A few words about Montessori equipment and how to use it. Our curriculum newsletters
provide step-by-step instructions for everything from Sensorial and Maps to Fractions
and Geometry.
Our Level One DVD reading components are based on Montessori Sandpaper Letters
and Movable Alphabet Letters. The Math DVD in Level One is based on the Spindle
Boxes, Numbers & Counters, and Golden Beads.
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The Sandpaper Letters are the first step toward reading. These letters are made
from very fine-grained sandpaper, which allows children to engage their sense of
touch, sight, and sound when they learn the letter sounds.
Vowels are mounted on pink or red cards, consonants on pale blue or medium blue
cards. Some teachers introduce cursive first and other feel print letters are best.
We vote for print (see item in the middle of the three stacks) because it provides a
direct link to reading. Introduce your child to one letter at a time. Start with the
letter c. Use your pointer and index fingers together to trace the letter as it is
written. Say the sound of the letter when you trace it. Introduce letters a and t
next.
Do not show your child how to blend the letters to form words. If he or she prompts
you or says that the letter sounds form the word cat, affirm your child observation
enthusiastically, and then move to the Movable Alphabet Letters.
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Movable Alphabet Letters are letter cutouts of the lower case letters that allow your
child to handle the actual letter shape. This tactile interaction with the letters
themselves is an important part of the learning process, so we suggest you make or buy
letters to use with our DVDs. If you make them yourself, cut out the letter shapes as
shown in the picture above, with the spaces in the round parts of the b, d, o, and so forth
cut out.
Vowels and consonants should be different colors. Our letters are made out of sturdy
glossy cardboard with rounded safety edges.
When your child has mastered about six to seven letter sounds using the Sandpaper
Letters, introduce those same letters from the Movable Alphabet set. Introduce the c,
a, and t. Show your child how these letters form the word cat. There is a pretty strict
methodology for presentation, which we discuss in step-by-step detail in our Montessori
Introduction to Reading, but the most important thing is to wait until your child is eager
to work with letters and to minimize instructional verbiage as you present the letter
sounds and combinations.
Your child should work with the Movable Alphabet letters until he or she can form a
variety of words without help.
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varying levels of word difficulty.
varying levels of word difficulty.
These cards are introduced after your child has mastered word formation with the
Movable Alphabet. Note that by the time your child can write words with the
Movable Alphabet, he or she can also read them!
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Sandpaper Numerals are numbers made out of
fine-grained sandpaper and attached to green
cardstock boards. They are your child's first introduction
to written numbers. Show your child how to trace them
as they are written, using the index and pointer fingers
together.
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Spindle Boxes are your child's first introduction to
quantity. As shown above, the first Spindle Box has slots
for 0 to 4 and the second box has slots for 5 to 9.
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Numbers & Counters reinforce the concept of quantity
tied to numbers. Introduce the Spindle Box first.
Tip: Do not use money for teaching counting. Do teach
older children about coins and paper money in a
separate lesson.
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Golden Beads sets are a staple piece of math
equipment in every Montessori classroom. Children see
the unit (one) bead forming a ten-bar, ten
ten-bars forming a hundred square, and, finally, ten
hundred-squares forming a thousand cube.
It might not seem interesting to adults, but children
adore working with these Golden Beads. For them, there
is something magical about seeing and handling the
quantities. You can begin with this introductory set (unit
beads and ten bars) when your child is three to four
years old.
The items not pictured are the hundred square (ten
ten-bars linked together) and the thousand cube (ten
hundred-squares linked together to form a cube).
This is one piece of equipment you may want to buy for
home use (sorry, we do not sell it ourselves). If you are
up to DIY, try to find or buy a sample of a ten bar,
hundred square, and thousand cube so you can copy
the setup, which is not particularly complex, just a lot of
manual labor. We really like the beads as opposed to
the cardboard cutouts that can be found in the market.
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