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Friday 11 July 2014

MONTESSORI PHONICS : Introduction To Single Letter Sounds (Lesson 4)


*NOTE* : In all these lessons, letters of the alphabet are not introduced.

Recap : "Last week, we learnt the sounds of these letters." Show sandpaper letter card /c/, /f/ and /i/. You may reinforce those previous letter sounds in your lesson. 

Show the sandpaper letter cards. "This letter makes the sound..... ?" Pause and wait if there is any response from the child. If not, then continue.... "This letter makes the sound /c/ or /f/ or /i/."....... depending on the card you are showing.

You may also show your child the objects that have been used to date. This part though is optional. Most importantly here, is to know if your child knows all the sounds he/she has been introduced to. You may prompt your child if he/she has difficulty remembering.

However that being said, it means that more reinforcements have to be carried out with the previous letter sounds, which in this case are the sounds, /c/, /f/ and /i/. Add on or change the objects which have been used thus far, should you want to vary your previous lesson.
Once you are sure your child knows all his other sounds, move on to introduce the next new letter sound. 

Introduction to the sound /m/.

"Today, we're going to learn a new sound. This letter makes the sound /m/." Click this link below to hear the sound /m/.


Show your child the letter card.

"This is how I write/trace /m/."

Slowly, show your child to use two fingers (the pointer and the tall man) or just the pointer is fine too… to trace the letter, beginning from the left (upright line) - top to bottom.....

... move your fingers back up and move your fingers right towards the first curve and move the fingers slowly downwards...

... then back up again at the centre to finish off the letter tracing down to the last curve.....

The tracing should end at the bottom right of the letter 'm'.

"Would you like to try?" Invite your child to trace the sandpaper letter.

The objectives of the sandpaper letters are to develop a muscular impression of the letter shapes and to associate the sounds with the shapes. This also helps to develop a visual impression and to learn the writing direction of the letter shapes. ie. left to right.... top to bottom.

Trace the letter again and tell the child, "/m/ as in microscope."

Invite the child to look at the specimen under the microscope. Engage in a brief discussion. You may engage the children in small
talk on the use of the microscope to view microbiological specimens at high power magnification. I got mine free with a kids' meal from Burger King.  If your child is very interested in the material, you can assure him/her that he/she is free to use it even after the lesson is over. 


"/m/ as in magnet." 

I placed a few clips for my boys to work with for this object and briefly share about magnetism.

If you have some money (notes), you can use those too and tell them, "/m/ as in the first sound of mmmm…money. Would you like to count the money?"


If you have a moose in your object box, Show the moose to your child, trace the letter again and say to the child… "/m/ as in moose."

 "Would you like to see the moose?"
I have a magnifying glass for my boys to use for our nature tray, so I included that in our 'm' box as well. 

Other items you can include in your 'm' box are :
(1) mirror
(2) milk bottle
(3) macaroni
(4) mug
(5) mouse
(6) medal
(7) motorcycle

There is no limit as to how many materials you can introduce to your child. For my lil' dragon_boi who is 2 years old, I show him less objects or just what I think he can manage for the day as he has shorter attention span. For my chubs, who is 3 years old, he normally can work through all the items in our box. Psst. We have quite a big box.  Think of it as increasing the number of words in our children's vocabulary bank.

End of 1st period.

2nd period. Show me....

RECAP :
For Period 2 in the 3-Period Lesson, show all the three objects you've introduced all at the same time. In this period, you are to observe how much of Period 1 your child remembers. Place all objects on your work mat and ask your child to show/point to the object that you are asking for.

"Can you show me the magnet?"

"Can you show me the microscope?

"Can you show me the moose?

"Can you show me the magnifying glass?

Carry on with all other objects you have to show in your 'm' box. Casually, make extra emphasis on the mmmmmm sound as you run through the objects with your child.

In the second period, the child is not required to say out the names of the objects. He/She is simply encouraged to point to the objects upon being prompted with the object name you asked for.

Now for the last period in the 3-period lesson...

In this period, the child is now asked to say out the letter sound and be able to say the names of the objects that have been introduced.

Show each object in isolation in Period 3.
ie. show objects one at a time.

You : Can you tell me what this is...?
Child : microscope

You: Can you tell me what this is...?
Child : moose

You : Can you tell me what this is...?
Child : magnet

You: Can you tell me what this is...?
Child : magnifying glass

Then, conclude the lesson before putting the stuff away.

While showing your child the sandpaper letter during conclusion, conclude with your child… 

"Today, we have learnt…"
"... /m/ as in moose.... /m/ as in microscope.... /m/ as in magnifying glass and /m/ as in magnet. We'll learn another sound tomorrow/on another day... I will place this material on this shelf, so you may work with it any time."

It is always good to invite children to help keep the materials. It helps them remember how the material should be kept and where the specific materials are placed.

This part is always important, which I always try to reinforce to parents of my students... constantly remember that if your children did not get any of the steps right at any point of the 3-Period lesson, please come back to the lesson again. Practice makes perfect. Repetition gives children confidence and offers silent encouragement that they do not necessarily have to get it right the first time around.

3-Period Lesson Recap!
1st Period : Introduce letter sound & show objects in isolation. ie. one at a time..

2nd Period : Display all the objects all at once and ask child to show you, one at a time..

3rd Period : Ask the child to tell you the names of the objects that you ask for (show each object in isolation) Finally, conclude your lesson by saying out the new letter sound taught for the day and naming all the objects shown to the child during the lesson.

“It is the child who makes the man, and no man exists who was not made by the child he once was.” ~ Dr Maria Montessori














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