Why Montessori Language Materials for Home and School?
Montessori elementary language materials for home and school give children a strong foundation for word recognition and language comprehension.
Word recognition includes phonemic awareness, phonics, encoding (making words), and decoding (reading words).
Language comprehension includes background knowledge, concepts of print, story elements, language structures, and vocabulary.
Individual and small group lessons explicitly introduce language and reading concepts. Self-correcting manipulative materials encourage repetition and further discovery. Integrated Language and reading opportunities throughout the curriculum lead to rich, meaningful reading and language experiences.
How Do I Get Started With Montessori Language materials in my Home or School?
The ten language materials for home and school meet the academic needs of kindergarten through third grade so once you have the materials you are prepared for all of lower elementary!
The Ten Essential Montessori Language Materials for Home and School are:
Sound Objects
Sandpaper Letters
Movable Alphabet
Pink Phonics Series
Blue Phonics Series
Green Phonics Series
Grammar Symbols
Sentence Analysis
Word Study
Mechanics
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Sound Objects
Suitable for pre-school through 3rd grade, a collection of miniature objects chosen for their beginning, middle, and ending sounds teaches phonemic awareness; the ability to hear individual sounds in words. For example, mat, mop, and muffin help the child identify the /m/ sound at the beginning of each word. Before a child is introduced to the written symbol “m”, the sound objects focus his attention on the individual sound the letter makes and that it is at the beginning of the word.
Children play the “I Spy” game by identifying objects beginning with different sounds.
Subsequently, children use the objects to listen for sounds at the end of a word (/x/ in box), and in the middle of words (/a/ in cat) for consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words.
Once a child identifies a handful of letter sounds, the sandpaper letters connect the sound with the written symbol.
The Sound Objects are used to introduce phonics rules such as digraphs, silent e, diphthongs, vowel teams, and word families. In addition, many objects are used in grammar and word study lessons.
Click HERE to purchase a starter set of objects from Montessori Services.
Sandpaper Letters
Print and cursive sandpaper letters provide tactile connections with letter sounds and their written symbols. The correlation of the beginning sound in the object “mop” and the tactile finger tracing of the sandpaper letter “m” impresses the child’s memory. Additionally, the child writes the letter in a tray of sand or rice furthering his phonological awareness.
Children play the “Knock, knock” game by turning a letter face down, knocking on the letter, turning it over, and saying the sound the letter makes while tracing it.
The child engages in the same activities to identify the ending sound-symbol correlation and finally the middle sound-symbol correlation.
Click HERE to purchase a set of print lower and capital sandpaper letters.
Click HERE to purchase cursive lower case sandpaper letters.
Once a child identifies a handful of sound-symbol correlations, he begins to make words using the Moveable alphabet; a set of cut-out wooden, or plastic letters that can be laid out to create words and sentences. The moveable alphabet embodies the foundation of Montessori language materials for home and school.
Preschool through second-grade students benefit the most from the moveable alphabet, but a third grader who needs reading support or is learning non-phonetic words benefits as well.
Using the “mop” sound object, he listens to the sound at the beginning of the word and retrieves the letter “m.” He does the same for the middle and ending sounds encoding the word “m-o-p” from left to right.
Building Phonological Awareness for Reading
In the next lessons, the child uses phonetic pictures instead of objects continuing to practice phonological awareness by segmenting sounds and encoding (building) words.
The child begins to decode (read) the words by sliding or blending the sound of the letters he laid out from left to right. He writes the words he makes on paper, perhaps creating a booklet of words.
Invented Spelling Opportunities
The success of making and reading words with the Movable Alphabet often blossoms into sentence writing with the letters. This creates the opportunity for children to use invented spelling for non-phonetic words, or words with phonetic rules they have not yet learned.
Decodable Reading Books
It is important to further children’s confidence at this stage by providing decodable books for practicing their new reading skills. Decodable books are simple books containing only the letter sounds the child recognizes. Concepts of print like reading left to right, putting spaces between words, and moving down and left to the next line require explicit teaching and repeated practice. One example of decodable books I use with my students is Bob Books.
High-Frequency words
High-frequency words are not phonetic but are important for reading fluency. Children learn high-frequency words alongside the phonics series through explicit instruction, decodable books, and reading materials integrated with other subject areas like classification cards, and nomenclature cards.
Click HERE for a free list of the first 100 High-Frequency words.
The following phonics series utilize the Movable alphabet.
