchanting experience.

A big thank you to Ms.Hanna for accompanying us and giving us her break time !

On Thursday, we shared our love for nature with the children of K1 and K2 when we went to the nearby tulip field to plant many, many tulip bulbs. We are so much looking forward to seeing the beautiful tulips in spring !

On Friday the Pre-Kindergarten children had a new friend visiting their classroom. They were very welcoming to the new child, sharing toys and helping the little girl around the classroom.

Thank you so much, Pre-Kindergarten class !

Last not least, our very lucky Pre-Kindergarten children received some early Christmas gifts to play with at school.

The Chicco toys (kindly donated by Mr.Penkhues of Artsana Group) brought the children a lot of joy. 

The pushcart includes a little watering can, so when you water the flowers, some cheerful song comes on. And the cool soccer goal gives the children the additional challenge of moving! around, so you better be fast at shooting your goals!

Thank you very much to our kind sponsor !

The Pre-Kindergarten children of course share these toys with their friends of Playgroup and Kindergarten. 

What a wonderful week experiencing the joy of Giving and Sharing at Pre-Kindergarten ! 

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 15 Willkommen im Advent in der DSKI!

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 15   

Willkommen im Advent in der DSKI!

The word “Advent” derives from Latin and means “Arrival” in English or “Ankunft” in German.

The German Ambassador to Japan, Dr.Clemens von Goetze and his spouse, Dr.Sonja von Goetze visiting the Pre-Kindergarten classroom with DSKI assistant teacher Ms.Hanna Martina Moriguchi.

Advent are the four weeks before Christmas where we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth and spend a joyful and blissful time together.

One of the traditions is the Advent Calendar which has little pockets or doors that when opened have sweets or surprises to shorten the 24 days until Christmas.

Every morning the Pre-Kindergarten children are excited to open one envelope of the Advent Calendar which was lovingly made by our wonderful PTA mothers. The children also love the fox motif and tried to find a matching one in their boxes of animals. 

As the children are just starting their new unit inquiring into “Food and Animals”, this is a great way to make a connection. 

The children also set up the “Krippe” (as the “Nativity Scene” is called in German) and have realized that the little Jesus was attended by his mother Maria and father Joseph as well as kings and some animals. They were able to identify the cow, donkey and the sheep.

      

Advent is a time when we highlight our caring for others.

The Pre-Kindergarten children showed lots of caring when making stars and helping to decorate the Kindergarten area and also the small multi purpose room for the arrival of some very special guests.

On Friday then, everyone was very excited to welcome Dr. Clemens von Goetze, German ambassador to Japan and his wife Dr. Sonja von Goetze as well as two gentlemen from the German Consulate Kobe-Osaka, Mr.Meerkötter and Mr. Schweizer.

Willkommen in unserer Schule !

The Pre-Kindergarten children, together with their friends of K1 and K2 said a big “Herzlich Willkommen” and joyfully sang a song featuring greetings in German.

Our visitors were very happy with the performance and also showed great interest in our kindergarten and our projects. 

Afterwards the visitors toured the rest of the school and enjoyed another performance, this time by our DSKI choir.

We were very happy to have such honoured guests and show them our classroom and school.

Herzlichen Dank für Ihren Besuch an der DSKI, 

Herr Dr.von Goetze und Frau Dr.von Goetze.

Wir hoffen Sie bald wieder begrüssen zu dürfen !

The Pre-Kindergarten children finished their exciting day and week by setting up again the “Krippe” and finding animals matching the ones that were welcoming the new little child so many years ago.

Have a blessed weekend and 2nd Advent !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher