The term Cosmic Education has always fascinated the Montessori community and for good reason; Dr. Montessori perceived all content areas of learning as connected to the beginning of time. Therefore, she derived her curriculum from what she believed to be essential foundational knowledge about the universe, life on earth, and civilizations. Taking into consideration children’s cognitive development, Dr. Montessori reserved the utilization of children’s soaring imagination and craving for sensational stories for the elementary level. As an introduction to her cyclical curriculum, Dr. Montessori developed a series of “Five Great Stories,” also known as Great Lessons, and impressionistic experiments to leave children with memory landmarks. The Great Stories are introduced during the course of many days or weeks based on the guide’s style. They lay the path to broad concepts, of what Dr. Montessori believed was the formation of stars, the coming of life on earth, early humans and the development of writing and counting.
In this post, we would like to facilitate your experience with the Five Great Stories and present some of our best materials to provide children with the tools they need to continue learning from the Great Stories, which only serve as a backbone for the year.
1. First Great Story – The Universe
The First Great Story introduces children to the theory of the beginning of times. This story is charged with implicit bits of knowledge on astronomy, geology, and chemistry such as the formation of stars, galaxies, volcanoes, or chemistry concepts such as states or density of matter. This knowledge helps us understand how atoms travel the universe and how stars and planets are formed. Let’s remember that the Great Stories only serve to provoke interest and do not provide great details. However, throughout the year, children will have at their disposal a plethora of materials to conduct experiments and learn in-depth about the concepts that were introduced in the Great Stories. Therefore, we are listing below our most appropriate materials for First Great Stories:
- Life Cycle of a Star Puzzle
- The Solar System Puzzle
- Layers of the Sun Puzzle
- States of Matter – Complete Set
- Erupting Cross-section Volcano Model
- Motorized Solar System
- Cross-section Earth Model
2. Second Great Story – Life on Earth
The Second Great Story takes children through the depth of the ocean where the smallest life had begun. In effect, the earth wasn’t a suitable place for life to develop. Many preparatory processes had to take place in order for life to develop and thrive. Earth science is at the core of the Second Great Story where children learn about small creatures preparing the ocean by consuming undesirable elements in it making a better place to live. They learn that we know about the first living organisms (animals and plants), thanks to fossils recovered in layers of rocks. One of our best sellers, the Timeline of Life, along with supplemental materials listed below can suffice for this story.
- Timeline of Life
- Timeline of Life (Printed on Cloth)
- Timeline of Life – Working Copy
- Timeline of Life Research Cards
- Clock of Era Complete Set
- Children’s Books on Fossils, Geologic Eras, and Periods
- Fossil Collection
3. Third Great Story – Humans on Earth
In the Third Great Story, children gain an understanding of how early humans faced and overcame many challenges to survive living on earth. They are generally introduced to the fundamental needs that all humans have in common which prepares them for history lessons. These fundamental needs are nourishment, shelter, covering, transportation, defense, art, and spirituality. We are listing below materials that can be used during the presentation of the Third Great Story, and left in the cultural area of the classroom for children to study in depth. Mainly, the materials consist of Timelines and Research Cards embedded with an assortment of hand-drawn illustrations and real pictures, and short descriptions. The goal is to spark imagination and inspire further research.
- Fundamental Human Needs Chart
- Fundamental Human Needs Plastic
- Timeline of Fundamental Needs of Humans
- Human Migration Chart
- Stages of Progression of Civilization Nomenclature Cards (6-9)
- Timeline of Transportation
- Timeline of Ancient Civilizations (Printed on Cloth)
4. Fourth Great Story – Communication and Writing
How fascinating is writing? More than children could imagine! Without saying a word aloud, humans can communicate ideas through combinations of symbols. In the Fourth Great Lessons, children discover how humans, throughout times and places, have developed systems of symbols to communicate oral language. The Fourth Story demonstrates the various written systems of language such as hieroglyphic writing, cuneiform writing, alphabets from around the world, and stories about early civilizations (Egyptians, Sumerians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans). Find below our most relevant materials to equip children with enticing information:
- Timeline of Communication
- History of Language and Writing Tools (Printed)
- Hebrew Alphabet Tracing Board: Cursive
- Chinese Word Tracing Board
- Russian Alphabet Tracing Board: Lowercase Print
- Turkish Alphabet Tracing Board: Lowercase Print
- Arabic Alphabet Tracing Board
5. Five Great Story – Numerals and Computing
Finally, the Five Great Story retraces the development of numerals around the world. Anthropological discoveries show that early humans used rocks and sticks to represent quantities. Later, symbols (numerals) were designed to represent quantities. Civilizations such as the Egyptians, Mayans, or Babylonians developed more elaborate systems until a ‘place value’ was established and well spread throughout the world. This topic is so interesting; children’s appreciation for mathematics is augmented, leading them to engage with math learning with a whole-hearted attitude. For your convenience, we are listing our most appealing materials for the Five Great Story below:
- Timeline of Mathematics Complete Set
- Timeline of Numbers – Complete Set
- Chinese Numeral Tiles
- Arabic Numeral Tiles
Cosmic Education is an educational model that reunites all content areas and demonstrates the interconnectivity between them. By lack of better means, traditional education teaches content areas in isolation, missing to allow children to create connections between interdisciplinary concepts. Because the Montessori elementary curriculum is cyclical, meaning that broad concepts are revisited each year more in-depth, children develop a significantly strong elementary foundation to draw from in the early adolescent years. Therefore, it is vital for the classroom to be equipped with adequate materials that can be used independently and revisited all year round. Children will be able to learn at their own pace, absorb knowledge based on interests, and also self-assess areas that need improvement. Along with their new discoveries, they will be able to develop critical thinking, decision-making, communicative, collaborative, or presentational skills.
We hope you feel excited about presenting the Five Great Stories and sending children off to a great start of the year! For more Montessori materials, visit our website at www.alisonsmontessori.com.
