There are some other great ways to use objects, especially in the Language area, so I had some fun today taking pictures for all of you. Hopefully you’ll find a few new ideas here.

As I was taking pictures, I was thinking about the reason behind using three-dimensional objects rather than just two-dimensional pictures. After all it is extra work and extra money to do so. I came up with two reasons:

1. The child finds the work more engaging (especially if they are in the sensitive period for small objects)
2. The work is more memorable because the objects have been touched and sorted (they add a tactile component to the work)

If you can think of others, I’d love to hear about them!

Objects Make Grammar Work Exciting

Here is a set of objects used with beginning noun work (the child simply sets out the objects and places a black triangle over each one):

And another set, for learning about articles (both definite, “the” used when referring to a specific one, and indefinite, “a” or “an” used when referring to one of many):

This set is a great way to learn about adjectives (I didn’t show all the objects in this set; there is another of each object shown in a different color or size so that the child has to choose the object that fits the adjective):

And last, always a classroom favorite, objects used to teach prepositions:

For the prepositions set, I used 4 random objects and made labels using each as the beginning of the sentence (capitalized) or the end of the sentence (with a period). The child can make all sorts of combinations using the objects, the verb “is”, and one of the many prepositions:

Using Objects in Pink, Blue, and Green Series Work

Here are some Pink Series objects for matching with labels or spelling with the movable alphabet (I’ve already blogged about Pink Series objects so you can find more pictures of them here):

Blue Series objects, so easy to find around the house or classroom, are used for matching with labels:

And Green Series objects, making phonograms fun:

Objects Liven Up Word Study Too

I sell a set of Singular and Plural Cards that are meant for older children; they don’t need objects and you’d be hard-pressed to find them for many of the words in the set.

However, I have a few Singular and Plural Sets (I’m calling them Beginning Singular and Plural Sets 1, 2, and 3) that are just right for objects.

Here’s Beginning Singular and Plural Set 1, using only short vowel words (the cards and objects in this set are from Bambini Montessori):

And this set, Beginning Singular and Plural Set 2 (all short vowel words with one blend, “frog”, again from Bambini). I just realized that I have “Singular” and “Plural” switched, so I clearly have not yet internalized this concept!

I also made my own set to teach the “change the y to an i and add ‘es’” concept; Beginning Singular and Plural Set 3:

You might notice something interesting in this last set: half of the cards have a hole punched in the corner. It’s a little tip I picked up from my Montessori trainer, Sister Mary.

She would punch a hole in one set of the cards (either all the singular or all the plural, in this case) so that the child could keep the two halves separate. I still use this method, out of habit, but you could also just rubberband the two sides separately and accomplish the same thing.

Something else I do to all my cards, from language to geography to math to geometry, is code the backs with colored stickers so it’s easy for the child to check their own work; I flipped these over so you can see:

I’m sorry I can’t give specific sources for all the objects; many of them I’ve had for years (I had a dollhouse as a young girl and regularly raid my miniatures collection for Montessori work). Some great sources of objects are Alison’s Montessori, Montessori Services, Bambini Montessori, eBay, and craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Michael’s.


Any other great uses for objects, or fantastic sources? Please share!

One thing I noticed was that any people who visited were very interested in the set up and layout of the materials on the shelves. It seems that no matter how long you’ve been doing Montessori, there’s always a new way to arrange the work.

In our language area, the Pink, Blue, and Green Series work was grouped by color. There was one long shelf of Pink Series work; directly underneath that was a long shelf of Blue Series work, and under that, a shelf of Green Series work (I plan to do a post for Blue and Green Series soon).

At the far left of each shelf was a basket of objects that matched the color scheme. The objects were used for more than one work (matching to printed cards, spelling with movable alphabet, and story writing). Next to the basket was all the other work for that color – matching cards, pictures, rhyming work, word lists, and spelling cards.

Because I’m in the process of moving, I don’t have all my materials with me, but I did take some pictures that could be helpful. Here you’ll see a tray (lined with pink paper) and some pink series objects; You can also use a basket, and line it with pink felt or pink fabric instead:

Objects are (l-r, t-b): cup, pan, bug, pot, can, jar, tag (cut from cardstock), and hat

They can be used for spelling with the movable alphabet:

The objects can also be used for matching to printed labels (make some in Word and print on pink cardstock, or just handwrite them on pink cards):

For a look at all my Pink Series pictures, with helpful captions, please visit my Montessori Facebook page!

However, not all Pink, Blue, and Green Series words can be represented in object form. So, I went through all the Pink/Blue/Green words and found just the words that can be objects. I’ve made a list of them (in alphabetical order) which you can find below.

Here are some sources for objects:

• Your home or school (see this post for items you probably already have around)
• Craft stores (see this post for one clever idea)
• Online (eBay has a lot of miniature items for sale)
• Montessori Services

Here we go; have fun!

The nice thing about most phonetic readers is that they follow the Pink, Blue, and Green Series pretty closely. Most begin with 3-letter, short vowel words (Pink Series). They usually progress to short vowel words with consonant blends (Blue Series), and then lead to “phonemes”, which are all the other letter combinations that make sounds in English (Green Series).

Even though most phonics readers have many of the same elements (cute pictures, fun stories, words that become steadily more challenging), there are also many differences too. Some books do a better job than others at leading kids down the path of reading.

I’m going to take a look at a few different phonetic readers in this post. I had fun putting this together! (Note: I’m not going to link to specific websites; if you’re interested in any of the books mentioned, Google their names and you’ll find them available at many places, sometimes used but in good condition, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and eBay).

Sound Out the Word Phonics Readers from Scholastic – I bought Sets 1 & 2 of these after seeing that they were “based on recent research on how children learn to read”. Each set comes with an audio CD featuring all the sounds used in each story.

The child listens to a phonetic sound on the CD, and then says the sound while looking at the letters. Each book also shows a picture of what your mouth looks like when saying the sound, so the child can imitate it.

The books themselves feature cute, easy-to-read stories that progress very systematically. The first set is mostly short-vowel words, and the second set moves into blends.

I would highly recommend these books for a child who was needs some additional help with hearing, learning, and understanding sounds. A child could use a mirror and use the pictures of what your mouth should look like as a guide when making sounds.

My son had some difficulty forming certain sounds early on, and we used these sets quite successfully. I like that they combine hearing and seeing the sound. These books would be a nice companion to speech therapy.

Itty Bitty Phonics Readers from Creative Teaching Press – Most teacher stores have a carousel display featuring these cute books. They are written by a teacher with over 20 years of experience. Each book focuses on just one phonetic sound. The drawings are very simple but cute.

I have used these with my daughter and we do like them. I sometimes feel that the stories are too simple, and that too many of the words on the pages are phrases, not whole sentences.

Also the focus is more on a specific sound (say, “short a”) than word difficulty, which means you might find a longer “short a” word in the “short a” book that is too difficult for the child to read. While sight words have their place too, it can break the rhythm of the story to come across a word like that.

Sight Word Readers from Scholastic – These books are exactly as described: they teach sight words rather than phonetic words. I like them because they introduce only 1-2 sight words per book, making them ideal for new readers. The stories are short and fun, and the pictures are engaging.

They also include little flashcards at the back of each book that can be used to review the sight words or for a matching game. Rather than using these books alone, I think they would be a nice companion to a set of true phonetic readers.

“Character” Readers from Scholastic – The title of these books isn’t actually “character readers”, so don’t search for it! I’m referring to all the beginning readers from Scholastic that feature children’s favorite characters: Dora the Explorer, Clifford the Big Red Dog, the Backyardigans, and so forth.

Books like these are usually fun, although the story quality is not necessarily high. I would recommend them for a reluctant reader who has an interest in the particular character featured. Giving them books with their favorite character may inspire them to read.

However, using them does promote the character in question, which seems commercial in nature. Unless you inherit these from someone else, I’d go for a different type of phonics reader.

BOB books – these books are considered classics in the field of phonics and reading, and have established the standard for beginning readers that includes simple drawings, engaging stories, and easy-to-read text.

I find that the stories appeal more to some children than to others (my son liked them more than my daughter), but they are certainly a good choice for any child who is learning to read. I do feel that Set 1 is the best of the BOB books; after that, the story quality declines somewhat and the characters are not as appealing.

Dick & Jane – I’m including Dick & Jane books here even though they are generally more about sight words than phonics. Written in the 1930s, they were used in schools to teach reading up until the 1970s. They rely heavily on repetition, but there is also a progression of phonetic words used as well.

These books have been re-issued in newer editions in recent years, and someone happened to give me a few of them so I used them with both of my kids. I found that my daughter, especially, adores the drawings which are really quite cute.

Far more of the story takes place through the drawings than the text; for instance, one picture may show Jane falling down the stairs while the text says “Oh, Jane! Oh, Jane!”. The text (while applicable) is not actually describing what happens in the pictures, which I think makes for strange reading sometimes.

If you do use them, which I think is perfectly fine, they should be in addition to a phonics-based series and not in place of it.

Now I’m Reading! by Nora Gaydos – I kept seeing this series at Barnes and Noble and was a bit turned off by the wild colors and designs on the covers of the books. It seemed distracting. But one day I picked up a set and quickly realized that they are quite well done.

More than any of the sets I’ve mentioned so far, the author does a fantastic job of writing a coherent story using a limited selection of words. The stories and pictures are quite entertaining, and the vocabulary progression is excellent. (I should mention that set two includes both blends and long vowel sounds, but it’s done in a way that makes sense.)

The books come 10 to a set, and include stickers so a child can mark their reading progress. If it seems like these are my favorite, I think I will have to admit that they are

Here is a round-up of the phonics readers and reading systems you guys have mentioned so far; what a big help this is!

Websites with free printable reading booklets:

Starfall
Enchanted Learning
ABC Teach

Phonics Readers and Teaching Manuals

Sundance Publications
Jolly Phonics (UK)
Primary Phonics
Books to Remember (Flyleaf Publishing)
Brand New Readers
AlphaPhonics
Modern Curriculum Press (search to find places to buy)

Thanks for sharing!

In Montessori, we are blessed with wonderful materials like the sandpaper letters, movable alphabet, and the Pink, Blue, and Green Series. These go a long way towards familiarizing children with letters and sounds.

But, it’s sometimes nice to to include some games and activities to encourage a pre-reader or emergent reader.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Speak to children about the environment around them, teaching the vocabulary of everyday objects. You may want to label items in your classroom environment so that they can see the words every day (“map”, “pencil”, etc.)

2. Choose a picture out of a magazine or unfamiliar book and have the child tell you a story about what is happening in it.

3. Make a rhyming basket with several small objects that rhyme. Have children match rhyming items, like this one I made for my daughter, by placing them next to one another.

The items are, from left to right: pan/fan, jug/mug, cat/hat, fish/dish, and clock/block.

4. Practice forming letters using materials that are fun: pasta noodles, kidney beans, cereal.

5. Have a specific reading time each day. Actually, I like to have two reading times: one for silent reading (you should read quietly too!) and one for you to read aloud to the children. Even a pre-reader or early reader can sit quietly with a book and discover a story through illustrations.

6. Give children games to play with cards and games that reinforce pre-reading skills. Examples might include: opposite matching, rhyming object cards, part-whole matching, sequencing, and patterning.

7. Have a child re-tell their favorite story using props. They can dress up in costumes to act it out or make puppets to help illustrate the plot of the story.

8. Practice drawing letters or numbers by tracing them in a tray of sand, rice, or cornmeal. Shake the tray to “erase” after each letter or number.

9. Staple or tape blank paper together to make a booklet. Ask the child to tell a story by drawing a picture on each page. If they would like, they can dictate the story to you and you can write it in the booklet as well.

10. Play the “I Spy” game to practice beginning letter sounds. Start the game by saying something like, “I spy something that begins with ‘b’ (using the letter sound).” Later, you can expand the game to include pre-spelling skills by saying “I spy something that begins with ‘d’ and ends with ‘g’ (dog).”

By trying out some of the ideas above with pre-readers, you’ll not only encourage enthusiastic development of language, but foster a love of learning that will extend well beyond the years spent learning to read.

Any ideas for other types of pre-reading activities? I’d love to hear from you!

As I try to remedy that with my children, I am presenting them with Spanish materials at a very young age. And, rather than using dull textbooks, we are using mostly interactive materials: computer games, DVDs, and vocabulary cards.

In my earlier post about foreign language study, I took a look at two different sides: some people feel that kids should always learn another language, others don’t. Regardless of where you stand on that issue, most likely, the children in your care will end up studying a foreign language sometime during their schooling years.

I absolutely feel that studying a foreign language can have positive benefits, but one of those benefits is usually not being able to speak the other language fluently. However, learning another language can expand vocabulary and increase cultural awareness, so for those reasons alone I think it’s worthwhile.

Since many people have emailed me and asked for foreign language resources in a Montessori style, I thought I’d put together some helpful links.

Keep in mind that even if the material isn’t inherently Montessori, it certainly can be used in the Montessori classroom or home. I like using a variety of materials when studying a language so that different kinds of learning styles are covered.

Computer Games & Software:

Jumpstart Spanish and Jumpstart Languages (French, Japanese, Spanish, and English)

Rosetta Stone – software available for learning more than 30 languages

CDs & DVDs

Rock n Learn – Spanish and French CDs and DVDs teach through music and video

Muzzy – this highly-regarded language course from the BBC is available for Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, and English (ESL). Includes workbooks, DVDs, and computer games

Cedarmont Kids – Action Bible Songs in Spanish

LinguaFun – card games with CDs in Spanish, German, Italian, and French

Books & Curriculums:

French & Spanish Guides – written by Heidi Spietz, these books cover teaching languages in a Montessori style

TPRS – workshops and curriculums for teaching French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Russian. Used successfully in Montessori classrooms. Emphasizes reading and story-telling as a way to successfully learn foreign language

Children’s Books

There are literally thousands of popular children’s books available in Spanish and other languages. You can go to places like amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and ebay.com and search for “spanish books kids” or “french books kids”, for example, to find titles.

Many of those can be purchased secondhand at low prices, and you can also check books out of your local library. Scholastic Books usually offers foreign language books in their monthly order forms.

Montessori Materials:

Montessori for Everyone – Spanish nomenclature and grammar cards

My Montessori House – Chinese materials, including printable cards, books, and interactive lessons

Montessori Print Shop – printable French nomenclature cards

Alison’s Montessori – Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish materials

Maitri Learning – 3-part cards and booklets for French and Spanish

Miscellaneous:

Spanish Post-it notes – easy to put around the classroom or home to help kids learn words for everyday objects

Usborne Spanish Resources and Usborne French Resources – workbooks, flashcards, books, and sticker books

Enchanted Learning – free and paid printables for German, French, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Swedish. Do a search of the site or use the categories on the left

Anything I left out? Please share!

Today, we’re going to look at some fun grammar extensions that can be done inexpensively, using the grammar materials you already have or common items from around your classroom. I like the sound of that! I’ve also included some recommendations for helpful story books about grammar.

Combined Lessons

These lessons combine two or more parts of speech together, to show the relationship between them. All you need is the grammar symbols.

Article/Adjective/Noun: Show the child the three triangles that make up the noun family: article, adjective, noun. This family is used in almost every sentence we say or write. They can think of a few “article, adjective, noun” phrases.

Verb/Adverb: Show the child an verb symbol (large red circle) and then take an adverb symbol (smaller orange circle) and have the adverb orbit around the verb. This demonstrates how the verb and adverb often go together, with the adverb bringing additional meaning to the verb.

Noun/Verb: The last combined presentation is that of the noun and the verb. The child is shown an object and asked to name it (pick something simple, like a book or pencil). Then ask them to perform a task (jump, hop). See if they can tell you the difference between the two: nouns can be seen and felt, verbs can be acted out.

Label Games

These can be played with each part of speech, either when it’s first introduced to the children or later as a review. All you need is an envelope and some small pieces of paper. Write the name of the part of speech on the envelope (“pronoun”) and ask children to think of different words that fit this category. Write the words on small pieces of paper and put them in the envelope.

Keep the grammar envelopes in the language section of the room and encourage kids to add to them every time they think of a word that fits the specific category. You can periodically take the envelopes off the shelf and go through them with the children to look at the words they’ve added.

Older children (8-12, depending on ability), can make envelopes and labels that divide the parts of speech even further:

Nouns: common or proper nouns, places, things, ideas, or masculine and feminine nouns
Articles: definitive and indefinite
Adjectives: proper, predicate, demonstrative, comparative, and superlative
Verbs: states of being (“are”, “is”) and action verbs (“jump”, “swim”)
Adverbs: manner, place, time, frequency, degree
Prepositions: place, direction, and time
Conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, correlative, and conjunctive adverb

Triangle Detective Game

The material for this exercise can be purchased (it includes many triangles of different types and colors) but you can also simply cut out a few different triangles using different colors of paper.

Spread out all the triangles on a rug or table. Tell the child you only want one of the triangles. Ask them to give you one and see if they guessed correctly. Write “the triangle” on a piece of paper. They will give you one, but it’s the wrong one. Now write “the small triangle”.

Continue until you have written something very specific, like “the small, red, isosceles, right triangle”. The child can clearly see how using adjectives gives us the information we need to distinguish one thing from another.

Preposition Game

Gather some small objects. Write a few different prepositions on pieces of paper. Have the child arrange the objects to illustrate the preposition. For instance, in my preposition box I have a tiny house and a miniature hedgehog. The child might put the hedgehog in front of the house and set out the words “in front of”. They can then write it as a sentence, i.e. “The hedgehog is in front of the house”.

Reading About Grammar – Some Great Books

There’s a fun series of books called “Words Are Categorical” that illustrate the different parts of speech. Written by Brian P. Cleary, they are available through Scholastic as well as at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com. The zany illustrations and bouncy rhymes do a great job of helping kids remember the parts of speech and their functions. He also has books about synonyms, homonyms, and other word groups.

There’s a lovely series of books by Ruth Heller (yes, the author of all the “Designs for Coloring” books) about the parts of speech. The entire series is called “World of Language” and includes such titles as Luscious Lollipops (adjectives) and Kites Sail High (verbs). They are available at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com. eBay is also a great place to buy used books cheaply; just make sure you check the seller’s feedback and the shipping costs.

This is the last installment of the grammar series; I’ve had a great time and plan on doing many of these lessons with my son. We’ve done the introductory grammar work but not the extensions in this post – hope you’re able to use some of them too!

In Montessori, we have many different kinds of activities to teach the parts of speech. Some may be a bit of a surprise – who would think that a farm play set could be used to teach grammar? I love the idea of kids using familiar objects and animals to learn more about language.

Here are a few of the common grammar materials:

The Farm Game

This activity, like the one seen here from Alison’s Montessori, is common in the 3-6 classroom. It usually consists of a wooden farm set, including a barn and miniature farm animals. In addition, the child is provided with small cards that have different nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech that might be used on the farm.

A very young child might simply play with the set with a friend, using language skills to identify the animals and their movements. They might use individual labels for the nouns (“sheep”, “goat”). An older child might make longer sentences using more parts of speech, like “The goat jumped over the red fence”.

While the traditional wooden farm set is lovely, it’s also a bit pricey. I’ve heard of people who have found less expensive plastic sets (some are still very nice). I personally bought a feltboard farm set and used that and it worked beautifully.

Grammar Symbol Charts & Definitions

Nomenclature cards and charts can be used to familiarize the child with the symbols and definitions. The child can be asked to give an example of each part of speech, or write a sentence using several of the parts of speech together. You may want to hang a grammar symbol chart on the wall of the language area for reference purposes.

Phrases and Sentences

Here, the children take the symbols and apply them to real sentences. Sentence cards or strips are prepared or bought by the teacher and the child is given a box or container of symbols that are printed on paper or cut out of wood. The child looks at each word in the sentence and decides what part of speech it is. They then place the appropriate symbol above the word.

A reversal of this exercise is to give the child prepared strips with symbols in various orders. The child then thinks of words to make a sentence that fits the pattern.

Grammar Boxes

I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a big fan of the wooden grammar boxes. They are expensive, and to my mind, not essential for grammar studies. The ones from Nienhuis don’t list the words in the correct order for English grammar. I called Nienhuis once to ask why some of the boxes have such strange word order, and they were unable to tell me. If anyone knows, please share!

I feel that great results can be achieved by using the grammar cards alone, as mentioned below. If you do have the grammar boxes, you would use the grammar cards with them to form sentences. The Grammar Boxes offered by Alison’s Montessori (linked to above) have movable labels for the parts of speech, so that you can change the order as needed. Those make more sense to me than the kind with fixed (painted) labels from Nienhuis.

Grammar Cards

For this activity you will need cards with words on them for each part of speech. The child sets them out to create sentences. For instance, they may set out cards (one for each word) that say: A book is on the table. They’ve used an article, noun, verb, preposition, article, and noun.

Then, they could take various adjective cards (“blue”, “smooth”) and try them out in front of the nouns in the sentence. By switching out adjectives, nouns, verbs, and prepositions, the variations are endless.

Reading (or Sentence) Analysis

In Reading Analysis Set 1, the child is introduced to the words and phrases that make up sentences. The first lesson involves only the subject, verb, and direct object. The patterns become more complex, with those parts in different combinations (two subjects with one direct object, or two direct objects with one subject).

Then, the child is shown a larger and more complex chart, Reading Analysis Set 2, that includes all the different types of subjects and predicates, answering questions like “why?”, “when?”, “from what?”, and “with whom?”.

You guessed it…

The one thing all of these materials have in common, like all Montessori materials, is that they are hands-on. Children are matching, moving, and manipulating words and symbols to create patterns and sentences. This kind of tactile work helps solidify the parts of speech in a very special way.

In order for the child to begin the study of grammar, there is a fun, beginning activity for each part of speech.

Take a look!

Noun: For this noun lesson, you’ll need some small objects and slips of paper. Show the child(ren) the objects and have them say the names. Write the names down on the pieces of paper and match them to the correct object. Tell the children that nouns are “naming words”. They name people, places, things, and ideas.

Article: You’ll need about six objects, some singly (one button) and some in quantities (four paperclips). Make sure at least one object starts with a vowel and that you have several of that object (apples, erasers). Then write “a”, “an”, and “the” on slips of paper.

Show the child how to match them correctly: when there is one of an item (one button), you use “the” button. When there’s a group of objects (four paperclips) and you want to single out one, you use “a” paperclip. When there’s an object (one of several) that starts with a vowel sound you use “an” apple.

Let them know that “the” is a definitive article because it points out a definite object. “A” and “an” are indefinite articles because they not clearly specify which item you are indicating.

Adjective: Once a child has successfully worked with nouns and articles, they are ready to learn the function of an adjective. Gather a group of objects (several toy cars, several pencils) that each have a different color. Ask the child(ren) to hand you a car.

The child may hesitate, unsure of which car you want, so you can say, “I will use a special word to help describe the car I want. Please hand me the yellow car”. Explain that adjectives are describing words.

Verb: You can write simple verbs on slips of paper and ask the child to demonstrate them (“hop”, “walk”). Tell them that this type of word is an action word, known as a verb. The verb adds the life, or energy, to the sentence.

A second, similar lesson has you taking one object (ball) and giving the children slips of paper with action words. They take the ball and apply that action to it, e.g., “lift” the ball, “hide” the ball, “push” the ball, “roll” the ball, etc. Again, the idea is that energy (verb) is being applied to matter (noun).

Adverb: Write a command on a slip of paper, like “walk”. Give it to the child and ask them to do it. Then add the word “slowly” and ask them to do it. Then write “walk quickly”, have them do it, and give them a few more examples (“walk proudly”, “walk tiredly”).

Tell them that the adverb modifies the verb in the same way that an adjective modifies a noun. It adds meaning to the verb.

Conjunction: Have the children write some noun phrases (“the big chair”, “the green couch”, “a tiny kitten”). Then write “I saw” and put that in front of the noun phrases. Have the child try to read the sentence. They will have difficulty. Write “and” on two slips of paper and put them in between the noun phrases. The sentence will now read:

I saw the big chair and the green couch and a tiny kitten.

Remove the first “and” slip and turn it over. Explain that instead of saying “and” over again, the first “and”s can be replaced with a comma. Write a comma on the slip of paper and put it back in the sentence. Now the sentence should read:

I saw the big chair, the green couch and a tiny kitten.

[Aside: if you, like me, are a fan of the serial comma – the comma before the last “and” in a series – you can add one there as well].

