Teaching Children to Read and Write According to Montessori
Today, there are many methods used for learning to read and write. Maria Montessori developed her own and many educators and followers of her methodology have applied it. Here you can learn about the method that will teach children to read and write according to Montessori.
This method has been renewed and updated, as it has many advantages for both children and adults, who are the guides of this learning. Do you want to know more about this? Keep reading!
Learning to read and write according to Montessori: Characteristics of the method
Below, we’ll talk about the main characteristics of the Montessori method to learn to read and write in an enjoyable and fun way for the little ones.
Respect for their autonomy
Children are free to choose which task they choose to do; It’s important that we don’t force the child to do anything. Their desire to learn and interact with certain activities must come from them. If not, we’re not achieving anything.
Of course, if we want them to learn literacy, we’ll propose activities related to this, and it will be the child who chooses which one they want to practice with.
Respect their rhythm for learning to read and write according to Montessori
One of the characteristics of the Montessori methodology is to respect the rhythm of each child. But the fact that each child is different from the next and that one child is more precocious than another doesn’t at all mean that, in the future, their performance will be better or that they’ll be better prepared.
There are very precocious children and others who are slower but who end up reaching the same levels; you just have to give them more time.
Take advantage of the sensitive periods of the child
Young children are especially sensitive to certain learning in certain periods of time and are capable of learning up to several languages at once. Innately, they’re interested and perceive and enjoy what they’re learning; we must take advantage of this interest.
Children are excellent teachers
The Montessori methodology greatly encourages empathy and socialization with other children. Little ones have to play, share, help and respect each other. Children have been proven to be extraordinary teachers, learning from one another.
An appropriate environment for learning
We must take care of the environment so that learning is made easier for children. We can organize the classroom with different corners: The reading corner, the educational games corner, the game corner, etc. And, therefore, they can choose the activities that they’re interested in doing at the time they want.
Activities to do at home to teach reading and writing according to Montessori
The sound game
We must offer this game from the age of two and a half, which is when the little ones begin to be interested in the shape and sound of letters. This activity will motivate them to learn sounds on their own and know how to differentiate them from their shapes.
At the beginning, children must be taught the sound of the letter and not the name of the letter. This will help the little one to be aware of the sounds that make up the words.
We must pronounce the sounds of the letters correctly so that the child learns them. For example, if we want to teach them the letter “s” with the word “sofa”, you don’t have to spell the word saying “es”, “o”, “ef”, “ay”. You have to pronounce the sound of each letter so that they become aware of the sounds that make up the word: “sssss”, “oooo”, “ffffff”, “aaaaa”.
Sandpaper letters
This technique can be used with children of three and a half years of age. What it involves is making some cards from cardboard and, on top of them, gluing letters made with sandpaper.
In this way, the child identifies the spelling and, in addition, recognizes the letters by touch, thus helping them to learn how they’re written. It’s an activity that facilitates learning the alphabet in children in a fun way.
Letter clips
For this activity, you only need some wooden clothespins and a marker in order to write a letter of the alphabet on each side of the pins. This way, kids can use them to form words by putting the clothespins on a card, cardboard, or sheet of paper. You can also make cards with letters and, thus, join each clip with the card with its corresponding letter.
The letter box
For this game, we need a small plastic drawer or we can make it out of cardboard, and in each box put a letter of the alphabet. This activity involves the child having to keep in each box something that begins with the letter that’s on it.
About the Montessori methodology to learn to read and write
You already know something more about the method of teaching reading and writing according to Montessori. It’s a fun method you can use at school or at home to help your little ones to acquire literacy. By doing so, you’ll prepare them for when it’s time to start reading and writing. Now you know, so put it into practice!