This is a short video from an end of the year program at Waseca.  The elementary class wrote their own skit and called it "Energy from the Sun".  They rehearsed the primary classes to chime in with the chorus, "the sun!",  at the end of some very long sentences.

San Francisco AMS Conference

We are just back and recovering from the big AMS conference last weekend.  It was wonderful to see so many Waseca Aficianados there and to hear how the biomes are going in your classrooms.  Thank you so much for the fantastic reception and all of your enthusiasm!!  This is just the fuel we need to come back and create more.
I gave a new workshop on integrating Montessori Curriculum with the Biome Study.  You can find it on Prezi.com at this link: http://prezi.com/22auouddvgbw/integrating-curriculum-with-biomes/
A few slides into the presentation, you will see a integrated curriculum map that weaves different subject matter through the biomes.  It has been in my head like that for years and it was good to put it down and share.
The two most popular items at the conference were the new stencil maps and the new biome readers for energy, soil air & water, plant life and animal life.  Alli (Montessori kid through middle school) designed the set of stencils to help children make their own biome maps.  First, they trace an outline of the continent.  Then, they use two other stencils to trace the mountain ranges and rivers.  The biome mat for that continent can help them to identify and name those geographical features.  A control helps them to color in the biomes.

Some New Ideas for Land and Water Forms

This summer at our annual biome camp for elementary students, I had a chance to get back into the classroom for a couple of weeks.  I chose to focus on what happens when land and water meet.  Our studies culminated with the island in a kiddie pool above. But first...

I wanted each child to experience subtracting the piece of clay from the middle of the land and placing it on a blank dish to make their own lake and island when they added the water.

Potter's clay was inexpensive and easy to manipulate.  However, the clay dried and shrunk on the paper plates we put it on.  I am sure that even the most nostalgic parent tossed the product that came home.  Next time, I will use ceramic plates and let the children wash them as part of the process.  It is all about the experience not the product.

Then, we took it to a more abstract representation by drawing our land and waterforms on watercolor paper and painting the water with blue watercolor.  The land was made by painting with watered down glue and sprinkling sand on it.  The result was lovely and worthy of a frame.

 

We repeated the two steps with the gulf/peninsula, cape/bay, and isthum/strait.  As a final event, we created the island above.  I did it with a small group of seven students.  It would be difficult with a larger group unless you had a bigger pool and more clay.  The first task was to flatten the big block of clay I put in the center.  As I turned around looking for the right tool for the job, the children solved our problem with their feet.  It was quite effective.

Then, we molded it and created the land and water forms we had learned about.  I love it when the nomenclature is used in context of a project.  "I'll make a peninsula over here."  They wanted a volcano since we had read about how volcanoes can create islands in the ocean.  

We sprinkled sand on the beach and brought in moss for the vegetation.  The final step was to add blue food coloring to the water and stand back to admire it!

We followed up the lessons with the Landform Mat and The Imaginary Island Puzzle from Mandala.  We also collaborated to make a big island with brown paper on a large blue sheet of paper.  It became 3D with paper boats, bridges and docks.  

New Map Legend Stamp

 Why not have a stamp so that the children add a map legend to their traced maps?  Just add the color-coding in a blank square that corresponds to the icon of that biome.

Alli, who is a vital part of our organization at Waseca, came up with this one.  (She has a rich history of tracing puzzle maps as she grew up in a Montessori classroom.)

To introduce the idea of a biome, I ask the children at the circle if they would like to go visit the biome.  I build a bit of eager anticipation and, then, we go outside beyond the playground.  Animals and evidence of animals as well as plants may be the initial focus.  Guide their observation skills to noticing the air.  Is it moving? What is the temperature?  Dig down into the soil and notice how moist it is.  Find a source of water or go out in the morning to capture some dew.  Notice the warmth of the sun on your skin.  Go in the shade and note the difference in temperature.  We bring containers to collect parts of the biome to bring back into the classroom.      Up until recently, I didn't have a way to collect the energy from the sun.  But here it is!!  You can buy it from this site: http://www.lamplust.com/solar-suck-p-41.html or search on amazon.  You can make it yourself using directions from this site: http://www.spillingbuckets.com/2008/12/how-to-make-homemade-sun-jar.html
Similar jars can be used to trap some air inside, sprinkle some dew off a leaf in another, dig up some soil and organic matter, gather plant material and have an insect "visit" for a while. Now you have found all of the parts of a biome!