Frog Song Montessori Preschool has a strong emphasis on children’s sensorial exploration of nature. Children are naturally drawn to nature, and as concrete, sensorial learners, children 3-5 years of age learn through their own interactions with their environment. Our 14- acre property allows children the explorative experiences necessary for self-discovery. Each of our five one-week summer camps focuses on a different aspect of the earth that is unique to our property, allowing children the opportunity to learn firsthand in their own interactions and explorations of nature.
Location: 8500 NE Siskiyou St. Portland, OR 97220
Time: 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM Monday through Friday
Week One: July 9th- July 13th
All About Insects: This week we focus on insects. In the classroom, we will use books, songs, stories and language cards to learn all about different kinds of insects, including which insects live on our property and what life looks like for them. Classroom activities will include using collage to create insects, learning their names through games with picture cards, and sorting activities such as sorting insects that live in the dirt from ones that do not. Outside explorations will include digging in different areas of the property to discover insects and making insect homes based on the kind of insects we find. Each day we will focus on a different insect, taking the things we learn inside the classroom to the outside environment in our search and appreciation of these little creatures.
Week Two: July 16th- July 20th
All About Water: This week children will learn all about what water is, the importance it holds to the earth, the different forms water takes, how water changes depending on the temperature, and what kinds of things live in water. Classroom activities will include exploration of different land and water forms, what animals and insects live in them, and water explorations such as pouring, sponge squeezing and sorting objects based on whether they sink or float. Outside activities will include watering the vegetable garden, plants on our playground, and plants on the property, along with nature walks and discussions of which plants need more water and why. If our ponds are not dried up, we will explore their contents and discover what’s inside. We will learn about the water cycle and use our pond as a concrete, sensorial example of what happens to water in hot weather!
Week Three: July 23rd- 27th
All About Dirt & Rocks: We will learn what dirt is composed of, what lives in dirt, and how dirt can be different depending on where it is located, as well as where rocks come from and what they are made of. Classroom activities will include using collage to create things that live in the dirt, sensorial explorations of dirt’s relationship to water and uses of dirt such as planting seeds and making dirt babies. We will also have sensorial activities based around rocks, such as rock scrubbing and rock exploration, an activity where children get to feel different kinds of rocks and discover their differences. Outside explorations will include digging to discover differences in the soil, discovery digging to see what lives in the soil, planting seeds, digging to find rocks, and collecting and sorting different types of rocks.
Week Four: July 30th – Aug 3rd
All About Plants: We will learn all about what plants are, their relationship to the earth, their needs, their functions, parts of a plant and the names of plants that exist on our property using picture cards. Classroom activities will include planting seeds, taking care of the plants in our classroom, leaf rubbing, creating a plant using cut- out parts, and making a ‘parts of a plant’ book. Outside activities will include planting sprouted seeds in the garden, going on nature walks to identify plants, and collecting leaves of plants to compare and do leaf rubbings. We will also focus on trees as a type of plant, learning the names of different trees on the property as well as the different parts of a tree.
Week Five: August 6th-10th
All About Birds: We will learn all about different kinds of birds, how their activity changes from season to season, where they sleep, what they eat, etc. Classroom activities will include language cards for learning the names of birds that live on our property, and creating a bird using collage. Outside activities will include nature walks to search for and identify birds on our property, observation and exploration of different habitats, and construction of our own bird nests using materials we gather from our property.
