DNA

To help the 3rd & 4th year students better understand the science behind the timeline of humans, we began talking about DNA last week. We discussed how scientists use DNA to analyze the early human bones and artifacts that they find. Today we built DNA models using candy. Not only did this give students an opportunity to better understand the building blocks of life, it also inspired a long conversation about which candy is actually the worst for your teeth (they left it at a tie between DOTS and Jolly Ranchers).

Everyone took advantage of our open lesson policy this morning, so don't be surprised if your 1st or 2nd year comes home with a DNA model!



We learned that...

• DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid.
• DNA is found in all living things.
• DNA forms a double helix and has a pattern.
• It can unzip and make new DNA.
• The environment can cause mutations to happen (they'll learn more about that next year)
• If we unwrap all the DNA you in our cells, it could reach the moon 6000 times.
• We all have 99.9% of the same DNA - the last tenth of a percent makes us unique.
• We share 50% of our DNA with bananas!
• DNA can help solve mysteries like 'what kind of dog is this?' or 'who killed this endangered snow leopard?"
• If you unwrap all the DNA you have in all your cells, you could reach the moon 6000 times

The elementary students are participating in The Great Mail Race! Our class will send letters & questionnaires to Montessori schools in all 50 states (and Washington DC and US Territories). We hope to hear back from all of the states. We will hang a US map on the wall and place a pin in each state that replies. In addition to being a wonderful geography lesson, this activity is a fun way to practice letter writing. It also gave us a chance to have a discussion about some of the reasons that Maine is important.

What is your state famous for?
What are some important attractions in your state?
What are some important land and water formations in your area?
Which large city are you near?

Students spent the afternoon discussing these questions. Our younger students thought very locally - Maine is famous for LL Bean, Wolfe's Neck is an important attraction, Moosehead Lake is an important water formation, etc. The older groups made lists (as usual) and debated each item. Which is more important to our state, lobsters or blueberries? Some people travel a long way to eat lobster, but people all over the country also eat food with Maine blueberries. What about pine trees - we are called the pine tree state. Do people in other states know about Prouts Neck or should we just list the Gulf of Maine as an important formation? Is Portland a large city or should we say Boston?

This is a great example of the shift in thinking that occurs around age 8. At that time, students enter a new plane of development that allows them to think more globally. They can put themselves in other people's shoes - if you lived in Oklahoma, would you think Winslow Park is an important attraction? Portland is the largest city in Maine, but it isn't as big as Boston - would someone from New York think Portland is a big city? It isn't on the list of "major cities" in our atlas. Another question asks if Freeport is rural, urban or suburban, which allowed us to discuss and define those terms. They quickly ruled out urban, but the rural/suburban debate was still going at the end of the day.

It is important for students of this age to have many opportunities for these types of discussions. It helps them to practice higher order thinking skills. For those of you who have spent time observing our elementary classrom you know that these conversations are happening daily (hourly even!).

Feel free to peek into our classroom after spring break to see if we have any pins on our map or you can track our progress using Google Maps by clicking on the link below:

The Great Mail Race Interactive Map: http://g.co/maps/r27k9

Swallowtail Jig

Here's a taste of our new song!

The Moosehead Lake students have been working their way through the timeline of life. We are just about to finish up the Paleozoic Era, so we've been talking a lot about plants colonizing the land to make way for animals to move out of the water. Today the first and second years did some planting to celebrate the carboniferous period & help the school garden. They planted radishes, cilantro and a wildflower mix.

We also received our new compost bin today. Visit our facebook page for photos - don't forget to 'like' us while you're there!

www.facebook.com/meadowbrookmontessori



Greetings Everyone!

March is always a wonderful month in a Montessori classroom. Students know the routines, they have had hundreds of lessons and many of our year long projects are coming together. Perhaps the theme of the month was best summed up by a student last week who asked, "Is March national editing month or something?" It's true that we have been doing quite a bit of writing and editing lately.

We recently began an oral telling of the epic poem "Beowulf". Over six weeks I will tell the story. Each week students write the story in their own words and complete a variety of assignments about the characters and events. This gives students a great opportunity to practice the writing skills that we have been learning all year (or all three years for some students). Stay tuned for some amazing haiku, limericks, acrostic poems, illustrations and comic strips!

 Even with the many, many writing assignments, students have made time for other subjects...

A very long addition snake!

Students are enjoying the option to type assignments.

Community Edit

Tracing the timeline of life.

Thank you Josh for our new shadow boxes!