Montessori School Fullerton, Orange County, CA 92833

In the primary room we do not “teach” the child language, we help him to develop it. Language is not presented in fragmented units of reading, writing, spelling and spoken language. Language education in our primary classroom approaches all aspects of it as a whole, and starts as soon as the child arrives in the room. Enrichment of vocabulary starts with vocabulary for all items of his environment, and progresses to all areas of art, geography, geometry, math and science. The child is given words for everything experienced and is encouraged to express himself to build confidence.

In the Montessori classroom a child learns phonetic sounds of the letters before he learns the alphabetical names in a sequence. The phonetic sounds enable him to break up the word to prepare for reading. The child first becomes aware of the sounds of the letters when the teacher introduces the consonants with the sandpaper letters.

The individual presentation of language materials in our primary classroom allows the teacher to take advantage of each child’s greatest period of interest. Reading instruction begins on the day when a child wants to know what a word says or he shows an interest in using sandpaper letters.

Writing, or the construction of words using the moveable alphabets, nearly always precedes reading in our Montessori environment. By doing many reading exercises which offer variety rather than monotonous repetition, gradually the child learns irregular words, and words with two or three syllables.  Also available in the environment are many attractive books which use a large number of phonetic words. Proceeding at their own pace the child is encouraged to read about things that interest him/her.  The phonetic skills initially given to the child give freedom to attempt any words of interest, and he is not limited only to words he has been forced to recognize by sight. The teacher is on constant watch to make sure that interest is never stifled by monotony. Rather, it is cultivated as the most important key to future learning. Our teachers encourage the children, at a very early age, to explore books for answers to their questions.

Various exercises in the Sensorial area strengthen the hand to hold a writing instrument, and the child is then encouraged to write words on paper wh

en he feels ready.

Grammar is introduced through different symbols used to identify different parts of speech. For example a large black triangle represents a noun and a red symbol represents a verb. This is an enjoyable game for the child, but in reality the lesson being taught in this exercise is that each word has a different function. Going through our process of the Montessori approach to language, is what educators today call “whole language”. The child gets a feeling for the written word, is able to feel the emotion conveyed and can sense the writing style.