At our little yellow school, autumn is one of our favourite seasons. At this time of the year, our outdoor environment ~ two grassy playgrounds, towering pine trees, flower and vegetable gardens all set on half an acre of land ~ provides us with a treasure trove of autumn experiences. Here are some of them.
Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle and Migration
On the first day of school in September, the children were surprised to find jars of chrysalises in the classrooms. Each day the children watched and waited for the butterflies to emerge.
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| Observing |
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| Observing |
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| A Monarch Chrysalis |
A butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.
We released the butterflies in our butterfly garden.
The metamorphosis of the monarch butterfly is a miraculous occurrence. How fortunate for all of us to have witnessed it and assisted in their migration to Mexico.
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| Life Cycle of a Butterfly Craft |
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| Life Cycle of a Butterfly Book |
The Autumn Harvest
Our autumn harvest began with our potato harvest. The children planted seed potatoes in our vegetable garden last spring. It was lovely to see the delight on the children's faces as they dug the potatoes out of the ground. We had a bumper crop!
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| Examining the Parts of a Potato Plant |
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| Labelling the Parts of a Potato Plant |
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| Life Cycle of a Potato Puzzle |
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| A Potato Plant |
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| Digging Potatoes |
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| Our Harvest |
We harvested apples on our trip to the apple orchard.
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| Picking an Apple |
Back at school, we baked some delicious apple sweetie pies.
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| Cutting Apples |
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| Filling a Tart Shell |
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| Adding the Topping |
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| Little Apple Sweetie Pies |
We had an Apple Taste Test and tasted different varieties of apples - Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and McIntosh. We picked the McIntosh apples at the farm.
Which one is your favourite? Our wall graph has the answers.
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| Apple Taste Test Wall Graph |
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| Granny Smith are my favourite. |
Deciduous and Coniferous (Evergreen) Trees
During the autumn months, we always enjoy exploring trees. The children learned the parts of the tree.
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| Parts of the Tree Booklet |
We learned the difference between deciduous and coniferous (evergreen) trees. Our maple trees are deciduous trees.
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| Collecting Leaves |
Our pine trees are coniferous (evergreen) trees. Can you believe each of our towering pines began life as a tiny seed?
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| Reading the book From Seed to Pine Tree . |
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| Those pines are huge! |
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| Looking at our towering pine trees. |
There is always so much to discover in our outdoor environments. The children collected some lovely treasures from our trees.
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| Our Collection |
We worked together to sort and classify our finds.
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| Bark |
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| Branches |
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| Leaves |
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| Needles |
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| Seeds |
Our Animal Friends
Our animal friends are preparing for the winter. The little squirrels are knocking down pine cones from our coniferous trees and storing them for the winter. We found one of their hiding spots!
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| The squirrel is hiding pine cones in our 'snag'. |
Pumpkins
We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin and the parts of a pumpkin.
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| The Parts of a Pumpkin |
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| The Parts of a Pumpkin |
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| The Parts of a Pumpkin |
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| Hollowing a Pumpkin |
Our open outdoor classroom also encourages gross motor skills, observation, and sorting activities. The natural environment enables us to flutter with the butterflies, watch an earthworm wiggle, hop with the frogs, collect twigs, pebbles and pine cones all the while listening to the sounds of the birds. We are never happier than when we are basking in the glow of nature's wonder.
Why is a natural outdoor environment so important in Montessori education? Since the beginning of her work over one hundred years ago, a basic tenent of Montessori's psychology and curriculum for children is the universal need for attachment to nature and the subsequent personality integration that evolves from outdoor activity. Dr. Montessori believed that Montessori education is not just what happens inside. She placed a heavy emphasis on nature and the outdoor environment. The outdoor environment should be an extension of the indoor environment providing children with real experiences in nature. Our little yellow school could not provide a complete Montessori education without our natural and expansive outdoor environment. It is invaluable.
There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature; to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature.
~ Maria Montessori
