The Road to Writing and Reading in a Montessori Class

The Montessori environment is rich in language. Whether through conversation or language games the young child is surrounded by vocabulary. Dr. Montessori's approach to teaching children to write and read phonetically is nothing short of brilliance, and should have long ago become a basic element in every early childhood classroom around the world.

At our schools we use a phonetic approach to writing and reading. Phonics is a method of teaching reading and writing by developing the ability to hear and identify sounds of the English language.Montessori believes that writing comes before reading. While writing is the thought of the children reading is a skill to interpret the thoughts of others.

Writing is a developmental process for children.  While babbling signifies development towards oral language, scribbling can be looked at as the first steps to writing.

                                                             

              

In a Montessori classroom children learn the sounds of the alphabet with the sandpaper letters.Beginning around age 3.5 Montessori children are introduced to a few letters at a time, until they have mastered a good portion of the alphabet. Using the sandpaper letter they trace the sound, as it would be written. They see, they feel, they hear the sound being pronounced.The shape of the letter becomes part of their muscular memory. Montessori children learn through touch and not memorization.

Dr. Montessori found that children were capable of encoding words months before they developed the hand eye coordination needed to control a pencil.Words are built using the movable alphabet using objects or pictures representing cat, bug, mat, etc.The child will sound out the letter and begin to build the words.They will naturally write larger words that don’t have a phonetic spelling as they increase their work and interest in this area.                       

                       

                                    

Children then begin to compose words with the movable alphabet, they build words one letter at a time. Children increase the level of difficulty and can correct themselves.Children learn not to be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are natural steps in the learning process. The teachers facilitate, coach, and assist the child to correct own self. Being able to correct your own mistakes is far more rewarding, meaningful and leads to a confident, independent and self- assured person.

During the time children compose words with the Moveable Alphabet they are practicing concentration and body control with the Practical Life and Sensorial Materials. Letters are being written in sand, with chalk and even water against chalkboards.These materials allow for practice without the frustration of writing on paper with an eraser. They are then introduced to the Metal Insets, whichoffers practice in pencil control, lightness of touch, as well as design qualities. 

It is these three materials, Sandpaper Letters, Moveable Alphabet, and the Metal Insets, which are the core of the handwriting and word building curriculum for the three and four year old.

Reading skills normally develop so smoothly in Montessori classrooms that children tend to "explode into reading."They often begin to read back their own writing, their own thoughts, and then soon enough they are sounding out the words of others.Material is available to the children that focus on phonetic skills. Cards are organized to teach skills from short vowel to long vowel patterns, and more difficult work. Montessori teachers are trained to teach the young children parts of speech in very meaningful and interactive ways. One favorite work in the class is reading of action words (verbs). Children can read and perform actions like, jump, eat, dust, and mop. Soon enough they are diagraming sentences and understanding the ‘job’ of each word in a sentence.sThe children will naturally expand these new skills to interpret the world around them