Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie

On July 9, we visited Muzeum Narodowe with the wonderful kids of group number 7! They were extremely well behaved (for the most part, at least), and listened attentively to their guide. 

One of their tasks was to draw their own coat of arms, which they took very seriously and created works of art that could put existing ones to shame ;)

Towards the end of their guided tour, they listened to the story of the infamous Krakovian sorcerer Pan Twardowski, and were given a related assignment – to color and embellish his giant rooster!

Matea

A visit to Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny

This was a day of great fun for the kids. Not only did they see a theater show, they PARTICIPATED in it! I can't tell you for sure what the play was about, but with so many children paying attention and staying quiet (for the most part), it must have been good ;)

There was also a lot of dancing involved, and some liked the activity better than others, but the best part were the balloon animals and all sorts of objects. There wasn't a  child that didn't want one, which you could conclude just by looking at the queue formed in front of the clowns! Those poor ladies lived through the busiest day of their lives. Some of their creations didn't last very long though, with all the heat popping the balloons as we went back to the kindergarten :(

The trip was a success, the class happy and tired, looking forward to new grand adventures!

Matea

La Ratita Presumida (Dbająca o urodę Pani Szczur)

My dear friend and fellow volunteer, Andrea, turned a Spanish children’s cartoon into a fun little show for the kids. Together with Juan and Lucia, who are also wonderful Spanish volunteers, the four of us have since enacted this show in 5 different kindergartens, including our very own Przedszkole 176! 

La Ratita Presumida is a story of a little girl rat who found a coin and decided to buy a bow to decorate her tail. This made her extra beautiful and resulted in all animals wanting to marry her – but what will her response be?

Andrea’s teacher helped translate everything into Polish, so while everything the characters were saying was in Spanish, I acted as the narrator and translator to the kids (and crossed my fingers in hopes they would understand me).

Pani Marzena invited the entire kindergarten to see the performance, and we’re pretty sure they were happy with what they saw :) 

After the show, we went to different classes to show them a few dance moves, and it’s safe to say we got them up and dancing! We danced to the sounds of Bugui Bugui, Chuchuwa and Follow the Leader.

Matea

March and April

One of the things children learn about in the kindergarten is nature and all of its wonders. As we all know, the best way to get to know nature is to get out there and see it! The park in the proximity of our kindergarten is home to very important small creatures we call - frogs. As much as some people (me) don't really appreciate the sight of them, kids LOVE them. For our little explorers, the frogs are a real marvel. 

In March, I went with Pani Marzena and group number 7 to visit our slimy little friends. The kids barely resisted the urge to touch them, but they enjoyed observing them just the same.

In April, I briefly took on the role of a teacher! With the help of a very short PowerPoint presentation, I introduced the kids to my small country, Croatia :) Using pictures, I introduces the kids to the fact that not many people live in my country - the pictures, however, featured only five people, which led the class to the conclusion that, with me being in Poland, only four were left in Croatia.

I showed them my hometown, and the natural wonders of my country, and we concluded the presentation by trying to guess a few of my favorite things, such as colors, dinosaurs or Disney princesses - of course, I also found out what the kids thought of my choices ;)

Matea

Five little ducks

Since Pani Marzena considers English a very important part of the children's education, she always tries to think of new ways she can broaden their vocabulary. This time, group 7 was introduced to a nursery rhyme called Five Little Ducks. It's a simple song that tells a story of a mother duck losing her baby ducks, but eventually finding all of them safe and sound, swimming behind far away hills :)

To help the class better understand what the song is about, Pani Marzena asked me to make models of the ducks - as soon as I finished, she was ready to present them to the kids!

Here's the text of the song, which the children are experts in by now :)

Five little ducks

FIVE little ducks went swimming one day,

Over the hill and far away.

Mamma duck said: "Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But only FOUR little ducks came back.

FOUR little ducks went swimming one day,

Over the hill and far away.

Mamma duck said: "Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But only THREE little ducks came back.

THREE little ducks went swimming one day,

Over the hill and far away.

Mamma duck said: "Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But only TWO little ducks came back.

TWO little ducks went swimming one day,

Over the hill and far away.

Mamma duck said: "Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

But only ONE little duck came back.

ONE little duck went swimming one day,

Over the hill and far away.

Mamma duck said: "Quack, quack, quack, quack!"

And all her five little ducks came back.

Matea