Pre-KG 2024/ 25 Blog 3 Learning and Sorting colours / Farben lernen und sortieren

Pre-KG 2024/ 25 Blog 3

Learning & Sorting colours / Farben lernen und sortieren 

For young children, learning colours and shapes and their differentiation is a complex cognitive task and it happens gradually.

The ability to identify and match colours, and group objects by colour, shape or size is a developmental milestone for cognition.

It helps to develop visual perceptual, thinking and memory skills which in turn help with attention and problem–solving.

So when I created the Pre–Kindergarten curriculum almost 20 years ago, I put the discovery of colours and shapes at the beginning of the school year as it attracts the children‘s attention, promotes creative thinking and stimulates their imagination.

After building with the colourful foam pieces last week, we gave the Pre–Kindergarten children the task to sort them now.

For this we put big rectangular papers in the colours red , blue, green and yellow on the floor and encouraged the children to choose a piece from the pile and put it on the corresponding colour paper. After some thought the children joyfully participated and got into a real race! 

They were very happy with the result and even tidied up nicely. Good job Pre–KG !

Another sorting activity was a little more advanced as it consisted of different types of colourful pieces ( flowers, pins and magnets) which needed to be sorted into bowls that did not have the colour of the pieces, so we put clues into the bowls. Some of the Pre–Kindergarten mastered this task well and some needed a little help, so we will surely do this activity again. 

During outside time we continued the learning about colours and washed the big legos.

There were lots of puddles around after that, so soon a cheerful splash splash could be heard from busy feet and everyone was happy to get a bit wet. 

As children love to play with water, we took this chance while incorporating colour learning and doing the school a good service by washing our classroom carpet. This was such a joyful and popular activity, but it also gave the children a sense of responsibility. Vielen Dank, liebe Pre–KG Kinder, unser Teppich ist wieder wie neu! 

During „Open Kindergarten“ the Pre–Kindergarten is the „German“ room and attracts a lot of friends from K1and K2. The Pre–Kindergarten children have been very caring and sharing their toys and materials. 

The children created rainbows together and all sang along to a popular German colour song.

Grün, grün, grün sind alle meine Kleider

Cars and vehicles were sorted, tracks built and everyone loved Papas car in different colours.

Papas rotes Auto

Es war wieder eine spannende Woche im Pre–Kindergarten mit dem Focus auf dem Erlernen und Sortieren von Farben, denn Farben zu erkennen und zu sortieren ist ein wichtiger Entwicklungsschritt für die Kinder. 

Der Pre–Kindergarten ist am Nachmittag auch das deutsche Zimmer und es ist schön zu sehen wieviele Kinder zusammen spielen, singen und dabei ihre Deutsch Kenntnisse vertiefen. K1 lernt gerade über Transport und Fahrzeuge und die Kinder waren mit viel Eifer dabei.

Additionally we started to practice cutting with the Pre–Kindergarten children, each child with the help of one teacher. Cutting is also a skill that requires a lot of practice and supervision, so please make sure you use the right equipment at home and are always with your child.

Lastly, we had our first Earthquake drill this week and the Pre–Kindergarten children did a fantastic job, ducking, filing outside properly and sitting in line until the drill was over.

I am very proud of you for being so principled at such a young age. 

Wishing you all a joyful and sunny weekend! 

With kind regards, 

Mit herzlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch 

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY Deutsch & German

German Saturday School homeroom teacher 

Pre-KG 2024/ 25 Blog 2 A great start and lots of art !

Pre-KG 2024/ 25 Blog 2 

A great start and lots of art ! 

The second week back at school ( and the first full one) provided the Pre–Kindergarten children with many opportunities to discover their unit subjects through the perspective of art.

Though small, children are very curious when it comes to things created either by themselves or others. 

We have a shape sorter in our classroom which the children really love and it features blue circle shapes, red square shapes and green triangle shapes.

Building on these three shapes we provided the children with boxes full of colourful triangles ( my longstanding recycle project as all triangles are made from leftover papers ) and they showed their creativity by making their first art projects while honing their fine motor skills.

