Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 13 Enchanting Christmas time

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 13

Enchanting Christmas time

Christmas time is such an enchanting time, the world around us sparkles and is full of joy. 

We try to brighten the days of people around us and this was exactly the idea of one of our Pre-Kindergarten fathers when he sponsored a saxophone concert for the DSKI school children on Monday, 12th December 2022.

And what a wonderful occasion it was for our little ones to hear 4 saxophonists together playing some  wonderful tunes. The children were so fascinated with the concert that they did not want to leave the MPR (Multi Purpose Room) and even asked for an additional song.

Thank you very much, vielen Dank to Mr. Heuseler for his generosity and we are hoping to have the chance to hear these fantastic players again.

The week went on with making more candy canes and cookies for our Christmas market gingerbread house. It really was a labour of love for the little Pre-Kindergarten children and they were ever so patient with coloring and putting stripes on their cardboard shapes which made them really into pieces of art. 

On Wednesday we had our first birthday party in Pre-Kindergarten this school year, with Mamoru turning 3 years old in December.

His parents surprised him and his friends with beautiful balloons, intricately coloured cookies and fresh, delicious cakes. Everyone had a fabulous time- thank you so much, Mamoru’s parents !

Santa Claus visited on Thursday and brought the wonderful gift of a book for everyone. He was a very gentle and kind man, but it is always very impressive for little children to meet someone as imposing as Santa. The children had a choice to meet him or not, but everyone loved the book which was Eric Carle’s “From Head to Toe”.

The book is one of his classics which I really love, because you can teach your child everything from colours, over animals to body parts and movements which conveniently spans all 3 subjects (units) in Pre-Kindergarten. Please enjoy the book with your child and it is very helpful, especially on a rainy day !

The Pre-KG children love movement and the horses in the classroom )as well as the dinosaur outside) give them a great opportunity for rocking and hopping along to songs. As we have started our new unit, the children also learnt about eating habits of horses and other animals. 

Throughout the week the children each day opened a new envelope of their charming advent calendar and enjoyed the treats and activities very much.

The children also put the finishing touches on the gingerbread houses and wrapped some Christmas presents they had made lovingly for their parents. 

On Friday then came the long awaited Christmas market and there was a big hello when their parents arrived as well as meeting and greeting of old and new families of K1 and K2. 

The gingerbread house items completely sold out by the end of the day, which was fantastic, but the Pre-KG families also bought the fragrant mistletoes of K1 and beautiful postcards of K2 as well as many of the other lovely items available.

The Christmas market was a great success and everyone was in smiles.

The day and therefore the last day of school for 2022 ended with a heartwarming circle time in Pre-KG where presents were given to parents and children and a big thank you from the teachers for everyone for their caring support and encouragement.

Before going home, the Pre-Kindergarten teachers received some nice surprises from our lovely PTA team on behalf of the Pre-Kindergarten parents which really made our day! 

Thank you to all, also on behalf of Chinatsu. 

We are grateful for such a supportive class and we are so much looking forward to having many new adventures with your children next year.

Let me finish this blog with some enchanting German Christmas songs which the Pre-KG children loved very much. 

Kling Glöckchen, klingeling

Ihr Kinderlein, kommet

                

Wherever you are and whatever you do, please enjoy the blessings of Christmas time and this season and stay healthy over the winter holidays!

See you all in 2023 !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German 

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 12 Wrap up

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 12

Wrap up

The word wrap up conjures an image of a child wrapped up in a warm coat or blanket on a cold winter day, so it is fitting for this season.

It also means to cover something in paper, so another image that comes to mind are the lovely, colourful Christmas presents under the tree wrapped up with love and thoughtfulness.

And finally, the word “wrap up” can also mean to conclude or finalize something.

In any case the word is a perfect match for this week in Pre-Kindergarten as the Pre-Kindergarten children started to bundle up against the cold, continued to wrap a lot of candy canes for our Christmas market and last, not least wrapped up their first unit about colours and shapes under the transdisciplinary theme of “How we express ourselves “.

The idea was that colours and shapes help us express ourselves and the children inquired into different colours and shapes including favourites and created art work using various media as well as different manipulatives.

So we started the week with some provocations to see how many shapes the children can remember and then settled on a seasonal shape - a star - to use creativity in colouring. 

The children also learnt the meaning of opposites, big and small, soft and hard.

While both sizes of stars were beautifully coloured, we made the smaller version into a magic wand which proved very popular and turned both teachers temporarily into frogs. Luckily the children changed us back into humans !

On another day, the children were assessed on their colour sorting skills, using our basket full of colourful magnets which they separated into bowls with corresponding colours. 

