We love cultural lessons! I believe they are the heart and soul of the Montessori Elementary classroom. We try to link everything possible to our cultural journey, which begins with The First Great Lesson and follows the Great Lessons through the year. Through observation, we noticed that some students were having a hard time expanding their exploration of the lessons past doing the nomenclature layout repeatedly. We would encourage different extensions but if a teacher wasn't available to encourage exploration the students would continue with what was comfortable. Then, we hit on an idea that allowed the students to be more independent- extension cards with ideas! I had a concern at first that the students would think that they could ONLY do what was on the cards, so we made sure to emphasize that the cards were just ideas and that we would love to see what the students came up with. We have two sets available for purchase in our TeachersPayTeachers store- just click on the link below each picture.
Set 1- The Classics give extension ideas for first and second year students who are building their foundational reading skills as well as their critical thinking skills.
Set 3- Critical Thinking is for students who are reading fluently and able to build content knowledge independently.
