Montessori's Second Great Lesson: The Coming of the Earth

After the introduction of Montessori’s First Great Lesson: The Coming of the Universe, lower elementary children are eager to explore The Second Great Lesson: The Coming of the Earth. This study of the Earth begins, as the Universe study began, with cultural origin stories from around the world, as well as the evolving story of the scientists which involves facts, evidence, and the Scientific Method. It incorporates physics, chemistry, geology, and physical geography. Children learn about the conditions which existed that allowed land to solidify and water to form in the first place.

As in the Montessori 3-6 classroom, land and water forms are introduced in the 6-9 environment with greater detail and sophistication, and with different materials. In the 3-6 environment, children often pour water into shaped land forms to demonstrate land and water forms as opposites. For example, an island – which is land surrounded by water – is the opposite of a lake – which is water surrounded by land. This holds for the many other land and water forms studied in greater depth at the 6-9 level, such as isthmus and strait, cape and peninsula, etc.

Children are introduced to plate tectonics and discover how land forms (which we call continents) have been changing and moving on top of the crust of this planet for billions of years. This study helps us to discuss the eternal situation on this planet of climate change, which is affecting us as humans with great importance. Over the years, I have used various food items to demonstrate the three kinds of plate boundaries – transforming, convergent, and divergent. (This nomenclature also connects to terminology used in geometry lessons for some of the children, further deepening their neural pathways.) Whether I’ve used molasses, marshmallow fluff, or maple syrup with graham crackers, the learning environment smells sweet for several days. Children enjoy the texture of real materials as symbols of giant planetary processes.

The study of geology continues with the factors that allowed for plate tectonic activity – volcanoes and earthquakes. At the 6-9 level, children enjoy making their own exploding volcanoes (using baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring) and research famous eruptions to see how these natural disasters later affected animal and plant lives.

Long before the first life forms existed, rocks did, and children learn about the three main kinds: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Real examples of these rocks sit on our geology shelves waiting to be touched and understood. This photo shows an extension that involves creating a sedimentation jar, revealing the layers that these rocks make underneath our feet!

As with land and water forms, the continent puzzle map cabinet is introduced in Montessori 3-6 classrooms and used with more depth and detail at the 6-9 level. Children make their own maps of the continents, which provides both a direct aim (identifying land forms and water forms by name and shape) and many indirect aims: refining fine motor skill, connecting the child with places of relative distance, and conceptualizing the spiritual aspect of self in relation to land and water forms of such sizes and at such distances from one another.

The main purpose of the continent puzzle maps is not that a child will memorize all of the names and locations of countries in Asia, but that s/he begins to grasp his/her smallness within the infinite Universe, in terms of space, size, and time. Children often share the labor of this work with a friend and ask the other to hand him/her a certain country so that it may be traced, then labeled, then colored, then brought home to wallpaper one’s bedroom.

Finally, children continue learning about the Work of Wind and the Work of Water by studying the atmosphere, erosion, and weather. A fun way to explore these topics is to learn how to discriminate visually between different kinds of clouds, their shapes, and their meanings when seen above us. Some clouds portend rainy weather, others clear skies, and still others tell us humans on the ground what speed and motion the wind is taking 25,000 feet up in the sky. These photos demonstrate secondary extensions children make after first studying the three- or four-part cloud card materials. 

These hands-on activities both serve the multiple intelligences of different kinds of learners and ingrain the geographical concepts so that (just as with rocks and land and water forms) children make connections in nature or on trips with their families, as well as within a learning environment inside a building. After learning these initial concepts with the concrete Montessori materials, any location transforms into a classroom of the mind!

Vitamin N

Recently, Richard Louv has written some of the most important books for parents and educators about the link between self-regulation, happiness, and success (in a holistic sense) and nature for children: Last Child in the Woods -- Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, The Nature Principle, and his newest (released in April 2016) Vitamin N. Vitamin N is Nature, the ingredient so crucial for children to become competent, independent, and self-realized beings by integrating their physical, spiritual, emotional, and social needs in an environment where they are free of interference from adults.

I cherish and feel grateful for the existence of a natural space not one mile from our school where my students and I venture several times per year -- at least once per season -- to develop Vitamin N and nurture our spirits. We do this through free play in the forest environment, constructing (and often deconstructing) a fort made from a fallen tree. In this same area, past classes of mine have also learned about the necessity of the canopy -- the mixed age trees which mirror the mixed-age Montessori classroom -- for the survival of all biological life in the woods. Like the forest, we need all of our skills and difficulties in order to be the dynamic class that we are.

Each child receives her own tree under which she can see the world existing in its own rhythm and growing at its own pace, just as children do.

Students take their journals to a space that belongs only to one child at a time -- the nearest being ten to twenty feet away -- and soak in the environment through writing and art, sometimes using dirt or leaves to color their drawings. They write about what comes to mind about the natural world, and how the world entered their senses.

They touch nature, and by doing so, they return to themselves. This is what Maria Montessori envisioned with her Erdkinder program, and it is also how we maintain an authentic and impactful Montessori education. Louv cites Martha Farrell Erickson -- developmental psychologist and author of Together in Nature: Shared Nature Experience as a Pathway to Strong Family Bonds -- who advises parents and children to unplug from technology to create "an opportunity for ... affective sharing" to impact a child's lifelong development. Children need nature and a nurturing connection to their loved ones more than they need social isolation via electronic devices.

