Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 10 Joyful times

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 10

Joyful times 

The Pre-Christmas season is always a special time.

It involves a change of seasons as we are transferring from autumn to winter and it hopefully brings a change of attitude and heart to some.

Even people who are not religious are often touched by the prevailing atmosphere of festivity and feelings of gratitude, generosity and good cheer.

The time starting four weeks before Christmas is called "Advent" where people prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth on 24th December or have a more commercial approach, but generally everyone spends a joyful time together.

                 

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

Since my childhood days the Advent Calendar is one of the happy things in this season and every morning from 1st December to 24th a little door or pouch is opened which contains a chocolate in a fancy shape or other sweets and surprises.

When I moved to Japan many years ago, my parents sent the Adventkalender from Germany, but nowadays it has become very popular and you can buy it in many places.

But how lucky are the children at our school that our wonderful PTA is making these calendars by themselves and every class is presented with a handcrafted one.

The Pre-KG children are looking forward to receiving theirs at the Christmas light-up ceremony next Monday.

Thank you again to our PTA and the Pre-KG parents for their donation of treats!

To bring joy to all their friends, fellow students and family members, the Pre-KG children have been busy crafting Candy Canes to sell at our DSKI Christmas Market on the last day of school.

The children have been learning the names of the colours well and some can say them in different languages. They are also very certain about their choices and therefore many colourful canes and also cute triangle ornaments have been crafted.

The Candy Canes will only be available at the Market, but today the children proudly put their ornaments on the tree in the hallway.

Every Friday, the Pre-KG have a P.E. lesson with Ms. Miho and this week they had a fantastic time climbing, challenging themselves to new tasks and rolling in a ball bath with colourful balls.

Lastly, the Pre-KG children are also enjoying the lovely and warm autumn weather and playing with their friends from K1 and K2.

Whether at the green field or in our backyard, the sand areas are very popular, especially for sand cake and cookie making. We have told the children that we will soon bake together at school, so using different shapes, sieves and spatula is a good practice for the real thing.

I heard that many families bake together in this season, so please enjoy the delicious taste of home made cookies together or (as in my case) some delicious store bought chocolates.

Happy weekend and a joyful 1st Advent on Sunday !

Am 1.Advent, wenn die erste Kerze brennt

Ein schönes Wochenende, frohes Backen und einen guten 1.Advent am Sonntag, 27.November 2022 !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German