Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 35 Getting dressed

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 35 

Getting dressed

Getting dressed is one of the skills that parents are keen for their toddler to learn fast.  

As the Pre-Kindergarten children start classes at age 2 , they are still very young and need to learn getting dressed.

It is not an easy task as it involves everything from fine and gross motor skills and coordination to balance and cognitive awareness.

So first, the easier part is to take things off. The hats, the shoes, the socks, the jackets…

Once this is managed, the children would like to put everything on again and often get quite upset if it doesn’t work their way.

Here at Pre-Kindergarten I invest a lot of time helping the children to reach their goals and I offer different methods to practice.

The children have taken very much to the many different dolls that inhabit our classroom and they are so wonderful for role play - tor feeding, carrying around, mothering, taking on rides, combing, putting to sleep, practicing the body vocabulary on and most recently trying to dress them. 

Showing amazing patience with getting the dolls dressed, the children are improving their skills daily. Two of our girls also started to iron the clothes, showing their understanding of proper care for clothing and making connections to their home environment.

We looked at a variety of clothes and we discussed why clothes are important. Most of the children understood that clothes are warm and protect our body. Clothes are useful. But clothes can also be lots of fun.

Kai told us that he is wearing his special white and blue birthday T-shirt. 

As we were celebrating Kai’s 3rd birthday, we had the perfect opportunity to dress up! So everyone went to the K2 classroom, choose a colourful costume and wore it for the party. Thank you for sharing, K2 !

Happy, happy Birthday, dear Kai ! What a fun celebration we had ! And thank you to the Brabant family for the cute and useful hand towels as gifts and the cookies !

Everyone loved them !

During the week the children also tried out different puzzles to learn more about the proper sequence of dressing. 

After some repetition, almost everybody could do it.

A layered wooden puzzle taught the children more in depth what is under the clothing and even under the skin.

The children showed great interest in learning that there are many muscles that make our body work.

In preparation for our excursion on Friday, the children looked at the beautiful leaflets of the Fashion Museum and wanted to be princesses or princes as well.

So the children changed themselves into royalty by gluing a picture of themselves onto the leaflet and also choosing a royal partner.And let’s not forget the crowns, necklaces and earrings ! What a beautiful and beaming group of princesses and princes !

On Friday then, the children visited the fabulous exhibition in the Kobe Fashion Museum, which featured a colourful variety of sparkling costumes and head dresses of the Takarazuka dance troupe. Their shows are wonderful combinations of elegance, hard work, a world of imagination and beautiful costumes, acting and singing.

If you have a chance, please visit the exhibition and please visit the show. Thank you to Suzu’s parents for accompanying us!

The Pre-Kindergarten children were mesmerized and commented on the amazing clothing and displays.

My philosophy is to always give the children a wide range of learning experiences and our excursion shows again that it is very important to expand the children’s horizons.

Next week it is Show Time at our SLC, student led conferences ! 

I am looking forward to seeing all of you then !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 34 HANDS-on learning

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 34 

HANDS-on learning

The Pre-Kindergarten children are continuing to learn about their body and their family and they do so through a lot of hands-on activities and learning.

Hold on…….hands-on ? Sounds familiar ?

Most people, especially ones who work in Early Childhood education have heard this term. It is used often and very important for a good reason. 

In a Merriam-Webster Dictionary,“hands-on” is defined as “relating to, being, or providing direct practical experience in the operation or function of something; involving or allowing use of or touching with the hands; characterized by active personal involvement; gained by actually doing something rather than learning about it from books, lectures, etc.” (Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hands-on) 

Hands-on learning is learning by doing and it can happen in many ways, in different spaces, using a variety of materials and activities. Children are natural hands-on learners from the day they are born. Experiences are key to developing understandings of the world around you. Babies don’t learn from worksheets, babies learn by exploring their environment, and so do older children and even adults.

