Pre-KG 2023 / 24 Blog 37 Fun, Families and Father‘s Day!

Pre-KG 2023 / 24 Blog 37

Fun, Families and Father‘s Day! 

The Pre–Kindergarten class continued learning about the body and family this week through a variety of songs and activities and revising the vocabulary in English and in German. 

Head, shoulders, knees and toes is a well known song and the more often you sing it the speedier the movement usually gets. 

Die Kinder lieben auch das Lied „ Mit Fingern, mit Fingern“ und mittlerweile klappt es bei allen gut auf Deutsch.

Our morning circle song „ This is the way I wash my face“ with the lyrics I adjusted to our needs is as popular as ever and invites to many discussions by our meanwhile very talkative group.

„I brush my teeth and my mummy brushes her teeth“, „I wash my face and I take a bath“, „I don’t like the cold water“ are just some of the comments that show the children’s awareness of their body and some basic hygiene.

So after having gained so much knowledge, I showed the children how to wash a doll gently with a washcloth and then, much to the children’s delight, it was bathing time for the dolls outside in the big blue tub.

Everyone did their best washing their doll’s body and also the hair with the shampoo kindly sponsored by Sophias’s family. It was lovely to see how gently some of the children washed their doll’s face. There was a lot of splashing and in the end we showered all the dolls to make sure there was no shampoo residue left. 

As part of their self– management skills the Pre–Kindergarten children learn how to dress themselves and it is not an easy task, so it proved even more difficult for them to dress the dolls, but with a little help and patience they started to manage. 

The children also had the opportunity to learn what active body movement means when we visited the INAC soccer team display and watched the children on the bouncy hills.

Outside movement included hands–on activities like making mud cakes and measuring the circumference of the turtle circuit as well as a walk to the sweet potato field to check whether our plants are growing nicely.

Our fabulous 5/6 graders held their PYPX exhibition this week and their teacher Mrs.Harris  invited us to come and listen to an interesting story about global warming and see her class videos on a variety of topics including recycling basketball shoes. The Pre–Kindergarten children proved to be attentive listeners and when asked some questions by myself showed that they had taken away some new knowledge from the presentations. Thank you Ms.Harris and grade 5/6 for this awesome chance to connect across grades !  

Another connection was with the families and I would like to thank you all so much again for coming into school over the last two weeks to hold the SLC with your child. It was really heartwarming to see the interaction between the Pre–Kindergarten children and their families and a fantastic opportunity to showcase the amazing growth each child has made throughout the school year. 

The children also loved to show their families the charming canvas they have made for their family portrait, please enjoy the complete line up in my blog next week ! 

And finally, the Pre–Kindergarten children had the chance to celebrate on of their family members, their father, in a special way and to thank him for all his love and support ! 

They chose a shiny paper, drew their daddies face and had Ms.Anita write a special message to make a unique coaster for their dad to put a cool drink on. 

Happy Father‘s Day to all the dear fathers ! 

Einen guten Vatertag an all die lieben Väter! 

Have a wonderful and relaxing weekend ! 

With kind regards, 

Mit herzlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

Pre–Kindergarten homeroom teacher

Playgroup / EY German 

German Saturday School 

Pre-KG 2023 / 24 Blog 36 Rainbows in our life

Pre-KG 2023 / 24 Blog 36

Rainbows in our life

Since I can remember I was fascinated by the appearance of rainbows. 

There is just something magical when on a dull and rainy day, the sun suddenly comes out and fills the sky with one of nature’ s most beautiful wonders and its own artwork: a rainbow! 

From a scientific point, rainbows form when sunlight passes through raindrops in the air and interacts with them by bending, reflecting and separating them into different colours and thus creating the beautiful spectrum we see in a rainbow.

On an emotional level, rainbows bring lots of joy and are universal symbols of hope, love, happiness and acceptance.

Rainbows are made up of seven colours, are therefore colourful just as life itself and they teach us that even in cloudy times, beauty and magic can appear.

Many years ago I named the Pre–Kindergarten room Rainbow room and the beautiful, colorful life with the children never fails to amaze me.

Art, music and dance are some of my passions and the Pre–Kindergarten children have been creating many wonderful pieces as well as singing and expressing themselves in a multitude of ways. That the school‘s mission statement this school year revolved around the arts made me very happy indeed! 

So combining art with our current subject of Body and Family, the children this week created a colourful piece for their family photo collage.

Using a big shaving brush they painted their canvasses with colors of their choices and showed lots of concentration and joy in the process.

Once dried,  the children picked colour tapes and ornaments to decorate their canvas as a backdrop for their family photo which the parents had sent in and which I printed and laminated. 

There were stars and hearts in the sky, rabbit tapes and smiling families to be seen and I am sure the collage will move your heart and earn a prominent spot in your house.

Well done, dear Pre–Kindergarten children! 

On Tuesday the children had an additional sensory experience by listening to a fantastic version of the Carnival of the Animals played professionally on the piano by the charming Mr. Richard Frank and our very own music teacher Ms.Azusa. What a feast for the ears. Thank you to both for the enchanting performance. 

As the sun was out for most days, we went on our exploration walks again, moving our bodies and minds when coordinating all senses, running, balancing, scooping and selecting pine cones to offer the play shop. 

The warm weather was perfect for a bit of fishing where the children not only had fun, but boasted their extensive vocabulary ranging from naming the colours ( I got the orange one), over animal species ( squid, crab, fish etc.) to comments in full sentences ( I like fishing and I can swim in the sea. I can catch the fish, but I get wet. The water is splashing). Truly amazing how much of a progress the Pre–Kindergarten children have made with their fine and gross motor skills as well as their language skills. 

So to give the parents a glimpse into this wonderful development, we invite them to school for SLC ( student led conferences) where the children can talk to their parents about some of the things they have learnt.

To accommodate this very young age group, their sleeping times and their family circumstances, I have offered daytime slots for these meetings.

The parents and children who have attended so far had a meaningful time looking at artwork and books as well as puzzling or cooking together.

Thank you all so much for coming and I am looking forward to see more of our Pre–Kindergarten families next week! 

With kind regards, 

Mit herzlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

Pre–Kindergarten homeroom teacher

Playgroup / EY German 

German Saturday School