On Wednesday, June 3rd, the 1st-3rd grade Montessori students at Ferndale Upper Elementary hosted The Timeline of Everything: A Living Natural History Museum! This was the culmination of months of hard work. Each student chose a topic the 5 Great Lessons, which are taught every year to spark the imagination of the children and show the relationships within the integrated Montessori curriculum. The Great Lessons are
The Timeline of the Universe, Solar System, and Our Earth
The Timeline of Life
The Timeline of Humans
The Timeline of Language and Communication
Timeline of Mathematics
Students researched their topics and wrote research papers about them. They also made museum displays about their topics. Each display included a didactic (poster board), an artifact, and a costume so that each child was a part of their exhibit.
Students turned the classroom into a museum that stretched from the Big Bang to a timeline of video games! Other topics included outer space, ancient sea creatures, early humans' use of fire and tools, cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing, and number systems, among others. Students presented to other classrooms in the morning and their families in the afternoon. They were so proud of themselves and each other! Each child presented as a confident expert!
They have learned so many skills throughout the course of this project. It was such an incredibly positive experience for our scholars! Thank you to all of our families for their support! The Montessori scholars really enjoyed doing this project and putting on the museum. Family members and other students reported that it was amazing, and they were so impressed with how creative, knowledgeable, and confident each and every child was!
Ms. Amy, Lead Montessori Teacher, is so proud of all of her scholars. "Truly, their work showcased their very best work and what they are capable of. My favorite quote by Dr. Maria Montessori is, 'Free the child's potential, and you will transform them into the world.' This project succeeded in doing just that!"