If you look at how often the word” hands” is used in phrases of all languages, you can easily understand why this part of the body is so important for children.

Washing hands has become an often repeated daily ritual these days.

Parents of young children are very familiar with asking their children “don’t touch “ every day.

So we asked the children what they use their HANDS for and they came up with a lot of ideas: to clap, to open a book, to cook, to wave, to play, to pose, to wash ……

They were also aware that we should not use our hands for hitting or pushing or poking people.

With so many good suggestions around, we also made our hands dance to a charming little song, which you can try at home together.

MY HANDS

The Pre-Kindergarten children are very active and they make many new discoveries every day through hands-on learning. 

The week started with a very hands-on activity, namely planting sweet potatoes. The children enjoyed this activity that connects them to nature with the whole of Early Years. 

We are very grateful to the Rokko Island Beautification Committee and Mrs.Kameda for this wonderful opportunity.

The whole week was defined by hands-on learning, so please enjoy the photos of the children’s activities which show that children are natural inquirers and use their hands for all kind of activities.

The children plant sweet potatoes.

Tamaki covers the potato plant with soil.

Suzu and Veronica open the flaps of a book.

Emma waves along to our newest song about hands.

Kai finishes an intricate fish pattern puzzle.

Suzu buttons up a doll’s dress.

Alice combs a doll’s hair.

Amaru opens and closes the flaps of a wooden puzzle.

Aiki pours water through a funnel.

Malin climbs up the wall to the slide.

Veronica connects two wooden pieces of a train track.

Mamoru puts his inside shoes on.

This week of discoveries at Pre-Kindergarten ended with the children using their hands for lots of clapping as we celebrated Suzu’s birthday on Friday.

Happy 3.Birthday, dear Suzu, we loved celebrating and singing with you!

And thank you so much to Suzu’s parents for providing delicious cupcakes and very charming key holders engraved with each friend’s name.

The children were super excited about the gift and couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. 

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 33 Family and Friends

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 33 

Family and Friends  

The Pre-Kindergarten children came back into their classroom aka Rainbow Room very happily after the Golden Week holidays which was heartwarming to see.

They were full of smiles and as we thought, full of stories about their holiday adventures.

So when we asked the children about what they had done with their families in the past week, we were hoping for exciting news, but alas, story telling is still difficult for our little ones. 

The children have become quite confident communicators of their wishes in the classroom, but narrating is a different skill.

One of the girls told us that she had built towers of blocks with her family and another little girl had looked at a new house, but the other children were not sure.

They was also talk about having gone horseback riding with friends, so the children re-enacted the activities they had talked about in role play. Well, not everything turned out to be true, but we admired the wishful thinking and the fact that the children have become good friends outside of school and wanted to spend time together.

To get to the bottom of the holiday adventures, we enlisted the help of the parents by providing details and photos.

And what a fun Golden Week everyone had !

The common theme seems to have been water and nature, so there was a visit to the Aquarium, lots of playing at rivers and catching fish and ladybugs, playing with family at the local park fountain and strawberry picking !

Thank you all for sending those lovely photos some of which I am sharing herewith !

This week the children also continued to work on the subject and their understanding of family by identifying, naming and colouring their family members on a worksheet and finding corresponding paper cutout figurines.

Further, we listened to a charming song in English and German about how much we love our family.

I love my Family

When reading another Dora book, this time about a visit to the dentist , we talked about the importance of good teeth and healthy food. This was the perfect opportunity to review some of the food vocabulary from the last unit which already was slightly forgotten. Repetition is the key to success !

We also celebrated the 3.birthday of another friend in class with lots of laughter, fun, yummy treats and lovely presents. 

Heartfelt Congratulations, dear Tamaki! 

All your friends were so happy to celebrate with you !

The older we get, the more we know and appreciate the fact that friends are often extended family and very important in our lives.

Here is to the Pre-Kindergarten children and their families becoming livelong friends !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher