I was recently talking with a parent about the Montessori Great Stories and how the indigenous views of her background would be included in a Montessori classroom of 6-12 year olds, it also made me think of the importance of ensuring our classrooms reflect the life stories of children in our classrooms.
I have included different creation stories in a variety of ways in my classroom and present them after the Montessori Great Story I always ensure as a minimum I have stories that relate to the children in my class for example if I have children who are Muslim I include the Islam creation story in my class.
- making sequencing cards with the stories based on children's books.
- encouraging children to share creation stories they know
- encouraging children to make their own 'timeline' that copies the Montessori timelines to explain a creation story they know.
- children could illustrate creation stories or make their own 3 part cards that explain a story.
- Using a diagram to compare two creation stories
- finding how a certain creation story is similar or different to the Montessori First Great Story.
One thing I love about Montessori is that we have the opportunity to introduce children to so many different cultural and religious worldviews
Here are a collection of different creation stories that may be of help to your classroom.