Studying Birds in the Montessori Preschool Classroom
Birds are a wonderful theme to implement with young children, and springtime is the perfect time of year to do so. As a Montessori teacher, I understand the importance of beginning each new theme with a concrete, hands-on experience, and I decided the perfect way to do that would be to invite one of our Montessori parents for a classroom visit with her two parrots.
We were visited by Charlie, a Congo African Grey Parrot, and Horton, a Citron Crested Cockatoo. The experience definitely sparked an interest in birds in the children, and provided the perfect beginning to our theme! The owner of the parrots was extremely knowledgeable, and the children learned so much — what the parrots eat, how they eat their food, the importance of their beaks, how their wings work, and they especially enjoyed hearing the unique sounds.
Studying Birds in the Montessori Preschool Classroom
Our Montessori preschoolers were particularly interested in the fact that the bones of a bird are hollow and that they have no teeth, to help them glide and fly with ease. One child put up his hand and said, “No wonder I can’t fly — my teeth and bones are too heavy!” … so cute! Charlie and Horton were wonderful guests, and the children are still talking about them!
In the weeks following we have examined a variety of feathers under a microscope, and explored a real bird’s nest using a magnifying glass. We have learned songs, fingerplays about birds, and have implemented a number of different bird activities to extend the theme and enrich each child’s learning experiences. A few of the extensions we have implemented in our Montessori preschool classroom are provided in Part 2 of this article.
