Tag Archives: Montessori Materials

How We Teach Reading in a Montessori Classroom

by Mareme Konare, Early Childhood Head Teacher

Scope and Sequence

In a Montessori classroom, the Language area fosters reading, writing, and oral skills, with phonics as the foundation for literacy. Reading and writing are closely connected, creating a seamless learning experience. A rich vocabulary is integrated across all areas of the Montessori Prepared Environment: Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language, and Culture. This ensures language development is part of everyday learning.

Introduction to Sounds with Sandpaper Letters

The journey of teaching children to read begins with introducing letter sounds using materials like the Sandpaper Letters. These tactile materials are designed to teach both reading and writing. When children are first introduced to letters, the focus is on the sounds they make rather than their letter names. For example, we say “/a/” for the letter “a” and “/b/” for the letter “b”. This learning process is guided by a sequential method called the Three-Period Lesson.

The First Period of a Three-Period Lesson is when the teacher introduces the sound (“This is /a/”) while tracing the corresponding Sandpaper Letter. This tactile and auditory connection helps children develop a strong memory of both the letter’s shape and sound. In the Second Period, the teacher asks the child to identify the sound (“Show me /a/”). And finally, in the Third Period, the child is asked to recall the sound independently (“What is this sound?”) while referencing the Sandpaper Letter.

Once children grasp the concept of individual sounds, objects related to the sounds are then introduced. For example, the teacher may say, “/a/, /a/, apple,” emphasizing the first letter of the word. The child is then encouraged to match objects to their corresponding sounds, reinforcing their understanding. Children practice these sounds independently, and the teacher reviews their work after completion, giving follow-up lessons if necessary.

Progression Through Sound Material

To ensure systematic learning, sounds continue to be introduced a few at a time, focusing on the beginning, middle, and ending sounds of phonetic words, using both objects and picture cards. This progression allows teachers to track students’ progress effectively, prior to Word Building.

Introduction to the Moveable Alphabet

Once children are confident with individual sounds, they are introduced to the Moveable Alphabet. This material bridges the gap between recognizing sounds and forming words. After receiving a lesson on how to use the Moveable Alphabet, children are given Objects (e.g., cat, hat, etc.) or Picture Cards and encouraged to “encode” the word by arranging the corresponding letters (c-a-t). This process, known as “Early Writing”, helps children connect sounds to written forms and fosters creative expression through “inventive (or invented) spelling”.

At the next stage, children begin to “decode”. Decoding involves blending the sounds they’ve now learned in order to form complete words. For example, when presented with “c-a-t”, the child learns to say “cat” and can independently match the word to the corresponding Object or Picture Card. This process of moving from encoding to decoding culminates in the child experiencing the “aha moment” of reading. 

Advancing Reading Skills

As children’s skills develop, they progress through three levels of reading:

Level 1: Simple Words
~ The focus is on three-letter phonetic words (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC), such as “cat” and “mat”.
~ Learning is supported by the Pink Series reading materials.

Level 2: Words with Blends
~ Blends such as “bl”, “st”, and “fl” at the beginning or end of words (“blob”, “nest”, and “flag”) are introduced.
~ Learning is supported by the Blue Series reading materials.

Level 3: Complex Words
~ Work includes lessons on phonograms, irregular spelling patterns, and silent letters (e.g., “ai” in “hair”, “sh” in “ship”, silent “e”, and the silent “k” in “knight”).
~ Learning is supported by the Green Series reading materials.

Picture and Word Matching to Comprehension

Some Montessori Language lessons require children to match words to objects or pictures, enhancing their vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. As they progress, children begin matching phrases or sentences to corresponding objects or pictures, further developing their ability to understand context and meaning. For instance, when encountering the word “crust”, children use prior knowledge and contextual clues, such as a picture of a pie or the Earth to determine whether it refers to a pie crust or the Earth’s crust. This ability to connect words to meaning fosters vocabulary growth, critical thinking, and comprehension skills.

The Montessori Approach

In summation, the Montessori approach to teaching reading is a carefully structured, hands-on process that nurtures each child’s natural curiosity and ability. By emphasizing phonics and providing tactile, auditory, and visual experiences, we create a strong foundation for literacy. Through systematic progress from encoding to decoding and from concrete to abstract, children learn to read and develop a lifelong love for language.

Understanding Montessori Math

by Arati Joshi, Early Childhood Head Teacher

“Children display a universal love of mathematics,
which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence.”
~ Maria Montessori

Dr. Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori Method of Education, believed that a child is born with a “mathematical mind”. From birth, children grow up surrounded by numbers and various mathematical concepts, such as classifying, comparing, sorting, ordering, and patterning. The Montessori approach recognizes this and builds upon the natural development by providing structured, hands-on activities that enhance early learning experiences.

Sensorial Exercises: Opening the Door to Mathematical Thinking
The Mathematics and Sensorial Areas of a Montessori Prepared Environment are deeply interconnected and complement each other. Sensorial materials prepare children to work in Math because of their innate sequence, order, and progression. For example, the Pink Tower, Brown Stair, Red Rods, and Knobbed Cylinders allow children to compare and order objects bases on size and dimension. The Sensorial materials indirectly empower children to physically manipulate objects and develop an intuitive sense of quantity and an understanding of the “base-ten” system. 

Red Rods

Numeration 1 to 10
The introduction of quantity and numeration from 1 to 10 begins when the child is introduced to concrete, hands-on materials such as the Red and Blue Number Rods, Sandpaper Numbers, and Spindle Box(es). As children get to hold the quantities in their hands and trace the numbers on Sandpaper Numbers, the definite concept is committed to memory. Through multi-sensory experiences, children build confidence in their ability to understand and work with numbers, setting the stage for further mathematical learning and exploration.

Decimal System
A strong understanding of numbers from 0 to 10 lays a solid foundation for learning place values of the Decimal System. Children learn that 0 can give a greater value to a number, and they also learn the names of different categories of the Decimal System (i.e., Units, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands). 

Through hands-on exploration and working with the Golden Bead Material and the Ten and Teen Boards, children gain a deep understanding of how the number system works, from units to thousands and beyond.

Group Operations
In Montessori Early Childhood classrooms, children typically begin their exploration of group operations after they have built a strong foundation in numeracy and place value. These operations include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The Montessori Golden Bead Material provides the children a concrete representation and a strong conceptual understanding of arithmetic operations before transitioning them to more abstract representations. By emphasizing exploration, discovery, and manipulation, the Montessori group operation activities foster a love for learning and empower children from a young age to become confident and capable mathematicians.  

Bead Chains
The Short and Long Bead Chains used in Montessori classrooms introduce children to linear counting and skip counting. Children use these chains to practice skip counting by twos, threes, and so on, up to tens. This strengthens their number sense and prepares them for later activities in multiplication, squaring, and cubing.

Concrete to Abstract
Maria Montessori believed that “what the hand does, the mind remembers”. The Montessori Method recognizes that young children learn best when directly engaging with concrete material to make concepts real and easily internalized. Keeping that in mind, much of the Montessori curriculum is based on giving children exposure to concrete materials first, and then giving them incremental opportunities to work on more abstract concepts. As the child gains mastery over a material used, he or she is able to work independently.

A Lifelong Love for Math
The Montessori Method is renowned for its holistic approach to education and goes beyond teaching skills. This approach is particularly effective in the realm of mathematics, as it instills a lifelong love for the subject. By creating a positive and engaging experience through hands-on learning, children develop a deep appreciation for the beauty and relevance of mathematics that will stay with them throughout their lives!