MONTESSORI READING: A JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY

MONTESSORI READING

Article credit, voilamontessori.com 

For conventional educators, reading is a skill that must be taught by means of drills, homework, and tests.  Yet, most children who go through authentic Montessori programs are not taught to read; they discover reading on their own!

How do Montessori children learn to read without direct adult instruction, and is it possible to give your child the same experience at home?

In a Montessori environment, preparation for reading is everywhere.  It’s in the left-to-right hand and eye movements required to wipe a shelf; in the rhyming songs we sing; in the vocabulary we give.

Presentations that guide a child towards reading start around 2 ½ years. With a fun group activity called Sound Games, children realize that words are made up of individual sounds.  Each sound is then associated with a symbol when Sandpaper Letters are introduced.  These symbols – the 26 letters that make up our alphabet – become the plastic (or wooden) letters of the Moveable Alphabet.

Look Who’s Talking! A Child’s Thirst for Language Development

“Words are your [child’s] best friends. They are bridges of understanding and passages that seed all of humanity.” (Montessori Today, Paula Polk Lillard)

A child thirsts for new language like they thirst for water. They crave new language experiences for many reasons; to be in touch with their surroundings, engaged in their environment, and to communicate with others around them. We want to provide a variety of language opportunities for children, especially between the ages of birth to six years, when the child is in the “sensitive period” for language development.

At HBMH, our community is well equipped with language-rich learning opportunities. We talk to the children and adult with respect, modeling how to interact in a positive, productive way. We model grace and courtesy so the child understands proper social interactions. Every lesson is an opportunity to expand upon the child’s language development.

In Montessori, we discourage talking to a newborn in a “baby voice”. Instead, we carry on conversations and talk to them as if talking to another adult. We share stories with them, and encourage them to respond. We “coo” in response to their little noises to show that their words and noises matter, and that they can communicate their needs through language. Our tone of voice conveys a specific message and emotion. We tell them what we’re going to do before we do it. For instance, “I’m going to pick you up”, or “I’m going to wipe your nose”, and so forth.