Introduction . 3
Alignment to State Curricula and the US National Common Core Curriculum For US Montessori schools, we already have the Math and Language Common Core standards aligned to Montessori lessons and activities; however, this does not make use of our updated Scope and Sequence. We are currently in the process of aligning our revised Scope and Sequence to the Common Core Curriculum for Math and Language, and once the rest of the Common Core standards have been written, we will align to those as well. We can also prepare an alignment of state standards to the updated Montessori Curriculum Scope and Sequence©, along with the alignment to the Common Core Standards as needed. Licensing and Copyright The PDF files can be printed for use in parent curriculum summaries or uploaded to your school’s website. The Montessori Foundation’s Curriculum Scope and Sequence© is copyrighted and licensed to schools to duplicate and modify for the use of their administrators, teachers, and parents. Copies of the curriculum in any form may not be given or sold to anyone outside the purchasing school’s community. The Montessori Curriculum The word ‘curriculum’ is used to mean a number of different things. In popular usage, it denotes no more than a set of topics that are studied at a school or university, along with their content. When seen in this way, a large range of issues are omitted which are critical to achieving clarity and consistency within a school. While this introduction cannot explore the topic in great detail, it is important to note that the Scope and Sequence, along with the lesson plans, observation, recording systems, assessment principles, and reporting methods that support it, are all components of a total, educational, curriculum. Although Maria Montessori had a complex vision of curriculum, she never compiled a single, comprehensive, practical curriculum statement that would be recognised as such in today’s educational context. There was a good reason for this — she intended that the teacher be responsive to the developmental and individual needs of each child, rather than slavishly follow a syllabus of work. The Montessori teacher is expected to understand both the developmental needs and abilities of the children in her care, as well as a broad range of content, along with the methodology necessary to present the appropriate ma-
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