Primary Reading Curriculum

"I learned to read and nobody taught me how." These are familiar words in the Montessori classroom. The ability to read develops during that long sensitive period for the acquisition of language. A key element to all Montessori classrooms is placing non-readers in with children who are already reading creating that natural lure to emulate their peers.

Montessori educators have long recognized the phonetic approach as the single most effective way to guide children toward reading. While reading requires decoding what others have written, in the Montessori classroom the child first becomes familiar with encoding words, thoughts and ideas that come from within themselves. The Vocabulary Cards and sound games are the first in a series of Montessori works that begin this process. Lessons are given in which the child learns to recognize the beginning, ending, and finally, the middle sound within a word. When introducing the Sandpaper Letters, the young child sees the letter, hears the sound of the letter clearly articulated, and, lastly, feels the letter by tracing it in sandpaper with two fingers of their dominant hand. As the child acquires more knowledge of sounds, the Moveable Alphabet material enables them to compose words and stories on their own. When they begin working with the Moveable Alphabet material the young child is comfortable using a phonetic approach to word building, but their natural curiosity soon has them composing complex words, opening the door for lessons on consonant blends, phonograms and sight words.

It is when this groundwork is laid that reading very naturally follows these word building exercises and the child makes the leap from composing words (encoding) to reading single words, phrases and sentences (decoding). This is known as the "explosion into reading". As these lessons move forward in the Montessori classroom, the child is becoming a more competent and confident reader. The child enjoys subsequent lessons where they can use their new reading skill to label objects in the classroom, carry out actions read on cards, and begin their journey of reading books.