During this month, we discuss the vertebrate group of birds. It is always fun to include owls as a bird of prey to be highlighted. I always like to order some owl pellets for the children to explore.
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Reading Program
I have been busy reorganizing my reading program and getting it ready for the new school year. There are three reasons for me doing this. One is because the shelf space at the school I will begin working at is limited so I needed to condense the many boxes somehow. The second reason is because it will be an older group of children and I realized I may need to provide more than one set of say, sentences to work with. Some of my things are very old and so a making them again has felt great! Another reason is
because I have been doing some Dyslexia Tutoring and I wanted to incorporate some of the ideas from those lessons. I think they could prove to be helpful and enhance the reading program.
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Circle Time Book/Play
During the month of December, we talk about the continent of Africa. I always introduce the children to the book, Honey Honey Lion, by Jan Brett. We also read The Hat, by Jan Brett with the season changing to Winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
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The Sandpaper Letters
The Sandpaper Letters are one of the main features of the language area in a Montessori classroom. They are beautiful and easily attract the attention of children. As children work with the Sandpaper Letters, their sense of site, touch, and hearing is involved. They can feel the sandpaper shape of each letter and begin to learn that each one has a name and a sound. Phonetic sounds are the foundation for the reading program in a Montessori classroom.
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Apple Fun
September is a great time to have fun with apples. Previous post highlighted some activities and lesson ideas to use with apples. Some may be repeated and others may be new on this post. I especially enjoy bringing a variety of apples into the classroom for the children to taste. During this month I like to include lessons on the five senses, and highlight the lesson on taste, a day before our apple tasting activity.
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Phonetic Reading Boxes
The Montessori Language Program is designed for children to learn phonetically. Phonics is a reading method that allows a child to learn the sounds of letters by developing an understanding of how these sounds are used individually, in groups, and whole words. Phonetic instruction is the foundation of the Montessori Language Program. Once a child has mastered the sounds associated to each letter, they are introduced to the movable alphabet, which allows them to put letters together, sounding them out to spell simple, then progressively more complex, words.
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South America
During the first week of each month, I like to introduce a new continent is and various lessons continue with it for the remainder of the month. This month features the continent of South America. Children keep their little passports stamped with each new continent we talk about.
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Pre-Language Activities
The Language area of the Montessori environment begins for young children with exercises that involve such things as matching, classifying, and sorting. Children are often seen naturally sorting out objects. These materials develop thinking skills and build the foundation for later problem-solving skills.
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Alphabet Sound Extensions
If your looking for an idea to reinforce letter sounds, a fun way can be through books and art, especially for the younger child. The book set by Jane Belk called, My First Steps to Reading is a great resource.
I appreciate her use of the letter sound highlighted in each book as well as her use of lower case letters. If you decide to use them, keep in mind that they are fictional books, and a reminder of this will need to be brought out to the children in a Montessori classroom.
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Preparing for the new school year – Material Making
In planning for the upcoming school year, summer break is a good time to make some materials. Whether you are going to be in the classroom or homeschooling you can prepare
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