The Earth and the Universe

In Montessori, How the Earth and the Universe Came to Be is the "First Great Lesson," taught in Lower Elementary (ages 6-9) every year at the beginning of the year. More Great Lessons follow it and continue the story.

I'm working with a child who needs to get through some required Hawai'i curriculum standards for Science, and I decided that we would begin with the Montessori First Great Lesson, since it is really the jumping off point to all Science themes (Physics, Botany, Zoology, Geology, Astronomy, etc.)!

It is an interesting challenge to try to figure out how to weave all of these into one cohesive whole, so that it feels like they are all interrelated pieces within one narrative.

SC.3.4.1. Cells, Tissues, Organs, and Organ Systems: Compare distinct structures of living things that help them to survive

SC.3.6.1. Energy and Its Transformation: Define energy and explain that the sun produces energy in the form of light and heat

SC.3.6.2. Waves: Explain how things make sound through vibrations

SC.3.6.3. Waves: Explain how light traveling in a straight line changes when it reaches an object

SC.3.7.1. Forces and Motion: Compare how simple machines do work to make life easier

SC.3.8.1. Earth Materials: Describe different Earth materials (e.g., rocks, minerals, sand, soil) and explain their formation and composition

SC.3.8.2. Forces That Shape the Earth: Describe how the water cycle is related to weather and climate

SC.3.8.3. The Universe: Safely observe and describe the basic movements of the sun and moon

SC.3.8.4. The Universe: Describe that constellations stay the same, though they 'appear' to move across the night sky

Prior Reading

Before beginning this block, we did How They Croaked and finished that block by reading On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein.


On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein
by Jennifer Berne

Thursday, Jun 23

Periodic Table of the Elements


Older Than the Stars
by Karen Fox

add to MLB:
2 page spread - The Big Bang!
2 page spread - summary on one side, fun fact on the other

Summary:
The elements are made of atoms. Atoms are billions of years old.
We are made of atoms. Everything is made of atoms. Technically speaking, that means we are billions of years old.

Fun Fact:
The entire Universe used to fit in this dot.
(a pencil dot to represent a tiny speck the size of a piece of dust)

Monday, Jun 27

discuss probability by rolling dice (how long would it take for 11 dice to all land on the same number? a long time but it's possible) and how there is certainly life somewhere in the universe besides here

discuss how life began with a simple design and then progressed to more complex designs

discuss how once life began it had an impulse to keep on going

consider asexual reproduction (photocopy-style) vs. sexual reproduction (a bit from mom and a bit from dad) and the advantages of sexual reproduction (better chance for innovation and new designs that would be more successful a la Charles Darwin)


One Night in the Coral Sea
by Sneed B. Collard III

look at video of brain coral spawning & releasing eggs

note: one of my favorite art projects for microbes making exact copies of themselves is gelatin plate monoprinting





add to MLB:
2 page spread - coral reef during the day on one side, coral reef spawning at night on the other

Tuesday, Jun 28

add to MLB:
2 page spread - summary on one side, fun fact on the other

Summary:
Back in the time of early life, the method for making more of your species was copying yourself. Then a new idea began. It was to have a little bit from a mom and a little bit from a dad, and now most of the animals use that method (sexual reproduction).

Fun Fact:
Female Komodo dragons are capable of having babies without a male. One egg cell fertilizes another.

Building an Organism Lego Activity

1. Cut five slips of paper and label them as follows:

Cell
Tissue
Organ
Organ System
Organism

2. Place one single Lego by the slip of paper that says Cell.

3. Connect several Legos together. Place your creation by the slip of paper that says Tissue.

4. Build several Tissue creations, each made of several Legos. Attach your Tissues to one another. Place this by the slip of paper that says Organ.

5. Build several Organ creations, each made of several Tissues, each made of several Legos. Attach your Organs to one another. Place this by the slip of paper that says Organ System.

6. Create several Organ Systems, each made of several Organs, each made of several Tissues, each made of several Legos. Attach your Organ Systems to one another. Place this by the slip of paper that says Organism.

Wednesday, Jun 29

Plenty of Fish
by Millicent Selsam - respiration

Characteristics of Vertebrates: Fish




Red Tag Comes Back
by Fred Phleger - movement, reproduction

Thursday, Jun 30

add Fish to MLB:
2 page spread - salmon in a stream
2 page spread - summary on one side, fun fact on the other

Fun Fact:
Salmon use magnetism and smell to find their way back home to spawn.

read The Toad Hunt by Janet Chenery
includes the etymology of < tadpole > and < polliwog >

Special Note: My notes for this block continue in The Earth and the Universe Part II

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