The Great Stories

The 5 Great Lessons are overarching stories that set the Montessori Curriculum scope and sequence for the child in the second plane. They are very special, requiring preparation as well as a good length of time for students to fully engage with the topics. These are usually given at the beginning of the year to the whole class in order to engage and inspire students. As students get older, they will naturally be drawn to more complex topics such as chemistry. Being open-ended, the possibilities for further studies are only limited by the imagination of the students. Here are the stories and the broad curriculum areas they cover.

  1. The Story of the Universe (and the Formation of Earth)

    • Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Geography, Meteorology

  2. The Coming of Life on Earth

    • Ancient Life, Botany, Zoology, Biology, Habitats, Ecology

  3. The Coming of Humans

    • Evolution, History, Cultural Studies, Social Studies, Discovery and Inventions

  4. The Story of Language

    • Reading, Writing, Grammar, Oral Language, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Word Study

  5. The Story of Numbers

    • Computation, Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, Statistics, Logic, Problem Solving

Other Stories

These stories are part of the day-to-day presentations and activities and are intended to complement a topic, concept or idea being presented. They fall into 4 broad categories:

  1. Curriculum stories

    • Stories with a direct link to specific objects and concepts (parts of speech, mathematical operations)

  2. Provenance stories

    • Explanations of how things came to be which may contain scientific truth, may be mythological or metaphorical.

  3. Biographical Stories

    • Stories about famous and influential real people intended to highlight common human qualities in us all.

  4. Personal Stories

    • Everyday tales that offer glimpses into the personal lives of the storytellers that can be biographical or anecdotal in nature and serves to strengthen the bond between student and adult.

Guided Unit Studies

A Guided Unit is a scope and sequence of study that has at its core a topic of interest. It works in reverse when compared to the Great Lessons which offer the big picture as the starting point.

A Guided Unit takes a topic that may be of interest to the child and, through a series of lessons and experiences, guides the child towards the big picture. This is achieved by analyzing the topic through the lens of all relevant curriculum areas.

Here is a sample unit on dinosaurs.