Goodbye kindergarten!

By Rasha Almaqaleh

It is summertime now and my son has officially finished kindergarten and is ready to go to school next September! It is really amazing how two years of kindergarten went by so quickly. I still remember my son’s first day in kindergarten in Germany; he clung tightly to me and was so scared.

To be honest, I was scared, too! What is there not to be scared of? A foreign country (it is Germany, for God’s sake!), a different culture and a new language! I was worried about my child and how he would manage especially with the language barrier. It was not about me being overprotective but more about having a good reason to feel worried and anxious.

To my surprise, the process followed in German kindergartens with newly enrolled kids is very considerate. I was informed that there would be an adaptation phase and my withdrawal would be gradual. For that reason, I could accompany my child until he slowly gained confidence and became familiar with the new situation.

  

Therefore, my son and I spent only one hour a day the first week in kindergarten. The second week, the kindergarten teachers extended the time to three hours, with me being there close to him. Third week, the teachers told me that my son was ready to spend the whole day in kindergarten without me being so close. They suggested that I could wait outside the classroom, in the hall maybe or in the area around the kindergarten. On the last day of the third week, my son said goodbye to me with a big smile!

I will never forget how I felt at that moment: content and relieved. I have to admit that I am so grateful to this thoughtful process which eases the separation and doesn’t put any pressure on kids and their parents. I know that in many parts of the world, parents must leave their kids at drop off in their first days, even if the kids are terrified and fretful! Many parents experience a feeling of guilt and dissatisfaction. Fortunately, that is not the case in German kindergartens where the familiarization phase is crucial. 

 I was happy that my son had an encouraging start in kindergarten. What was even more encouraging was how he soon found the rhythm. I felt proud of my kid watching him picking up the routine and getting adjusted quickly. With time, the kindergarten felt like a second home to him and each morning when we dropped him off, he knew where to hang his jacket and backpack. He would take off his street shoes and wear the slippers, say goodbye to us and join the other kids.

One of the things that I really liked about the kindergarten was the wardrobe bench next to each classroom. It makes the kindergarten homey. Under the bench, the kids put their shoes. At the top, each kid has their own hook and shelf. The kids hang their jackets, backpacks, and rain jackets and pants on the hooks. Their slippers, wool hats or any other small stuff go on the small shelves. Each kid has a symbol on their shelf, e.g. sun, flower, ball, etc. My son’s symbol was coloring pencils.

  

What made the kindergarten even homier is the large shelves with the big boxes for spare clothes. Each kid has a box with his or her name on it. The parents are responsible for the contents of the spare clothes box. They should make sure that the box has always spare socks, underwear, shirts, pants, etc. The changing clothes come in handy in accidents!

spare clothes boxes

The kids are basically divided into groups and each group has a name and classroom. At the beginning, I expected that the kids would be divided based on their age, but then I realized that each group was just a mixture of 3 and 6 year old kids. When we asked the kindergarten teachers about that, they said that this was good for the kids so the younger ones learn from the older, and the older learn how to be nice and caring with the younger. 

It was then when I found out that there was no literacy and math instruction in German kindergartens!  Unlike some parts of the world, kindergarten in Germany is not a place where kids start learning the alphabet and how to read and count. It is more like a day care center where kids can spend the day while their parents are at work.

 In other words, kindergartens in Germany are not part of the regular school system. That is why the word teacher “Lehrer” is never used in German kindergartens under no circumstances. There is a special German word to describe the person who takes care and supervises the kids in German kindergarten, which is ‘ Erzieher’. So, basically what happens in German kindergartens is “Erziehung’ and I think the most accurate translation to this word is nurturing or upbringing. So, the German word Erzieher could be translated into 'nurturer' or maybe 'child care worker'.

Therefore, the words 'classroom' and 'teacher' don't really fit in here. However I'm using them in this blog because I don't think that the accurate translations could be used as suitable alternatives.

 So, what does a typical kindergarten day look like? Normally, after the kids hang their jackets and backpacks and wear the slippers, they play freely for some time before the kindergarten’s restaurant opens for breakfast. The kids play either in their classrooms or in the hallway or maybe in the ‘Bewegungsraum’, a room where kids can be active. This room has landing mats, a climbing frame, and a hop ball, and some other balls.

in the Sports room

At 9 O’clock, each kid goes to their classroom. My son was in the ‘Hasengruppe’ which means the bunnies group. They were 21 kids with two teachers. The other kindergarten groups’ names are Kunterbunt(multicolored), Wichtel(elf), Sonne(sun), Waschbär (raccoon).  Each group has its own classroom with all the things that keep kids occupied such as children’s books, toys, games, and some necessary materials and equipment for crafting and coloring.

in the classroom

The classroom of my son's group (Hasengruppe) has different areas. It has a construction corner (Bauecke) which has  building blocks, wooden building bricks, toy cars, etc. In this area the kids engage in construction play and spend some time thinking creatively and forming various shapes together.

 the construction area

In addition to the construction area, there is a house station called the doll corner (Puppenecke). This is upstairs with a nice wooden ladder leading to it. Up there, there is a toy kitchen, a crib, and a small couch with pillows. The kids play with a couple of baby dolls and a mom doll.  There is also another area for painting and crafting. There, kids can sit together around the table and get busy with drawing, coloring or crafting. Every now and then my son would bring home things he made in kindergarten with his teachers. 

