Montessori Phonics - Introduction To Single Letter Sounds

[Charmaine_chong]

Buds,


I have bought silly sentences at Popular book fair and my son likes it.

[buds]

GREAT! :hugs:


Share more when you have time okie, dear!
Value for money?

[buds]

soomum:

Lessons 1- 5 which covers teaching child sounds /c/. /f/, /i/, /m/, does it mean we just do the same for /e/, /z/, /p/, /o/ follow by next set etc?

Yes, correct. The continuity of the flow of lessons should be the same. Feel free to throw in more interesting objects tt u can find with more challenging vocab / greater difficulty of words for the remaining sets as and when you observe your child can benefit from. As a follow up to concrete experiences with the objects, you may collect pictures from old storybooks, magazines, newspapers (etc) to make your own picture cards to be used for matching games. This is where the abstract learning takes place.

soomum:

What is the reason for introducing LMA ? :?

Several objectives.. when u first embark on single letter sounds, the recognition of print/letter shape is a main objective together with knowledge on how to distinguish between consonants and vowels (easily understood as the lma is colour coded - red for consonants n blue for vowels) and tt later on at blending of sounds, it takes two of the reds n one of the blue to form a proper three letter word.. and more (follow up objectives) as you go along.

soomum:

After LMA, is it word building stage or the 3-letter word formation you mentioned earlier?

Using the same LMA material, the progression \"I\" would prefer n very much encourage is the word building stage (which understandably takes some time but more concept concrete) followed by three letter word families.

soomum:

she is not tracing the sandpaper letters well yet, always anyhow do :frustrated: is it a bad time if i try to get her to hold a pencil and start writing freehand letters? :?

I wouldn't exactly say bad timing but more to you wanting to stretch the learning experiences. As long as she can and is receptive to tracing with a pencil... using colorful markers... using paintbrushes or crayons (etc)... in
the proper fashion (top to bottom, left to right) it is fine. The key is to get her interested with tracing letters so she can learn how it is properly written.

soomum:

siidetrack a bit, i noticed that there are usually more than 1 child working on the mat in my child's school. is this acceptable? i have the perception that a child should work within a given space/work area in a montessori env, hence i'm abit disturbed by this as the teachers are not showing that this is not wrong to do. my child would tell me that so and so went over and play with her toys. she is not too happy unless its her fav friend (strange how a 3yo would already have friends she prefers) as i taught her to work within her mat and not disturb others hence she expects the others to do so.

Then she loves playing her school toys not sure what she picked and she does not like to be asked to do tablework/sit beside teacher to learn numbers/letters. she's stubborn i usually have to find a way to convince her to agree to do what i want her to. Have you come across such student/child before? How would you handle them?

Of course sweetie! What issit that I haven't encountered in this field after doing it so long... :evil: Just to clarify that technically it isn't exactly wrong to work together but the interested party must get prior agreement and approval from the one working on his/her mat. It should ideally be s mutual agreement n not something forced upon the child to agree, since there is a need to respect another child's work space.. ie. not crossing over mat/materials.. not grabbing.. not disturbing another child's concentration while intently at work.. (etc). Directresses, as facilitators n observers can come in to act as the middle-man to ensure the agreement (or not) is understandable to both parties. I suggest the moment parents feel doubtful or uncomfortable with certain settings of the classroom environment or handling of certain issues to quickly come forth to the respective directresses to seek council or advice. Point to note : Positive feedback n tactful expression of observation will in turn reward you with the same aura of positivity in most scenarios unless the teaching person is unsociable, unapproachable, or worse still... the kinds always on the defence.. :roll:

As for children who prefers to fo their own stuff most of the time, there are ways of getting around it. In a non-threatening Montessori environment we never stop encouraging children to work on materials within the individual curriculum regardless whether the child decides to fully participate in it or not. The other way is to do it as a group of a few if them first (so nobody does their own individual mat activity until the presentation is complete) after which the directress still goes around individually presenting the same presentation again to all of them. You'd be surprised dome kids who are genuinely strong headed n who've refused to partake in the activities DO observe n listen (even if they look like they're not! ) and actually know how to do them so well when they're left to their own devices to work the material! On your part, keep encouraging your child to take turns taking activities from all the shelves to ensure she gets the full benefits of what the 5 areas of the Montessori Method really offers. :hugs:

A thousand apologies for an extremely delayed reply.
Hope it's still helpful to u now. :oops:

[buds]

Heyya soomum... here are more detailed replies.

soomum:

lessons1- 5 which covers teaching child sounds /c/. /f/, /i/, /m/, does it mean we just do the same for /e/, /z/, /p/, /o/ follow by next set etc?

Yes. Correct.
The other sets are as per the ones here at this link > http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/do-it-yourself-alphabet-cards-1-montessori-sandpaper-letters or here at forum thread > http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7573&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

soomum:

What is the reason for introducing LMA ? :?

For starters learning single letter sounds, they learn to distinguish the letter shape and because the LMAs aren't arranged in order, you can observe if your child can indeed recognize the letter shape and match it to the corresponding letter sound card (sandpaper alphabets). They will also learn to tell vowels and consonants apart initially by colour but later on automatically with practice as they go on to 3 letter words' formation.

For intermediate learners, they learn to do wordbuilding effectively with the LMA and self-revision does not even require an adult to further teach. The adult observes and facilitates the learning experience as much as possible. Montessori materials are designed to allow self-correction which means that the child can self-check for any errors. Cool huh?

LMAs can be used up till the blending stage for up to 5 to 6 letter words' formation.

soomum:

After LMA, is it word building stage or the 3-letter word formation you mentioned earlier?

Think the answer here is already given above as well. Lemme noe if you require further clarification.

soomum:

she is not tracing the sandpaper letters well yet, always anyhow do :frustrated: is it a bad time if i try to get her to hold a pencil and start writing freehand letters? :?

My DD1 didn't even wanna touch the cards when i first tried to introduce her. :rant:

Bad timing... naaah... no harm trying.

[chuaeil]

bud,

do you have a blog for montessori phonics?

[laughingcat]

Hi chuaeil,


I kaypoh abit and speak for Buds as she is kinda busy and may not be in time to answer all queries.

Naaah Buds doesn’t have a blog yet. You can refer to all the posts and articles that she has kindly created and shared. It is sufficient already.

[SAHM_TAN]

The LMA is very expensive :faint:


is it ok to use printed ones? I understand that the material is for the kids to feel the letters and able to \"dot\" the i and j. Wil the child lose out if I just print out the letters in 2D on paper? I tried looking for alternatives but they are in multi colored or not well-made, thanks

[buds]

chuaeil:

bud,

do you have a blog for montessori phonics?

Hello again, chuaeil! Long time no see.. :peekaboo:
Yes, laughingcat is right. *Thanks dear.. :hugs:*
I am definitely very occupied. So many happy
things to share but so little time.

laughingcat:

Hi chuaeil,

I kaypoh abit and speak for Buds as she is kinda busy and may not be in time to answer all queries.

Naaah Buds doesn't have a blog yet. You can refer to all the posts and articles that she has kindly created and shared. It is sufficient already.

I have received maaaaannnny requests for a proper blog.
Time no enuff as yet... sorly. :salute: The exact reply is
aptly given by laughingcat...

\"..... *Buds doesn't have a blog........... yet.*\"



Will keep in touch. :imanisland:

[buds]

SAHM_TAN:

The LMA is very expensive :faint:


is it ok to use printed ones? I understand that the material is for the kids to feel the letters and able to \"dot\" the i and j. Wil the child lose out if I just print out the letters in 2D on paper? I tried looking for alternatives but they are in multi colored or not well-made, thanks

Agree. :faint:

Plus it's either they are in different colours from the ones we usually use in the classroom or they have t's that look like upside down f's.. :roll: If were to invest something so expensive must be of exact preference. The enrighten one quite big fonts and of acrylic made can be rather sharp on the edges as compared to wood ones but i suppose more lasting. I like the spanish fonts... more rounded... but mostly only overseas companies carry them and their shipping quite expensive if buying only a few. The better China-made ones i would love to go there and touch touch see see feel feel and get them all. :drool: Most ship only above USD1000 and more only. My Thailand-made materials are of great quality. Very good wood quality and finish. I love them! You can get them from http://edandtoys.com/

Anyone going to Thailand please gimme a tinkle. :please: I want to ta bao their Montessori materials! :drool:

[buds]

SAHM_TAN, if you're looking to DIY... you can consider buying those red and blue foam sheets in Popular and cut them out. Lasting, waterproof, done with love. Only downside is a wee time consuming but worth looking into if cost is a concern. Hope this helps?


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