World Book Day and Sleepover

The 23rd of April marks the celebration of the wonder that books and reading brings to us all! Preschool celebrated World Book Day with great delight!

The preschoolers came to school dressed in one of their favourite book characters. We had appearances from the Easter bunny, Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series and the Wimpy Kid, Greg Heffley to name a few!

What an honour it was to have the talented Japanese author and illustrator, Mr Satoshi Kitamura as a guest for this special day! He writes wonderful picture book stories, and illustrates funny and whimsical images to bring his writing to life. He shared with us some of his illustrations. He told us a story about Lionel the rockstar lion through pictures. The preschoolers got to use their imagination for an engaging creative activity. 

The students were treated to a reading by the German Consul General of Osaka Kobe, Ms Melanie Saxinger. She read the well-loved Swedish and German tale of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, which the students thoroughly enjoyed!

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23 April was also the day set aside for one of the most anticipated events for the preschoolers, the Lower Primary Sleepover! This was the preschooler's first time attending our annual sleepover. They arrived at school buzzing with excitement ready for the evening of fun! 

The preschoolers went home with a mixture of excitement and tiredness, which are signs of a memorable sleepover. What a fun night we had together!
 

Have a wonderful Golden Week holiday period, everyone!

Ms Theona

📚🌃

Planting new life

This week, the preschoolers continued to inquire into our unit about living things. 

They completed their animal group characteristics sheet and proudly presented their findings to their classmates. 

It was fascinating for them to see the differences and similarities between the animal groups. While some of the preschoolers already had knowledge of certain characteristics, there were a few facts that became new knowledge for them.

We then turned our attention to another living thing category, plants. The students discussed what plants, trees and flowers need to survive. They were incredibly knowledgeable about this topic, going so far as to share the different materials that their parents add to their plants at home. Materials such as coffee granules, eggshells, and "small white things" which is called perlite. A few students even shared that bird poop is good for plants! This obviously garnered quite a few gasps and giggles.

The preschoolers discovered that the term for all of these materials is natural fertilizer and that they help make the soil even more healthy for the plants. 

It is amazing to see how observant the preschoolers are in their homes, and that they take part in gardening activities with their parents.

We went on to discuss the life cycle of a plant, how it starts as a seed and grown into a plant.

Of course we had to plant some seeds to see the plant life cycle happen in real time!

The students worked in groups to plant flower seeds and came up with unique names for their plants. They used soil to give their seeds a healthy home to grow in. They made sure that they left enough space in between the planted seeds, so that they have room to grow. They gave their  planted seeds water and placed them in the sunlight. We placed them outside on the balcony to make sure that they get enough air. 

The preschoolers are proud 'plant parents' and have been very good with watering their 'babies' everyday!

As. our plant babies grow, the preschoolers will observe the changes and growth. There is so much learning that awaits us!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Ms Theona

🌱

Different Animal Groups

 This week the preschoolers began their finding out stage of our unit of inquiry. They continued to share what they know about living things with each other. They were fascinated by the intriguing information in the books from our school library about plants and animals.  

The preschoolers used their new (and old) knowledge to create mind maps to visualise their understanding of what the characteristics of living things are.

The preschoolers thought about and discussed the main animal groups:

Amphibians

Reptiles

Mammals

Fish

Birds

We even moved and danced like the animal groups!

Using their finest collaboration and research skills, in pairs the preschoolers researched the characteristics of these animal groups:

Where do they live? Do they live in water, in the sky or on land?

How do they move? Do they walk, crawl, swim or slither?

What are their bodies covered in? Scales, fur, hair, etc?

How do they have their babies? Do they lay eggs or are their babies born live?

To organise their information as they conducted their research, they made mind maps. Once their mind maps were done they were ready to start creating their animal group fact sheet.

The preschoolers will continue finding out through deeper research next week. There is still so much to uncover about living things!

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The Easter Bunny visited the preschool class and brought these crazy Busy Bees a cute little chicken bag with treats and crafts! Thank you Easter Bunny (and your PTA helpers!) 🐣

We said a sad "Tschüss!" to Ms Lena, one of the German interns who has been a wonderful visitor in our class over the last few weeks. We will miss her and wish her all the best for the rest of her teaching adventure!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone,

Ms Theona