Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 16 Shapes, Sounds and Scents of this Season

 Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 16

Shapes, Sounds and Scents of this Season

We had another amazing week in Pre–Kindergarten and at DSKI with lots of activities and events stimulating our five senses!  

Every day we enjoy the beautiful decorations in the hallway and the Pre–Kindergarten room is now also home to a beautiful table centerpiece showcasing seasonal Christmas ornaments and an Adventskranz with four candles. 

The Pre–Kindergarten children continued to work on their entrance Winterscene and created a sleigh using rectangles, presents made of squares with triangle ribbons and snowflakes.

Schneeflöckchen, Weissröckchen

Together with K1 the children then had a lot of fun decorating paper clay stars with silk paper of different colour shades and they turned out beautifully. 

The Pre–Kindergarten children also made colourful cards for their friends and special people which were some of the assignments from our stunning Nikolaus shaped Adventskalender. 

Additionally we took a walk to the nearby Fashion Museum and had a look at their most recent exhibition „ The Modern Arts of Restful Beauty“ searching for different colours and animals. Afterwards the children could make their own piece of art choosing from 500 ! Colour pencils. What a fantastic opportunity to show their creative side ! 

Another visual feast will happen in spring when the tulips on the field nearby will enchant us with their multitude of bright colours.

Before that, of course, we had to plant the tulip bulbs, so Ms. Anita explained about the life cycle of the tulips and off we went with our friends from K1 and K2 to the field.

Our little children from Pre–Kindergarten are the youngest and they are always doing a brilliant job, but sometimes another activity catches their interest. So while their friends were planting, the Pre–Kindergarten children had a look at the calming river enjoying the tranquility of the water’s flow. 

Some of the children had gone to look at the field previously and we will make sure to check on the tulips growth from time to time.

In the morning of this busy day, we had the great pleasure of welcoming the ladies of our PTA into the Pre–Kindergarten classroom with delicious punch and we hosted all of Early Years to try it ! You could smell the wonderful punch and spices throughout the whole Kindergarten and how delicious it was! 

Thank you, dear PTA for your kindness, care and cheer always! 

We also had some delightful treats for our ears in the form of a jazz concert and book reading ! 

Mr. Strange, the father of a former Pre–Kindergarten girl who now is grown up and in Pre–School, is also a very accomplished piano player and brought his amazing team of musicians who accompanied him on the the drums, the bass and the saxophone! They surprise us with beautiful Christmas songs to which the DSKI students sang along happily. 

What a special performance and amazing gift for this season! Our heartfelt gratitude goes to Mr.Strange and his marvelous fellow musicians. 

On Friday, Mr.Hirai kindly came into our classroom to read to the Pre–Kindergarten children and a good friend from K1. He had brought two charming books „ Spot at Christmas“ and „Press here“  which got him the children’s undivided attention and interest which reflects Mr. Hirai‘s great choice of books, his soothing voice and the fact that children adore listening to stories. Thank you so much Mr. Hirai for taking the time in your busy schedule to read  to the Pre–Kindergarten children, we truly appreciate it ! 

This week the Playgroup children also did a fabulous job decorating their Christmas tree shapes and we all enjoyed a little Christmas party afterwards.

It is heartwarming to see how the Playgroup children are starting to become good friends and I truly enjoy the cheerful company of the lovely mothers. Thank you for being part of our DSKI community! 

A strong sense of community could also be felt when our 5/6 Graders came around to include the Pre–Kindergarten and other EY children in their class assignments and research.

There were questions about favorite colours, future dreams and a jump challenge in the backyard.

Thank you to our senior students for their caring attitude and patience for our little ones. You are the best role models ! 

Finally, there have been some big smiles and heartwarming moments when the Pre–Kindergarten children were making their presents for their parents….but oops this is a secret to revealed next week , with pictures included.

Please enjoy the charm of this season with all its splendid scents, sounds and shapes ! 

Wishing you a good and restful weekend after this busy week. 

