Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 20 Karneval and Le Carnaval des Animaux

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 20

Karneval and Le Carnaval des Animaux

This week the school celebrated Karneval which was organized by some of our DSKI fathers and it was such an enjoyable event !

The Pre-Kindergarten children came in a variety of great costumes and they looked adorable ! 

The EY teachers had dressed up, too, being a minion, a dragon whisperer, a unicorn, a bear, a witch and a pirate!

We started the Pre-Kindergarten day with our usual morning circle and the children concentrated well, but were full of anticipation !

In the MPR then the Karneval Committee explained all of the fabulous activities they had thought of, so the children would have lots of fun.

The children made masks, danced, played musical chairs, hit the pinata and then joined the parade back to the classroom.

Thank you so much to our DSKI fathers, Mr.Bonnin, Mr.Donovan, Mr.Harris and Mr.Voelskow, for all your great ideas and the wonderful time !

As mentioned in my previous blog, people tend to think of Venezia and Rio when hearing the word Carnival, so it often comes as a big surprise for first time visitors when they see all the exuberant celebrations at Karneval in Germany.

There are different roots for Karneval: the celts celebrated the end of winter and greeted the spring, 

the Romans celebrated in honour of their god Saturn and changed the roles between rich and poor, so their world was upside down on these days.

Koeln (Cologne) was part of the Roman Empire 2000 years ago and the Karneval there is still defined by princes, princesses and lots of satire about politics shown on decorated floats.

The south of Germany (die Germanen) on the other hand rather celebrated like the celts, with lots of noise and scary masks to get rid of the winter !

So depending where you visit Germany you might see a very different type of Karneval aka as Fasching or Fastnacht because it is the last sumptous celebration before the period of fasting. 

Well being DSKI, the Deutsche Schule Kobe International, there are enough reasons to celebrate this great custom and we continued with a lots of dancing in the classroom over the week. 

Get some movement at home with this catchy song which I also presented in the EY German lessons !

KARNEVAL IM KINDERGARTEN

This week also provided a great opportunity to combine the Karneval celebration with our current subject of animals, so we listened to a classical piece by the talented French composer Camille Saint-Saens called “ Le Carnaval des Animaux* which has been loved by generations of adults and children alike.

There are many different video versions on the internet, but I chose the one featuring real animals, so the children could make an easier connection between what is seen and what is heard.

SAINT -SAENS CARNAVAL DES ANIMAUX

In order, the fourteen animals / movements are: 

1) Introduction and Royal March of the Lion, 

2) Hens and Roosters, 

3) Wild Donkeys and Swift Animals, 

4) Tortoises, 

5) The Elephant, 

6) Kangaroos, 

7) Aquarium, 

8) Characters with Long Ears, 

9) The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods, 

10) Aviary, 

11) Pianists, 

12) Fossils, 

13) The Swan 

14) Finale

Yes, it is a classical piece and yes, it is quite long, but you never know if you do not try ! And sure enough, the children were fascinated by the sounds and upon several hearings, could identify some of the animals.

We then asked the children about the favourite animal in the piece and they started to craft them with paper plates and colour paper. The children put a lot of thought and effort into their craft. Great job, Pre-KG !

To make a further connection to the “Carnival of the Animals”, we chose some of the animals as puppets and cut outs and put them on the ground outside of school for a spotting game.

The children had to find the right animal and were very active and joyful in doing this. Their knowledge of animals is getting really good!

Being outside already, the children then wanted to see if there would be some dogs playing in the dog run nearby, so we had a look. We were lucky and there was a whole group of beautiful greyhounds!

The wooden deck in the area is a fantastic place to dance, sing and move, so the children happily showed off their animal movements either from the classical piece or free style.

What a joyful week of celebration and embracing the new and unknown !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German 

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 19 Marine life and love

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 19

Marine life and love

The ocean, rivers, lakes and waterfalls, in fact any body of water (yes, including swimming pools) provide the kind of environment that is calming for our nerves and yet stimulating.

Our Pre-Kindergarten teachers, Ms. Anita and Ms. Chinatsu love the ocean so much that both named their sons “Kai” - with the kanji for “sea” in Japanese.

Well, who doesn’t like to sit on the beach looking at a beautiful sunset or sunrise and listen to the soothing sound of the waves. Besides the health benefits, many people are fascinated with marine life. 

No wonder that the Pre-Kindergarten children have shown interest not only in fish (and the fishing games ), but many different species in the water and they have become quite knowledgeable, even in different languages.

So there are fish, whales, sea horses, octopus, rays, turtles, crabs aka Fische. Wale, Seepferdchen, Tintenfische, Rochen, Wasserschildkröten, Krebse or  sakana, kujira, tatsunotoshigo, tako, ei, mizugame and kani.

The children again wanted to go on a search for aquatic life on Rokko Island, looking at the different bodies of water and as before, they found nothing.

But with so many foodies in our class, the talk came back to eating fish, octopus and shrimps, so we visited the local Daiei supermarket and spotted a lot of edible sea life. 

The children were quite stunned by the variety - how fantastic it s to have so much seafood available in Japan !

Additionally, the children found two pink sculptures outside that looked like sea snails, so they were quite happy with the result of their search.

Still, we decided it was time to make our own sea life, so the children coloured 4 different species which we laminated and put clips on, to fish with our handmade fishing rods.

Now all we needed was our own little fish pond, so the children converted a collection of recycled rectangle boxes and decorated them with waves to look more authentic. They were very happy with their own creations and had lots of fun fishing.

Having gained more insight into marine life, the children then decided it was time to challenge themselves to a sorting task. 

Looking at the vast amount of animal figurines we own, many of them from the fabulous German Schleich brand, the children tried to find every animal that swims or lives by the water to display it in the sea box. 

They were really firm in their choices and so proud upon completing the task. 

Well done, Pre-Kindergarten!

On Friday, we had another new friend visiting our Pre-Kindergarten class for a trial and the children gladly showed and shared their handmade fishponds, marine animals and fishing rods.

So what about the love in the headline?

Well, there is not only our love for the sea and the heartwarming friendship among the Pre-Kindergarten children, but we also celebrated Valentine’s Day this week.

The children made lovely cards for their parents and Elias brought a delicious cookie heart for each of his friends in small bags which he had decorated with a hand painted tag. 

Thank you so much Elias for caring and sharing!

Next Monday we will also share fun, laughter and some sweets at our Carnival (Karneval in German ) at school. Even though you might associate Carnival with Rio de Janeiro or Venezia it is quite a big event in Germany, but it actually depends on which area you hail from.

The region around Cologne (Köln) and the south of Germany celebrate in a very lively manner.

So please encourage your child to dress up for the occasion and let’s have a lovely time together.

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German