At first it was not easy for our little ones to hold the paper triangles and apply glue, but they soon discovered a good technique and enjoyed the activity and choosing triangles in all their favorite colours. 

As we hold a morning circle every day where we sing our greeting song and the rainbow song, the Pre–Kindergarten children are starting to remember their classmates names and also to identify the different colours.

You can support your child in their learning by singing the Rainbow song with them. 

I can sing a rainbow

Other popular toys in the classroom are our roller coasters, where you can let cars slide down a track or little wooden men dangle along. There is a small red one that looks very much like the Daruma on the Fashion Museum Artist poster, so I told the children that we will look for him and many vegetables designed as cute beings.

So off we went to the Museum to look at the fabulous exhibition of Mr. Kagakui who was a much beloved Japanese designer for children‘s books.

Going to the Museum with a group of 2 year olds was one of my idea many years back based on the experience with my own children and the fact that children are very interested in art and exhibitions if you make it age appropriate. 

So showing a pamphlet first, giving them a task ( find the elephant) , keeping it short and tuning in to their questions makes for an enjoyable visit.

Good job, Pre–Kindergarten and yes, you found that elephant and Daruma ! 

Throughout the week the children enjoyed additional activities like giving the giant colourful legos a bath outside ( and keep cool and entertained in the process), building houses and enclosures for animals with foam colour pieces, becoming risk takers while sliding, sorting colour sticks and mingling with new friends from K1 and K2 and learning the classroom routines.

We had a great week and were very happy that the upcoming typhoon spared us! 

Please keep the activity pack I made for each child at home and kindly only open when we go online in case of a school closure ! 

Wishing you all a restful and safe weekend ! 

Kind regards, 

Anita Ursula Mönch 

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German

German Saturday School homeroom teache

Pre–KG 2024/25 Blog 1 Welcome / Willkommen in the Pre–Kindergarten 2024/25!

 Pre-KG 2024/ 25 Blog 1 

Welcome / Willkommen im Pre–Kindergarten! 

After a relaxing summer break it was lovely to be back at school and greet our families at DSKI and in Pre–Kindergarten ( aka Rainbow Room ) – some of them returning to the class and some of them new ! 

A heartfelt and big welcome to all of you and I am very happy and honored to be the Pre–Kindergarten homeroom teacher again this school year.

I will have the fantastic support of Ms. Priyanka Bhaumik and Mr.Derek Maeckelburg as well as Ms. Makiko Sera and the rest of our wonderful and experienced EY team and specialists. 

We started the class with 4 of our 6 children and what an enjoyable experience it was!  It is always humbling to see how adaptable children are and how naturally they play together and are curious about new surroundings!

The multitude of toys in the classroom and in our outdoor areas gives way for lots of exploration and a little tuning in into our first unit that will be centered on „Colours and Shapes“.

Rainbows were made with colourful pins, cars sorted into colours, flower shapes and construction pieces used for original creations as well as colour cubes fished out of the little turtle pond.

Moreover, friends were discovered and rediscovered as we held Open Kindergarten sessions where all classrooms welcomed all children. 

Wonderful to also see all of our older children back at school with lots of enthusiasm and a beautiful caring attitude to help their new friends.

As the German language will play a big part in our curriculum, I will include bits of vocabulary in the future for everyone who is interested.

Herzlich willkommen an alle unsere Schulfamilien, alt und neu an der DSKI! 

Ich freue mich auch in diesem Schuljahr wieder die Klassenlehrerin im Pre–Kindergarten zu sein und auch das Deutsch Programm im gesamten Kindergarten zu leiten.

Wir bieten ein vielfältiges Programm in einer sicheren und ansprechenden Umgebung und viele Impulse für all unsere Kinder um zu spielen, entdecken, lernen und glückliche Tage zu verbringen.

I am looking forward to an exciting, fun–filled and happy school year with many new discoveries! 

Yours, 

Anita Ursula Mönch

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY German

German Saturday School homeroom teacher