Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 21 Expanding horizons

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 21   

Expanding horizons

After dividing their stick puppets and toy animals into 3 different categories ( air, land, sea), the Pre-Kindergarten children this week took a closer look at another category of animals, namely farm animals.

We have a pink little farm house on a classroom shelf which is very popular with the children and it is inhabited often by the farm animals of Noah’s arch next to it.

So the children started to ask about the names and as one of our girl’s knows the song “Old McDonalds had a farm”,  we watched a cute clip and sang along.

Next, I set up an area with many different types of puzzles  and a domino game as a provocation (IB PYP) for the children.

Quote: A provocation can come in many different forms, but it is always intended to provoke thoughts, ideas, and actions that can help to expand on a thought, project, idea or an interest. For instance, a provocation is an experience set up in response to a child's interests and ideas.

It was interesting that all the children went first for the HABA farm puzzles where the fun part was to poke the puzzle piece out with a finger. Slowly the children tried out other puzzles and challenged themselves with the domino. 

More and more questions were asked and it was good to see that the interest was great. The children asked to do all these puzzles again, so we made a similar set up on another day and again it proved to be a hit.

This week, our Pre-KG children also had a special experience as we went to the nearby Fashion Museum to see another fabulous art exhibition.

Regular visitors to my Pre-KG blog know by now that I am a very big fan of our local Rokko Island Fashion Museum which surprises me again and again with fascinating art exhibitions.

The artist this time,  Mr.Fu Yurukawa, crafts art out of huge pieces of styrofoam which he chisels into animal and other portraits.The canvas then is lit from behind showing the picture in fluorescent orange or blue. The effect is stunning and the children were fascinated by all the huge animals they could see.

If you visit the exhibition with your child again, please make sure to hold on tightly to their hands so they do not touch and coincidentally poke a hole into this art pieces.

But by all means, please go again !

Finally, during this week, we had a new friend join our Pre-KG class. There was a lot of excitement and the Pre-KG children were very keen to show the newcomer their toys and their learning !

Welcome to our class, little girl, we are looking forward to many new adventures we you!

Dear Pre-KG class, how wonderful to see you always so eager to expand your horizons!

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 20 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, where do you belong ?

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 20   

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, where do you belong ?

The Pre-Kindergarten children really love the book 

“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see “, so we read it again and listened to the upbeat song (see last blog),

The children also liked the stick puppets and played along with them to the book and song.

Then we gave the children a new challenge, something we call “Preliminary Assessment” in PYP terms to see what their understanding is prior to deepening a subject.

We put 3 pieces of coloured cardboard on the floor, representing the SKY, the LAND and the SEA and asked the children to put the stick puppets on the areas they thought the animals belong.

It was amazing to see that the children already had quite a good idea of what was asked of them and they quickly brought out their boxes of toy animals to make more matches.

To give the animals and the concept are more visual home, the children then helped to convert 3 recycled boxes into air, land and sea areas, showing great skill and interest in the process.

The animals were matched again and again and the children showed increased understanding by putting for example one turtle in the sea area and one on land.

After another request of reading the “Brown Bear” book, we asked the children to let us know their favourite animal in the book which they then coloured with finger paints after having lots of fun exploring different colours on paper.

Beside the 3D version of air, land, sea, we have converted our classroom blue board where the children will put some information that they will collect next week.

The subject of animals gives the children lots of opportunities for research, so please read many books at home and have some great conversations.

Btw, the children have found out already that man has some inferior skills to a duck. Well, a duck can swim, walk AND fly.

But, with all their inquisitiveness and quest for learning, for me, the Pre-KG children are really flying high !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 19 Flexibility is the magic word

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 19   

Flexibility is the magic word

The Pre-Kindergarten children started their second week back at school after the winter holidays with a lot of enthusiasm for their new subjects of "Animals and Food". 

Most children love animals and the Pre-Kindergarten children are no exception. They were keen to tell us their favourites, which were a giraffe, a horse, a tiger, an elephant and a panda as well as a lion and a dolphin from the teachers.

We looked at our “At the zoo” song again and the children  wanted to make some animals, so we got the play dough out (individual bags !) and started with snakes which involve different hand movements like kneading and rolling.

Snowmen were popular, too and then the children discovered that 2 bigger snowmen balls, 2 smaller snowman balls (flattened) and a snake as a trunk could make an elephant.

Much laughter was heard when creating very big heads or very long trunks, but with a bit of help everyone was happy with their elephants and they truly looked adorable.

At the end of the day then we took down all the art work from the previous unit, talked again about the wonderful pieces the children had made and put them in folders.

We also looked at one of the children’s favourite books “Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see “ and found a really funky song version to clap along to.

Brown Bear, Brown bear , what do you see ?

Well, the next day we got the news that unfortunately one of the EY children had gotten sick, so we closed shop and moved to online lessons !

Flexibility is our middle name !

Teacher Anita had quickly made stick puppets of the book to take home, so the children enjoyed singing along and naming all the animals.

Other activities included online morning circle time, a book reading, a colour hunt at home and singing a variety of songs. And of course, everyone got to show their favourite stuffed animals !

A big thank you to the Pre-Kindergarten parents for being so flexible and adjusting their schedules and a big round of applause to the very young Pre-Kindergarten children who did a fabulous job in their first online lessons ever !

Thanks a lot also to my coworker David for his IT support !

In spite of all the fun on screen, I am really looking forward to seeing everyone back in person in our classroom !

Take good care and stay healthy !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 18 HAPPY NEW YEAR OF THE TIGER !

Pre-KG 2021/ 22 Blog 18   

HAPPY NEW YEAR OF THE TIGER !

Happy New Year to all our Pre-Kindergarten families and the whole school community !

We trust that you all had relaxing winter holidays and a good start into the year 2022!

According to the Asian zodiac this is the year of the water tiger and will be defined by strength, fearlessness, loyalty, a strong sense of justice and good fortune in relationships as well as family life!  What more could we ask for ?

Personally, my year started with many lively get-togethers of family and friends and my daughter’s coming of age ceremony which is such a wonderful and special celebration in Japan.

Events like this light up our lives, but also small, daily, bright moments make us happy.

The cheerful smiles of the Pre-Kindergarten children coming back to school surely brighten every room.

They eagerly embraced the news that this will be the year of the tiger, looking for tigers in books and matching them with our animal figurines. 

The children then chose an image and crafted their very original tiger face plates which they then proudly displayed at the entrance to the Kindergarten area.

As our new unit will focus on animals and food we also listened to the song “At the Zoo” which features not only tigers, but a whole variety of familiar and interesting animals.

At the zoo

Starting with this song, we additionally listened to many other animals songs this week like “5 little monkeys”, “5 little ducks”  and the children not only learnt new vocabulary and honed their math skills, but they also did lots of different animal movements and rhythmic exercises.

What a fun way to start this new year !

And with more friends joining the class in the near future, I am sure the Pre-Kindergarten class will absolutely ROAR !

DIE BESTEN WÜNSCHE FÜR EIN GUTES UND GESUNDES JAHR 2022, DAS JAHR DES TIGERS !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher