AMI language and Dwyer - how they fit

The following blog post is not showing up in readers. I have now had several people contact me to suggest or request that I re-post it. I do not want to belabor the point, so this will be my last post on it ;)

The link to the blog post is: Dwyer and AMI Primary Language Album

Wednesday, I will have an elementary school day post up again. Yay!



Click her for a link to the Montessori Trails page correlating Dwyer with AMI with Pink/Blue/Green - aligned next to each other according to stages.

Pink Blue Green - Why It Is Not for Us

This post is back to just us - our journey through Montessori. Well, in this case it is my journey and the journey of my poor tutoring children in those early days. ;)


Years and years ago, I started doing Montessori at home and located a wonderful person online who shared her word lists for the pink/blue/green series. I had not seen this work done in the Montessori schools I had worked at, couldn't find it in Montessori's books, but I also knew that I didn't "know" all there was to know about Montessori and perhaps I'd just "missed" understanding what I was seeing. At this point, I was doing full-time daycare in my home and didn't have time for subbing or for observing; the few teachers I was able to contact told me they didn't use pink/blue/green but couldn't explain quickly what they did use - I remember phrases like "total reading" and "exploration of language keys" but I just didn't get it. One online acquaintance said, "There is something far better than the pink blue green series for Montessori language - I'll send you information." I never did receive anything :(

So I tried to sort it out with currently available resources online; the one album I had didn't explain it well; and the Montessori books I had didn't even MENTION it. (see update below). I tried combining Montessori Read and Write with the pink/blue/green ---- I was just not feeling comfortable with our odd blend - it didn't feel right - not in the same way our other Montessori work just felt right. I finally gave up and used the p/b/g cards as reading cards and modified the materials to suit the elementary children who came to me for tutoring - and made up my own activities.


When I got to AMI primary training (hoping to learn how to use this p/b/g material) I was not only astounded to learn it just wasn't used, but also that the trainer was adamantly opposed to it!!! The methodology actually used in AMI was SO simple - SO basic - SO straight-forward, that it was almost TOO simple! No wonder the p/b/g was developed I thought to myself - because we adults struggle with simplicity ;)

That conversation with my trainer was so freeing!


But don't you need all these word cards to learn to read?

If you might be offended by my answer, please come back tomorrow :) Really, it's ok :) I want to be totally honest and say what needs to be said, but I understand that it won't make everyone happy!

I respect the intentions of those people who created this pink/blue/green series; I respect them as people without having to agree with their outcomes. I also respect the people who learned this system and know no other way, thus continue to pass it on. I can respect them as people without agreeing with the use of this learning to read plan.

4/1/2015 UPDATE: The chapter on reading in The Discovery of the Child mentions an English language materials using a set of drawers. The way that AMI sets up writing/reading experiences and the way that PBG works - what Montessori describes could seriously go either way. I am awaiting hard facts, information, proof on the recently learned connection that Montessori worked WITH someone to create the PBG (The Discovery of the Child seems to suggest Montessori did not collaborate but gave blessing). 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALL OPINIONS AND FACTS EXPRESSED HEREAFTER ARE SOLELY BASED ON my own experience as a past homeschooling, Montessori-wanna-be mother; past/present AMI trained primary and elementary teacher, and continuing homeschool mother using pure AMI Montessori at home and in a part-time co-op. I AM NOT AN EXPERT. I can only express what I see through my own observations and experiences.




Do you  need all those cards? Those booklets? Those dials?
FOUR HUNDRED PUZZLE WORDS!?!?!?!?!?
(Correction 1/4/12: FIVE HUNDRED SIGHT WORDS - 25 that must be learned before starting the blue level; the rest to be learned before starting the green series)

NO.

Just because learning to read and write is less of a tedium at this tender age, doesn't mean we make it a tedium. Kids learn to read and write with a variety of programs but why strive to take the fun out of it?


I have recently been the grateful recipient of a set of album sections that thoroughly cover the pink/blue/green series. As I read I kept grimacing and thinking, "OUCH!". My primary trainer was SO right when she said "too curriculum" like. MBT and others online who have expressed their utter relief in finding Dwyer's booklet are relieved for a *very *good *reason.

It is my firm belief that the reason for the confusion and for the relief when finding an alternative Montessori approach, is that the pink/blue/green series does not utilize all the proper Montessori principles that should be applied to the area of language exploration at these ages (before age 6).

I was more appalled as I read along. I started creating a long detailed analysis, but I will stick to some main points for this blog post. My full list is a book in itself.

• There is far too much material. Classroom or otherwise. This ignores the need for essentiality - keys - simplicity - the Montessori principles of isolation of quality and isolation of concept. 
• The whole plan insults the intelligence of the child. It implies that they cannot move forward in any of the reading/writing areas without the adult to be there with him. Montessori principles mis-applied: independence; exploration; follow the child (not follow the adult). 
• Part 2 to insulting their intelligence: with p/b/g, when the children are allowed to begin work with the movable alphabet, they've not even been given all the keys. So, they've received too much of the wrong kind of "food" and not near enough of the right kind to balance it out - and they are stuck now needing to use lots of objects and pictures to create words with the movable alphabet, when work with the movable alphabet should be about them writing what is in their OWN heads and hearts - the movable alphabet should NOT require objects and pictures  Montessori principles mis-applied: Follow the child; independence; exploration; creativity; imagination. 
• Continuing on the same vein: the children are far too tied to the materials. Montessori principle missed: the materials should be helps/aids, not crutches. 
• SUMMARY: This whole system does not trust the child, or the innate depth of the few necessary materials. And with so many "levels" and "stages", it cannot possibly be following the child.

SPECIFIC CASES: 

• The aural development (sound games) are labeled as age 4 and are listed in the album after physical preparation of the hand for writing. To the contrary, the sound games can begin in older infancy or toddler-hood, definitely the moment a child walks into primary at 2 1/2 or 3. Sensitive periods are in use right now - let's use them! 
• I have to be careful how I say this, or the soap-box will start flying: if I am reading these pages correctly, there should be more green sandpaper letters (phonograms, digraphs, dipthongs), than pink/blue letters (individual letters). One word: NO! We have one green sandpaper board for one key sound; we have simple material later that ties those related letter combos together. Simple. 
• While there seems to be some leeway for not finishing up pink before going onto blue and then to green (child can be going back and forth), my experience over and over again is that children who learn to read with a "holistic approach" described by the teachers I mentioned above, fly from no reading to 2nd/3rd grade reading level within a week - somewhere around the 5th birthday (could be a bit sooner or a bit later) and within a year are up to middle school reading level - both in skill and comprehension (because they have continued on with reading analysis, word study, function of words, etc.). I am not seeing the possibility of that occurrence with the pink/blue/green. Oh - and these children have been writing for a long time already. 
• Indeed what I hear from many people is that the children are reading before they are truly writing, with the p/b/g series - and there is a minimal or very quiet burst into either writing or reading; whereas experience time and again with the AMI approach when done to its fullness results in a huge explosion very similar to what is described by Montessori. 
• The blue series (consonant blends - not even phonograms yet) is noted as ages 5-6. Yet, these are phonetic words - just "longer" than cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant). A child given the keys to the English language (40-44 key sounds depending on the dialect), he can work with these words with ease the moment he touches the movable alphabet at around 4 - 4 1/2. At 5-6, he should be beyond the need for a "learning to read scheme" - he should be actually reading! 
• The green series is also noted as ages 5-6; in the Dwyer booklet or the AMI primary language album, a child who has been in a Montessori prepared environment since age 2 1/2 will be well beyond this reading stage at age 5. Again - it happens SO FAST when the keys-based foundation is laid. When a normally-developing child enters at 4 or 5 or 6, they are still reading within a few months, not years. 
• Yet, interestingly enough, those people I know who do use the pink/blue/green series consistently from age 3 onward,  have children entering elementary at 6 1/2 and almost 7 who are not "done" with the green series. The parents feel totally worn out by the process, the child is not full of joy in reading. And the idea of using elementary albums that suggest "remediation" (which would actually return that joy to their work because it will ditch the pbg, pick up the real keys, and move forward) makes those parents cringe because of all the energy they've already spent. I don't blame them! I'd be upset too! But consider what is best for the child. 

Is it possible that those people stating they no longer seeing the explosion into reading aren't setting up the situation for it to happen? I see the explosion happen over and over and over. With the same results. An EXPLOSION - full of JOY! And EXCITEMENT! 

The pink/blue/green must work somewhere and create true joy in the children, but I've really not heard about those successes yet in homeschools. I hear about the tedium, the materials, the energy drains, all the angry-sounding statements from people "defending" pink/blue/green - yet they have children reading before writing, and doing so at later ages (even Montessori noted that children aged 5 and older who are just starting out, will READ first, and they have missed sensitive periods - so if a child is reading first, is it possible the child was older when beginning or was given the wrong keys?). 

And the whole situation fills me with sadness: the situation of this work not being appropriate. But when I am honest about it, I risk offending someone. It is so hard to be honest and not take flack, so I'm choosing honesty and am praying for peace!

Why am I so sad? Because now I understand why I just didn't "get it" despite my years in a Montessori school (almost none of which would have used something like this!), but there are SO MANY people out there who think that the pink/blue/green series is the only Montessori way to learn to write and read in English. It is just NOT the case! 

There IS a wonderful option available - it requires fewer materials, much JOY, much exploration, creativity and imagination, leads to successful writers THEN readers --- and, well, after being so sad today, I just can't say enough: there is ANOTHER way! 

It was developed by Maria Montessori and works for ALL languages, despite what the creators of the pink/blue/green scheme thought.


Click her for a link to the Montessori Trails page correlating Dwyer with AMI with Pink/Blue/Green - aligned next to each other according to stages. 

Analysis of Dwyer Booklet - compared to AMI Primary Language Album

I am short on time, but I have several people interested in my analysis, so here are my notes. If I have a chance I will freshen these up in the near future with a bit more narrative.

Please DO ask if something doesn't make sense!



In Complete Agreement: 

0+
Developing language at home - absorbing it
speak, sing, poems, rhymes, read books
REAL language - diverse vocabulary
explore with the sound games (spoken language section of the language album - can begin when a child starts speaking, maybe even before - attune his ear to sounds)

2 1/2 +
Development of vocabulary
Primary Language album: spoken language - heavily emphasized (there are a lot of games in the spoken language section that are excellent for the children's exploration!)
Stories, poems and songs

Emphasis on key sounds - but not on early sandpaper letters! Be sure to have those sounds down pat! But also start them when the child is very young. I add that starting with an older child (4, 5, 6), it may be necessary to introduce some sandpaper letters very soon into it, so that the child "sees the point". Otherwise, the earliest introduction of the sandpaper letters is between 3 1/2 and 4, after just about the all sounds are known.

When sounds are known, quickly go into the sandpaper letters - 2-3 weeks should see them all mastered (AMI says "less than a month" so corresponds). Remember, the child KNOWS the sounds; he is just learning a graphic symbol and tracing it right now. Nothing more.


There are many references to "proper" presentations; full exercises; all the stages (of handwriting for example); children "lucky enough" to have had it all done right for him.... The booklet does not provide these details; the details are found in the language album. Some sample stages of the sound games, which seems sufficient to get the heart of the matter; other stuff too lightly touched on to be in-depth.


DIFFERENCE: 
Up until the booklets/folders, references of activities are to those found in the Primary language album. Activities are very similar, with Dwyer providing few details that are then found far in-depth in the Primary Language album.

DIFFERENCE: The primary language has a "photo album" filled with a set of phonogram card. There are no folders such as described in Dwyer's booklet. They may have been at the time this booklet was originally written. The booklets described are stage 1 of the booklets described in the primary language album. There are two more stages of booklets, which can be hand-made or suitable sets purchased.

SIMILARITY: For the dictionary of phonograms, the album page in the primary language album is "Research".
Dictation is done with the materials at hand - and is done in similar manner - the child can either handwrite or use the small movable alphabet to spell out the words.


SUMMARY OF INITIAL THOUGHTS: 
All in all, the Dwyer pamphlet seems to be summarizing and providing the framework for what was possibly AMI's specific approach at that time. In the meantime, only the minor differences noted above have made their way into AMI; these differences based on observation and needs of the children.

I feel that her approach is straight-forward, but knowing what I personally know, it leaves out a lot of details and leaves me hanging! Understandable given the format she was working with as compared to the size of the language album! I do NOT know how I would have felt about this booklet if I had found it before I had AMI training. I think I would have loved it for the framework it provides along with the bit of details to help me be looking for the right resources to fill in the pieces. I think I would have appreciated it and I do know that I would have mostly understood it better than the p/b/g scheme. But I do think it would have left me with a lot of hanging questions (like what are these activity word games!?).

I highly recommend this booklet for parents homeschooling their 0-6 year olds, but with a caveat: since it is only the structure AND the points of emphasis, it should utilized along with the AMI Primary Language album. The booklet will provide the necessary introduction and practical application, while the album will provide all the details on the materials and presentation styles.

The album can feel overwhelming and for a non-AMI-trained parent definitely could use more of a "guide". It seems that together, this booklet and the AMI primary language album fit well together to provide the homeschooling mom (or other adult) what they need to know to work with their child(ren).


(I have received some offline questions on this topic and am putting them all together in one post - it will go up on January 3rd, but please keep asking questions and I'll keep editing that post as needed so everything is in one place :) How to Use Dwyer with AMI Primary Language (linking to post ahead of time - it will be available on January 3rd). The post includes a chart with each step in Dwyer aligned with the corresponding section of the Primary Language Album.)




Click her for a link to the Montessori Trails page correlating Dwyer with AMI with Pink/Blue/Green - aligned next to each other according to stages.

Our Journey to Reading

What did we use for learning to read?


The longer post: ;) 

I originally found the pink/blue/green series before I went to AMI primary Montessori training. I printed out all the cards from a site that offered them for free (thank you to all you WONDERFUL resource providers out there! low-cost or free - I owe each of you so much!). I had some instructions for their use and several blogs and sites with further ideas; but since I couldn't combine that information with anything in any of Montessori's writings, or any other Montessori-topic books I could purchase at the time, I was LOST. It just didn't connect with any Montessori experience I'd had and I didn't have a chance during that time period to get into a school to see what it was I missing.

So I took the printed words and sorted them out by the lessons I did have in books like The Advanced Montessori Method - and tried to adapt them to fit what I could grasp at the time.

It worked, but I still found myself combining it with learning-to-read series like Catholic Heritage Curricula's Little Stories for Little Folks, graded readers and other non-Montessori reading lessons. I was not entirely satisfied. And I was SO looking forward to learning to use the "real Montessori learning-to-read materials (aka pink/blue/green series)" when I got to primary training.

Was I in for a shock!? They didn't have it! NO pink/blue/green!? I asked about it and my trainer said, "Well, I have looked into it and considered how to use it within our environments, but we find it to be too curriculum-like, too scheduled, too much for the child; therefore too slow and inappropriate." Well, that explains why it wasn't in any of the writings I'd read - because Maria didn't develop it! It was developed later to deal with our English language rules; and AMI considered it and passed it by. Interesting.

I couldn't discuss it in detail with her to get more specifics, because I still didn't have much experience with it at the time. And I had to set it aside because AMI training is intense (and I was a single mom and working part-time at my son's school). What I DID discover while I was in training is that my daycare children had received from me something that looked VERY much like the AMI layout for reading. Both my methodology and Montessori's methodology as laid out in the AMI albums were based on careful observation, providing the keys, and providing real life experience - no dumbing down, no graded stages.



So where did things go askew with my own son? ;)

My son followed the AMI way perfectly his first year in primary. He began reading (and writing) at home and at school, until a little girl told him, "You can't read; I'll read this book for you." She was playing around, he took her seriously. And told me at home, "I can't read yet." Uphill battle until the following summer we worked through some of the issues and he was reading again.

The following school year, we were far away from any Montessori school and he was attending a part-time very non-Montessori preschool. The children LOVED that he could read to them. Until one girl said, "We're not supposed to read until we're in Kindergarten!" So he told me just that line at home (he did not know I was in the room next door to the preschool and heard the whole interaction). We spent Thanksgiving RE-training his confidence. But it just didn't really pick up again.

We started again that summer just after he turned 5. He was picking it up. Then for 2 1/2 months he attended a lovely AMS Montessori school that used a very nice combination of reading strategies, but my son's confidence was shot at this point, so he would do the minimum requirements for the day and no more - he was busy in other areas. When we were back home full-time and I was actually home with him full-time, we delved into the reading sequence, starting at the beginning of the AMI language album.

There were some struggles - because he was honestly far beyond the work I was presenting; but his confidence and BELIEF in himself needed to be nurtured, as well as conquering his insistence that he would not be "ready for Kindergarten until I'm 9 or 10" (a bit of confusion set in when the one girl told him that children don't read until kindergarten). Yes, he told me that when I told him he would be starting Kindergarten at the one Montessori school. He has his hand up, palm-forward, and everything - so serious! Speaking to me like I was the child! Well, he got over that in a hurry!


The first "book" he truly read independently at this time was not a booklet from any of the reading activities (AMI, Dwyer, etc.), but it was the first of the Biological Classification booklets - about living and non-living matter - he just went in to his room (the school room was in his bedroom), picked it up and started reading it. Prior to this, during his bouts of reading, he had made up some words as he went along, but it always sounded good, even if not correct. The story or narration made sense. But now he was really reading! Word for word, entirely accurate! And it wasn't lesson time!
(interestingly enough, his "mis-read" words from before not only made sense in context but were ALWAYS a synonym-of-sorts of the same word - so he would exchange feline for cat; God for Jesus; Jesus' mother for Mary; fled instead of ran; leap instead of jump - usually using the more "complicated" version of the word - this was EVERY TIME he mis-read a word --- clearly he could truly read the words in his mind).

But by January of that school year, the frustration level was high, because he just kept having an attitude about "I can't read" (even when he was!); attitude was a serious issue. Then he really wanted to read Magic Tree House and I kept holding him back, because I wanted him to be successful with them (and I didn't like them to begin with). And the attitude continued, until finally I said (not so nicely, I must be humble and admit), "Fine. You may read one chapter. You may not ask me for pronunciation, you may not ask me for help. If you want to read any additional chapters you will need to work through x-amount (I actually specified at the time) of the other work, including y-number of the booklets."

He took the book into his room and I sat in the living room wondering if I was really cut out for this. Whatever "this" is.

He read his chapter.

He calmly returned to me and requested the next booklet. He completed the expectations I laid for him. He read the next chapter. Within 48 hours, he had finished the book and 4 months of typical language album work.

After finishing everything else in the primary album over the course of the next week, he picked up The Oz Chronicles Volume 1 (set of 7 Land of Oz stories written by L Frank Baum - 5th grade reading level - NOT the paperback Oz Chronicles you might find on Amazon). And ate it up.

He then proceeded through the Narnia series.

He then read through a pile of books I can't even list.

And 2 1/2 years later - he hasn't STOPPED. At last "testing" he was reading at an 8th grade level.

For his 6th birthday, just a couple of months after bursting into reading, he received a set of "readers" from 2 friends of his, that were far below his reading level (they'd read them at age 7 so thought they'd be at his reading level ;) they meant well! and the stories were lovely! But the readers were read in a matter of an hour or so). 

This experience is typical. Children who learn to read the Montessori way, will READ. There aren't levels; there aren't experiential steps; they just READ. They need some additional cues now and again in specific areas, but when they start to read, they READ. This happened with my daycare children, my tutoring children, other children I've worked with; it happens throughout Montessori's books and books about Montessori. They go from no reading level to 3rd grade in less than a week or two; then steadily increase from there.

Mama's lesson learned: don't hold them back. Yes, build the foundation; but don't let strife enter into the picture. BEFORE strife sets in, allow them to move forward while making an agreement of continuing to build the foundation.

LESSON FOR EVERYONE: do not make the child read the words aloud until they are ready. There are times it is natural to read the words aloud (phonetic object box, the child will end up saying the name of the item while placing the ticket with the object, for example), but even then, the child has "read" the word in his mind at least a few times before saying it.


If I had it to do all over again, I would utilize the AMI sequence to a T, supplementing only with the Little Stories for Little Folks because of our family's faith, OR (with other children) utilizing a series of books I need to re-find. One Montessori school I worked at had them, and they are the perfect supplement for those who need the "comfort" of a graded reader without unduly burdening the child. I'll post them here if and when I find them!


Now the main point is not for the child to parrot back the story; but to have a logical discussion about it. They should be able to not only tell what happened, but think through the story or the reading - how does this apply to another experience, or what can we learn from it, or how was it interesting/boring/funny/mind-boggling.

• When children are free-reading, we let them just read; but bring up something from the book in a casual conversation at another time. 
• Use sentences and phrases from their reading selections when doing language work (sentence/reading/logical analysis, etc)
• Use artwork in other ways throughout the room - bring out materials to create a particular art form seen in a book. 
• Experience something in the book (does it have a new food? Redwall books are GREAT for that!)
• Talk about the author and his style. 
• Etc. etc. etc. 
• Keep it natural and integrated into the rest of life. 

Now the funny thing is, he loves to read the Clifford books at the library. Right now, he has taken a break from his bird studies (he drew out some birds he saw, brought the drawings and notes to the library to use bird books to identify their names, what they eat, and types of nests; wrote up some charts on them - some serious deep work), and why take a break from such excellent work? to read Clifford's Christmas. It's "candy" - it's a fun break ;) And he's elementary so I don't have to worry he's going to confuse reality with fiction (no dogs bigger than human houses around here!). I just think it's funny that my 8 year old wants to read Clifford books. 

;) 

Learning to Read - Montessori

I've been asked a lot lately about learning to read the Montessori way.

Well, there are two lines you could follow (and could partly overlap) - I tried both and ended up sticking with just one. It was easier to choose one or the other ;) Besides, with Montessori, you provide the keys, the main tools, and then there is the rest of the world to explore based on particular needs, interests and temperaments, using whatever individual components of anything else that make sense, fit and enhance the provided keys.

We officially tried:

• AMI (similar, not identical to Muriel-Dwyer)
• Pink/Blue/Green/Purple

and dabbled in others, including non-Montessori (this was a partial requirement, ie for my tutoring children).

Short post: We do not use the pink/blue/green (now purple too) series; my son never used it, though my daycare/tutoring children were my experiment with it. We used the AMI approach, which is more similar to Muriel-Dwyer but NOT identical, and we used the pink/blue/green cards in other ways.

The AMI way is a combination phonics/whole language that gets the children reading for real, very naturally. The lack of emphasis on 3 letter CVC words is FANTASTIC - as, if a child can read phonetically, he can read 10 letter phonetic words with the same ease as a 3-letter word. And once he knows some puzzle words - he is off and running!

I just could not wrap myself around the pink/blue/green/purple series. I do have some album pages now (thank you to the kind soul who shared them with me :) ), but I've not had a chance to really comb through them as carefully as I would like.

Now, I want to be clear - I am SURE it works for others. I think it is SO widely known because of AMS and other Montessori groups utilizing and promoting it. I am SURE it works! It just didn't fit for us, specifically me ;)  For ME, I have to agree with my trainer on this one, now that I'm further down the line (see tomorrow's post!).


Ginni Sacket has a GREAT series of YouTube videos that lead from the beginning activities for language into the first activity with the phonetic object box when the child makes the realization that he can read. I wish it went further than that, but I LOVE the content of these videos.