What We Have Done This Week...

The Sandpaper Letters:

When teaching children the sounds of the alphabet, Montessorians tend to focus on the sound the letter makes, instead of naming the letter. Learning the names of letters first often confuses the child as he strives to learn all of the sounds. For example, the letter “c” has a name that starts with the sound /s/, but it is first taught has having a /k/ sound. Using the sandpaper letters is recommended as it involves more of the child’s senses, especially the sense of touch. When using the sandpaper letters the child’s brain is getting tactile and kinesthetic memories to help remember the letter/number, as well as the visual memories.

Phonemic Awareness

In Montessori, children refine their hearing sense through work in the Sensorial area with Sound Cylinders. Children are introduced to sounds through stories, songs, games, and rhyming activities at circle time. These phonemic awareness activities train the child’s ear to distinguish between different sounds.

Sandpaper Letters

The child’s first exposure to the printed letter comes with his work with the sandpaper letters. The teacher will demonstrate the proper formation of the letter as she traces it with the first two fingers of her dominant hand, simultaneously saying the sound. She will then guide the child’s fingers in the same fashion, saying the sound, and having him say the sound with her.

L second introduction to sandpaper letters, he wanted to know how his name sound and look like (I know that each presentations should be with 3 letters at a time) but he really wanted to try and since we should follow the child I let him experience and to my surprise his first attempt was pretty good, he figure it out on his own pronouncing each letter sound, he put it all together and say it : "LUCAS". You should have see the expression of his face and I was so proud of his first reading and the way he figures how to put his name together , kinda like a puzzle

Bug decided that she wanted to trace some letters and simultaneously using sandpaper letters and sand tray ~! I'm so happy to see their progress .