Montessori Co-Op Language materials

I have these two language materials stored in my elementary impressionistic charts box - mostly left over from co-op, but Legoboy recently found this one and loves it:

I made this parts of speech display for my elementary co-op children - to remind them what each symbol meant. They had not had these symbols in primary, so this was a very helpful chart for them. 

This is one of the handwriting charts from my AMI primary language album. It used to be framed - not sure where the frame went ;) This is a sample of the banded line paper (faded on one side), placement of the letters on the paper and one of the several handwriting charts the children should have in primary (and sometimes in lower elementary) - I find the ones with cursive and print together especially helpful for children who learned print first.


These two very simple charts allowed my lower elementary co-op children with no primary level experience to fully integrate into a part-time Montessori classroom, without the need for outside resources or modifying the true Montessori experience in any way - any modifications made were the same ones I would use in a full-time classroom.

Further thoughts on Cursive

I've been asked about cursive in many places of late. While I have upcoming Montessori Nuggets on the topic, I thought I would share some of my own personal thoughts here. Yes, you may translate that phrase as "soap box." I won't judge your choices if you won't judge mine. I just ask that you hear me out. :)

My son just turned 8. In a regular school, he would be entering 3rd grade this coming fall. In our area, 2nd graders in their 2nd semester start learning cursive. It is a big milestone for the children.

The teachers also complain that academic work in other areas drops. Drastically.

Some random thoughts - in no particular order - hence random:
;)

• my son has been writing in cursive since age 4; yes we had some print experiences in there too (see Adventures in Writing)
• by 5 1/2 he could write anything in cursive; he just didn't; I continued to state "I'd prefer cursive and soon it will be a requirement" - one day he just started doing it - and has never gone back. 
• In January of last year, the 2nd graders (a year older than my son) in his atrium class were just starting cursive and writing on the chalkboard in the atrium. They were still learning and the results were interesting and quite beautiful, if not entirely legible. I loved their enthusiasm! However, all the children were just amazed that my son could already write so well, without thinking about it. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I learned when I was ready." (can't improve on that answer!)
• During that time of learning to write, he was in the strongest part of the sensitive period for language. While we were towards the end of the part when re-focusing on the cursive, we were still able to utilize it. 
• Older children just don't have that sensitive period. 
• Maria Montessori worried about teaching the children print (she'd taught them cursive first). Then they started reading Gothic words on the calendar. They taught themselves print. 
• If she stopped worrying, why should I worry?
• Since children are in a sensitive period, their interest and focus is right there; they learn easily in a form of writing that comes naturally anyway (curved lines allowing a variation of creation, versus straight lines being a standard of perfection that is hard to achieve). 
• Again, they learn easily - thus it doesn't take away from their other learning. 
• But in 2nd grade, it DOES take away from their other learning - because they have to consciously RE-learn everything know, RE-learn a natural instinct that was trained OUT of them in kindergarten and 1st grade (and preschool if they went). 
• Print is everywhere - but that does not mean I need to dumb down my handwriting for my child. I do NOT dumb down my vocabulary - why would I dumb down the handwriting? 
• Print is everywhere - more so than in Montessori's time - and the children figured it out all on their own then. Since my son was writing in capital block letters at 3 1/2 (noone taught him, except perhaps the keys on that laptop that Grandma gave him ;) ), it would seem that print is prevalent enough to be learned by anyone at any time. Why spend time teaching it? Time that is best served elsewhere? Like making cookies with my son. 
• we have to print on forms. Ok. Fine. But we don't fill out forms all day every day. We DO write grocery and to-do lists, letters to friends (e-mails aren't even printed - they're TYPED), thank you cards, all the copy-work my son does, etc. 

And this list doesn't touch the practical reasons of cursive such as assistance with dyslexia, spacing of words, understanding of concepts of words (a word is connected as a single unit), etc. This list only touches on some of the thoughts running through my mind for OUR situation. 

Is it the end of the world if your child learned print first? No! 

But how much more wonderful use of their time to teach cursive first and not bother to teach print at all (since it just comes). 

Ok. So I know at least one reader of this blog will be thinking "why should we *teach* cursive at all if print is so much easier?"

BECAUSE: 

• cursive is for writing; print is for reading (we type print for books and computers; original printing press wasn't for handwritten books)
• cursive is actually EASIER at the primary age compared to print because children naturally curve their lines. Straight lines are perfection; variations on a curved line become an art form.
• Cursive is an art form. It is beauty. It is individual. It is expressive. 
• Print is actually harder to teach at the primary age, dyslexia or not. 
• Kids with dyslexia NEED cursive writing to help with the orientation of letters, groupings of words, and general confidence building. 

I hope this information helps! Or at least provides food for thought!

Handwriting Sample

Here is an image of a handwriting sample. This was done by a boy at age 7 1/4 or so - elementary Montessori, homeschool. He was "delayed" in the usual Montessori sequence in writing (see my other post on this one!), though he'd started at 3 1/2 years with capital block letters (of his own accord). However, my (biased, motherly) opinion is that he has beautiful handwriting.

