Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 7 The colourful life in Pre-Kindergarten

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 7

The colourful life in Pre-Kindergarten

What an exciting week we had in Pre-Kindergarten!

Besides fun unit time, library, music and P.E. lessons there was a sudden earthquake emergency drill, a small tour on Rokko Island to research the museums for our future unit trips, an excursion to the Peace and Nature Farm in Ozo and most of all, 2 new friends joining the Pre-Kindergarten class!

A heartfelt welcome to Sofia and Stephanie and their families, we are so happy to have you with us! All the children were so excited to get to know each other and have more friends to make discoveries with!

As our current unit centers around colours and shapes, the Pre-KG children are given plenty of opportunities to discover new shapes as well as shades (black and white).

As Monday was the actual Halloween day, the children started the week by crafting some cute mobiles made of bat, pumpkin, ghost and cat shapes.

They tried to draw in related Halloweeny colours and were very interested in trying out the mobile with the dangling shapes.

The next day the children wanted to colour a robot using their favourites and lots of colourful circles for decoration.

Sometimes the children are on a real roll when it comes to art, so we decided to use the origami technique to fold tulips for a beautiful card which we made for Peace and Nature on behalf of their 19th anniversary. Peace and Nature is an NPO growing natural food and I have been a member since the beginning. They offer wonderful workshops for our DSKI children and have sponsored our events.

On Wednesday we welcomed 2 new friends, Stephanie and Sofia into our Pre-KG class. The children sang the rainbow song together and then were very keen to play rainbow stick hockey. it was heartwarming to see how the children helped each other and had so much fun together.

Nice teamwork everyone !

Then on Thursday we took the school bus for our excursion to the Peace and Nature farm in Ozo, the northern part of Kobe.

Thanks to our bus driver Mr.Fujita we had a fun and safe bus ride which gave us also spectacular views. When we arrived at the farm we were warmly welcomed by Bahram and Shinobu Enanloo and many of their volunteers.

We are so grateful for their considerate provision of a lovely snack area especially for us, for the gift of juicy persimmons, the hands on potato digging mini workshop, their charming balloon art and their ever present smiles and kindness.

The Pre-KG children together with Mrs. and Mr.Kaku (Hasuki’s parents) as well as Chinatsu and myself really enjoyed the hospitality, the fresh air and many sights in beautiful nature. We met old friends from DSKI, made new ones and spend a very happy time. We definitely will come back in spring ! Thank you so much, Shinobu and Bahram ! 

The very colourful and exciting week ended with an active Friday and lots of fun at P.E. !

Active play paired with caring friendship will always make for a happy learning environment !

Yours,

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German 

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 6 Autumn has arrived

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 6

Autumn has arrived

Autumn is a very beautiful season in Japan and it is called shokuyoku to gejitsu no aki, autumn of appetite and art. 

So we are very lucky that we can enjoy delicious autumn food like mushrooms, pumpkins, persimmons, new rice and sweet potatoes.

We had harvested our very own sweet potatoes at the nearby Rokko Island Field and decided to bake some at school for all the EY children and teachers to enjoy.

After admiring the huge size of our harvest, our teacher Chinatsu showed her amazing skills by cutting the potatoes in even slices and then some sticks. Thank you, Chinatsu !

The children wanted to have a go as well - raw potatoes and blunt knives are not the best match, but at least they tried !

Seasoned with some olive oil, the potatoes were ready to go into the oven. Shortly later a delicious smell wafted through the air and the baked sweet potatoes were just as delicious.

They were very popular with the children and eaten up so fast that there was no time for pictures.

Gochizousama deshita !

Food plays a big part in Japanese autumn, but this season might mean similar or different things in your home country like harvesting berries, pears, apples, grapes, corn and wheat, jumping into piles of dried leaves, flying kites or collecting acorns, chestnuts, walnuts and marigolds.

When visiting the nearby field again, the children didn’t find any more giant sweet potatoes, but there were many beautiful marigolds blooming. The kind ladies of the Rokko Island Beautification Committee gave us many bunches of the lovely flowers in bright yellow and orange, just in time for our Halloween celebration at school. Thank you so much! 

As autumn also means celebrating the festival of Halloween, we had an exciting day at our school which was wonderfully decorated by our PTA who also provided some of the yummy sweets for all of our children.

The Pre-KG children went on their first trick and treat adventure and were kindly received by many of our school classes. They were also very good at sharing some candies themselves.

Thank you so much to the PTA, Elena, Sam and all my other fellow teachers for such a fun day. 

A very big thank you also to the Dodo family including Ryuki who was a former student of Pre-KG and whose family very generously donated hundreds of candies. 

Well, in autumn not only our tummies need to be stimulated, but also our brains. 

So out come the ideas for the art part of autumn! 

The Pre-KG children are learning about colours and shapes, so they decorated an art flyer with triangles to make their own version of a colourful dress / coat/ kimono. 

The finishing touch was some sparkling accessories and the result was amazing.

This activity is a part of a small art project that will be continued and will involve a small excursion. Stay tuned for our Pre-KG children's creativity and more adventures.

Wishing you a pleasant autumn break with lots of delicious food and strolls on sunny days.

Schöne Herbstferien und viel Spass beim Wandern, Spielen, Essen und Entdecken !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German 

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 5 Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome, Irasshai!

Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 5

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Yo koso, Welcome, Huan Ying!

The learner profile attributes of our current Pre-KG unit are Thinker, Risk-taker as well as Caring and the Pre-KG children showed all of these attributes on many occasions last week !

Alice, Malin and Mamoru welcomed their new friends Hazuki, Kent and Masahiro into their Pre-KG class with a very Caring attitude. They showed them around, helped with new routines and then all six children shared games, toys and laughter !

The children also gave some Thought about how they could welcome not only new children but also parents and DSKI families to our Oktoberfest!  They crafted lovely stick puppets to say hello and we displayed them next to our Tombola Team booth for everyone to enjoy.

Last, not least the Pre-KG displayed a lot of Risk- taking: eating their first bento at school on their own, building a fancy tower with foam shapes, climbing up high to the slide, learning about German culture, managing the schedule board or helping their teachers assemble a new toy with a screw driver - nothing could deter the children from trying and working it out together!

What a wonderful group of caring Pre-Kindergarten children, ready to make friends and explore and learn together!

So, whatever your language….Willkommen, Bienvenue, Yo koso, Welcome, Huang Ying all new children and families to our Pre-Kindergarten classroom. We are so excited to have you with us and we are looking forward to many new adventures together !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German