Explain to the kids that “and” is a conjunction; it joins together phrases and clauses to make sentences.

Preposition: The most basic way to introduce prepositions is to set a chair in front of the children. Ask one child to get up and stand “behind” the chair. Then ask them to get “on” the chair. Have another child get up and go “under” the chair.

Continue until everyone has had a chance to demonstrate some prepositions (over, next to, beside). Explain to them that words that tell us the relationship of one thing to another are called prepositions.

Pronoun: Write a sentence that uses the same noun over and over. For example, “Dana gave Dana’s dog a treat and then went to Dana’s room”. Then read the same sentence but replace the name with a pronoun. “Dana gave her dog a treat and then went to her room”. Explain that the pronoun often takes the place of a noun in a sentence.

Interjection: Give the children a few examples of interjections: “Go!” “Stop!” “Oh?” Tell them that we use interjections to express strong feelings. An interjection is a one-word sentence. Explain that punctuation marks are very helpful in emphasizing the emotion of an interjection.

These simple games rely on the child’s own experience with words (and types of words) so that they can differentiate the parts of speech. Give them a try!

Fortunately, just as with so many sticky areas of study, Montessori takes the pain out of learning grammar. The hands-on materials are visual and sensible; the child quickly learns the parts of speech and how they function, and then moves on to the parts of a sentence and how they function.

We have an advantage when we teach grammar, over another area of study like math or geography: we are simply making the child conscious of something they already do subconsciously. A toddler can speak his or her language and use the parts of speech correctly. What we need to do is make sure the child understands the names, definitions, and functions of each part of speech.

I initially thought I would write one post about grammar, but that quickly grew until I have about four of them. That surprised me, too! Stay tuned in future weeks for more fun with grammar. On with today’s post!

Grammar Symbols – What Do They Mean?

Maria Montessori, knowing that children respond well to shapes and colors, decided to use a system of colored shapes to represent the different parts of speech. Each shape and color has a meaning:

1. The Noun is represented by a black triangle. The triangle stands for the pyramid, one of the first human structures, and black is for carbon, believed to be the first mineral discovered by humans.

2. The Adjective (small dark blue triangle), Article (smaller light blue triangle), and Pronoun (large purple triangle) are part of The Noun Family and so use the triangular shape with different colors.

3. The Verb is a circle, to represent the shape of the sun which gives life. The red color also symbolizes life (blood). The verb gives life to the sentence. The Adverb is a smaller circle and is often pictured orbiting the verb like a planet; it depends on the verb for existence.

4. The Conjunction is a small pink bar which represents a link in a chain; the Preposition is a green crescent to symbolize a bridge. There’s no known significance in the color of either.

5. The Interjection is a gold triangle with a circle on top; it combines the symbols of the noun and the verb together. Interjections function as both noun and verb in a sentence; it may have been the first word spoken by humans (ow!). It is gold because they are the “king of all words”.

Why Do We Need To Know?

Sometimes when we read about the origins of some of the Montessori materials, they might seem a little silly or outdated. The grammar symbols are frequently used by adults and children who don’t know the meaning behind the shapes and colors, but nevertheless find the symbols to be a great way to learn grammar.

However, I do think it can be helpful to know the “why” behind the materials we use; they can help us remember what makes each part of speech special, as well as the relationships that they have with each other. I’ve found that kids enjoy learning the meanings of the shapes and colors.

The Importance of Grammar Study

The study of grammar is to language what the study of anatomy is to science. By studying grammar, we become better writers and readers. Generally, the grammar materials are started in second grade. The child, at this age, has learned to read but is still interested in words, their meanings, and their functions.

Some of the simple introductory lessons (which I’ll cover in the next post) can be done with the 3-6 age group. They are done as sensorial lessons, that is, lessons that evoke a certain feeling or imagery. They are not done with the intention of having the child understand the concept in an academic way.

After the child has been introduced to grammar on a sensorial level, they are ready to understand it in a deeper way. The elementary lessons are done with the intent of academic understanding.

In the rest of this series, we’ll be covering all the introductory grammar lessons, the basic grammar materials, and extensions for the study of grammar. Stay tuned – it’s gonna be awesome!