 Every morning after breakfast, all kids join their classrooms and start the day with a morning circle called Stuhlkreis; the kids sit together with their teachers, welcome each other, sing a song and read a story or talk about something. When one of the kids has birthday, they sing for him or her. The birthday kid then gets to pick up a birthday gift from a box full of various gifts. 

celebrating his sixth birthday in the morning circle

The morning circle takes around half an hour. After that, the kids might stay in their classrooms and play together or they may go out to the kindergarten playground, or what the kindergarten teachers and kids call : ‘draußen’ which means outside.

Lunchtime is around 12: 30 and the kids gather in the kindergarten restaurant (Kinderrestaurant). Even though my kid is such a picky eater, he would come home saying that they had this or that for lunch and it was yummy! He would ask me to cook for him something they had in kindergarten and when I did, he would say : "No, mom! That's not how we eat it in kindergarten! It doesn't taste the same!" Well, I can't say that I, as a mom, wasn't offended!  

the kindergarten restaurant 

After lunch, the kids have another hour of free play before it is tea time. This was my son's most favorite time of the day. Despite the name, no tea is served at the tea time! The kids sit at the table in the classroom and have a snack such as fruits, vegetables, cookies, milk, etc.  

Although academics are not taught at all in kindergarten, the kindergarten offers playful learning opportunities.. My son has learned many nice and important things and acquired some necessary skills that he will definitely need in school and in life in general. For a starter, he picked up the German language so fast that his kindergarten teachers were so impressed! When he started kindergarten, he didn’t know a word in German.

Moreover, Tuesdays are dedicated to field trips under the title 'nature day' (Naturtag). This is an activity for the kids who will go to school next year (Schulkinder). The school kids usually go on a field trip in the morning time. They take their backpacks, a snack and something to drink and they head to the woods or to the Town Park. They might build a tent or collect stuff from the woods. Sometimes, they may take the bus and go further, to another town to visit an interesting attraction for kids such as a zoo or a lake.

 At the beginning, my son was not interested at all in the field trips and would be reluctant to go to kindergarten on Tuesdays. It took him some time to be on board. What was really nice about the field trips was that the teachers made a binder for each kid and kept in it all the activities they did and the things they learned. I was impressed when I flipped through my son’s binder when he brought it home in the last days of kindergarten! I saw that he was involved in nice activities and learned something about nature, animals, insects, etc. He obviously had such productive days!

pages from the field trip binder

In addition to the field trips, the kindergarten teachers prepare some major weekly activities for the kids such as workshops carried out by specialized persons to explain a topic such as energy or the importance of brushing the teeth, etc. My son came home one day talking about the food chain! He said that they made one in the kindergarten with the teachers. 

The teachers prepared a binder for each kindergartner to capture such activities and memories.  In the last week of kindergarten, my son brought home his binder along with a nicely wrapped picture of his group. I was so happy to go through this binder and take a look at my son’s performance and progress in kindergarten.

pages from the kindergarten binder

Another skill he picked up in kindergarten is how to make friends and how to socially interact. Culturally, he learned about some traditional German festivals such as ‘Fashcing’, ‘Herbst’, ‘Weinachten’, etc. 

Fasching

Another nice thing in German kindergartens is the ‘Friendship book’ (Freundebuch). This is a memory book and each kindergartner buys one for themselves and pass it to the other kids and also to the teachers so they can put their photos and write their names, birth dates, etc. This way, when the kids grow up, they still can remember everyone they spent time with in kindergarten! Such a sweet thing to have at a young age!

  

Even though my son’s time in kindergarten was really lovely, it was not without painful moments. One of the kids slammed the door on my son’s hand and his finger got severely injured. The kindergarten had to call the ambulance and we went to the ER. The bone of the finger was broken and the doctors had to put a metal thingy around it for a couple of weeks. That was indeed a painful memory and he had to stay at home for a while before going back to kindergarten. During his stay at home, he got by post a lovely kindergarten postcard from his kindergarten group wishing him all the best. 

Overall, when I see how much my son thrived and how many nice memories he had in these two kindergarten years, I feel grateful. The kindergarten was such a lovely place and the teachers did indeed a great job! They have proved that children can learn so much through play. Even though I already miss my small kindergarten kid, I am so very excited about his next big step in life: school!