Pre-KG 2023/ 24 Blog 7 On the way to the Oktoberfest

Pre-KG 2023/ 24 Blog 7

On the way to the Oktoberfest

This week a new friend joined our class who had just arrived from Germany !

A heartfelt welcome to little Luca and the Hebek family, we are so happy to have you with us in Pre-Kindergarten and the DSKI school community.

Ein herzliches Willkommen an Luca und die ganze Familie Hebek, wir freuen uns, dass ihr bei uns im Pre-Kindergarten und an unserer Schule seid. 

Auf ein spannendes Schuljahr !

We introduced Luca to our morning circle, the rainbow song with colour sticks and of course to our stick hockey using the Chicco soccer goal. 

Soccer is one of Lucas passions and he scored many goals with his classmates!

Luca also enjoys playing with lego, so the children showed him our wonderful train set and together the children constructed a variety of track systems with added houses and farms.

The children role played, driving to various directions and we even went to Germany.

Well, we told the children that the Oktoberfest that is held at our school on Saturday is originally from Germany and we watched the cute video clip again, covering word by word.

Oktoberfest für Kinder

So dear parents, please check your vocabulary skills: What is Dirndl, Lederhose, Hut, Riesenrad, Kettenkarussel, Achterbahn, Hunger, Wurst, Brezel, Lebkuchenherz, Oktoberfest ?

The Pre-Kindergarten children also coloured a drawing of a Dirndl and Lederhose which we will hang up at the entrance to greet visitors to our Oktoberfest.

Last, not least, no Oktoberfest is complete without Weisswurst, Lebkuchenherzen und Brezeln.

So the Pre-Kindergarten children took out their Playdough and started making lots and lots of rolls (snakes) and then watched their teachers making Brezel. 

It was not an easy shape to make, but everyone tried - great job!

Die Kinder hatten sehr viel Spass beim Kneten und “Schlangen” rollen, schauten den Lehrern gut zu wie man die Brezeln formt und haben es auch prompt selbst  probiert. Prima !

We finished the week with a walk to the nearby field to look at the beautiful sunflowers and check out the growth of the sweet potatoes which we will harvest next week.

But first, we will have some delicious Wurst und Brezel at the Oktoberfest tomorrow and lots of fun with family and friends.

Wir freuen uns alle auf ein tolles und erlebnisreiches Oktoberfest an der DSKI mit Familie und Freunden, leckerem Essen, das “O-zapft is”, Spielen, dem Fliegerlied und guter Musik !

Das Fliegerlied

Herzliche Grüsse und bis zum Oktoberfest ! 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German 

Pre-KG 2023/ 24 Blog 6 Colourful world

Pre-KG 2023/ 24 Blog 6

Colourful world

The world around us is colourful!

Red tomatoes or watermelons, green grass, pink cherry blossoms or blue sky - we always enjoy the stimulation and beauty of colours.

A friend of mine turned blind with age and lost the joy of reading as well as the joy of seeing colours.

But not only full blindness deprives people of seeing colours, but also colour blindness.

Quote: “Colour blindness (colour vision deficiency, or CVD) affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women. Worldwide, there are estimated to be about 300 million people with colour blindness, almost the same number of people as the entire population of the USA! There are different causes of colour blindness. For most colour blind people their condition is genetic, usually inherited from their mother, although some people become colour blind as a result of other diseases such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis or it can be acquired due to ageing or from taking drugs and medications.”

In previous years, I had some children (all boys) in Pre-Kindergarten who had difficulties seeing colours, but they all were fine by the age of 4. Before that they could match different items of the same colours to each other, because they could see different shades of grey.

One of the reasons that “Colours and Shapes” are the subjects of my first unit in Pre-Kindergarten is to make sure that the children are aware of the different colours and have lots of opportunities exploring them.

So this week we did many activities to foster colour recognition. 

The Pre-Kindergarten children started with sorting foam shapes in 4 colours (rot, blau, gelb und grün) into corresponding baskets, then constructed with them and after that did more sorting. A bit of trying and everyone could do it ! Bravo !

We sing the rainbow song in morning circle and the children get a colour stick to hold which they raise when the corresponding colour is sung. 

I can sing a rainbow

It is a multifunction task of listening, looking, action and collaboration and the children enjoy the song and the movement very much. 

They also love playing ball hockey !

On another day, the children chose a colour and we then went to the nearby Kobbeco Land to play, but this time we also had a mission for the children : Please find an item in the playroom in the colour you have chosen ! 

The children went on a search, they did a great job and they were very proud of their findings !

When we had a day with a breeze, we decided to take our learning experiences to the green field. Beforehand in the classroom we had looked at cones in 5 different colours which we brought along.

I positioned the cones in a line on the grass and the children were supposed to run to the cone in the colour that I had called out.

Alas, this proved to be more difficult than expected for most children and we repeated the game.

Whether it was the distraction of the field or the joy of just grabbing any cone regardless of the colour, we decided that we will practice again in order to make it to the right cone next time.

There was a great discussion among the children though which would have been the correct colour.

The Pre-Kindergarten children also worked on their colour recognition combined with their math skills.

The classroom has a wonderful puzzle from Germany that consists of many colourful fish, ideal for learning colours and counting. There actually is a very big difference between narrating the numbers and finding the right amount. The expectation for 2 year olds is just to understand the concept of two. 

The children really love the little fish and had fun counting in a playful way.

As we do most of our activities bilingual, in English and German, here are more links to  Ms.Andrea Thionville’s videos which might give some inspiration to all of our Pre-Kindergarten parents to learn a bit of German along with their child.

Deutsch lernen - die Farben 2

Next week is Oktoberfest……so, eins, zwei, drei, viel Spass beim Deutsch Lernen und ein schönes Wochenende !

Oktoberfest für Kinder

Herzliche Grüsse, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German 

Pre-KG 2023/ 24 Blog 5 Caring and Connecting

Pre-KG 2023/ 24 Blog 5

Caring and Connecting

This week DSKi had a short school week due to the national holiday on Monday and the Pre-Kindergarten class was very lucky to have a new friend join who had moved from overseas during the long weekend.

We are very pleased to welcome little Sophia into our Pre-Kindergarten, a heartfelt welcome to her and her family!

Sophia adjusted fast to her new classroom environment and the Pre-Kindergarten children on the other hand showed their very caring side by playing with her and engaging her in all kind of activities right from the beginning.

The Pre-Kindergarten children are very young and some of the things they are learning are good self-management and good social skills. It is always heartwarming to see how previously shy children come out of their shell, show their talents and embrace new friends and new challenges with increasing confidence.

The outdoor play area proved to be very popular for making sand pizza, pancakes and birthday cakes!

We will have some birthdays coming up soon and the children made sure we teachers do not forget.

The children were really focussed on their role play as you can see from their concentrated faces. 

Another popular activity is construction and the children like to use a variety of materials and shapes.

Connected to their unit the Pre-Kindergarten children learnt about colours, in both, English and German by making individual pictures with colour pins and some children could already verbalize what they made: flowers, rainbows, squares,  cars…

There is an easy recognition game by Ms. Andrea Thionville. Her website, Teddy Lingua, is on of the most comprehensive one to acquire new German vocabulary. 

As most of you know I am not a fan of extended screen time for little children, but her clips are short and fun.

Andrea Thionville Farben

One of the highlights this week was our discovery walk to the Fashion Mart. The building has many floors with lots of showrooms and the children could connect their learning to colourful lego displays, a wonderland of carpets with lots of shapes on them and many different sofas featuring fabrics in stunning colours and patterns.

A great week of learning, sharing and caring !

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German