Perky Preschool

“Education is not the filling of a pail, But the lighting of a fire.” -William Butler Years- One fine morning,  5s and 6s year olds noticed men in blue uniform changed into a seemingly heavy, hot and uncomfortable orange suit. These men were rushing to the red truck and raised the volume of this ear popping siren!  A few hopped in an ambulance to follow the red truck.  Thinking that this was just part of the act, one asked.  “Where are they going?”  To which, one of them answered,  “They have to respond to a road car accident.”  Yes, something happened. Kobe City Firemen Preschoolers were fortunate to meet real life ‘superheroes’ in Kobe who help out people during difficult situations such as: fires, road accidents, earthquakes, and others. They took time to explain to these little inquirers their roles and responsibilities. They showed them the different tools they use for their job.  They also explained what each of them are for. Curiouser and c...

  PICTURE WALK "We don't have to be readers, YET, to know and understand what's in the book. For now, we can use pictures and what we already know to get information." - Perky Preschool - As a starting point in the Perky Preschool's journey to becoming RESEARCHERS, they used unit books to help them learn about different roles and responsibilities of people in the community.  They did an activity called the Picture Walk.  Picture walks help the preschoolers connect the visual images in the book to their own experiences and activate prior knowledge. This sets the purposed for reading and they are able guess and get information about the topic and about what might be happening in the book. As they look, they make connections, set the purpose and comprehension is increased.  During this activity, the preschoolers talked about what, who, where, when, and why questions related to the pictures.    They talked. And yes, they do talk a lot!    And they lea...

  "It takes a whole village to raise a child." Our DSKI Community After learning that they did not know most of the people in the school community, the Preschoolers took the time to go around the campus to get to know these people.  They brought with them a very important TOOL to FIND OUT more about the roles and responsibilities of the people in the DSKI Community - QUESTIONS.    They asked the TEACHERS. "Why are you a teacher?" "What makes you important in the school?" They asked the PRINCIPAL. "Why do you clean the whole school?" "Do you like your job and why?" "Why do you work or help the school?" They asked the OFFICE people. "What is your work in the office?"    They asked the STUDENTS. "What are the responsibilities of students?" They asked the PARENTS. "How do you help the school?" Then we talked about the responses in class. They came up with a group of important people that make up the D...