Sorting is a very important skill in math and it helps children develop a range of thinking skills as well as problem solving.

For differentiation, a more advanced task was connecting same shapes of the same colour on a work sheet which was amazingly well done by the children using a crayon with good grip

An additional activity this week was making a Nikolaus ( the German Santa Claus or better,  the original one ) using a triangle shape and a circle. Much fun was had and the children were rewarded by Nikolaus with a yummy mikan or Mandarine or whatever that lovely citrus fruit is called in your language.

The week also offered the chance to put those tulip bulbs under wrap (pun intended) ! The Pre-Kindergarten children joined K1 and K2 on their mini excursion to the nearby Rokko Island field to plant the tulip bulbs, so we can enjoy the beautiful tulips again come springtime.

Never one to miss a great art exhibition, I also took the children to the Kobe Artist Museum to see the colourful prints of Mr.Hide Kawanishi, one of my favourite Kobe artists whose beautiful printed postcards already charmed me when I arrived in Kobe many years ago. We were not allowed to photograph the exhibits, but the children were very intrigued by the prints and printing plates and they were very excited to find the elephant and the clock of the poster inside the museum.

The children rounded up their inquiry into colours and shapes by creating more beautiful star. bell and heart shaped ornaments which will surely delight the recipients and hopefully take the spotlight on many a Christmas tree. 

Nice wrap up, Pre-Kindergarten children !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German 

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 11 Adventskalender und Tannenbaum

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 11

Adventskalender und Tannenbaum

In my last blog I explained about the Adventskalender and the special meaning to me and my family, but there are many other things that are connected to Christmas in Germany and Christmas celebrations around the world.    

The Christmas tree (aka Tannenbaum in German as Tanne is the actual tree used), is quite a new custom compared to the birth of Christ 2022 years ago and there seem to be different stories of who put it up first when. One story says that Bakers in Freiburg decorated the first tree in 1419 with gingerbread, nuts and fruits like apples and the custom spread from there. 

Well, Christmas is just really connected with that beautifully decorated tree and the Pre-KG were very excited to attend the light up ceremony at DSKI around the Tannenbaum that featured many colourful ornaments including their own.

We listened to some lovely songs and bell performance rendered by our choir with Ms.Azusa and the Pre-KG children loved being part of the celebration.

Afterwards the children received their beautiful Adventskalender handmade by the PTA and they were very happy about it. 

From then on, every day different children open a new numbered envelope and after reading the message, all get a nice treat or fun activity. 

Even the teachers got a nice Adventskalender which was very heartwarming ! 

Thank you so much again to the Pre-KG PTA and parents !

The week was filled with other seasonal activities like making Christmas tree (Tannenbaum !) ornaments in the shape of apples ! The Pre-KG children have become very good at using cookie cutters and the paper clay ornaments looked lovely, especially when sprinkled with some glitter snow.

The children also decorated candy cane and ginger bread shaped cutouts with colour and candies and are looking forward to selling them at our Christmas market. 

As the Pre-KG class still had some sweet potatoes stored, we thought it would be nice to share them with our friends from K1. After Ms.Chinatsu cut them very expertly, we baked them in our DSKI kitchen oven and all the children enjoyed this activity together and the delicious taste of freshly baked sweet potatoes. 

What a treat !

The week ended with two mini excursions / discovery walks to find and look at more Tannenbäume on Rokko Island. 

Oh Tannenbaum

The fabulous Rokko Island Fashion Museum every year hosts a small exhibition of Christmas trees from around the world. Alongside the festive trees sit a multitude of cute, hand sewn rabbits and bears which are part of the Felissimo project for charity. 

The Pre-KG children loved the enchanting displays and found animals in many different colours. This exhibit is free to visit, so please have a look if you get a chance.

Still on a quest for more Christmas trees (yes, it’s a triangle shape), we also visited the Sheraton Hotel which features a beautiful, Christmas tree with lots of red sparkling ornaments in many shapes. 

Happy shouts of …there is a red ball, there is a ribbon could be heard from the children and even more cries of delight when yet another Christmas tree was found in the outside area. 

Finally when back at school, we got to admire one last Christmas tree, which is made very cleverly of branches and many adorable handcrafted ornaments.

It is a wonderful design and many of the ornaments are handpainted by Mamoru’s mother, so thank you and your helpers from PTA so much for this unique piece of art to brighten our Christmas season.

The whole decoration in the school entrance area including many Christmas wreaths (Weihnachtskränze) and other festive displays is thoroughly enchanting.

Happy 2nd Advent everyone and please keep warm and sparkling !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German