Ahoy Mateys! Enjoying the Treasure Unit in Middle Pre-Primary

The last two months my life changed totally. I had the honor to be the teacher of MPP class. Thanks to Miss Sophie, Miss Marta and the children, I adapted easily and I received so much love and support. A big big thank you to Miss Sophie, who helped me a lot and gave me all the appropriate notes for your children!

Our treasure hunt was the most interesting way to start our unit about “Treasure”.  The children participated with full enthusiasm! First, we explained how we use a treasure map, what piracy is, what pirates are doing, and what treasure and treasure chests are. We all became pirates and painted our faces. It was so enjoyable and we went on a journey with our imaginations! The children followed their maps, answered questions that they found inside of tiny little bottles, and looked forward to finding the treasure chest with all the valuable items. The end of this story was so cheerful, as the children found a pirate flag and treasure chest. They were so excited! One team, one goal!

The children were inspired and most of them decided to create their own pirate stories, pirate ships, and paper bag puppets. They pretended that they sailed from North America to the Caribbean Sea. After looking at maps of the world and discussing islands, oceans, and seas, their favorite island became Cuba. They learned about the characteristics of islands, what they look like on maps, and popular pirate hangouts such as the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica and Madagascar. They loved observing the maps and the globes. Every day in the class, they played with the treasure chest and they wanted to touch all the items. They sorted all the items in many different and creative ways, categorizing dull and shiny items as well as heavy and light items. This is life! An exploration! Their numeracy skills improved as they had the opportunity to observe and count a collection of coins from around the world.

Their imagination was also stimulated from a real small-scale pirate ship, an island hill on the sand tray, and pirate figurines on it. Almost every day, the children chose to create free theater play with their own dialogues. They were so kind and they reminded each other to use gentle hands. I am so proud of them! Apart from that, we read plenty of pirate books and matched many new words with pictures related to the topic. Some of the children were inspired to write and illustrate their own pirate story.  All the children drew something about treasure and pirates, and tried to write about their idea. Afterwards, they presented their ideas in front of the class.

We have also had great sport lessons within the Treasure IPC theme. We “swam” across the whole gym, played pirate games, and had such fun together! The funniest game was our exit point, when we created our big pirate ship and our puppets and we played on the pre-primary playground. We pretended that we sailed all around the Caribbean Sea.

What an amazing “trip”! Thank you for your support, and all the parents for your warm acceptance! Your children had an excellent end to their Middle Pre-Primary school year, and I am very proud of them. I will miss you, but these experiences and memories with the children are unforgettable.

Have nice holidays with lots of smiles! Learning is to be continued!

Miss Nadia

A little note from Miss Sophie:

Oh what a year we have all had together!  We started Middle Pre-Primary with eleven children, many of whom were in school for the first time and all of whom spoke different languages at home.  Now look at us, ending the school year with a cohesive, sweet group of fifteen children who have truly grown right before our eyes.  It is such a joy to hear them chat with each other in English, solve their own problems, come up with creative ideas together, and thrive.  It has been an absolute pleasure to guide these little ones this year.  Thank you all for your support, love, patience, communication, and trust from beginning to end!  Best wishes for sunshine, giggles, and lots of family time this summer  : )

Best,

Miss Sophie