"Flipped Classroom" Science Club - The Twelve Senses

Last week's "Flipped Classroom" Science Club session was a no-go when almost all of the families involved had a loss of internet service, including me. Prior to the session, the children experimented at home with 12 Senses using some of the activities for each from Tom van Gelder (linked to below).

I had asked them to come to class ready to comment on their experiences.

Perception of Our Own Body

Touch

Life

Movement

Balance

Perception of the External World

Smell

Taste

Sight

Temperature

Perception of Other People

Hearing

Speech

Thought

Ego

Given that we couldn't meet on Zoom last Friday, we will share about our sensory experiences in this upcoming session.

My plan for Friday's in-person time was to make a giant web of the group's prior knowledge about the human body, which we can then add to as we work on this topic throughout the summer. Now I think I'll just ask each child to make a web at home and add to it as the weeks go along. It is nicest to do this in multiple colors: a tri-color web. Write in one color for prior knowledge, a second for information learned through the class activities, and a third for information learned in independent outside reading & research.

I planned on wrapping up last Friday's session using the Montessori Sixth Great Lesson story, The Great River, as an impressionistic way to introduce the human body. I love to set this up using a long red playsilk stretched out along the floor and my set of Grimm's City and Town Blocks.

This wonderful story can be heard, for free, on the ETC Montessori website. Go to The Great River and click at the bottom of the page on "The Nation of the Great River - Narration and Music - by Lizby Dingus and Kai Engle." Here is the full text of the story (PDF) with a complete list of the analogies. Maria Montessori was big on things being presented in a way that was "impressionistic" for young children, yet always highly scientifically accurate.

Since we haven't had time as a group to discuss our sensory experiences, or The Great River, I don't want to move on to a new topic just yet. So we will spend another week on the senses ("The President's Cabinet"). I am putting together some fun activities on American Sign Language and Braille!

If your child would like to join us via Zoom on Friday afternoons for this "Flipped Classroom" Science Club model, please let me know!

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