With kind regards, mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch               German Saturday School homeroom teacher

Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 15 Adventskalender, Tannenbaum und Nikolaus

 Pre-KG 2025/ 26 Blog 15

Adventskalender, Tannenbaum und Nikolaus

Am Montag, den 1. Dezember haben viele Kinder das erste Törchen ihres Adventskalenders geöffnet. Dieser ist ein fester Bestandteil der Vorweihnachtszeit in Deutschland und vielen anderen Ländern und verkürzt den Kindern die 24 Tage bis Weihnachten. An der DSKI erhält jede Klasse einen liebevoll gestalteten Adventskalender von unserem wunderbaren PTA Team worüber wir sehr dankbar sind. 

Diese Woche war gefüllt mit vorweihnachtlichen Basteleien, festlichen Liedern, einer schönen Geschichte zum Tannenbaum, der Übergabe der Adventskalender und dem Beleuchten des Tannenbaumes mit musikalischer Untermalung unseres Schulchores. 

On the 1. December many children in Germany and around the world open the first door of their Adventkalender. This is a beloved tradition that helps children to count down the 24 days to Christmas. At DSKI every class receives a beautiful handmade Adventkalender from our fabulous PTA which we are very grateful for. 

This week was filled with preparations and craft related to the season.

The Pre–Kindergarten children are finishing their first unit focusing on „Colours and Shapes“ and they are creating a winter scene related to their subjects.

First they chose green triangles to make a Christmas tree and then decorated it using a print technique and small bottles to make colourful circles. 

To get a some practice they also stamped on individual Christmas trees, showing that they are learning to apply the right pressure while using paint. 

They were very proud of the results and everyone learnt the word Tannenbaum which is the German name for this type of pine tree associated with Christmas. The children also loved the song, so please sing along at home. 

Oh Tannenbaum

The Pre–Kindergarten children showed good social skills and a very caring attitude when playing together and included a new friend easily. They also displayed thinking skills during morning circle when sequencing the daily schedule. 

There were additional printing activities and craft using shapes and the children showed increased understanding of the relevant vocabulary.

Then the Pre–Kindergarten children happily hung up their cute gingerbread man shaped ornaments on the Christmas tree in the hallway. 

The next day I was lucky to meet the Pre–School children who showed me their beautiful sparkling pinecones they had made and later some children from Playgroup also crafted and were very proud to hang their ornaments on the school tree which looked more and more festive. 

On Friday then was the long awaited light up of the Tannenbaum! 

Together with their friends from EY the Pre–Kindergarten children listened to the beautiful songs rendered by the DSKI school choir, followed by a heartwarming story about the Christmas tree read by our principal, Mr.Windmeier before receiving a beautiful Adventkalender handmade by the PTA. 

Ms.Shelin also introduced a little gnome who would be hiding in the EY area later.

Our hearts were already filled with so much joy and light and then the tree was lit up. What a festive morning ! 

The Pre–Kindergarten Adventkalender was an amazing felt Nikolaus which the children took happily back to their classroom. They had heard that Nikolaus would visit them later after nap time, so they made some more Origami Nikolaus and listened to the song about Nikolaus again.

Lasst uns froh und munter sein

Ms.Anita also had taught this song to K1and K2 in German class and all children were very happy to make their own Origami Nikolaus and sing along. Das Nikolaus Lied und das Basteln eines Origami Nikolauses im Deutsch Unterricht bei Frau Anita war sehr populär bei den Kindern im ganzen Kindergarten und alle freuten sich auf das Kommen des Nikolauses.

Nach der Mittagsruhe hörte man dann die ersten Rufe : Nikolaus was here, der Nikolaus war da und strahlende Gesichter waren zu sehen als die Kinder eine Mandarine in ihrem Schuh fanden. 

After nap time, the joy was great when the children found a Mandarine Orange in their shoe and happy shouts of „ Nikolaus was here“ could be heard.

Sankt Nikolaus ( in contrary to Santa Claus) was a real person who was a bishop long ago. He was known for many good deeds including helping a poor family by putting gold into their shoes, hence the custom of putting out boots to receive sweets. 

Die Geschichte vom Nikolaus

I wish you a happy Nikolaus Day and a peaceful and blessed 2nd Advent !

Warm regards, mit freundlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher Playgroup / EY GFL & Deutsch               German Saturday School homeroom teacher