Falling into Learning

Montessori is learning all about the season of fall.

         The children used their senses to discover signs of fall in McCrillis Gardens:

     Crunching leaves! Gigantic leaves! Rough pine cones! Red holly berries! Hard acorns! Singing birds! Scurrying squirrels! Mowers vacuuming leaves! Gardeners trimming plants!

         

    Rakes, brooms, and wheelbarrows create wonderful piles of leaves on the playground!

The leaves of deciduous trees turn red, orange, yellow, magenta, and brown before falling to the ground.

                    Trees are large plants with a trunk, branches, leaves, and roots.

                             Why do plants have stems? Why do trees have trunks?

             Do plants need light, water, soil, and air? What will happen to a leaf if we cover it in foil?

Leaves make food for the tree and have stems, veins, petioles, and blades. The Botany Cabinet is used to trace and label blade shapes. Our violet's leaves are cordate.  Grass is linear. The dogwood leaves are ovate.

                        Those veins and stems "pop" and make great leaf rubbings!

Montessori is falling in love with fall!

            "The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness--John Muir