The Great Lessons

At The Gower School Montessori Nursery and Primary School, the Great Lessons are an important and unique part of the Montessori curriculum.They are bold and exciting and are designed to awaken a child’s imagination and curiosity. The child should be struck by the wonder of creation, and thrilled with new ideas. We aspire to awe children with the inventiveness and innovation of the human spirit.

The Five Great Lessons are traditionally presented in our Lower School (Forms 1-2). Unlike the Upper School (Forms 3-6) environment, where the child is introduced first to “small” ideas that gradually widen into larger concepts, the child is introduced right away to larger concepts. For example, the largest of all being the beginning of the universe. They can then be shown how all the smaller ideas fit into the larger framework.

Traditionally, there are Five Great Lessons that are used to paint a broad picture before moving to a more specific study. They consist of:

• First Great Lesson – Coming of the Universe and the Earth
• Second Great Lesson – Coming of Life
• Third Great Lesson – Coming of Human Beings
• Fourth Great Lesson – Communication in Signs
• Fifth Great Lesson – The Story of Numbers

You can find more detailed information about ‘Montessori for Everyone – The Five Great Lessons‘ here.