The Universe~ A Stellar Song ~

Erin Gould

~ 2009 ~

Rationale The Montessori cultural curriculum is intended to engage the child in

exploring the question: Who am I? Within this question are two sub-questions for exploration: Where do I come from? and What are am I going (what is my purpose)? This exploration of self is supported through lessons and experiences that are intended to awe and inspire the imagination.

Unlike traditional social studies curriculum which helps children answer the question Where do I come from? by first focusing on family, then community, then state, then world, the focus in the Montessori curriculum is the opposite. We provide the child with the ultimate context for who they are: the Universe. From there we work inward toward self: Universe Solar System Earth Continents Civilizations/Cultures/Needs of Humans Families Self.

In this way, we hope to engender a broader, world view where children notice commonalities among all humans and therefore have a context in which they can identify what their own purpose for living in this world will be.

Background Every year in a Montessori classroom, students are

introduced to this context of the Universe via the Great Lessons – five lessons to capture their imagination and inspire exploration. The lessons are: The Universe Story, The Story of Life, The Story of Humans, The Story of Language/Writing, and the Story of Numbers.

The Universe Story is an oral telling of the history of the Universe from the time of the Big Bang to the formation of land and water on Earth. This story is told on the first full day of school and encompasses a lot of visual artifacts and science experiments. It is meant to spark wonder and curiosity and set the stage for student inquiry, as well as the next story: The Story of Life. This lesson is also intended to be the origin of the cultural curriculum in the classroom, including astronomy, geology, geography, botany, zoology, and history.

~ Day 1 ~The

BeginningStudents will be engaged in

reflecting about where they come from and be introduced to the story

of the Universe, told in the oral tradition and supported with

scientific experiments.Resources

Teacher Texts: The Beginning (a teacher

generated story about the Universe beginnings)

Read Aloud: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Roald Dahl)

Student Texts: All Grades:

Various non-fiction texts gathered from school and local libraries: universe, space, star, planet, Earth books

Other Materials: Universe Posters (teacher made

material) Sun Solar System Early Earth Cooling Earth Land and Water Earth

Universe Box with experiment materials (teacher made material)

Writing ~ quickwrite: Where do you live?

Listening & Viewing ~ The Great Lesson (The Beginning)

Reading ~ Exploring non-fiction space books

Speaking ~ Sharing

Maybe Minilesson Topics: How to do a quickwrite

~ Day 2 and 3 ~Stardust

Students will celebrate their connection to stars (hydrogen), their cosmic age (14 billion years + their

age), and their cosmic address (Universe, Milky Way, Solar System,

Earth, North America, Michigan, city).

Resources

Teacher Texts: Born With a Bang (Jennifer

Morgan) Zoom (Istvan Banyai) A is for Astronaut: Space

Exploration from A to Z (Traci N. Todd)

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World (Virginia Hamilton)

Read Aloud: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Roald Dahl)

Student Texts: All Grades:

Various non-fiction texts gathered from school and local libraries: universe, space, star, planet, Earth books

Writing ~ quickwrites: What do you wonder about the Universe? and Imagine you are in one of the Great Lesson posters.

Listening & Viewing ~ Born with a Bang, cosmic age, cosmic address, Zoom

Reading ~ Exploring non-fiction space books, ABCs of Universe

Speaking ~ Sharing, Cosmic Age Ceremony

Maybe Minilesson Topics: Making connections to texts, Asking questions, Finding ABC Universe nouns

~ Day 4 through 8 ~Stepping

Through TimeStudents will participate in the

tradition of oral story-telling with the use of a story-bead timeline as an aide. They will choose to tell their

personal story or their larger story of the universe.

Resources

Teacher Texts: Cosmic Wonder Books (Aline D. Wolf)

“I Know the Sun Does Not ‘Set’” “I Know What Gravity Does” “I Travel on Planet Earth” “How Big is the Milky Way” “I Look ‘Out’ at the Stars”

Read Aloud: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Roald Dahl)

Student Texts: Third Grade:

Book Club Choice - Arthur and the Comet Crisis (Marc Brown) Book Club Choice - Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System

(Joanna Cole) (3.9) Second Grade:

Book Club Choice - Magic Tree House: Midnight on the Moon (Mary Pope Osborne) (2.1)

Book Club Choice - Magic School Bus Out of This World: A Book about Space Rocks (Jackie Posner) (2.8)

First Grade: Book Club Choice – Space Ant Goes Home (Celia Warren) (1.6) Book Club Choice – The Wind and the Sun, an Aesop Fable

(Jenny Giles) (2.2)

Other Materials: Bead Story (timeline) of Universe, special box and

cloth (teacher made material) Bead materials for students Black Strip (purchased timeline)

Writing ~ quickwrites: What would be in your timeline/ story beads? What is your favorite time? How do you feel about being made of stardust? What do you think about the Black Strip?

