Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 27
New Unit: Body and Family !
So we had STEM week last week with rocket building and singing a German song about an astronaut flying to the moon which proved both so popular that the activities continued into this week.
There was lots of rocket flying in the classroom and I let the children finally take them home for their parents and siblings to be able to join the play.
The children also loved to sing along to the “Karl, der Astronaut” song and make the floating movements with their arms. It was quite a fascinating idea for the children that everything floats in space, even the body and the food !
Within some days the lego rockets slowly turned into houses and farms for the children’s families and the children showed fantastic creativity.
I definitely would love to live in some of their cool creations. Future architects in the making !
Along with the building came the talk and it was heartwarming to see how much the children love their families. One little girl chose 2 lego figurines embracing each other to show herself and her brother.
The children then wanted to make their family members out of playdough which proved a little difficult, but everyone tried really hard to form the heads by rolling Knete (German for playdough) into balls of various sizes.
There were some wonderful figures including a little man (with a little help) and a dog which was sculpted amazingly realistic.
Great job, everyone !
One of our Morning Circle songs includes the song “This is the way I wash my face” (to the tune “Here we go round the mulberry bush”), which involves movements around the face, so the children became interested in the facial features.
Our big board outside gives the children the perfect chance to draw and scribble with chalk, wipe and try again and they have become quite good at drawing faces with lots of details.
When we went to the green field the other day, the children not only wanted to play and dig on the little sandhill there, but also draw faces, so we used some sticks to do so.
After a while we took a rest on the benches and enjoyed another German song called “Mit Fingern, mit Fingern” which teaches vocabulary for different movements you can make with your hands. The song has been around for a while and has many and longer versions online, I probably learnt the (first part) version which I wrote in the Pre-Kindergarten Song Book from my grandmother.
Mit Fingerchen, mit Fingerchen..
Some of the parents have sent in their family pictures already, which I printed and laminated and the class sat in a circle to discuss them.
It is always fascinating to see how much photos trigger memories which the children are eager to share and how much the children want to talk about what they see on the photos, even though it is not their own family.
Often it is accompanied by wishful thinking….I want to go swimming, I want to go skiing, I want to go on a horse……and yes, dear children, we teachers share your sentiments.
I hope that I soon can offer another exciting excursion for our Pre-Kindergarten class which is so inquisitive and so active.
They love to move, they love to play with their friends, they love to discover new things and they always pick up some additional skills along the way.
Last, not least, I would like to introduce Mr.Lubin Nepomuceno to all of you. Mr. Lubin is the art teacher at DSKI, but has plenty of experience with little children and already has been the Pre-Kindergarten assistant some years ago.
Mr.Lubin will be on board on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Ms.Chinatsu and I appreciate his help on our very busy days.
Welcome (back), Lubin!
With the whole team, let’s learn, let’s have fun and let’s keep moving!
Yours,
Anita Ursula Mönch
Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher
Playgroup / EY GFL
