11: Let Your Light Shine

 Let your light shine and share it with the world, igniting light in others.

Sharing is caring. This is one of the basic pearls of wisdom that we learn early in life. As children, we were taught to share our toys or food with others. As we got older, we learned that the more important things to share are intangible ones, such as our time, our presence, and our good deeds. Regardless of what we choose to give to others, we never become less for it. In fact, we grow in multitude ways because of it. 

Every November 11th, we celebrate the life of St. Martin de Tours, a saint who has inspired many people throughout the world through his kindness and generosity. When he was still a soldier, St. Martin met a poor man on the street. Since he had nothing with him, he removed his cloak, cut it in half, and shared it with the man whom he met. This kind deed has lived on, and he is remembered up to now for his goodness. In DSKI, we remember him, too, by keeping his memory alive through stories and songs, and lighting lanterns on his special day. 

To commemorate St. Martin this week, the Kinder 2 children created their own lanterns using colorful pieces of wrapping paper. They practiced their fine motor skills by cutting different shapes to decorate their lanterns -- some even made their own names using the pieces of paper! It was amazing to see how the children's fine motor skills are developing, and how confident they have become in making their vision for their art come to life.  

On Friday, the children had the chance to share the lanterns they made with the whole school community. We gathered together to learn more about the life of St. Martin through a short play that was produced by the German students. We were inspired by his generosity; it reminded us that we have the capacity to give and share, regardless of how much or how little we have. 

This week, the kindergarteners also had numerous opportunities to plant little seeds of kindness through different ways of sharing. 

Sharing Our Choices

One of the stories that we read this week is called Would You Rather be a Princess or a Dragon by Barney Saltzberg. The book highlights the importance of being open-minded, and  empowers its readers to accept and appreciate the beauty of diverse choices. 

After reading the book, the children shared snippets of who they are through the choices they make. We played a game where the children chose between two similar or opposite things --such as a dog or a cat, pink or blue, or ice cream or chocolate. Although the choices were quite simple, it was fascinating to see how much the children discovered new things about each other. Some were even empowered to choose both choices -- they said that they equally like these things, and of course, that is indeed okay.

Sharing Our Ideas

We continued our inquiry on experiments by investigating on liquids. Since we began our exploration of mixtures last week, we tried to see if different kinds of liquids will combine if we put them together. 

In every experiment, it is always important to ask questions and have a hypothesis. I asked the children, 

What do you think will happen if we add oil and water together?

"I think they will mix!"

"It will turn yellow."

"It will be just like soap."

We tested our theories and discovered that oil and water actually don't mix -- even if we try our best to stir them!

 

The layers of both liquids are so distinct. I did not go in depth about how certain liquids are immiscible but the children did learn a new scientific word this week: density. They learned that some liquids are more dense than others, and in this case, oil less dense as it floats just above the water!

I asked the children,

What if we add a tablet that dissolves in water to the cup? 

What do you think will happen?

"I think there will be bubbles!"

"It will sink!"

We tested our theory but to make it more visible, we added a bit of color to our water first. The results were spectacular! The children's ideas were right. 

We tried it on our light table and what we saw was absolutely mesmerizing. It looked like different colors of lava bubbling up and down.

We continued our experiments on liquids by finding out what happens if we pour hot water on some M&Ms. The children said that they think the colors will mix and the chocolate will melt. 

Just as they guessed, the cover of the chocolate melted and the colors mixed. It was so beautiful to watch -- like an artwork slowly unfolding. When all the colors were mixed together, we discovered that we can make brown! What if we only add the three primary colors -- red, blue, and yellow -- together? What do you think might happen?

The children were able to make new colors:

red and blue = purple

yellow and blue = green

yellow and red = orange

"Everything together makes gray and brown, Ms. Pam!" they excitedly said.

It sure does.

Sharing Our Gifts

We also had an early birthday celebration for Luna in class. The children were so excited to sing happy birthday for her in different languages: English, Japanese, German, Spanish, Chinese, French and Filipino! It was a longer birthday song than the usual but it's a testament to how diverse we are in Kindergarten 2. The children were also so thankful for all the gifts that Luna shared with them for her special day.

Thank you, Luna, for sharing your gifts with Kindergarten 2. Happy birthday to you! 😀

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St. Martin’s life is truly an inspiration, and he will always be remembered and celebrated for his good deeds. If there’s one thing that I hope the children can learn from his life, it is that opportunities to sow seeds of kindness are given to us every day. It doesn't wait for a special occasion. It is our choice if we will take these opportunities and allow ourselves to be the glimmer of light in someone’s life through our kind deeds. 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

May your acts of kindness continue be the light in other people's lives.

Your Kindergarten teacher, 

Pam