Embracing the Cosmic Education Journey
“Not only can imagination travel through infinite space, but also through infinite time; we can go backwards through the epochs, and have the vision of the earth as it was, with the creatures that inhabited it.” -Dr. Maria Montessori
Every year, our elementary classrooms witness the dramatic narration of the “Five Great Lessons,” stories that delve into the origins of both humanity and everything that surrounds us. The Montessori Great Lessons are a series of five stories that provide a broad framework for children to explore and understand the universe and their place in it. These stories are designed to spark curiosity and encourage further exploration in subjects like science, history, geography, and culture.
In both Lower and Upper Elementary, the students are introduced to the grand narrative of the universe, life on Earth, and the tapestry of human history through five captivating stories:
1️⃣ The Coming of the Universe and the Earth
2️⃣ The Coming of Life
3️⃣ The Coming of Human Beings
4️⃣ Communication in Signs
5️⃣ The Story of Number
The Lower Elementary students had their first Great Lesson on #4, focusing on communication and language.
The stories seek to instill values of global awareness, peaceful communication, and ethical cooperation, nurturing responsible citizens – even as they offer a holistic understanding of the origin of science, math, and biology.
The fifth-grade students in the Upper Elementary classroom continued the tradition of taking what they have learned in the second Great Lesson – The Coming of Life, and interpreting it in a dramatic story. Third Level Upper Elementary students created a play and presented it to their younger elementary peers.
The Lower Elementary students created a timeline in response to the five great lessons. 
As Maria Montessori puts it, “Our experience with children in elementary schools has shown us that the age between six and twelve years is a period of life during which the elements of all sciences should be given. It is a period that, psychologically, is especially sensitive and might be called the “sensitive period of culture” during which the abstract plane of the human mind is organized.”
