Four Seasons and Nature Study - Summer

Naturally this topic can, and should, be a year-long study! We are just enjoying a quick dip.

Spring - Feb 3, 4, 6

Summer - Feb 7, 10, 11

Autumn - Feb 13, 14, 17

Winter - Feb 18, 20, 21

We continued with Farmer Boy as our read-aloud story this month; the older students used February to do their Farming & Gardening main lesson block.

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SUMMER

Friday, February 7

• Raspberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles
• read Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni

It was an interesting challenge, trying to capture the essence of Summer when it was literally snowing yesterday! I decided to go with making popsicles. I went to the International Grocery Store for the orange blossom water. Nikki Giovanni's poem was the perfect accompaniment.

Monday, February 10

• play "The Water Bird" from Games Children Play, game #94, page 50
• play "Cork Scramble" from Games Children Play, game #66, page 38
• do "Jump Rope Rhymes" from The Children's Music Studio, page 102
• play marbles

Some summertime fun & games from Games Children Play: How Games and Sport Help Children Develop by Kim John Payne and The Children's Music Studio: A Reggio-inspired Approach by Wendell Hanna. Of course, we did Cork Scramble in a washbasin and not in waist-high water!

When I thought about images of Summer that I wanted to bring to the children, I felt very strongly about Games. The leisurely pace of summer, the huge amount of free time, and joy! Children now-a-days may jump rope but don't know how to shoot marbles. So we enjoyed ourselves immensely!

We also carded bunches and bunches of clean washed wool for our upcoming slippermaking. I added lemongrass essential oil as a natural moth repellant.

Tuesday, February 11

• read The Paperboy by Dave Pilkey
• review the color wheel
• explore paint mixing - warm colors
• "Warm Abstract" from Teaching Art with Books Kids Love: Art Elements, Appreciation, and Design with Award-Winning Books by Darcie Clark Frohardt

Of course, our mornings still include the Montessori choice time and individual and small group work with the mathematics, grammar, geography materials and etc. I do not mean to imply that we ever jumped rope for the entire day! But part of me thinks that an entire day of play like that every once in a while would not be a bad thing. I think it would be very balancing.

What we ALL love about Summer is fresh juicy seasonal food, warmth, spending time with family making memories, a relaxed pace, sleeping late, and lots lots lots of outdoor time. These are all things that we could put into our lives all year round, if we worked at them in a conscious way.

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