At Greenleaves Montessori, we have started the school year working with our Elementary students “the five great lessons.”

They are a series of five stories that give children a general impression of the great themes that concern the universe, the earth and life on earth.

These stories form the heart of the Montessori curriculum and are presented at the beginning of the school year (within the first five weeks), both in Spanish and English by its American reference.

Maria Montessori observed that Elementary students, in the most critical periodo f theur growth, begin to wonder about these grand topics:

·       Where did the world come?

·       How did humans get here?

·       Why are humans here?

Montessori believed that exploring such questions with Elementary students would build a strong foundation for their intelectual, spiritual and pshychological development.

The stories stimulate students ‘ desire to discover and learn by giving them an overview of the natural world and its laws, of human ingenuity and of the interconnectedness of life.

The five stories are designed to be impressionistic, to provide Elementary students with a board, “big picture” view of the worl and life.

The stories are meant to be exciting, dramatic and somewhat mysterious. To mantain the mooD of the stories, teacher use facts and figures sparingly, just enough to intrigue the students.

Elementary students are at the stage when they are already drawn to learn about the world. Once they hear through the Great Lessons about the world and the place of humans in it, these students are keen to finde out more.

To discover detailed answers to their questions, students embrace other subjects in the Montessori curriculum, including history, geography, math, science and language arts.

The students think back to the Five Great Lessons while studying these other subjects. The students research, discuss, explore and learn. And, most importantly, they ask more questions.

At Greenleaves Montessori, all of our students research, discuss, explore and learn at their own pace, developing a tailored curriculum, based on the scientific criteria that underpin neuroscience, combined with a bilingual program throughout the school day.