The importance of the sun

Today, as a follow up on our current study on our solar system, I explained a bit more why the sun was so important to us. I used a set that I created myself: a big picture of the sun, pictures of plants and animals (herbivores and carnivores) and pictures of humans. This exercise is recommended to be done on a floor mat or on the notice board. I decided to use our rectangle table today as my back was killing me today and I couldn't contemplate kneeling down at all!! 

I invited the children to the exercise and started by placing the large picture of the sun at the top of the floor mat. I explained the children that the sun  is a very big hot star far away. We discussed what it is like when the sun is up (breakfast time, bright, warmer, etc..) and what it is like when it is down (night time, colder, dark…) or when it is not shining (cold, dull, grey…). I went on to explains that the world needs the sun to make flowers and plants grow because plants make their food from the sun’s rays. I picked the pictures of the plants and placed them under the picture of the sun at the top of the table. I told the children that many living creatures need the plants to live. They eat them. The term of “herbivores” was introduced and I pointed at pictures of herbivores that feed on plants. I explained that if there was no herbivore, the planet would be covered up by plants. There would be too many plants. Then,I introduced the children to the pictures of “carnivores” and explained to them that carnivores eat other animals as well as herbivores to survive. I then placesd the pictures under the pictures of the herbivores.It is important to have carnivore: if there wasn’t any, there would be too many herbivores and we would be invaded by them. Finally, I mentioned human beings. Some of us eat meat and some don’t : we are vegetarian or carnivore. And I placed the pictures of human being under the carnivores.

 

 

Such a lesson can be heavy to assimilate but repetition is the keyword. This type os exercise  illustrates the cosmic plan: how one thing affects another, how everything in the world is connected. It also teaches about the functions of things in nature, as well as developing the child's vocabulary and knowledge.

Our solar system

One of Montessori main principles is Cosmic education. It  is founded on the belief of integration and interconnection. I know, it sounds complex, but it is not at all!  Cosmic education is a way to show the student how everything in the universe is interrelated and interdependent. Everything has a part to play to the maintenance of harmony in the whole. In understanding this network of relationships, the child finds that he or she also is a part of the whole, and has a part to play. So here we were yesterday and today, giving the children in our classroom their first sense of he universe: our solar system and the planets. The children love this topic. I use a song to help the remember the sequence of the planets (from the closest to the sun). I made a frieze with details of each planet on the back. I then showed the children how to use our 3 part-cards.

The children unfold the frieze. They hen have to match the corresponding cards under each pictures. Then they use the name cards and math the name of the planets to the frieze. Even tough the children cannot read, this is a very good reading exercise as this helps them recognise symbols and understands that there is a meaning behind them. I have placed coloured stickers behind the pictures to be used as control of error. This means that, once the child has completed the exercise, he/she can check if he/she did it right by checking the stickers on the back. Sorry, but I forgot to take a picture of it (but you get the idea!).

 

 

 

 

This is a great game as it capture the children’s imagination and inititate the children's exploration of important questions. I have been so pleased with their interest and once again, their desire to discover and learn has amazed me. This type of exercise also help to promote concentration and self-discipline.

 

 

Wild beasts in our garden.....

Nature is at our doorstep. Though I do not have the facilities to bring the children on a nature walk, we are still able to observe nature and its wonders. Last week, we discovered this baby trush fell off the tree and of course, we had to try to rescue it. We placed it in a box and the chick drank from our eye dropper. The kids went looking for worms and screamed out of delight when it finally swallowed a whole wiggly worm!!! This was a great lesson on how to look after animals, what they need and where they get their food.

Unfortunately, our little bird didn't survive! Some of the children were a bit upset and asked quite a lot of questions such as "why didn't its mam come to help it? Where is it now? Why did it die because we gave it food?". I tried to answer all their questions as clearly as possible. When explaining to them what happened, I used the words "death," "dead," "dying" instead of euphanisms. These are all concrete words that children can wrap their brains around. Being clear is important I think because children's minds may extrapolate harmful connotations from sugar-coated explanations! I remember when myparent stold me years ago that my dog had to be put to sleep. When we got a new dog, I wouldn't let it go asleep at first because it was now my understanding that if I put him "to sleep", I wouldn't see it again!. This little chick in our garden was one of my teachable moment! Experiencing death and talking about it empower children to handle grief in the future. It also gives them a glimpse at a full life cycle.

On a more positive note, we now have 11 rabbits in our hutch and run!! A little bit overcrowded. The chidren have been witnessing the babies' growth and believe me, they are growing quick!! We are currently trying to find a home for every single one of them! They are soooo cute!!!

And of course, I have used this opportunity to present the children with another little exercise in our classroom: classifying animals. Pets or Wild animals? This turned out to be quite a popular activity. The chidren love looking at the photos and share their knowledge and preferences with their peers as they study each picture. This is great for their social and language skills!!!



Continents and Oceans Maps

As part of our study on geography and the world around us, I have been teaching the names of th oceans to the children in our classroom. It is quite interesting to see how eager they are to learn more and more and to understand what goes on around them.

