Science From Ages 2.9-6
Montessori education inspires a deep love for the world of nature through our outdoor education program,gardening,refining motor development and so much more. Our farming program includes climate change, botany, zoology, physical science, geology, marine biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and Earth sciences. We see this as the foundation of a lifelong interest in the sciences.
We want our students to be fascinated by the universe and to honestly enjoy the process of discovering its secrets and interrelationships. We want them to observe, analyze, measure, classify, experiment,and predict and to do so with a sense of wonder.
Science is an integral element of our curriculum. Among other things, it represents a way of life: a clear thinking approach to gathering information and problem solving.
Scope and Sequence Age 2.9
- Differentiation between living and non-living things (Ages 3-4)
- Differentiation between animals and plants (Ages 3-5)
- Observation of animals in nature
- The first puzzles representing the biological parts of flowers,root systems,and trees,along with the anatomical features of common animals. These are first used as puzzles, then as a means to learn the vocabulary, then are related to photos and/or the “real thing”, then traced on paper, and finally with labels as a reading experience.
Nomenclature Cards
Botany: identifying, naming, and labeling the parts of plants, trees, leaves, roots, and flowers.
Zoology: Identifying, naming, and labeling the external parts of human beings, insects, fish, birds, and other animals.
Introduction of the families of the animal kingdom,and identification of animals into the broad families. Introduction to the basic characteristics, life-styles, habitats, and means of caring for young of each family in the animal kingdom. (Ages 5-7)
Introduction to ecology: habitat, food chain, adaptation to environment and climate, predator-prey relationships, camouflage, and other body adaptations of common animals.
Advanced elementary biology study: the names and functions of different forms of leaves, flowers, seeds, trees, plants,and animals. This begins with field work by collecting specimens and observing. The study of evolution and the development of life on Earth over the eons (Ages 6 and up)
- Study of vertebrates: limbs, body coverings, lung, heart, skeleton, reproduction. (Ages 5-8)
- Advanced study of plants in class, greenhouse and garden:experimenting with soil, nutrients, light, etc. (Ages 6 and up)
- More advanced study of the animal kingdom: classification by class and phyla.
- The plant kingdom: a study of the major families of plant life on the Earth and classification by class and phyla.
- Life cycles: Water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen.
- Introduction to chemistry: (Begins at age 6 and continues throughout the elementary science curriculum)
- The three states of matter
- Basic atomic theory
- How elements are created through stellar fusion
- Elements and compounds
- Mendelov’s table of the elements
Basic molecular theory: Building atomic modelsPhysical and chemical changes Research into the elements and continued study of the periodic table Introduction to chemistry lab experiments
- Animal behavior: Detailed observations.
- Anatomy: Systems of the animal and human body.
- Health and nutrition.
- Ecology: advanced study of the interrelationships of life forms.
- Development of skills using scientific apparatus: microscopes, telescopes, hand lens, collecting field specimens, dissecting, preparing displays.
- Study of the great inventions: Machines and technology and their effect on society throughout history.
- Study of the great scientists.
- Introduction to the physical sciences
- Geology and mineralogy, meteorology, astronomy and cosmology.
- Elementary physics: light, electricity, magnetic fields, gravity, mass.
- Preparing and analyzing all sorts of graphs and data displays; basic statistics.
Note: Science is a curriculum that truly engages children their fascination of life and all its wonder. When a child does present an interest in a particular science topic we would encourage the child to explore regardless of age. This freedom of learning is important in a child’s education.
