Language Lesson • Carrots Are Orange

Must Have Materials to Teach Montessori Grammar

By Marnie Craycroft Filed Under: Homeschool, Lessons, Montessori, Reading and Writing Tagged With: Grammar, Language Lesson, Taking Montessori Outside Series This post may contain affiliate links.

Montessori Grammar is fun to do with kids, and noun sorting cards are a must have when you do so! When my son was almost six years old, he was extremely interested in parts of speech. He asked a lot about what certain words mean and why these words belong in a particular sentence. It was a great time to teach him and his younger brother more about nouns with Montessori grammar lessons.

I began by reminding my sons that nouns are the meat of the sentence; that nouns are what ground the sentence. Yes, I know it sounds dramatic, but it makes sense to kids. Then we went on a NOUN Hunt in our environment. We went outside and had a lot of fun collecting objects and even moved into adjectives as we described the collected objects. Once we got inside, the boys were ready to focus on a work. So, I pulled out our Noun Cards and let them at it.

So, we began with the sorting cards. I created cards with REAL images that I believe relate to my children and their lives. The lesson is fairly simple. Print out these noun sorting cards, cut them out, and laminate the cards. Invite the child to do the work, perhaps with the use of objects. My sons fetched our police person figurine, for example, during this exercise. Many children respond well to concrete.

Montessori Grammar Lesson with Noun Sorting Cards

The Montessori Grammar Noun Sorting lesson is straightforward.

Invite the child
Lay out the labels – Person, Place, Thing – saying the name on the label as you place it on the mat.
Remind the child of the definition of a Noun
Go through the cards and sorting the cards as you name the image.
Most likely the child will take over the lesson.

Grammar Lesson Extensions

Encourage her to point out nouns in the environment
Go on a noun hunt either simply by identifying or by collecting objects
Grab a magazine and scissors. Invite the child to identify, cut out, and sort by pasting the images onto a piece of paper.
Gather objects to sort into Person, Place, and Thing. Safari Toobs are a great source for these objects. Also, Montessori Services has a ton of objects to use in language lessons.

Download my Montessori Grammar Pack!

How do you use noun sorting cards in your Montessori grammar presentations?

Easy to Put Together Montessori Language Pre-Reading Lessons

By Marnie Craycroft Filed Under: Lessons, Montessori, Reading and Writing Tagged With: Language, Language Lesson, Pre-Reading This post may contain affiliate links.

Children begin learning to read and write long before they pick up a book or a pencil and piece of paper. If a child is ready to start the journey (and remember there is a range of development typically from 3 to 6 years old), these Montessori pre-reading activities are what you need. They are a great way to warm the child's logic, problem solving, focus, and concentration skills. Below are five Montessori Pre-Reading Lessons.

Montessori Pre-Reading Lessons

Montessori Pre-Reading Does Not Belong

Children enjoy the Montessori Does Not Belong activity. You can make this activity as straightforward or complicated as you would like to by making the differences more or less subtle. Making cards is easy to keep the child's interest. I made a set of “Does Not Belong” cards using real images if you would like to take a look at them.

Montessori Pre-Reading Category Classification

This activity involves sorting images into categories. Like the “Does Not Belong” activity, you can make the Classification by Category lesson as easy or difficult as possible, adjusting for the child. This activity is also a fun way to integrate the concrete material into the child's learning with figurines. I choose to use real images in my classification categories. Children relate better to real images and are more likely to respond to the activity, in my experience. A set of Montessori Classification Cards is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you'd like a fresh set!

Montessori Pre-Reading Nomenclature Cards

This pre-reading Montessori language activity involves simple nomenclature cards. The work can be done with image-to-image with the label, or image with a label to image and the to label. Children match the image and then the labels to the image. They work from left to right, preparing the child for reading and writing. These cards can be as creative as you need them to be. You can create cards specific to a child. For example, if a child likes sports, or insects, or the human body, you can create nomenclature cards specific for a unit or a child.

Montessori Pre-Reading Look Alike Matching

This lesson works a child's logic skills as he closely compares and contrasts the images to make a match. The child develops language with these types of activities, as he works from left to right, preparing him for reading and writing. Here is a set of Look Alike Matching cards using real images that I created for my teaching.

Montessori Pre-Reading Story Sequence

I adore Story Sequence cards. You can create these cards to apply to a simple act in daily life, like giving a hug. You can also apply these cards to science with the life cycle, or even a story from a child's favorite book. Children put the cards in order, working their reading comprehension early on in their journey to reading.

Do you have any favorite pre-reading lessons to share?

Marnie

Initial Word Building with Sandpaper Letters – Montessori Language

By Marnie Craycroft Filed Under: Lessons, Montessori, Shelf Work Tagged With: Language Lesson, Pink Series This post may contain affiliate links.

Initial Word Building with Sandpaper Letters is the 3rd work found within Montessori's Pink Series Language. Once kids get the idea of this activity, they have a lot of fun. Sometimes too much fun but at that point you know that the time has come to move onto the next lesson: Introduction to the Moveable Alphabet. Kids within the early childhood classroom and a variety of preschool classrooms enjoy this language activity!

Related: What is Montessori Language?

My 2.5 year old particularly likes playing “Knock-Knock”, which is a worthwhile extension of the activity. Language learning is exciting. Kids absorb the world around them and communicate in ways that astound me. {This article gives a concise overview of Language Development if you'd like to learn more!}

Initial Word Building with Sandpaper Letters Lesson

Age: When child has mastered at least the first 4 consonants and one vowel sound.

