Montessori glossary · The curriculum
Cosmic education
The elementary framework that starts with the universe and works inward to the specifics.
In plain English
What it actually means
Where preschool Montessori works from the concrete outward, elementary starts with the largest possible story — how the universe, the earth and human beings came to be — and hangs history, geography, biology and mathematics off it. Six- to twelve-year-olds want the whole picture and the moral shape of it, so the curriculum gives them that first and the details second.
Why it matters to you
On a tour
It is the single biggest difference between Montessori preschool and Montessori elementary.
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Other words you will hear
Hear these words used properly
Tours run mid-morning, during the work cycle, year-round.