I made a Continents and Oceans map, using white A4 sheets and laminating pouches. I traced the map of the world on both sheets, coloured the continents according to the Montessori coloured globe and the oceans in blue.

One map has the names of the continents and oceans written on the map (Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Arctic Ocean). The second map is blank and comes with name slips. This is a matching exercise as the children cannot read yet of course, but this really helps them recognising letters in sequence. This is a teacher guided exercise too which means that I read each word on the name slips for them before they try to match them.

This is a simple exercise that really forces the child to concentrate. It reinforces his knowledge of the continent too and gives them a great sense of achievement once they have completed the whole exercise. 

Life Cycles

Following on my last post on Montessori Cosmic Education, I want to show you one of our exercises in botany and zoology: the life cycles friezes. I find them SO easy to use and they are really popular among the young ones. I didn't say they were easy to make though!! I use  pictures mounted on white card and taped them together using that type of sticky back plastic book film to make a frieze.. Believe me, it is sticky!! Anyway, the idea behind that type of material is To understand that it shows clearly that life goes in cycles (as you unfold the frieze) and that things change all the time. It also reinforces the child's knowledge and understanding of living and non-living things in nature.

This is quite an easy exercise. I show the child one of the frieze she/he has chosen and discuss each picture with him/her, introducing new words and expanding his/her vocabulary. Once we have done that, I introduce the child to the 2 part cards I made to accompany the frieze. First, I show the child how to match the cards  to the pictures on the frieze. If the child is confident enough, I let him/her use the name slips and match them to the words on the frieze too. It doesn't matter if the child can read or not. If he doesn't read, he simply matches the words together. SO this is a double exercise: zoology (life cycle), literacy (words recognition/letters recognition) and maths (matching skills)!!!

The frog lyfe cycle

An apple life cycle

There are other ways of presenting life cycles to children. Simply use pictures or drawings on white laminated cards and ask the child to put them in sequence:

Here another way to do it: 2 A4 laminated cards. The child reproduces the first cards using pictures and name slips (sorry about the pictures being all sideways. It won't come right for me!!):

Montessori Cosmic Education

All over the blogosphere, on homeschool teaching blogs and early childhood education blogs, we talk about maths, literacy, physical education, but we don't give enough credit to the importance of cultura subjects in our currciculum: science, botany, zoology, history, geography, art and music...

Culture was not part of the Montessori curriculum. However, Montessori realised the importance and necessity of such a curriculum if she wanted her education to complete its cycle and be fully holistic and cosmic. Cosmic education is founded on the belief on integration and interconnection. Cosmic education opens up the child's mind and lets him discover that everything in the universe is interrelated and interdependent. Everything has a part to play to maintain harmony. When the child has understood how connected things in the universe are, he then realises that he or she also is a part of the whole, and has a part to play. Montessori spent so mch time observing children. She realised that young children interact with the natural world everywhere they go: smeling flowers, picking up leaves and feeling them, watching ants at work etc.. This is how they learn and understand how things work. Montessori believed it is important to provide the child with hands on experiences with real things before teaching them the specific names of these "things". When a child discovers something new, he is inquisitive and asks questions such as : “What is this? What is it called? How does it feel/smell/taste/sound?”. As you can see, the child try to understand using his senses.  In this sensitive period, children should be encouraged to explore their environment with their senses. Awake their senses and then move on to more abstract concepts such as the parts of the tree, the life cycle of a frog etc.. Montessori realized that young children in the period of the absorbent mind have a real need to learn the proper names for things. This is why she created the Montessori nomenclature materials (3-part cards, charts, and booklets along with their controls of error) to help children develop their vocabulary and increase their understanding of the world around them. Once the child has learnt to use his senses as a steping stone to understand the world around him, he will then start grasping more abstract concepts. For example, a child learns about shapes with the Montessori geometric cabinet or the geometric solids. This will later help him discover that his environment is made up of circles, squares and triangles. in the classroom, outside, at home etc..

Maria Montessori believed that introducing cultural subjects to young children had many benefits to the children: they capture their imagination, force them to ask questions, stimulate their needs to learn, make them more aware of the natural world, inspire them and instil in students reverence and gratitude for the people and accomplishments of the past.

So following the Cosmic plan, the idea is to go from big to small, from general to specific. First, you  give the child an all-encompassing sense of the universe with its billions of galaxies. Then it focuses, on our Galaxy, the Milky Way, our solar system, planet Earth and its geological history, the first specimens of life, all species of plants and animals and finally human beings. What is inherent in this curriculum is that everything is interconnected.  For example, at some stage the child learns about life cycles. He learns how the common fly reproduces and this way, the child also finds out that  fly lays its eggs on dead creatures, its offspring devouring the tissues to feed  thus ridding the environment of dead matter, that would otherwise pile up and pollute the earth: the cosmic task of the fly.!!!!

All this theory piece to introduce you all to some of our cultural exercises. Keep in touch.... If you wish to learn more about Montessori Cosmic Education, check up the book below. (The autors have done quite a good job at explainign the rationalefor Cosmic Education)