Aug
Montessori Language Arts
THE MONTESSORI METHOD OF TEACHING READING AND WRITING
What might surprise you is how easily children learn to read using the Montessori method of teaching reading. What will also surprise you is the look on a child’s face as they reach the important milestone of decoding a word for the very first time. They look like they have conquered the world and essentially they have by learning to read at such an early age. Suddenly, the richness of the Montessori environment that they find themselves in, becomes a treasure trove of words they can explore. However, before children read in the Montessori environment, their language is lavishly enriched through the education of the senses and they will spontaneously learn to write before they read. The Montessori sensorial activities order the inner world of their minds and enrich their vocabulary.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SENSORIAL IN MONTESSORI AND HOW DOES IT IMPACT EARLY LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT?
The purpose of sensorial activities in Montessori is to educate the senses. Children explore this equipment through their senses, and in the process, accelerate their language development. Each sensorial activity isolates one particular concept. For example, the Red Rods explore the concept of length exclusively. It might have been tempting to color each rod differently, however, learning the concept of color would then be in conflict with learning the concept of length. The Montessori Sensorial activities allow the child to order the inner world of their minds.
The nomenclature that accompanies each piece of Montessori sensorial equipment is as follows:
THE MONTESSORI PINK TOWER
The Montessori Pink Tower develops an understanding of large and small, as well as degrees of comparison e.g. larger, largest, smaller, smallest.
THE MONTESSORI BROWN STAIRS
The Montessori Brown Stairs develop an understanding of thick, thin, broad and narrow, as well as degrees of comparison.
THE MONTESSORI RED RODS
The Montessori Red Rods develop an understanding of long and short, as well as degrees of comparison.
THE MONTESSORI COLOR TABLETS
The Montessori color tablets develop the chromatic sense and introduce the names of colors as well as concepts such as light and dark and degrees of comparison of light and dark.
THE MONTESSORI GEOMETRIC CABINET
The Montessori Geometric Cabinet introduces the names of plane or 2-dimensional shapes.
THE MONTESSORI GEOMETRIC SOLIDS
The Montessori Geometric Solids introduce the names of solid or 3-dimensional geometric forms.
THE MONTESSORI TOUCH TABLETS AND TOUCH BOARDS
The Montessori Touch Tablets develop an understanding of rough and smooth, as well as degrees of comparison.
THE MONTESSORI BARIC TABLETS
The Montessori Baric Tablets develop an understanding of light and heavy, as well as degrees of comparison.
THE MONTESSORI THERMIC TABLETS
The Montessori Thermic Tablets develop an understanding of hot and cold, as well as degrees of comparison.
WRITING BEFORE READING?
Children in the early childhood Montessori environments spontaneously write before they read.
The exercises in Practical Life and Sensorial activities indirectly prepare the child’s hand for writing.
The exercises in Practical life are designed to strengthen the pincer grip, and hand and wrist muscles. They also encourage children to work from left to right and develop concentration.
Working with the touch tablets develops the lightness of touch required to write.
The knobbed cylinders encourage the development of the pincer grip.
The plane figures of the Geometric cabinet are traced in an anticlockwise direction to encourage muscular memory for letter formation.
THE MONTESSORI METAL INSETS
The Montessori metal insets are direct preparation for writing. The knobbed insets must be lifted using the pincer grip. The shapes are again traced in an anticlockwise direction. The children fill the traced shapes with horizontal lines that are drawn from left to right with increasing control of the writing instrument. Fine more skills are refined as they strive to keep the horizontal lines bound by the shape. Children find this work easy and enjoyable because their bodies have been prepared for the writing process. They are able to produce beautiful designs in striking colors.
THE MONTESSORI SOUND GAMES
The Montessori sound games raise phonemic awareness. Three objects that begin with different sounds are placed before the child. For example, a miniature cat, dog, and a sun. Say to the child, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with a ssssssss.” The child will hopefully be able to identify that the sun begins with a ssssssss sound. The games become increasingly challenging as the child learns to identify the sounds at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the words.
SOUND GAME BOOM CARDS
I have developed a version of the initial sound game on the Boom Learning platform. Watch the video to see it in action.
If you would prefer to purchase it on Teachers Pay Teachers, you can do so by clicking on this link.
THE MONTESSORI SANDPAPER LETTERS
The Montessori Sandpaper Letters are then introduced and the child begins to learn the formation of the letters as well as the phonemes (letter sounds) associated with each letter. Each letter has a sandpaper surface and the children use their refined tactile sense to trace the shapes of the letters. Their auditory sense is activated as they listen to their teacher produce the sounds associated with the letter being presented. Gradually, each letter and its corresponding sound is presented.
MONTESSORI PHONETIC ALPHABET BEGINNING SOUNDS – LEARN THE LETTERS AND THEIR SOUNDS
FREE MONTESSORI PRINTABLE – PHONETIC ALPHABET SORTING CARDS
THE MONTESSORI MOVABLE ALPHABET
The Montessori Movable Alphabet advances the child to word-formation. The child breaks words up into their component sounds and arranges the appropriate letters in order. When the child composes the words by breaking them into their component sounds, the words can be easily read, producing much joy and an immense sense of achievement in the children.
THE MONTESSORI PINK BLUE GREEN SERIES
The Montessori Pink Blue Green Series is then introduced to deal with the complexities of the 44 sounds that make up the English language. Each sound is isolated and presented systematically to the child. Consequently, strong reading and spelling skills are developed.
MONTESSORI PINK SERIES
The Montessori Pink Series introduces consonant vowel consonant words (CVC). For example; cat, hen, pig, dog, and pup.
FREE MONTESSORI PRINTABLE – PINK SERIES TEACHING MANUAL
The Montessori Pink Series Teaching Manual will instruct you step by step on how to work with the Montessori Pink Reading Materials.
MONTESSORI BLUE SERIES
The Montessori Blue Series introduces words that contain consonant blends and double consonants. For example, flag, mint, and bell.
MONTESSORI BLUE GREEN SERIES
The Montessori Blue Green Series introduces words that contain consonant digraphs. For example, ring, ship, that, and lunch.
MONTESSORI GREEN SERIES
The Montessori Blue Green Series introduces words that contain long vowel sounds. For example, gate, kite, rope, glue, nail, ray, seed, and fly.
Each Montessori reading series is made up of a combination of the following components:
- Montessori Word Cards for use with the Montessori Moveable Alphabet
- Montessori Picture Cards for use with the Montessori Moveable Alphabet
- Montessori Picture Word Cards
- Montessori Large Picture Word Cards
- Montessori Word Lists
- Montessori Booklets
- Montessori Secret Boxes
- Montessori Family Folders
- Montessori Sight Words
- Montessori Phrase Cards and Sentence Cards
MONTESSORI READING SERIES BOOM CARDS
I have developed Montessori Reading Series Boom Cards. The aim of these activities is to make these resources available to home school students at an affordable cost.
Watch the videos to see them in action.
