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Meant to inspire and ignite the child’s imagination, the Five Great Lessons are a catalyst for the Montessori elementary curriculum . Told too quickly, the lessons become meaningless, causing the children’s imaginations to jump from one concept to another. When we imagine, we are using abstract thought to think of things that cannot be seen. The follow-up lessons that come from each of the Five Great Lessons are used to materialize these abstractions. In other words, the children prove the existence of the wonders of the universe through concrete exploration. Exploring the Universe Concretely in the Elementary Classroom In the beginning… Isn’t that a great way to start a story? I get chills every time I start a story that way. And when you pause for dramatic effect, with the children gathered all around you, making eye contact with each child before you continue, you are making a personal connection and building the anticipation of what is to come. I like to present the First Great Les...

The Five Great Lessons are thought to be the catalyst of the Montessori elementary cultural curriculum. From the origins of the universe to the story of human communication, the Five Great Lessons provide the keys to learning about science, history, geography, and economics in the Montessori elementary environment. If these lessons are so important, why then, do we often rush to get through them? A Case of Semantics Perhaps a name means more than we think. In modern educational terms, a lesson is finite. It has a beginning and end, with the purpose of instructing. In short, a lesson is the amount of learning done at one time. If this is our definition of a lesson, then it is logical to think that the Five Great Lessons should be told quickly so that we can move on to more important activities. Some Montessorians call all presentations “lessons.” NAMC intentionally uses the term “activities” instead, to indicate that children are actively participating in their learning rather than pass...