Here is a brief sampling of ideas for how to increase your child's intake of Vitamin N (Nature):

• Put nature on the calendar -- just as you would schedule vacations or sporting events.
• Think of nature as enrichment time -- not just after school classes, music lessons, and summer camp.
• Turn your commute into a nature safari -- play I Spy with cloud formations, trees, and wildlife. Read signposts for land, water, and sky. Better yet, walk to school once per week, if you live close enough.
• Play hooky -- take a day off work and let your teacher know you and your child will spend the day in the natural world re-connecting. Your child might take photos to share with classmates upon her return!
• Stash a G.O. (Go Outside) bag in your car -- with compass, binoculars, water bottle, and hiking shoes -- so your family can be spontaneous and Go Outside at a moment's notice.
• Recognize that boredom isn't a negative -- a child remembers best the unexpected adventure of the natural world.
• Be the guide on the side -- ask questions of your child to elicit her logic and imagination, and resist the adult desire to control by answering these questions. This empowers your child and models curiosity over expertise.
• Stay up late on Friday and Saturday night, and study the constellations. Your child may already know the ancient stories in the stars.
• Paint with mud or leaves.
• Press flowers between the pages of a heavy coffee table book you rarely open, using wax paper to protect your book.
• Build a rock cairn.
• Let kids take appropriate risks (walking on logs, for example) to build confidence, gross motor control, and resilience.

Practical Life Activities Engage the 6-9 Child

In the Lower Elementary Montessori classroom, students enjoy a balance of Language, Cultural, and Math studies using concrete academic materials designed by Maria Montessori over a hundred years ago. In addition, children ages 6-9 enjoy hands-on Practical Life work which includes:

• sorting activities (which is a pre-math skill),

• pin-poking shapes, such as a continent or country puzzle piece (which aids in handwriting), 

• sewing, 

• playing a melody harp (which gives a gentle calm to the bustling classroom environment), 

• cooking food to share with the class, 

• making designs on a geometric board with colorful rubber bands, 

• building architectural models of real buildings which we are currently studying, 

• gardening (or watering indoor plants during winter months), 

• doing yoga exercises (asanas) with a partner or by oneself,

• and walking a peace labyrinth. 

Practical Life activities build a child’s motor development from fine to gross -- strengthening both the pincer grip involved in legible penmanship and the patience needed to remain engaged with a project for a length of time. Practical Life also provides students with opportunities to explore their senses and enjoy activities related to the life of the community. Practical Life is indeed a “practical” skill which the child notices improves the more s/he practices it. A child is intrinsically motivated to cook, to sew, or to build. 

This type of activity grounds a person emotionally and physically, allowing him/her the space and time to make something beautiful, delicious, or intricate. In this way, the spiritual life of the Montessori student blossoms, in giving to others and in caring for oneself. Practical Life is the essence of Montessori's Peace Education.

Spiritual Awakening in Nature

At my school, we are very fortunate to be within walking distance of a local park and natural area. Within twenty minutes, we can walk together through residential neighborhoods to a public space that has nature trails, playground, a forest (where students have planted young evergreens to help develop the canopy), and a large grassy area.

Students can connect with their primal instincts in the wooded area, building forts or playing with sticks. We also enjoy hiking deep into the nature trails to find a quiet spot for each child to sit, observe, reflect, and write in his/her journal about what it feels like to be alone in nature. This experience is spiritually uplifting for young children, whose lives may be very structured.

Richard Louv has written extensively about “nature deficit disorder” – the myriad ways in which modern children enjoy increasingly less time outdoors, engaged in “free play” of their own devising. These images capture the necessity of such time better than I could ever describe!

Hands-on Materials (and Food!) Inspire Learning

In Montessori lower elementary classrooms for ages 6-9, the central point of interest is the Cosmic Curriculum -- a series of Great Lessons that begin with the biggest possible questions that humans can ask. When was the Universe born? How did the planets form, and why do they remain in orbit? Of what substance is our planet made? Why does water exist on Earth? What happens during an earthquake or volcano? The first two Great Lessons -- the Coming of the Universe and the Coming of the Earth -- capture and captivate the child's imagination due in part to their size, scope, and level of intensity. We are so fortunate to live in a time when technology and science can show us things only previously imagined by early civilizations through the stories told in each culture.

An important aspect of Montessori classrooms is the mixed-age format, which allows children to work at their own pace with a variety of student peers and mentors. As a child moves through this three-year cycle, s/he becomes emotionally and socially more confident and eventually enjoys giving lessons to others. The child develops depth, since the first exposure to a concept may be very impactful yet shallow. The next year, when revisiting a concept such as Earth history and geology, a student's interest and ability may become increasingly fascinated with the subject. In his/her third year, a child often researches a topic, makes a model, and presents information and ideas to the class. For this reason, I try to vary presentations each year so children see studies from different perspectives and with various materials.

These photographs demonstrate a lesson I gave recently on Plate Tectonics, following study of the layers of Inner Earth -- the crust, mantle, and core. In past years, I have demonstrated Plate Tectonics using an orange peel, an onion's layers, and (last year, memorably) with marshmallow fluff and graham crackers. This year, I used maple syrup (representing viscous magma), crackers (symbolizing continental plates), and fruit leather (for oceanic plates, which are much thinner than continental plates). The work remained on our sink counter for two days so that students could repeatedly encounter the tasty materials and be reminded of the lesson by using their senses of smell and sight.

We finished our week together with "family-style lunch", pulling all of the desks together into a long communal table and waiting to begin eating until everyone was seated. We started by discussing how each student has dinner with his/her family and what makes this time special: setting the table, an absence of distracting media (no television, computers, or cell phones), soft voices, polite manners ("Please pass the pepper."), caring questions and observations from the day, and the intimacy that comes from sitting closely with those about whom we care. Students asked one another about the contents of their lunch and conversation turned to personal questions about pets, siblings, and the impending holidays. (I was inspired to try this approach to our sometimes chaotic lunch time by recalling a 9-12 Montessori classroom where I worked many years ago in Portland with lights off, lit candles, and classical music in the background.) Children deserve to experience this spiritually-grounding and peaceful setting throughout the year!