Pre-KG Blog 34 28.May 2021 BODY CONTROL

Pre-KG Blog 34  28.May 2021

BODY CONTROL

Every week the Pre-Kindergarten children have so much fun, enjoy so many activities and are learning so many new things that you might think this hardly can be topped, but then another week comes around and more amazing things are happening in our Pre-Kindergarten classroom and I am just stunned anew by the children’s energy, curiosity and readiness to learn !

As the children are exploring their subjects of “Body and Family”,  they are not only acquiring new vocabulary, but toning their fine and gross motor skills.

Some(!!) of the activities in our Pre-KG classroom this week were

• welcoming new friends into the classroom and guiding them with kindness in various activities
• creating animals, people, snowman and amazing facial features with play dough
• moving in rhythm to different songs using shakers,  
• assembling and riding the new Decathlon outdoor equipment, including scooters (with light up wheels !!) and a new bike
• using fine motor skills and eye -hand coordination to finish shape and layered generation puzzles as well as a giant body puzzle
• doing stretching exercises on the mat with Anita, plus clap, stomp and jump to children’s own ideas
• playing soccer on the green field using the new Decathlon goal 

• moving in rhythm to different songs using shakers,  

• assembling and riding the new Decathlon outdoor equipment, including scooters (with light up wheels !!) and a new bike

• using fine motor skills and eye -hand coordination to finish shape and layered generation puzzles as well as a giant body puzzle

• doing stretching exercises on the mat with Anita, plus clap, stomp and jump to children’s own ideas

• playing soccer on the green field using the new Decathlon goal

What a wonderful and very busy week the Pre-Kindergarten had again!

A very big THANK YOU to Gloria’s parents (Decathlon Group) for the fantastic and kind donation of exciting brand new outdoor equipment !

The Pre-Kindergarten class together with the whole school community are looking forward to moving even more and staying healthy and well !

Kindergarten Blog, Mar. 28: Off to an Adventure We Go!

This week, the blue team children were busy finding out about different transportations or traffic signs. Sophia made a moving vehicle out of wood, and Diego was very interested to learn about traffic signs and cut them out. Jinnosuke and Haruto were colouring an astronout suit for flying to space. Arisa had a great idea to make a car out of box which she also can put her legs in.

Mana Morimoto joined the blue team last Thursday. She was in our Pre-KG and remembers some of the children. Please welcome her and her family.

The yellow team continued their adventure to different places. They have started inquiring on how different forms of transportation are used, and simulated how we travel to different countries via airplanes. Even though air travel is limited for now, we can always use our imagination, right?

The children created their own passport, learned how to use them, and talked about the safety rules inside a plane. 

We visited countries such as Japan, Germany, Mexico, Philippines, United Kingdom, Russia, France, and Italy. We “experienced” their culture through art, crafts, and games. 

The children also continued their inquiry on Spring under our yearlong Sharing the Planet unit. We planted sweet potato to help us better understand how plants grow, and the children enjoyed searching for bugs in the soil, too! To help fuel their curiosity, we discussed the importance of bugs in our ecosystem, and the ways that we can take care of them without disrupting the way they live. 

Next week, we will have our student led conferences with the children. Thank you for signing up through Doodle. The invites to the conferences will be sent out before your scheduled day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your Kindergarten teachers, 

Pam and Azusa 

Kindergarten Blog, May 21: Oh, The Places You'll Go!

 “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

This week, the Blue Team traveled a lot. The children used JR train to go to Osaka and Sannomiya and went also to Hungary with the airplane — in their imagination, of course!

The Blue Team’s summer tree got additional people who are picnicking under the tree and have beautiful sunflower hats on. Today, you can see all four trees which are made in the whole year unit Sharing the Planet.

The Yellow Team traveled, too — to outer space! They’ve inquired on how rockets work, and tried experiments to simulate the force needed for rockets to fly. They made predictions on what would happen to the rocket (and Superman!) when the balloons are released. Some of them also shared their theories that the air the balloon releases  is responsible for making the rocket fly.  

The children also created their own rocket ship using straws. We held a contest to see whose rocket ship could fly the highest and farthest!

In Math, the Yellow Team started learning about the concept of estimation. We’ve been doing different estimation challenges in class, and one of the children’s favorites is estimating the number of blocks that they can stack before they fall down. They even challenged themselves to create a stack that is as tall as Ms.Pam! They estimated 23 blocks would be enough — and they were correct!

We also continue to explore more about our unit through books — we’ve been picking a book everyday to build our literacy skills and to find out more about different forms transportation at the same time. 

In two weeks, the Kindergarten children will be having their student led conferences. This time, instead of the teachers, the students will take the lead and share what they have learned in school. The invitations to the conferences will be forwarded to you through email, so please don’t forget to sign up. 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Your Kindergarten teachers,

Pam and Azusa

Pre-KG Blog 33 21.May 2021 Let's talk about our families !

Pre-KG Blog 33  21.May 2021

Let's talk about our families !

The Pre-Kindergarten children are embracing the unit of “Body and Family” enthusiastically.

They love to talk about their family, so at the beginning of the week we did a little assessment to see whether they really know the members of their family.

All our children were able to name their family members, but when talking to the children, there sometimes appeared to be an additional baby or a dog in the family!

Another task was to find different family members out of a box of cut-outs and explain their choices.

Good fine motor skills were required as the children needed to stand these figures up on cardboard pieces which proved quite challenging.

The children also talked about playing at home or going to the park with their families, so they made some houses with lego and blocks. It was fascinating to see their creations and hear the explanation of how to use these living spaces.

The children seem to be fond of large families and they like their big group of friends which is heartwarming to see.

The class surely did a fantastic job welcoming new friends as we had 3! trials in Pre-Kindergarten this week!

One new friend, Chanin will already join our class from next Monday, so I would like to welcome him and his family warmly.

The week ended with a lot of role play with our toy phones and some very interesting conversations to parents and friends could be overheard.

“Mummy, I am playing with my friend.” “Daddy , where are you?” “Mummy, what you are doing ?” "Okaasan, shigoto desu ka ?" and then Gloria’s encouraging: “Emma, if you come to my house, it’s gonna be fun , ok “

The Pre-Kindergarten children are showing that their families and friends are very important to them and that they love to spend time with them. 

Please make sure that your child brings a family photo to school, as the children are very happy and proud to show these pictures in class.

We are also looking forward to hearing about more family adventures from you !