Montessori Primary Distance Learning Plant Study 2- 6 year olds Olive Branch School Portland OR

Social distancing can be difficult for young children who are curious, social and routine driven. We are hoping for the best and planning for everything else. Teacher Emily is offering OBS community members a window to learning while at home with prompts for exploration, daily adventures and a sense of continued community . Our ongoing videos will start after Spring Break March 30 as described in our email to families, for the meantime we would like to present you with an appetizer of what we are planning.
Montessori education is based on the principles of hands on concrete learning where the child uses their own hands to interpret, explore, discover and learn. While classrooms are full of wonderful materials to help with isolating the senses, our largest sense is our sense of touch. We will provide hands on ideas for learning at home and connect with families and students to witness how they have interpreted the provocations provided- there’s no wrong or right way!

Ideas for at home:
*Plant your own seeds from packets, or those you collect from fruits/vegetables
* While exploring seeds naturally work in the sounds of the words you hear/speak, which plants or seeds start with the same sounds, which end with the same sounds, can you name all the sounds
*Clap the syllables of the plant/seed names
*For older children make a simple chart and note growth, notice which plants are growing fastest, what the sum of growth is each time you measure.
* Explore different ways of growing - put similar seed species in different areas of your home and predict which will grow fastest, chart their growth (you can also experiment with water volume). Try germinating seeds inside a plastic zip close bag with a moist paper towel inside. Place the seeds on the paper towel, close the bag and place in the sun.

*Make potato stamps: cut a potato halfway down its length, push a cookie cutter into the potato as far as you can, then draw a knife around the circumference, cutting until you hit the cookie cutter, the potato pieces should fall away and you can remove the cookie cutter, leaving behind you potato stamp. Use paint or food coloring to stamp designs.
*Make stamps out of other fruits/veggies

Practical Life at Home
*Slicing Bananas
*Slicing fruits such as apples, pears and vegetables such as zucchini, carrots, mushrooms
*Scrubbing fruit - just a bowl of water with a scrub brush, new toothbrush or sponge
*Juicing fruits such as lemons, and other citrus using a reamer, spoon or your hands
*Peeling oranges
*Crushing herbs for sachets, or crushing eggshells to add to plants for compost (we are a vegan environment and do not have this work in our space)
*Using specific slicers for strawberries, cherry-pitters, mushroom slicers, avocado slicers

The above works can be prepared for us on trays or in baskets, or on larger plates and placed on a shelf at the child's height so they can engage with it when they are interested. We know not all homes are set up for Montessori activity, but we believe with a little maneuvering each home can be made more child accessible.