The History Curriculum
History - The Montessori Way
The Montessori history curriculum integrates aspects of social studies and topic studies to help children understand their place and role in time.
Students are given a broad understanding of the vastness of time through the Great Stories and how, humans have not been on earth for very long.
We look at time through Timelines of Life and Early People, and then the B.C.E/C.E. Timeline which looks at different events in history. These visual aids, presented with stories and different objects, help the children places, world religions and cultures.
We look at the common needs of all people such as love, security, health, education and help orientate students again to their turanga waewae, we also look at the contributions of different events, people, and groups of people to our country and world.
Our Approach to History
We focus on integrating history into our daily curriculum. The First Great Montessori Story looks at the Story of Creation including the Big Bang Theory and different cultures and their stories about the origin of Earth. We look at what has happened in different times including the age of Earth and life during different times.
We learn how time can be measured such as whakaapa, timelines, years and months.
We integrate the history of our country by looking at the Treaty of Waitangi, colonialism, immigration, and contributions of people to NZ society and in our community. Students also look at different countries and civilisations and look for the commonalities between them.
We know that children are very aware of what is happening around them and use current events as points to help our history study.