I started writing a series of posts on Montessori and only recently realized that I had never finished…oops! I was originally going to do separate posts for Science and Culture and I don’t remember why. From what I remember from David Gettman’s book Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives culture includes science (please correct me if I am wrong.. it’s been over a year since I read the book!)
David Gettman suggests the following sequence for teaching culture. Included in the list are some activities that I have found online. Enjoy!
Period One:
- land and water presentation- download land form cards from montessorimom.com, download water form cards from montessorimom.com and make your own land and water forms from Shannon’s Sharings
Period Two:
- land and water exercises
- first maps
- places classified pictures- classification pictures (scroll down to see some Places cards) from montessori materials
- preliminary work for classification of a leaf- some great ideas for leaf projects and simple classifying from montessori preschool at home
Period Three:
- all maps- map printouts from montessori mom links of the day and there are some GREAT map apps HERE
- places picture folders- Life is Bella shared her continent photo folders and Montessori Materials has continent animal cards
- past and present
- stories about the past
- air
- water
- magnetism
- classifying animals- Montessori Materials has animal classification labels. These would work great as 3-part classification card activity!
- classifying leaves leaf shapes and leaf forms 1,2, and 3 from montessori materials and for the advanced child- check out this incredible pdf of leaves from Temple of Ganesha– everything from a bazillion different leaf shapes to leaf venation. Wow.
- parts of animals- Montessori Materials has some animal anatomy cards
- parts of leaves- Montessori Materials has a great pdf on the learning the parts of leaves and ETC has another well done pdf on leaf parts
Period Four:
- gravity
- sand
- optics- Montessori Mom shares a list of different light, color and optics activities
- places artifacts- continent boxes from montessori for everyone
Period Five:
- plant life cycles- online tutorial for kids on the plant life cycle- from seed to dispersal. Youtube also has several different time lapse videos of seeds growing that are pretty cool!
- time line
Period Six:
- reading classified cards in geography, nature studies, and history
- fact books from the library
Period Seven:
- definition stages of classified cards in geography, nature studies, and history
- field nature observation work
You must check out this detailed scope and sequence of geography pdf. It is amazing!
Happy Teaching!
Happy Teaching!