This is NOT his best handwriting; it is an information list of some random words that I just recently found in a folder of mine (I think he had given it to me for something, but the purpose slips my mind). **Updated: he informs me this was part of an online spelling game I'd let him play - these are the words the game was giving him and he had wanted me to see the type of words he was spelling.



I am slightly embarrassed to show the following samples of my own handwriting at a similar age - public school all the way through. The artwork with my name would have been early 3rd grade (8 1/2 - regular classroom); the journal would have been April of 2nd grade (I was in a split class of 2nd/3rd grade; I was writing in cursive by then, and LOVED it, so I don't know what the deal is with the print in this journal). I can't seem to find a cursive sample until middle school work. Odd, because as I said, I loved writing in cursive. I also seem to recall being the top speller in my classes - yet I have some obvious mis-spelled words. But, then, I wasn't a Montessori child!

In my partial defense, when we moved to a new town for 3rd grade, the other kids weren't writing in cursive so "encouraged" me (negative peer pressure anyone!?) to print - you can see the kind of curvy letters in my name that show I was really wanting to write in cursive.

Some points an offline friend noticed:

• Note the use of lines on my paper; versus no lines on his; yet the alignment is similar (therefore he did better because he didn't have a line!).
• If I recall, he was not using proper writing posture to write these words; I was sitting at a desk sized to my body, I was likely using proper posture. Therefore he is still has the advantage; and how much better if he'd used proper writing posture! He always used proper grip.
• writing grasp: I know his is fine; I recall having a soft indent in my ring finger between the nail and the knuckle because of how I wrote (I had this writing grasp into my 20s when I took Montessori training!)
• He is not yet writing long stories, journal entries, even long sentences - unless he is *extremely* interested (copying poignant Scripture passages; selections from the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" - copywork - he's not *thinking of *what to say while writing long things; when he *thinks, he keeps it *short.). That's ok - it all works out - and it means he is more careful with his handwriting itself. 
• In short, his writing has a meaning and a beauty. Mine had meaning; but it was "simplistic" - when my son writes, it has a deep, rich meaning.  

CAVEAT: This is not directly about cursive versus print - only about neatness, style, content, beauty, being able to express oneself.

In the end, I'll take the Montessori education any day, hands-down!

Movable Alphabet in our Home

In our home, the alphabet system we use is as follows, according to the AMI Montessori primary and elementary albums:


All letters are CURSIVE


sandpaper letters: 
pink consonants
blue vowels
(I made ours and our "box" is just a white cardboard box)




sandpaper phonograms:  
green
(we do have a nice wood box for these ones)

The x is upside down in this photo

wooden movable alphabet: 
red consonants, blue vowels
organized alphabetically (ideal is NOT alphabetical, but this was affordable, and smaller, but still large enough to work with)





printed movable alphabet: 
(no not in print; this is cursive printed on the computer - these COULD be in print)
set 1: red
set 2: blue
set 3: black
I chose the colors - you could use green (phonogram) and black (rest of the word) to start, then add red for the later activities (red denotes "new").
All stored in a Plano 3701 Tacklebox - one alphabet per tacklebox. This box has curved bottom for ease of removing the letters; and just the right number of compartments needed in the right sizes!

NOTE: This set started out as a tile-based movable alphabet - I had the consonants in red and the vowels in blue - so that longer stories could be written. But then, we transitioned to full-color alphabets.
In a home with lots of children, you'll probably want both types - this post is just about what we have now ;)

This is not ours - but shown here to show
the contents of our tacklebox shown above :) 

For our homeschool and co-op, this has been enough thus far; but I will soon be adding another printed color set because of the number of children needing this material at co-op. For PRIMARY, 3 sets is sufficient, and you could get by with 2. For ELEMENTARY, you really want 3 sets for home use, possibly 4 for ease of use - it is used for a LOT of things, in particular word study and spelling games. It is easy to make and the tacklebox is perfect size.

At first, I did not print the capitals on the back - we needed the lower case right then, so I didn't take the time to add the capitals until we needed them and I just wrote some in; but the capitals should be on one side and the lowercase on the others; as well as cards for punctuation in one of the colors, so that longer stories can be written out. This is where children learn punctuation and capitalization - with this small movable alphabet.

So why the Plano 3701 Tacklebox?

• With the dividers it comes with, there are enough slots for all 26 letters in the same box. You could even add punctuation if you are so inclined (there are sets in my primary album that include punctuation). 
• the far and near sides of the bottoms are curved so the letters slip out so easily with one's fingers (flat bottoms do not allow for ease of removal at all)
• The dividers stay in place so letters don't slip underneath (at least in my experience; the flat bottomed ones allow for sliding of the letters to the next compartment)
• They are affordable at $10 each; and free shipping on Amazon if over $25; I've sometimes seen them in the $8 range as well. 

We have other alphabets, but this is it for our movable alphabet collection ;)


UPDATED TO ADD some close-ups of the tackle-boxes in question:

Photos of our actual colors ;)

Note the curved bottoms
(pictured is a smaller box - punctuation
 or use for numerals/operations/symbols)