KINDERGARTEN BLOG, Jan.22 : Who Are We?

 “Who are we?”

This was the question that kicked off our new unit of inquiry in Kindergarten.  

“We are all people,” they said.

“We are children, too.”

“We are students in DSKI.”

“We are all friends.”

“We all have a family.”

The children have discovered that they are all similar in many ways. In the yellow team, they’ve connected this with a book called, “We Are All the Same, We Are All Different” This book is special because it’s written by children just like them! 

To see how they are similar, the blue team and yellow team children looked at the mirror and pointed out the parts of their face. They saw that they all have a pair of eyes, a pair of ears, a nose, and a mouth! They drew their self-portrait, and they came up with wonderful artwork that shows their similarities!

On another day, we talked about the other parts of our body that we have. The Kindergarten children noticed that we don’t only have a face, we have a body, too! The children traced their body on a big sheet of paper with the help of a friend, and they used their creativity to decorate their work! In the yellow team, they also labeled their work to identify the parts that they’ve drawn. 

To see how they are different, the children went on different fun challenges. In the blue team, they were challenged to measure their height and weight, and they noticed that everybody has a different size even though they are the same age! In the yellow team, they made handprints, footprints, and drew their families and interests — they measured their height with string too! 

In our online classes, the children learned that they are special even if they are different from each other. In the yellow team, they discovered that they have different likes, hobbies, and skills through a show-and-tell session of their favourite artefacts. They also gathered a collection of artefacts that's all about them!

It was a fun week of learning about ourselves! We will include our photos once we go back to school. We can’t wait to learn more.

Your Kindergarten teachers, 

Pam and Azusa

Kindergarten 18 Dec. 2020

This will be the last blog for this year.

The Blue Team children made a nice table lantern for home. Please enjoy the lantern during the Christmas holiday. 

We have new friend in Unicorn room, Walter Smith. Please welcome him and his family.

I wish you all a beautiful Christmas holiday and see you in January with big smiles again!   Azusa

This morning, the Yellow Team class had a very unusual visitor, the Grinch! As the Grinch messed up our Christmas decorations and ran around being a nuisance, the children showed incredible kindness, offering him toys and inviting him to play with them. Perhaps they helped his heart to grow bigger.

After the Grinch had gone, Mia deduced that he must have been one of the teachers because she had seen part of his wrist and it wasn't green. She narrowed it down to two teachers based on the Grinch's height. Other children said it could not have been Mr. Benjamin because he's too tall. The Yellow Team truly are a clever bunch of students.

Of course, our class also had another visitor, a very welcome one: Santa Claus! The children were so happy to talk to him and receive their presents.

All this week, Yellow Team worked hard on Christmas cards to give to their parents. They put a lot of care and effort into their cards. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

Kindergarten Dec. 11, 2020

 This week we went to help the Rokko Island Community to plan the tulip bulbs.Next year in Spring we will go back to the field to see the beautiful flowers!

Blue Team tried a new technique of art for the unit "How we express ourselves" through art. It is called a "scratch picture" which has 4 steps to be finished and looks like on the photo. Children were very patient to finish the picture. 

Also, here's a group picture of Blue Team in front of the Christmas tree:

The Yellow Team students also really enjoyed planting tulip bulbs with the Rokko Island Community Center. Some of the children have been looking forward to this event ever since summer, when they asked where last year's tulips had gone. As they watch the tulips slowly start growing at the end of winter, they will hopefully make a connection between the seasons and the types of plants we can see.

Next week will be my (Anne) final week at DSKI. Yellow Team parents, it has truly been a joy working with your children this term. Please give a warm welcome to your child's new homeroom teacher, Pam, in January. She is very excited to meet you all and to take on the responsibility of teaching this wonderful group of students.

Kindergarten 13 Nov. 2020

The Blue team is enjoying the Autumn season. Eda decorated her hair with leaves and in the classroom each child made an Autumn collage. They are hanging from the ceiling, and it looks like we are in a forest.

The Yellow Team students have also been enjoying the cooler Autumn weather. We went to the flower field near the school to observe what kind of plants grow this time of year. The children were surprised to find daikons growing where there were once tulips, and they enjoyed looking at the many different varieties of flowers which are flourishing even in the colder weather. 

On our walk, we also gathered leaves and noticed how they are much brighter and more colorful than they were in October.

Later in the week we went to the green field to play, and I was particularly impressed as I watched four of the children sharing a soccer ball and organizing their own game together.

Kindergarten 6 Nov. 2020

After the autumn holiday, the season moved on. Blue team started to make a chart of which clothes the children are wearing now in cold weather. Also, the children tried a new toy: boards with wheels. Ren can slide fast!

This week for the current unit “how we express ourselves” through art, Blue team was talking about different feelings. Children tried to find the colors for the feedings like happy, angry and sad.

This week the Yellow Team have been enjoying playing outside in the cooler weather and watching the leaves on the trees turn yellow, orange, and red. They made their own trees using construction paper, and added the "leaves" using finger paint.

I am often surprised by the ingenuity of our Yellow Teams students. On Wednesday when we went to the park there was still a lot of mud on the ground, including below the swings. But the students worked together to avoid stepping in it, as you will see in the photo below. Thanks, Ren Brabant!

Kindergarten 23 Oct. 2020

This week we had some beautiful weather. Blue team decided to eat lunch outside. The children almost decided to do quiet time on the deck, too. Inside the Unicorn room house, we now have an electric candle lightning which looks warm and cozy.

The Blue team was very proud about the Halloween door decorations. The children made pumpkins, bats and spiders themselves! The children also went to the office to get their special treats. It was a fun day for everybody!

We wish you all a nice Autumn holiday

This was a fun and busy week for Yellow Team. Although it rained on Monday, we discovered that we could still play outside by staying under the shade cover above the sand box. The children enjoyed gathering rainwater and using it to make mud.

Later in the week, when the weather became nice, we went to the park with Blue Team to gather fall leaves and acorns.

Of course, Friday was our Halloween party. The children enjoyed making spiders, pumpkins, ghosts, and monsters to decorate our door. And they enjoyed touring the school to check out the other classrooms' doors. During their tour, they were treated to a special Halloween science demonstration by Mr. Brabant.

Kindergarten 2 Oct. 2020

The Blue Team made a beautiful autumn tree together. The children used sponges to create this artwork.

The weather is getting very nice. We started to go to the park with Yellow team and are having lots of fun, for example, on the swings!

This week the Yellow Team showed that they are beginning to take initiative by creating self-directed art. When some children sharpened their colored pencils, they realized they could use the pencil shavings as an art material.

Kindergarten 25 Sep. 2020

The Blue Team did a small experiment this week.  They colored coffee paper with food coloring. Everybody was excited about what was happening!  We dried the coffee paper overnight and used them as autumn leaves on the tree the next day. 

The Yellow Team spent a lot of time outdoors enjoying the nice weather. We looked at the different kinds of flowers in the garden across from the Green Field. We also went on a scavenger hunt for birds, but found dogs instead! We have been making a lot of artwork at school recently for our "How We Express Ourselves Unit," and maybe that's why the children discovered they could draw pictures on their mats after nap time with wet wipes!

Kindergarten 18 Sept. 2020

Last Tuesday was very nice weather, so the Blue Team decided to eat a snack outside. This week the Blue Team was focusing on shapes. Children made a collage together and they also made individual collages.

This week, the Yellow Team made art using black scratch boards and stencils, which was a new medium for them. They also made "marble art" by rolling marbles covered in paint across a tray.