Botany

The lower elementary students have started their study of botany. Montessori cultural subjects start with lessons meant to strike the student’s’ imagination and give the big picture before going on to look at the specific details. In botany this means we start by presenting the plant kingdom through simple classification charts. 

During the second botany lesson the second and third students examined a small sapling and reviewed its different parts and their functions. They made their own drawings of a tree and wrote the labels for the root system and shoot system and the parts found within these two systems.

The first year students gathered outdoors for a lively discussion about the parts of the plant. They described and named each part while laying labels on the sapling. To illustrate the plant’s need for roots they pretended to be trees with and without roots and acted out what would happen when the wind blew.

All of the students will be spending some time outdoors in the next few days drawing plants and labeling their drawings. The next lessons in botany will take advantage of the change of seasons to focus on the parts of the leaf.

 

Submitted by: Rhonda Reynolds

Class Meetings

The cornerstone of the LE social curriculum is our weekly “class meeting.” The students set the agendas for and hold class meetings, which are used to discuss and solve problems together. No issue is too big or too small to merit the group’s attention. We resolve issues of social exclusion, work out game rules that make everyone feel safe and included, and learn how to speak honestly and openly to each other without projecting blame. These social skills often set them apart from other children their age, as they learn to deal with social and emotional issues with empathy and respect at a very early age.

Practical Life

The children coming to elementary have already had fairly unlimited access to basic Practical Life activities in our 3-6 classrooms.  As these children mature, the teacher plays a more active role in selecting certain tasks, which may suit a particular child or situation. The children do not have as much "free" unstructured time in which to select any activity they choose but rather are guided to practice the skills needed for success in later subjects and life in general. The activities taught in the Advanced Practical Life portion of the curriculum are simpler versions of many of those that the adults in their lives engage in.

Our practical life area encompasses topics such as cooking, gardening, wood working, knitting, sewing, dusting, window washing and basic etiquette that will help a child develop a high level of concentration and improve fine motor skills while evoking a sense of respect for others and the environment.

Fundamental Needs of People

Lower Elementary is beginning to study the Fundamental Needs of People.

 

Fundamental needs are divided into two. Humans start off with material needs. As you may have already guessed this includes more than just food and clothing. Humans also need shelter, safety and other factors that contribute to a secure and comfortable existence. The second fundamental need is spiritual in nature. When all the basic needs are provided, humans have a desire for artistic, cultural, social and religious expression and interaction.

 

In the month of September, we introduce the fundamental needs of people by reading the story of Robinson Crusoe. "Shipwrecked in a storm at sea, Robinson Crusoe is washed up on a remote and desolate island. As he struggles to piece together a life for himself, Crusoe's physical, moral and spiritual values are tested to the limit. For 24 years he remains in solitude and learns to tame and master the island, until he finally comes across another human being" (Amazon.com)

 

We ask the children, "What would you need to survive" and watch them begin to understand the difference between a want (toys, furniture) and a need (food, water).

We also begin to branch out and talk about the different categories of needs (shelter, clothing, medical care) and what belongs in each category and has belonged throughout history.

 

Tasting the 5 Kingdoms

Biological classifications have undergone many classifications in the past decades and these changes are still coming.

Once upon a time, all living things were lumped together into two kingdoms, namely plants and animals. Animals included every living thing that moved, ate, and grew to a certain size and stopped growing. Plants included every living thing that did not move or eat and that continued to grow throughout life. It became very difficult to group some living things into one or the other, so early in the past century the two kingdoms were expanded into five kingdoms: Protista (the single-celled eukaryotes); Fungi (fungus and related organisms); Plantae (the plants); Animalia (the animals); Monera (the prokaryotes). Many biologists now recognize 5 distinct kingdoms.

Recently, the lower El students "tasted" the 5 Kingdoms.

We introduced:

1.  Prokaryotes (bacteria/cheese)

2.  Protista (algae/ seaweed)

3.  Fungi(mushrooms)

4.  Animal (turkey jerky)

5.  Plant (edible flowers)

 

 

 

Save the Date

The 15^th annual Fall Frolic is coming up just around the corner. This annual run is to benefit The Montessori Classroom at the South Bend Center for the Homeless. This classroom was created in partnership with the SBCFH in 1994; it still remains the only Montessori Classroom offered in a homeless setting in the country. Because of this partnership a unique pre-school program now serves children at the Center by integrating Montessori philosophy, methodology and materials with the special needs and gifts of homeless children, ages three through six. The results have been remarkable!

“A total of 20 children were transformed by the Montessori Classroom at the South Bend Center for the Homeless during the 2012-2013 school year. While not all of the 20 children attended at the same time nor did all of them complete the Montessori cycle, they were all loved, honored and cared for within the Montessori community. Some of the children attended school for a few days, others a few weeks, some a few months and one completed the third year of the Montessori curriculum. While the classroom at the center does oftentimes seem like a revolving door, we at the Montessori Academy believe that no matter what the length of attendance is, if we can offer a safe and secure environment for these young children and allow them to have a peaceful environment to learn in and to be successful. "

 

Landforms

Geography is the study of a physical environment and human interaction with it. This environment includes features of the planet, animals, plants and cultures, and includes how humans live on the earth.  A child's first introduction to geography is in the home. That is, the child's exposure to the native culture. An important part of a child's education is an introduction to other cultures and environments. 

In Lower El, we begin our study of geography by learning about the landforms. Your child learns the basic landforms found on Earth- bay, cape, straight, isthmus, lake, and island.

Our first year students have started by creating an island and a lake.  Our second and third year students will soon begin focusing on advanced landforms.

The Long Black Line

The children in the Lower Elementary classrooms will be receiving the lesson entitled, The Long Black Line  this week. 

In 1939, Dr. Montessori was working with several children in India. One of the children told her that there was nothing that he and India could learn from someone in the West. After all, the oldest real civilization was in India 10,000 years ago. Egypt was 3.5 thousand years ago. Babylon and Assyria were 5,000 years ago.  The Indian civilization was actually 9,000 years old, but she said she would make it 10,000 to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Later she asked a printer to make a strip of cloth 300 meters long and 50 cm. wide. 299.99 were in black and 0.01 meters were in white.

When the roll was ready, she had it brought to the school and said "Now, I'm ready for something".

She had 2 teachers on bicycles unroll the whole thing along the street. They started with all black and finally came to the little piece of red.

The children asked what it was. Montessori said it was the history of the earth since it was created.

The children asked if it was of one color. Montessori answered. No. It changed to red when the history of humans began.

 

Submitted by: Jenn Darmogray