Blog Archives

"Cosmic Education," continued

10/27/2021

While "La Fettuccia" is the "Great Lesson" for the Level 2 (E1) children, "The Plan of God" provides the springboard for the Level 3 (E2) children. In this meditation we focus in on the Plan God has for mankind, beginning, instead of at creation, at the creation of humanity. In the Plan of God, the horizontal bridges which link us to peoples from long ago, and the gratitude we can have for them, even without knowing their names, becomes clear. They discovered fire and invented the wheel, they figured out how to plant gardens and domesticate animals, developing shelter and transportation in order to meet their needs. We have learned so much from them! Great civilizations in the past like the Egyptians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Incas, Chinese, and many more have also passed on to us inventions, discoveries, and ideals that have shaped us today. All of these peoples are part of God's Plan and they have all been part of establishing horizontal bridges which link us to each other throughout time and across the world. But God also desired vertical bridges which would link us more closely to Him. These He established first through Abraham, the father of the People of God. The Hebrew people have given to the world the gift of knowledge of the One true God. It is from the Jewish people that Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, is born. Through His death and resurrection He has chosen to remain with us through the Sacraments. The Christian people have received many gifts from the Jewish people including believe in One God, the Old Testament Scriptures, and many worship practices. Thus we are linked with them in this moment and also linked with God, in a most particular way, through Jesus and the Church He established which provides us with the Sacraments which give us all that we need to meet our spiritual needs. But what is the ultimate Plan of God? Parousia, the day when God "will be all in all" and there will be "Cosmic Communion," the union of all of creation with one another and with God. We await this day together, preparing for it through how we live this very day in His Kingdom.

The 3 Moments Chart.

The Plan of God mute strip.

Scripture cards about Parousia.

The Plan of God mute strip.

"Cosmic Education"

10/20/2021

We live in a world that has been perfectly prepared for us. The minerals we mine from the depths of the earth, the vegetation which nourishes and heals us, the animals that provide food, help, and companionship are all here for our use. God, who has set all of this in motion, as well as those many, many people who have come before us to form these gifts into the inventions and necessities we see today, deserve our gratitude. Dr. Montessori believed that with this as our foundation, the journey toward a better society and world were possible. Through the study of the contributors of the past we can begin to look forward to the future, reflecting on how we can use our own individual and communal gifts to provide for those yet to come. This is the foundation of a society which has a future filled with hope and promise.

"Cosmic Education" is the title of Dr. Montessori’s unique method of synthesizing all education into one all-encompassing springboard for an inspired and purposeful study of a vast variety of subjects. Cosmic Education is initiated through the Great Lessons, a series of five stories which tell the beginnings of our universe. They work to lay the foundation for further exploration and engaged study by giving keys and inspiring questions instead of providing all of the answers. The Great Lessons form the basis of the innumerable directions the interest of each individual child might take. They supply the theme to which the children add variation and embellishment. As the imagination is sparked the children branch out into an infinite variety of subjects through their desire to learn more of our marvelous universe and its history. Reading, writing, and mathematics skills become tools in this process of discovery, essential helps in their search through the endless caverns of knowledge at their fingertips.

Within the Atrium, Cosmic Education has its springboard in the Great Lesson of the Level 2 (E1) Atrium, "La Fettuccia" (in Italian) or "The Ribbon." La Fettuccia follows the History of Salvation beginning with God who always existed and Who at a particular time chose to create. The moment of Creation continues even today but has been joined by a new moment, that of Redemption, with the Incarnation of Jesus in response to Mary's "Yes." We live in the moment of Redemption today, carrying His Risen Life out into the world as we await the third and final moment, Parousia. When Parousia begins it will never end and God "will be all in all" as He shares fullness of life with His creation.

"La Fettuccia" or "The Ribbon."

A drawing of Parousia.

The Blue Unity strip which is a smaller version of La Fettuccia.

The Work of the Child

10/13/2021

In the following picture, one moment in the life of the Level 2 Atrium has been captured. This photo shows 1st through 3rd graders pondering Scripture and Liturgy through their freely chosen activities. Beginning at the top left and going clockwise you see the following:
- Two 1st grade children are working on labeling a personalized large altar collage. One child is sitting at the table behind the basket of folders and a second child has come to her table to ask for the labels she has finished using in order to take them to his table where he is labeling his own collage.
- One 2nd grade child is in the model altar area where the doors of the sacristy cabinet are open, setting up the model altar before labeling each item.
- In the center of the photo two 3rd grade children are working on their Missals. As a result of missing several months of school at the end of their 1st grade year they did not begin their Missals until the winter of their 2nd grade year. As soon as they returned to the Atrium this fall they immediately began to finish the work of copying the most essential prayers of the Mass and illustrating them.
- At the bottom of the page a 2nd grade child is making a booklet of pages which show the The Moments of Salvation History: Creation, Redemption, and Parousia. She has labeled each page and is adding illustrations which show her understanding of these moments.
- Finally, to the left we see a 3rd grade child copying Messianic prophecies in order to make a booklet of Scriptures which point towards the coming of Jesus and how we are invited to live in His Kingdom today as we await the fullness of His Risen Life in Parousia.

Worship and the Liturgical Calendar

10/6/2021

This past week we entered into pondering the liturgical signs which guide us in our worship. "Come and Worship" was the prayer card on the Prayer Table and each group of children pondered what "Worship" means. With the elementary children we also took time to recall some of the gestures of the priest at Mass (including the preparation of the chalice, the epiclesis, and the offering) as well as our personal gestures (including standing, sitting, kneeling, the Sign of Peace, the Sign of the Cross, genuflecting and bowing). There are many ways to worship God, but the highest form of worship occurs within the Liturgy in which we participate in God's Work of transforming creation.

In looking back at moments captured in photo this past week the "theme" of worship seemed to be most clearly shown through the way the children enjoyed the Liturgical Year by focusing on the "sign" of color. The Liturgical Colors chasubles lead to the Liturgical Calendar which is one material that is enjoyed at every Atrium Level and always has more to show us about our liturgical year as well as deepen our engagement in it. As such, it epitomizes the "spiral method" of the Atrium and the Montessori method in general.

A 3yo sets out the liturgical colors chasubles in the pattern of "before the feast" (purple), "on the feast" (white), and "after the feast" (green).

Two 1st graders built the calendar as in previous years but then they used tickets to label the seasons of Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter.

These 5th graders built the calendar once more, recalling how to label each Sunday. Then they adjusted the prisms to fit this coming year, 2022, so that they could label the calendar appropriately.

A 4yo builds the liturgical calendar. The liturgical year consists of two cycles (Christmas and Easter) of purple, white, and green Sundays.

Next they labeled the Sundays of Ordinary Time so they could show that every Sunday has a name!

After labeling each Sunday, the girls used a printed liturgical calendar for 2022 and labeled the Solemnities and Holy Days of Obligation as they will be celebrated in the upcoming liturgical year.

A 5yo uses the liturgical calendar to color the Sundays of the year and label each season within the cycles of Christmas and Easter.

After checking their work with a control chart, these two children then chose to make their own calendar with labels for each Sunday.

A 5th grader and two 6th graders began making a Vertical Calendar for this upcoming year. They used a 2019 Vertical Calendar example as well as a printed calendar for 2022 to get started!

"Cosmic Education," continued

"Cosmic Education"

The Work of the Child

Worship and the Liturgical Calendar

Carolyn Kohlhaas

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