High frequency words are the most commonly used words in the English language, appearing frequently in texts, conversations, and everyday writing. Recognizing high-frequency words quickly helps build reading fluency, allowing students to focus on new vocabulary and sentence comprehension. Since many of these words don’t follow typical phonetic rules, memorizing them can significantly boost reading […]
EC Language
Montessori Push Pinning Activities
The Montessori pushpinning or pin punching activity is a practical life exercise designed to develop fine motor skills and concentration in young children. In this activity, a child uses a small pushpin or punch tool to create holes along the outline of a shape or pattern on a piece of paper. The child places the […]
Montessori Language: An Overview of the Materials and Curriculum
The Montessori approach to language and literacy development in early childhood is grounded in the belief that children learn best through hands-on, experiential learning. In a Montessori classroom, children are encouraged to explore language and literacy through a variety of activities and materials. Montessori schools place a strong emphasis on developing literacy skills in young […]
The 5 Components of Reading
There are five components of reading: vocabulary, phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, and fluency. History of the 5 Components of Reading Instruction Reading instruction in the United States has undergone a lot of changes over the years. In the 1980s and 90s, educators were divided on the best way to teach children to read. The “reading […]
The Scarborough Reading Rope in the Montessori Classroom
The Scarborough Reading Rope is a visual representation of the different strands that make up the process of reading, with the metaphor of a rope being used to demonstrate how all of these strands work together to create a strong, cohesive whole. It was created in the early 1990s by Dr. Hollis Scarborough, a literacy researcher, […]
Phonological Awareness vs Phonemic Awareness
Phonological awareness is about being able to hear and manipulate units of sound in spoken words, including syllables, onset, rime, and phonemes. Phonemic awareness is about being able to hear and manipulate the smallest unit of sound, a phoneme. Phonemic awareness is a part of phonological awareness, and they both focus on the sounds that […]
Montessori Literacy and the Science of Reading: Insights from Zil Jaeger
There is a whole world of research available to educators about the science of reading, and ideas on how to apply it to Montessori literacy principles. This week on the podcast, we are talking about ways to reframe our thinking when it comes to literacy, how to help our students who don’t have a strong […]
Pumpkin Patch Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
We will be taking a field trip to the pumpkin patch in a couple of weeks. To prepare, our classroom is starting to fill up with “pumpkiny” activities. If you haven’t already downloaded my free October Seasonal Guide for the Classroom with pictures of our seasonal activities for the month, you can get all the details in the […]
A Tour of Jennifer’s Montessori Language Shelves
Jennifer Nichols’ gave us a tour of the materials on her Montessori Language shelves in the Trillium Community Facebook group a few weeks ago and I am delighted to feature her photos on the blog today! Jennifer has a charming little Montessori school in her home, called Whole Child Montessori. Affiliate links are used in this […]
Lauren’s Montessori Classroom: Language Area
Thank you to Lauren Franchek for sharing her beautiful classroom with us! Let’s take a closer look at her language area here. You can find links to explore the other areas of her classroom at the bottom of this page. Sandpaper letters (lowercase, capitals and phonograms) as well as Sandpaper letter boards A large […]
A Year of Early Language Shelves
I love the early language development area of my classroom! There is a lot of foundational work that comes before children are introduced to letters. Today’s post is about the kinds of activities we have on our pre-literacy or early language Montessori shelves. The Language Area This is a photo of the Language area […]
Phonetic Books for Beginning Readers
Finding decodable reading books for early readers can be quite a challenge! Below are some of the books we have in our classroom. The Peacekeeper Series I absolutely love the Peacekeeper Series available on Montessori Services. Each story is set in a Montessori classroom and shows how the children prevent or resolve a conflict. The words are phonetically […]
The Montessori Blue Series for Reading
A few months ago we were gifted a box of treasures by a former Montessori teacher who also happens to be the grandmother of one of our students. Even after a decade and a half in the classroom, I still love this stuff! All that organizing put me in the mood to take photos […]
Short Vowels: How Much is Enough Practice?
