The Universe
~ A Stellar Song ~
Erin Gould
~ 2009 ~
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The Montessori cultural curriculum is intended to engage the child in
exploring the question: Who am I? Within this question are two subquestions 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.
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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 Beginning
Students 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
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school and local libraries: universe, space,
star, planet, Earth books
Other Materials:
 Universe Posters (teacher made
material)
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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
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Speaking ~ Sharing
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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).
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Imagine you are in one of the Great
Lesson posters.
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
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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 Time
Students will participate in the tradition of
oral story-telling with the use of a storybead 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)
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“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)
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Student Texts:
 Third Grade:
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Second Grade:
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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)
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)
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First Grade:
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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
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Speaking ~ Sharing, Universe story beads
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Maybe Minilesson Topics: Nouns,
Capitalization, Punctuation, Responding to
book club reading
~ Day 5 through 9 ~
Uni-verse =
One Song
Students 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.
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Student Texts:
 Non-fiction space books
 Book club choices
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Video:
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Magic School Bus Out of this World (Magic
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Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space (Brian
School Bus Video Series, Scholastic)
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Meehi, Videorecording, Scholastic)
Audio:
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The Planets (Gustav Holst, composer, CD)
Other Materials:
 Bead Story (timeline) of Universe, special box
and cloth (teacher made material)
 Bead materials for students
song of the universe sound like?
Writing process, reading response logs,
Universe ABC book page
Resources
Teacher Texts:
 On Earth (Brian Karas)
 Looking Down (Steve Jenkins)
 Read Aloud: Charlie and the Great Glass
Elevator (Roald Dahl)
Writing ~ quickwrite: What does the
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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
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Teacher Texts:
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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:
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Era books (Doug Mann)
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Video:
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Magic School Bus Inside the Earth
(VHS, Reading Rainbow Library)
Other Materials:
 Clock of Eras (teacher made
material)
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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 Universe
Students 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.
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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
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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:
Other Student Resources:
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Note Cards
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Post-it Notes
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Reading Response Journals
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Universe: Cosmic Education in
the Elementary Classroom.
Hollidaysburg: Parent Child
Press.
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Writer’s Notebooks
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 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)
Lillard, Angeline Stoll. (2005)
Montessori: The Science
Behind the Genius. New York:
Oxford University Press, Inc.
Guided Reading Texts
 Third Grade:
Duffy, Michael and D’Neil.
(2002) Children of the
Websites:
 Cosmic Education & The Great Lessons
http://www.sudburymontessori.ca/ele
mentary/cosmic_education.htm
 Great Story Stuff for Kids!
http://www.thegreatstory.org/kids.ht
ml
 Montessori for Everyone: The Five
Great Lessons of the Elementary
Curriculum
http://www.montessoriforeveryone.co
m/The-Five-Great-Lessons_ep_661.html
 The Montessori Method
http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312
MI.html
“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