Here are some of the card materials we have on our Math and Language shelves this month. We’ve been trying to bring in the themes of Fall and Halloween to celebrate October.

I still have mixed feelings about Halloween in the classroom since it’s such a fantasy-based holiday. However, it is a big part of the cultural experience of the children in North America so I don’t feel quite right ignoring it completely. I’ve tried to keep the Halloween themed materials as close to the child’s actual experience of Halloween as possible. For example, I’ve opted for photos of people and children in costume for words like “ghost” and “witch” rather than going for the scarier versions. I’ve even used cutesy clipart for “monsters” to make them non-scary and non-real.

Language Materials

Oral Language

The first shelf on our Pre-Literacy cabinet contains Vocabulary Development and Oral Language activities such as these:

The Question Game (from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.)

Monster Theme Yes-No Questions (from Schoolhouse Talk)

Visual Matching

The second shelf on our Pre-Literacy Cabinet contains matching activities. These are great for helping children improve their visual discrimination skills as well as practice procedures for left-right and top-bottom formatting as they lay out the cards.

Pumpkin Patch Match (from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.)

Jack-O-Lantern Matching (adapted from More Than Math by Mo)

Categorizing and Sequencing

The next shelf contains our categorizing, classification, and sequencing activities.

Halloween and Fall Themed Go-Together Cards (from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.)

The Story of Jack: Learn the poem and put the cards in the correct sequence (from Inspired by Kindergarten)

Pumpkin Theme Pattern Cards (from 3 Dinosaurs)

“Which One is Different?” These are adapted from 3 Dinosaurs and 2 Teaching Mommies

Phonemic Awareness

The last shelf on our pre-literacy cabinet is devoted to phonemic awareness activities such as rhyming, syllable and phoneme segmentation and blending etc.

Halloween and Fall Themed Rhyming Riddles Cards (from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.)

How Many Syllables? from 3 Dinosaurs

Letters and Sounds

These cards are on our Letters and Sounds Cabinet which also houses our sandpaper letters and related activities.

Fall and Halloween Themed Initial Sound Sorting Cards. I’m quite delighted with how these turned out! I love the Montessori-friendly pictures I was able to find for each letter! (from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.)

Reading

Our students love playing I Have Who Has. I made these Halloween themed CVC(s) cards for our reading shelf. The packet also includes this set with a pink border if you want it to coordinate with your other pink series work. (From the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.)

Here’s a traditional 3-Part phonetic reading card set with a Halloween theme. This also comes with a blue border to coordinate with your blue series work. (from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.)

Math Materials

I typically don’t add too many seasonal items to the math area. The classical Montessori materials are so fantastically complete that they don’t need much embellishment. The one area that lends well to thematic additions is the 0-10 numeration section. We use all kinds of fun numbers and counters there!

Counting 0-10

Once we cut up our pumpkins from our field trip, we will pick out the seeds and use them as counters to go with these cards. These pumpkin cards are from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.

I’m in love with lima bean ghosts! I first saw them on Living Montessori Now‘s round up post. These cards are from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.

Monsters and googly eyes! Bigger eyes will look nicer in the work but these little ones provide a nice fine motor challenge as well. These cards are from the Montessori Style October Activities Pack.

These Jack-O-Lantern Counting Clip Cards are from 1+1+1=1. We found these fun Halloween clips at the craft store, but they’re easy enough to make using foam stickers and mini clothespins.