By Cathie Perolman Read more about Cathie’s process for practicing letter sounds here: Are Sandpaper Letters Enough? The Letter Race Game Once a child has mastered some letters and is able to blend sounds into words he is ready for some “heavy duty” work with three letter short vowel words. As I visit schools and support […]
The Letter Race Game
I’m excited to welcome Cathie Perolman back to the Trillium Montessori Blog! Last time she was here, she gave us a wonderfully detailed look at many of her letter work activities. Today she’s got a great letter sounds game to share with us. This is perfect for students who are in the “second period” of […]
Montessori Letter Order: Are Sandpaper Letters Enough?
This post is written by my friend Cathie Perolman, a long time Montessorian with over 3 decades of experience! Today she is sharing her language program with us. I have been very inspired by Cathie’s work and have used it as a basis for the organization of my own language shelves. I’m sure you will get a […]
Spring Literacy Activities for Preschoolers
Oral Language and Vocabulary Development The Question Game. Use the clues on the question card to find the right picture. (Source: Spring Montessori Pack and In the Garden Preschool Pack) Following Directions (Source: In the Garden Preschool Pack) Where is the Snail? A Prepositions Game (Source: In the Garden Preschool Pack) Matching and Sorting Sorting by Color(Source: In […]
St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness
These are some of the activities we have on our Phonological Awareness shelf for March! Activity 1: Word Awareness Poem and Sequencing Cards (Source: St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness Pack) Activity 2: Rhyming Riddles (Source: St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness Pack) Activity 3: Beginning Sounds Build-a-Shamrock (Source: St. Patrick’s Day Phonological Awareness Pack) Activity 4: Ending Sounds […]
On the Language Shelves in February
In another post, we shared some of the Valentine themed activities we had in the Fine Motor and Art areas of the classroom… like this heart-tonging work. This time we’re sharing some new activities we have on the Language shelves for February If you (or some of your students) are on heart-themed materials overload, you […]
The Mitten
“The Mitten” by Jan Brett is such a great book to read with the children in winter. I made up some phonological awareness games for our pre-literacy shelf to go with the book. Skill: Isolating Words You will need a basket of blocks to play this game. The teacher reads a sentence card and […]
Free Montessori Printable Puzzle Words
There are over one hundred sight words in this collection. They are color coded in groups of ten so you can easily keep track of which set the child is working on. https://www.instagram.com/p/CBP3nYhl-EE/
Free Montessori Printable: Label the Environment
These are a great addition to your reading shelf. There are a few levels of difficulty so you can do this with a range of readers. The simplest set would correspond to the “blue” reading level (blends and multi-syllables). The second set has words that include phonograms highlighted in red. The most […]
Free Montessori Printable Phonogram Sentences
Ok my friends, this is a HUGE printable and may be my favorite of the lot. You get THREE sentences for EACH of the Montessori phonograms. Yeah, THREE… EACH. This took forever to put together and I love it. I hope you will too! The sentences do include a few basic sight words like “the”, […]
Free Montessori Printable Phonogram Sorting
Three pictures to go with each of the standard Montessori phonogram sandpaper letters. The phonogram sound may be found at the beginning, middle, or end of the word.
Consonant Blends Word List: Free Montessori Printable
A whole lot of word lists to add to your phonetic reading shelf! A variety of beginning and ending blends are represented.
Free Montessori Printable Beginning Sound Sorting Cards
These cards can be used for a variety of early language activities. Cut out and mount on colored paper to coordinate with your letter sets. I do not like to teach the sound of the letter X in the initial position and so this set does not include any pictures for X. All the other […]
December Phonological Awareness
I find that most Montessori Language Albums (manuals) don’t provide enough information about the pre-literacy skills children need to develop before being introduced to the Sandpaper Letters. In my opinion, a lot of time should to be spent on oral language development and ear training before symbols are introduced. Phonological awareness is an umbrella term […]