Writing ~ selecting a quickwrite for the writing process, story notes for Universe story beads

Listening & Viewing ~ Universe story beads, cosmic wonder books, The Black Strip

Reading ~ Non-fiction space books, book club books

Speaking ~ Sharing, Universe story beads

Maybe Minilesson Topics: Nouns, Capitalization, Punctuation, Responding to book club reading

~ Day 5 through 9 ~Uni-verse =

One SongStudents will listen to songs created

with inspiration from our Solar System. They will visualize and create images to represent what

they hear. They may also be inspired to create their own song of

the universe. Resources

Teacher Texts: On Earth (Brian Karas) Looking Down (Steve Jenkins) Read Aloud: Charlie and the Great Glass

Elevator (Roald Dahl)

Student Texts: Non-fiction space books Book club choices

Video: Magic School Bus Out of this World (Magic

School Bus Video Series, Scholastic) Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space (Brian

Meehi, Videorecording, Scholastic)

Audio: The Planets (Gustav Holst, composer, CD)

Other Materials: Bead Story (timeline) of Universe, special

box and cloth (teacher made material) Bead materials for students

Writing ~ quickwrite: What does the song of the universe sound like? Writing process, reading response logs, Universe ABC book page

Listening & Viewing ~ Holst’s The Planets, Magic School Bus Out of this World or Gets Lost in Space

Reading ~ Non-fiction space books, book club books

Speaking ~ Sharing, Universe story beads

Maybe Minilesson Topics: Identifying main ideas vs. details, Sequencing, Prewriting, Identifying: Purpose, Audience, Form

~ Day 10 through 14 ~

Blue and Green Ark

Students will hear stories of the formation of the Earth and learn

about Earth’s eras. Students may be preparing writing for publication and for engaging in a performance response to their book club book.Resources

Teacher Texts: The Blue and Green Ark (Brian Patten) Read Aloud: Charlie and the Great

Glass Elevator (Roald Dahl)

Student Texts: Non-fiction space books Book club choices Third Grade:

Era books (Doug Mann)

Video: Magic School Bus Inside the Earth

(VHS, Reading Rainbow Library)

Other Materials: Clock of Eras (teacher made

material)

Writing ~ Writing process, reading response logs, Universe ABC book page

Listening & Viewing ~ Magic School Bus Inside the Earth, Clock of Eras

Reading ~ Non-fiction space books, book club books

Speaking ~ Sharing, Clock of Eras books

Maybe Minilesson Topics: Drafting, Capitalization, Punctuation, Questioning, Connecting

~ Day 15 through 19 ~

You Are the “U” in

UniverseStudents will celebrate their writing

publications and reading performances. Students will be encouraged to reflect on their studies and predict what their

history will next reveal about our planet as we prepare to begin the

next chapter: The Story of Life.Resources

Teacher Texts: Read Aloud: Charlie and the

Great Glass Elevator (Roald Dahl)

Student Texts: Non-fiction space books Book club choices

Other Materials: Bead story timelines Students’ Written Publications Class Universe ABC Book Reading Performance Projects

Writing ~ Writing process, reading response logs, Universe ABC book page

Listening & Viewing ~ Universe ABC class book

Reading ~ Concluding non-fiction space books, book club books

Speaking ~ Sharing, celebrations of reading and writing

Maybe Minilesson Topics: Developing a writing rubric, Meeting in revision groups

References:

Duffy, Michael and D’Neil. (2002) Children of the Universe: Cosmic Education in the Elementary Classroom. Hollidaysburg: Parent Child Press.

Lillard, Angeline Stoll. (2005) Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Websites: Cosmic Education & The Great

Lessons http://www.sudburymontessori.ca/elementary/cosmic_education.htm

Great Story Stuff for Kids! http://www.thegreatstory.org/kids.html

Montessori for Everyone: The Five Great Lessons of the Elementary Curriculum http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/The-Five-Great-Lessons_ep_66-1.html

The Montessori Method http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312MI.html

Other Student Resources:

Note Cards

Post-it Notes

Reading Response Journals

Writer’s Notebooks

Guided Reading Texts

Third Grade: The Jupiter Stone (Owen Paul Lewis) My Place in Space (Robin and Sally Hirst)

Second Grade: UFO Diary (Satoshi Kitamura) There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star (Charise

Mericle Harper) Floating Home (David Getz)

First Grade: I Want to Be an Astronaut (Byron Barton) Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me (Eric Carle) Beegu (Alexis Deacon)

“Let us give the child a vision of the whole universe. . . We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity.”

---Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential