Hello Cedar families, please enjoy the blog for the first part of March. Our focus was on the continent of Europe and Amphibians.

Europe

Thanks to parents for supporting our study of the continent of Europe—the red continent in the Montessori map. We reinforced the fact that there are many countries in a continent with different people speaking different languages and having unique cultural traditions often influenced by their environments. That said, we appreciate and respect the differences and uniqueness they bring to the world.

France

Thank you to Adrien, Luca’s dad, for giving us a talk about France.  With it’s rich history and culture, we learned about historically famous monuments like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and castles like Château de Chambord. Some of the French foods we spoke about are familiar to us here, having been brought over from Europe: baguette bread, a variety of cheeses, crepes, and croissants, just to name a few. We even spoke about the French delicacy of Escargots – which the children agreed they were not too keen on trying just yet. We learned some very useful French words, like “bonjour”, “bonsoir”, “au revoir”, “bon appétit”, and “merci”. As part of the finale we were treated to a tasty French-made pastry – Palmiers. 

Switzerland

Thanks to Berni, Nicolas’ dad, for introducing his heritage–Switzerland. We learned that Switzerland is one of two countries in Europe whose flag is square instead of rectangular.  With many high mountains and lakes around, Switzerland is famous for its many tunnels and bridges built for trains to move easily through the landscape. Trains are a very common mode of transportation for all. They can be very long and some trains are set up with a car specifically for children with a play area and slide for the kids to play in.  In the winter, people like to go skiing and in summer the Swiss enjoy swimming and hiking. Switzerland is famous for its Swiss watches, chocolate bars, and cheese. We also learned that Velcro was invented in the 1940’s by a Swiss man – George de Mestral, who observed how cockle-burs from plants got stuck to his pants and his dogs fur while hunting. We talked about how cows are an integral part of the Swiss landscape and culture. Each cow is adorned with a large cowbell whose ringing helps the farmer track their cows up in the mountains and fields. As Spring comes, there is a processional which brings the cows and sheep back to the mountain to enjoy fresh and juicy grasses. We tasted Swiss cheese from Emmental and took a small cowbell home!

Amphibians

We studied amphibians, their characteristics, and the animals in that group: Caecilian, Frogs and Toads. The Caecilian is a legless amphibian with sharp teeth. We looked at the life cycle of a frog and how it grows from a tadpole into an adult frog. We compared the differences between frogs and toads. For example, a frog’s eggs are always in clusters, and a toad’s eggs are connected like a chain. There were amphibian-related activities throughout the classroom like frog puzzles and interactive frog and toad habitats.

Art with Julianne

Julianne brought the Irish and Erin Go Bragh flags to support our European study. She also showed us the differences between shamrock- 3 leaves and clover- 4 leaves, and we made our project of it. Here is the document from Julianne.

Inside Time

Outside Time