History and Cultural Studies

The Toddler and Primary students celebrate diversity of our world through language, music, art, traditions, food, stories, and history. A variety of cultural themes are integrated into all curriculum areas. Peace education is an integral part of the Montessori classroom and begins with respect for, understanding, and acceptance of differences as well as the celebration of the unifying aspects that connect us all.

History is the central organizing discipline during the Montessori Elementary years. Every subject is encountered in relation to its historical origins and evolution. We strive through a sequence of inspiring tales to help students see where they fit into the great chain of history from the beginning of time. In particular, our interdisciplinary approach to the history of the universe, planet earth, and the contributions of the great civilizations gives our students a deep awareness of the grandeur of the human endeavor. Humans are seen as adaptive, inventive, and resourceful. A sense of gratitude for the contributions of all our ancestors is fostered.

We appeal to the emerging reasoning mind and powerful imagination of this developmental plane by telling great stories framed in the form of fables, but with rich scientific and historical content. Students use concrete organizational frameworks as an aid to understanding relationships and sequences over time. These include timelines of the development of life on Earth and the progress of the early humans and their civilizations, as well as charts illustrating key scientific or historical principles. We also use core classification materials that guide the research of any culture or civilization in any time or place. These materials focus on how different people throughout history fulfilled their fundamental needs. These would include their types of food, shelter, clothing, artistic expression, religion, government, and education

Elementary students are introduced to five Great Lessons: the Great Story of the Origin of the Universe and the Earth; the Story of the Coming of Life on Earth; the Story of Early Humans; the Story of Communication and Signs ( the History of Language); and the Story of Mathematics. These Great Lessons open their minds to all areas of study and are followed by key presentations that inspire them to research, to conduct scientific experiments, and to create artistic representations of various aspects of our historical past. Parallel to this work, six, seven and eight year olds begin to use materials to develop the understanding of the concept of time along with the initial introduction to the historical underpinnings and etymology of the words of the days of the week, months of the year, and seasons.