Materials: Sandpaper letters

Aims:

To begin forming and reading three letter short vowel phonetic words.
Preparation for writing, reading and spelling.

Prerequisites: Child recognizes 3-4 consonant sounds and one vowel sound.

Initial Word Building with Sandpaper Letters Presentation:

Invite the child to do the work
Bring the consonant sounds and the one vowel sound the child knows, for example: (c, s, m, t, a), to the table or work rug

Place the family word (_at), (“a” and “t”) in front of child. Have the child feel and say each sound as it is placed on the table (“a” “t”).

Place first consonant to the left of (“a” “t”) and say: “m” “at.” Repeat each time bringing the “m” closer and saying “m”…”at,” “m”..”at” until all 3 letters touch and form one fluid word.

Ask the child to sound out each letter without feeling the letters. Then have him repeat more rapidly until he is actually pronouncing the word.
Remove the (m) and repeat with (“c” “a” “t”).
Repeat with (“s” “a” “t”). 8. After the child understands that he is reading words, exchange initial consonant many times. Child reads word formed each time (cat, mat, sat, mat).
Continue this method isolating each vowel with sandpaper letters.

Points of Interest:

Different colors of vowels and consonants
The sounds
Blending
The act of scanning
Colors of vowels
Colors of consonants
How the letters fit into the box

Control of Error:

Sandpaper letters are placed on table surface directly in front of child.
No other material is on table in order to avoid distraction.

Language:

Sandpaper letters, Movable Alphabet, sounds, build, color of vowels and consonants

Check out my Ultimate List of Montessori Language Resources

Montessori Language Short Vowel Lesson

By Marnie Craycroft Filed Under: Lessons, Montessori, Reading and Writing Tagged With: Language, Language Lesson, Mary Catherine, Pink Series This post may contain affiliate links.

So, here you are…at a Montessori Language Short Vowel lesson. Recently you gave your child a short vowel word building lesson using the moveable alphabet and sandpaper letters. The child is ready for more. So, we move onto building words with objects and thee moveable alphabet, and we say goodbye to the sandpaper letters because your child has moved on!

I also offer a Montessori Pink Series Materials Bundle!

Short Vowel Lesson

This Montessori Language Short Vowel Lesson involves the moveable alphabet and short vowel objects like “cow”. The lesson is in the pink level typically around 4 years of age. It helps a child form and read short vowel words. Utilizing the hands and moving right to left and up to down prepares the child for writing.

Invite the child to do the work. Go to the shelf with the child. Bring the container with the short /a/ objects and the moveable alphabet to the work rug.

Place the container of objects in the upper left corner of the rug. Place the moveable alphabet to the right of the container.

Remove the objects one by one, naming each object. Have the child repeat the name and place the objects in a vertical column.

Name the objects, make the first sound of the object while pointing to each letter in the moveable alphabet while scanning for the appropriate sound. Once located, place the letter that makes the correct sound on the right to the right of the object. Isolate each sound of the word as you continue to locate the remaining sounds.

Continue with this approach for the remaining sounds, one letter at a time. Point to the object, name the object, move your finer under the word from left to right emphasizing each sound.

Continue with remaining objects as long as the child remains interested in the work. Don't correct any misspelled words.
When returning materials to the container, start with the object, name the object and return it to the container. Then read the word and return each letter to its compartment. Then, return Work to shelf.

So, what's next? You can give this lesson using pictures instead of objects and then onto using word labels instead of the moveable alphabet with objects, moving from concrete to abstract.

Montessori Language Initial Sounds Lesson

By Marnie Craycroft Filed Under: Lessons, Montessori, Reading and Writing Tagged With: Language, Language Lesson, Mary Catherine, Pink Series This post may contain affiliate links.

This Montessori Language Initial Sounds Lesson is one of the first lessons in the Pink Level.The goal of the lesson is to recognize initial sounds. In addition, moving left to right in preparation for reading and writing. A child aged 3 to 4, one that has mastered the 1st & 2nd period lessons of the sandpaper letters, is ready for this lesson.

I also offer a Montessori Pink Series Materials Bundle!

You can purchase Montessori Lower Case Sandpaper Letters from Amazon {affiliate link} or from a number of traditional Montessori materials suppliers. I highly recommend the book Montessori: Letter Work as a resource for your children. You can purchase a wide range of object boxes from Montessori Services (we have these sets).

Montessori Language Initial Sounds Lesson

Invite the child to do the work with the initial sound objects in group #1: /s/, /m/, /t/, /a/ and sandpaper letters.

Presentation I

Place the container in the upper left of the rug. Go over 2 period lesson with each letter: “Point to S.”

Trace each letter.

Space apart and place at the top of the mat.

Select an object. Name the object” The first sound you hear when you say ‘turtle’ is /t/. Trace /t/. Place the ‘turtle’ below /t/.

Repeat with all objects sorting by initial sound. Return objects to container one object at a time from left to right. Return material to the shelf.

Presentation II

Introduce /a/ after 3 period lesson is mastered with the other 3 letters. Then continue with the rest of the grouping with the same approach.

Resources for the Lesson

Don't miss out on my convenient ready to download Montessori Early Language printable BUNDLE!

I hope we inspired you today!
Marnie

Montessori Language Sequence of Lessons

By Marnie Craycroft Filed Under: Lessons, Montessori, Montessori 101 Tagged With: Language Lesson, Mary Catherine This post may contain affiliate links.

This Montessori Language Sequence of Lessons is the one I learned in training. I hope you find it useful. Please contact me with any questions or comments.