The Timeline of Life: Algae

I created our Timeline of Life as part of the Montessori Second Great Lesson — a material that helps children visualize the story of life on Earth.

We started our journey with the Cambrian Period of the Paleozoic Era, when life first began to flourish in the oceans. We discussed the earliest simple organisms that could make their own food and what that meant for the futre of all life on Earth — a big step in evolution!

Here is a link to the Second Great Lesson https://youtu.be/TKjGFms93ZY?si=o4HCfpeZjhWuTBN3

To connect our study to real life, we took a field visit to our pond to collect water samples and look for algae, an example of early eukaryotic life. Back in the classroom, we set up an experiment with two samples: one kept in the sunlight and one placed in the dark. Over time, we observed the differences, helping students see firsthand how sunlight is essential for photosynthetic organisms to create their own food.

We also examined our pond ecosystem. Here, we observed and classified the organisms we found, identifying whether they were autotrophs (organisms that make their own food) or heterotrophs (organisms that rely on others for food), or decomposers. We discussed how these roles work together to create a balanced ecosystem.