The long black strip

This is the simplest of Montessori materials but such a powerful one. It summarises the Great Stories of The Coming of the Universe and The Story of Life to show us all where the arrival of human beings fits into the timeline - 'pre-history' and with the first civilisations that used symbols for recording. It's a magnificant sight to see rolled out and a magnificent lesson in our gratitude for others' work, the gifts that make human beings different, our ingenuity and creativity to solve problems and our responsibility for custodianship of the Earth. Most of this is never said when we roll out the long black strip, but it is there for the children to think about and to absorb. (Wondering what that small tab of white and tiny dot of red is?)