14: The Start of Something New

 “And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

-Meister Eckhart

What does it mean to share the planet?

In 2015, the United Nations authored the Sustainable Development Goals with a vision to create a better future for all. This is in response to the growing need for a change in our values and principles as a people to address the different issues that afflict the world. It is a big feat to undertake as the goals call for a global effort, and it's easy to forget that every triumph begins with a single step. One choice, one action, and one individual -- regardless of what age they are -- can ignite the spark to a big change. 

In our last unit, the kindergarteners learned about different materials and how to manipulate and experiment on them. This week, they take the first step in discovering how they can use their knowledge of these different forms of matter to make a difference in a larger scale: the world. The next chapter of the kindergarteners' learning journey focuses on the transdisciplinary theme Sharing the Planet, with an inquiry on how the trash we produce and how we manage them affect our environment.

We began our inquiry by reading a book called If Kids Ran the World by Leo and Diane Dillon. I asked the children:

What do you think will happen if children like you are in charge of the world?

"Happy," some of them said.

While reading the book, we came up with more words to describe what the world will be like if they are in charge:

The world will be...

fun

caring

clean

generous

funny

silly

colorful

exciting

loving

healthy

friendly

safe

peaceful

kind

 

We tried to imagine the world if all these words described it, and we agreed that the world seems like a beautiful place to live in, if indeed, children ran it. 

I asked the children again,

What actions will you do to make the world a beautiful place just as we described?

Have a look at their wonderful ideas:

We placed our ideas around our whiteboard to serve as a daily reminder of our capacity to make the world a beautiful place through our actions. 

We also decorated our board with the things that we love on planet earth.

We drew trees, animals, bugs, flowers, transportations, food -- and many other wonderful earthly things. Looking at the children's colorful drawings, I have to say that the world really is a magnificent place to live in.

We also used our STEM room equipment to make our drawings come to life. The children used connecting blocks to make 3D versions of the things they love about our planet earth. 

Their building skills are truly impressive as they were able to clearly express their ideas into 3D models. 

I think it's safe to say that we really love the world we live in.

To give tribute to the place we call home, we used what we learned from our first unit about experiments to create a happy earth using baking soda and vinegar.

The children were in awe of the bubbles that formed whenever they would drip the colorful vinegar on the baking soda. The earth was popping and looked so happy, indeed! 🌏

We also updated our classroom library, which now features a selection of books that highlight the concepts that we will learn in our inquiry. If you have any books related to the unit and would like to lend them to our classroom, we would be very happy to adopt them for a while! 😀

Aside from the new unit, the children have also been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Christmas. You can feel the festive spirit in the classroom, especially since the children made our cozy Christmas corner in the classroom. This week, we also had our Christmas tree lighting event with the other early years children. The children were so excited to see the lights come on and to hear the carols from the choir.

We also received our wonderful Advent calendar that was lovingly handmade by the parents on this day. Thank you, dear PTA, for this gift from the heart. 💚

The children have been enjoying the daily surprise that we get every time we open the gift for the day. 

We also had a Christmas surprise in the form of an impromptu mini-concert by the dad of Stephanie from Kindergarten 1. Thank you so much, Mr. Phillip Strange, for gracing us with your talent and for making the Christmas spirit alive through music.

Christmas is definitely in the air in Kindergarten 2. I have only one wish for this season of giving: that the magic of this new beginning -- this new unit -- will inspire the children to give back to the planet that we call home by taking those little (but big) actions to make our world a beautiful place to live in. They may be little, but they have a big heart with the capacity to make a big change.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Your Kindergarten teacher, 

Pam

P.S. 

Welcome to DSKI and Kindergarten 2, Frankie! 😀

Upcoming events:

December 2023

• 06

  St Nicholas 
• 14

  Assembly (G1) 
• 15

  School Christmas Market/Christmas Talent Show/Whole school to sing together at opening of the Christmas market 

  9:00-13:00
• 18 - 22

  Winter Camp - register now! 
  Come and join us in the first week of the winter holidays for our winter camp.

  9:00 - 15:30