Oct 24, 2021
When I asked my student who effortlessly became an accomplished readers and writer at age 5, āWho taught you to read & write?āĀ He pondered for a bit then said with a questioning tone, āI guess me?ā
His reply points to the innovative and creative approach that Montessori takes to reading & writing:Ā the child is engaged in a wide variety of integrated activities which prepare for reading & writing, and spontaneously blossoms into a confident linguist.
The best part about this approach is that itās indirect and exploratory ā not an exercise in memorizing, hounding, or drilling.
Effortless, and meticulously planned:
While on the surface, the blossoming of reading & writing can seem spontaneous, the building blocks and foundation for reading & writing is carefully planned from the childās first days in the Montessori classroom.Ā The Montessori teacher is weaving together a variety of integrated experiences that lay the foundation for reading & writing: for example, playing games with sounds that bring attention to the phonetic make up of words.
Spelling ā an ongoing discovery:
Itās delightful to see how my students exploring how things are spelled. They notice and applies the tools & building blocks they have acquired. Ā Just the other day, Vita, one of my students said, āI think I know how to spell āloveā now!ā
I have enjoyed seeing how her writing process have changed from ālv ā to āloveā now. I also have enjoyed seeing that sheās not worried about spelling correctly that her developing spelling doesnāt inhibit her creativity & expression.
The parentsā role: find indirect ways to support ā
It can be so tempting to latch onto your own goal & timeline for your childās progress and comparing other kids can be especially tempting.Ā Just know that you have a plethora of options for supporting your childās linguistic progress that can be indirect & playfulā¦
What you can do to support your child:
Engage them in hands-on activities at home (so when theyāre ready to write, the muscles in their hands are ready to write)
Share fun experiences in nature (so they have good material to write about and can relate to what they read)
Engage them in conversation, poems, & stories with rich vocabulary about the real world (they love big words and soak them up effortlessly)
And know that your energy dedicated to your childās language is a great investment: based on what we know about brain development, āthis is the ātaking inā time, the most powerful absorbent stage, of language development. This is the time, rather than in elementary, high school, or university time, when humans really learn language. Let’s help them!ā (Joyful Child)
As a special gift to our readers, try ourĀ Little Linguist set for FREE-this reading kit offers your child the necessary keys to reading that will set them up for success as a budding reader!
The strategy is simple: phonetic words + non-phonetic sight words = reading success.
3 sets of cards are included:
*80 Phonetic Word Cards
* 56 Phonogram (blends “sh”) List Cards
*144 Sight Word Cards
This Kit is best when your child can connect letters and sounds (identify the letter/symbol ‘b’ and say ‘buh’), then they are ready to launch into reading with the Little Linguist Reading Kit.
In a comments below, answer this one question:
Share with us on one thing that you do with your child to support her language development?
And try our Little Linguist set for FREE-this reading kit offers your child the necessary keys to reading that will set them up for success as a budding reader!
The strategy is simple: phonetic words + non-phonetic sight words = reading success.
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