January 2021 in Benjamin Preschool

Senec

Pandas

This month we enjoyed a lot of snow and a nice winter weather. After one night, the snow started falling and we could have some fun with the snow. At the beginning, we learned a cute poem

I´m Little Snowman. I’m a little snowman, look at me. These are my buttons, 1 2 3.These are my eyes and this is my nose. I wear a hat and scarf. Brrr…it’s cold!

Then we went quickly outside and with kids build a big snowman. Children were helping us, they absolutely loved how the snowman turned out. We gave him a carrot for the nose, of course, we added some other natural materials, like stones and sticks, for the snowman's facial features and limbs.

Then we started to paint some snow with paintbrushes and mixing water and food coloring in small dishes. You could also use liquid watercolors as a substitute for food coloring. Children liked this activity so much and painted a original and colorful snowman. What do you think?

Ladybugs

The month of January was all about enjoying the few moments we had with winter weather and a little bit of snow that sprinkled on our playground. We dedicated this month learning about the arctic animals that live in cold lands and to hibernation of animals. We specifically decided to talk about birds that stay here during the winter time and the one's that decide to leave for a warmer climate. The kids were having a lot of fun with the activities we have prepared for them such as: painting a bird, creating a bird food art and putting a bird feeder on a tree on our playground and learn about the different types of seeds that birds eat and many more. The smiley faces on their face really made our activities that much better.

Bunnies

Bunnies were really fascinated by the winter scenery, they were listening winter classical songs, building snowman and igloo, experimenting with the ice and snow. They have been introduced to the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh and his great art „The starry night“. Kids have been observing his art, they tried to show the moves from the art and as a last they tried to paint their „Starry night“ art while listening Antonio Vivaldi´s Four season – Winter composition.

We think they did a fabulous job! What do you think? ☺

Dolphins

We have had a wonderful January learning about winter, winter sports and weather in winter. During our Simple Science lesson we learnt about water, water cycle and that the water can have many different forms. We made ice in the freezer, steam and even rain by boiling water in the kettle. We then also created snow, it was not real snow but a fake one. We used soda bicarbonate and hair conditioner, which made our fake snow smell of vanilla, we mixed these together to get a substance that looks and feels just like snow . We then enjoyed playing with it, we were able to make snowballs and even a small snowman. It was so much fun, we can’t wait to do another experiment again soon.

Pezinok

Care Bears/Unicorns

Community helpers theme is an exciting and real-life way for kids to learn all about the helpers in their neighborhood. This preschool theme is a favorite way to honor and respect the people surrounding us. There are so many who work hard day in and day out to make our community the best place to live and grow up!

Children enjoyed to learn about community helpers, their vehicles, and their day-to-day jobs. We talked about doctors, firefighters, police officers, mail carriers, construction workers and trash collectors.

By getting to know our community helpers, children got inspired by those who work to make our world a better place to live, learn, and grow while fostering independence and self-help skills.

As Mr. Rogers once said, When I was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.

Trolls

Christmas time is over, which is a favorite celebration among all children! But children in Trolls class learned that after this holiday and before Easter comes, Slovak people celebrate Fašiangy. This tradition is held more in villages as in towns nowadays and we believe it is important to remind children about typical celebrations to keep them still alive. So we talked about it, listened to and sang "Fašiangy, Turice" song, we watch a video showing Fašiangy parade. We made our own paper masks, decorated them with feathers, we danced and ate "šišky".

Kindergarten Class

The month of January in our Kindergarten class was partially dedicated to learning about the human body. One of many specific topics we learned about was the human heart. We got to read many books and encyclopedias and found out all sorts of interesting facts. We learned how different parts of the heart work together with the lungs to bring oxygen into our blood and how the heart pumps it across the whole body. We got to discover types of blood vessels, where the ones with oxygen are red and the ones already without oxygen are blue and are going back to the heart. Children observed their wrists where we can visibly see our veins and compared their wrists with each other. We tried a science experiment with a stethoscope where children took turns in being the doctor and listened to each others heartbeat. Our young doctors enjoyed this activity and it sparked interest in learning about other parts of their bodies. We made projects about our human skeleton, we studied about teeth - what is good and what is bad for them and how to properly clean them. We kept a score of habits in the Good Health Chart for a week. There is always so much to learn! :)