Pre-KG 2022 / 23 Blog 22
Making connections
The word connection has become so important in our lives.
We all want or need to be connected and we make connections in our business lives and also privately.
In a very easy definition “A connection is the state of being related to someone or something else”
For our students “the ability to make connections involves a process of connecting prior knowledge to new knowledge and experiences. This process allows students to relate what they read, see, do, and experience to themselves, to the world around them and/or to other things they have read, seen, or experienced previously.”.
The Pre-Kindergarten children are very eager to explore and learn new things, but they have also shown the ability to make connections.
As we have been talking about Food and Animals in our current unit, the children are commenting often about what food they eat at home or what their parents cook and they have started to imitate these actions in the classroom and in our outside play area.
*I am cooking soup - I can make onigiri- This is is an egg roll, are just some of the conversations we can hear. It is very good to see that the children are paying attention to their environment and sharing their experiences.
Before our trip to the Indian restaurant, the children asked about Indian food, so we showed some images and looked at some Indian dancing to connect them to this culture. The children were very happy to dance along and showed some amazing agility.
Soon they began to talk about dancing and movements and songs. Every Wednesday the children enjoy their music lesson with Ms.Azusa who tries to connect her lessons to our subjects and the children have musically gone to the Zoo, to the park and have become butterflies.
We are connecting with K1 And K2 for their art exhibition, so the Pre-Kindergarten children have created some beautiful art themselves which the parents will be able to view on Monday or Tuesday next week.
Actually our first Pre-Kindergarten unit was about “Colours and Shapes” and the children made a multitude of art work. The exercise proved to be very useful as the children could apply some of the techniques they learnt to their most recent pieces.
As we had several new children join our class, we decided to revisit the Silk Carpet Museum, so these children could also understand the motive of making a collage with themselves in a (triangle) kimono sitting on a carpet of colourful squares.
We were again welcomed wholeheartedly by the staff and the children enjoyed the beautiful patterns and soft touch of the carpets.
A real bonus was a new carpet we discovered in the display which featured an array of animals, some of them rare and hardly expected on a carpet.
We also found some stunning paintings featuring some of our favourite animals.
Finally, we visited an exhibition of drawings that is connected to the current NITTEN exhibition at the Artist and Fashion Museum. Please visit all of these exhibits, they are really fabulous.
We heard that two of our former Pre-
Kindergarten children, Rino and Mana have their drawings displayed there, so we will surely be back.
As our school, DSKI is located on Rokko Island, we make sure to always connect to the local community and to visit museums, shops, the many outdoor areas and our much beloved field.
The children had planted tulips in autumn and they are very curious about their growth. The class visits the field quite regularly and we have discovered that tulips of different colours grow at a different pace. Please check it out for yourselves, it is quite fascinating for the children to see. The children also love all of the other colourful and fragrant flowers blooming there.
We are forever grateful to be part of our wonderful DSKI community and to have so many generous parents connected to the Pre-Kindergarten classroom where their children spend or previously have spent many happy days.
Thank you so much to Yorinobu's mum, Mrs.Shinko Hakosaki for her kind donation of many wonderful books and to Malin’s parents, Mrs.and Mr.Vogel as well as Mrs.Rausch for their kind contribution of puzzles and toys!
As the year goes on and time passes, it is heartwarming to see how our group of Pre-Kindergarten children comes together as a class and feels relaxed with each other !
A big thank you to the parents for all their support and their delicious bentos which connect the children to their home every day.
Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!
Yours,
Anita Ursula Mönch
DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher
Playgroup / EY German
