Second Great Lesson and Patterns

We started our morning off with some Cosmic Kids Yoga as our gym is being used for Rocks and Rings.  We are excited to start that program tomorrow! 

This morning we explored the Second Great Lesson: Life Comes to Earth.  The children were guided through the sequence of life appearing on Earth starting with the first microscopic bacterias including blue-green algae all the way to mammals and us humans!   This story touches on big concepts of adaptation, extinction, fossil records, continent movement and the classification of plants and animals.  After the lesson, the children explored some of the demonstrations in more depth in small groups.  They:   

-used playdough to create fossils from small models of animals

- explored our large, floor model Montessori Timelines of Life

- used photos from our powerpoint and worked on sequencing the groups in the order they appeared on Earth 

-Examined natural specimens like exoskeletons from invertebrates (like crab and lobsters) and bones and vertebrae from skeletons of vertebrates (like cows and elk).

This afternoon we continued to explore patterns.  In small groups, children worked on TRANSLATING patterns:  Making the same pattern with different attributes.  In the example above children made the same "type' of pattern with different manipulatives.  Some groups even translated their pattern into cool dance moves.  Nathaniel's group did a cool "Dab" dance to a ABAC pattern.  

We have continued to look at patterns in our world.  Today we read the Napping House by Audrey Wood.  We noticed there was a increasing pattern in it.  We discovered patterns help authors build to a climax in a story.  In this story, when the pattern finally changed, it helped the students predict that something BIG was going to happen.  

Where do you see patterns at home?