The Pink Phonics Series
The pink series introduces consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words like cat, bed, lip, pot, and bus. Typically, sets of words that share a common middle sound are worked with. For example, phonetic pictures and word cards for cat, can, fat, and ram. The middle vowel sounds are the most challenging for a child to differentiate. Think about how the letter sounds /e/ and /i/ are so similar.
Children look at the pictures, build the word with the moveable alphabet, and then self-correct their work using word cards.
Decodable Books, the Reading-Writing Connection, and Shared Read-Aloud Experiences
Children continue reading decodable books for repetition and practice. Authentic writing experiences are encouraged for any topic they are interested in writing about.
Reading aloud to children allows authentic experience with thinking skills, fix-up strategies, print concepts, genre, and story elements that are above their reading level.
The Blue Phonics Series
The Blue series introduces blends and digraphs. Sets of picture and word cards share a beginning blend (cl, br, str), an ending blend (-lk, -st, -ff), or digraphs (sh, ch, th).
Children make the words with the moveable alphabet and self-correct, write the words, and read word lists of blends.
Integrate Decodable Reading with Other Subject Areas
In addition, children continue to read decodable books that increase their background knowledge, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The Montessori curriculum integrates reading across the curriculum with decodable books, nomenclature cards, and classification cards in geography, botany, zoology, mathematics, geometry, and physical science.
The Green Phonics Series
The green series introduces long vowels including silent e and middle vowel teams (boat, feet, mail), and word families (-all, -ink, -ing).
Children use pictures and word cards with the moveable alphabet, phonogram books, and word list cards for reading. Increasingly, children read more complex decodable books, research science topics, build their background knowledge, and increase reading fluency and comprehension.
To purchase decodable books with silent e click HERE.
To purchase decodable books with long vowel teams click HERE.
To purchase decodable books with r-controlled vowels click HERE.
To purchase decodable books with diphthongs (oi, ow, aw) click HERE.
To purchase decodable books with advanced spelling patterns (eigh, silent letters, C+LE) click HERE.
The Spelling Connection
Spelling patterns become a focus in children’s writing. They write research reports, letters to friends, and creative stories.
Grammar Symbols and Cards
Three-dimensional colored shapes represent each of the nine parts of speech in the Montessori language home and school curriculum. Children learn sentence structure by identifying parts of speech in sentences, poems, and reading passages. They place the symbols above words on cards, then draw and color the symbols above the words. Patterns in the symbols emerge teaching the arrangement and structure of well-formed sentences. Children in lower and upper elementary strongly benefit from the grammar symbol activities.
Command Cards and Grammar Cards give children practice with word function and sentence structure. Children work independently with types of nouns, types of adjectives, verb tenses, and more using the cards.
Mastery of grammar structure helps children become better readers and writers.
Sentence Analysis
Sentence analysis strengthens children’s understanding of sentence structure. This helps them with both reading and writing. The analysis of sentences includes identifying the predicate (verb), subject, direct object, indirect object, and adverbials. Children play games of questions and identification using sentences generated for them. They then diagram the sentences. Children typically begin sentence analysis in first grade and continue into upper elementary.
Word Study Cards
Word study lessons comprise ABC order, compound words, synonyms, antonyms, root words, prefixes, suffixes, homophones, homographs, and homonyms. An introductory Key Lesson impresses the child’s imagination and introduces each word type.
Children independently study the forms of words using card sets and the dictionary. Instead of fill-in-the-blank worksheets children locate, analyze, compare, and contrast words.
Word Study card sets build vocabulary and allow children to recognize parts of words that change word meaning and function. This increases their ability to decode more complex words, read more fluently, and experience better comprehension of what they are reading. Word study begins in first grade and continues through upper elementary.
Mechanics Cards
Mechanics lessons comprise capital letters and when to use them, the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, apostrophe, quotation marks, hyphen, and colon. An introductory Key Lesson impresses the child’s imagination and introduces each punctuation type. Children independently study the uses of punctuation using card sets. Correct punctuation becomes a focus in their writing. Mechanics lessons begin in first grade and continue through upper elementary.
These ten Montessori language materials for home and school give a comprehensive foundation for kindergarten through third grade. They are fun, engaging, explorations your child will enjoy!
Which Montessori Language material would benefit your child the most? What challenges do you face with implementing Montessori language lessons in your homeschool or classroom? Have you used the language materials before? What worked, or didn’t work?