Module 6:

Montessori Language Exercises

By Riffet Ehsan

Roll# D-12077
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Question 1: How do we give the concept of grass letters , root letters and sky letters to the
child?

It is never too early or too soon to speak clearly and precisely to a child to develop and
subsequently improve their spoken and written language. This learning exercise begins at
home, within a facilitative environment created by the parents or caregivers. Reading conducive
but fun stories out loud are an example of what can be done to help build a child’s vocabulary
naturally in a fun manner, while also instilling a love for reading and literature within him.

Ideally, there should be refrain in terms of teaching kids to read and write before the age of
six/seven, however, in preparation for it, certain things may be taught to create a helpful base.
This includes introducing children to sensorial experiences of appropriate materials as early as
the age of three years old.

A vast majority of written language is based in lower case letters, and as such these should be
introduced and taught first to the child as opposed to capital letters; for e.g. ‘a’ instead of ‘A’.
During this stage, only sounds are pronounced instead of words themselves.

Material:

- Small Moveable Alphabet (all in the same colour)

- Large piece of paper with four lines; top and bottom lines are pink in colour while the rest are
aquamarine

Concept of the Grass Letters: The directress starts off by introducing the concept of the grass
letters to children. She takes out the letter ‘a’ from the box and places it right between the first set
of lines. She then demonstrates to them how the letter fits completely between the middle two
lines, and this is what is referred to as the ‘grass letter’. She then asks the children to find
other letters that fit between said lines in the same way. When they have done so with all the
possible letters, she announces that these are known as the “grass letters in small alphabet”, i.e.
a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x and z.
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Concept of the Sky Letters: Next up, she takes out the letter ‘b’ and places it at the start of the
second set of guide lines and demonstrates to the students that a letter with a stem that goes up
all the way to the pink line is known as a ‘sky letter’. Again, like earlier, she asks them to find
other letters whereby the stem goes up to the pink line. When they have successfully done so
with all the possible letters, she announces that these are known as the “sky letters in small
alphabet”, i.e. b, d, f, h, k, l, and t.

Concept of the Root Letters: Lastly, she places the letter ‘j’ on the third set of guide lines as the
children are now ready for this stage. She explains to them that a letter with a tail going down to
the lower pink line is known as a ‘root letter’. She then encourages them to find all such
letters with a tail going down. Once they have successfully done so, she announces that such
letters are known as the “root letters in small alphabet”, i.e. g, p, q, j and y.

Grass, sky and root letters are introduced to children in the Montessori Classrooms through
Three Period Lessons, which is a very useful method of teaching them not just in the classroom
setting but in the home environment as well. It is vital that both directresses and parents
encourage the child in the process of learning to write these groups of letters on a chalkboard or
the marker board after arranging them out on the mat.

Question 2: Write a detailed note on Montessori green boards and writing on paper
exercises.

Preparatory Exercise:

Materials:

- Tray large enough to make a sandpaper letter

- Enough sand in the tray to cover the bottom

Presentation: This work is done parallel to work with the Sorting Letters. The directress invites
a child to come work with her. Together, they choose one sandpaper letter and bring it over to
the table, placing it next to the tray of sand. They trace the sandpaper letter a couple of times,
before the teacher shows the child how to trace the letter in the tray and explaining that they
are both the same letter. She also shows him how to make it disappear by shaking the tray
gently while still placed on the table. The child can continue emulating this exercise with his
hands in the sand before he can progress towards using a stylus/pen etc. Finally, when he is
completely comfortable with the former, he may graduate towards Chalkboard work

Blank Board Exercise:

Material:

- Set of green chalkboards 32cm x 50cm each

- The first board is blank on one side and ruled to guide the placement of letters on the other
side

- Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth

- Sandpaper letters and numerals

Presentation: The children are invited over and told that they be learning how to write with
the aid of something, as you have them bring over the box with the eraser, dust cloth and hand
cloth. They are then asked to choose a sandpaper letter. All the materials are gathered and
placed above the chalkboard, including the tray. The sandpaper letter is traced a couple of
times, after which the directress writes the sandpaper letter multiple times with a chalk on the
board in a straight line across. They are then erased in a left to right and top to bottom fashion
with the eraser, before wiping the board with the dust cloth. Finally, the hands are cleaned with
the hand towel/cloth. Now the children are encouraged to repeat the same steps as the
directress. A change of clothes may be recommended after this exercise to clean up any chalk
residue or strains. The child should be encouraged to make the letters smaller as his skills
improve.

Square Board Exercise:

Material:

- Set of green chalkboards 32cm x 50cm each

- The board has one side ruled in squares and the other ruled in horizontal lines

- Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth

- Sandpaper letters and numerals

Presentation: Following the same method as above, the directress shows the child how to
write a single letter or numeral in a square. The same letter will be repeated across the row and
the child may even choose to make the same letter over the entire board. Alternatively, they
may choose a different one for each separate row. Either way, their choice should be respected.
Some kids may find doing the whole board overwhelming or boring, in which case they may be
allowed to follow their own pace and progress towards each row as and when they are ready.
Similarly as before, the child should be encouraged to make the letters smaller as his skills
improve.

Double Guide Lines Board Exercise:

Material:

- Set of green chalkboards 32cm x 50cm each

- Double guide line board

- Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth

- Sandpaper letters and numerals

Presentation: Follow the same steps as before. Additionally, show children how to place the
body of a letter between the two lines and how the stem goes above the line and the tail below.

On the first set of lines, do a letter with a main body only. On the second line, make a letter
with a stem, while on the third, one with a tail. Using sandpaper letters is not necessary at this
stage.

Single Line Board Exercise:

Material:

- Single Line Board

- Sandpaper letters

Presentation: Exercise is carried out the same as earlier, however, there is a possibility that
with all the practice above, they might prefer writing straight onto paper at this point instead of a
single line board.

When the child is secure writing with the chalk, you can talk to the child about the letters, and
ask which one is most like the sandpaper letter. This is the beginning of the child assessing and
becoming aware of their own writing. Sometimes it is helpful to talk about “why” one may look
more like the sandpaper letter. This helps to give the child practice in writing.

Question 3: What are upper case letters? How do we introduce them to the
child?
Upper case letters here refer to english language alphabets in there capital form.

Materials: Three sets of twenty six cards, one for each letter of the alphabet:

- The first set is 8x10cm and each card has one letter written in the lower case, i.e. small letter

- The second set is 98cmx10cm and each card has one letter written in the upper case, i.e.
capital letter

- The third set is 16cmx10cm and has one letter written in both the lower and upper cases; the
lower case letter on the left and the upper case letter on the right.

Presentation: This exercise is most suited to children around the age of five. The directress
starts off by inviting a child to come and with her as she introduces the material to him. Initially
she chooses three letters where the capital letters hold a striking resemblance to their lower
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case letter counterparts. She then introduces the names of the letters to the child in this lesson,
in contrast to only introducing their sounds as discussed earlier.

She then shows the child the lower case letter first before showing the upper case and
announcing its name alongside its nature as being a ‘capital letter’. She repeats the same for
two more letters. She uses the help of Three Period Lessons to enforce the learning of these
terms, using ‘upper case’ and ‘capital letter’ alternatively. When it is apparent that the child is
comfortable with these, she continues on with three at time now until all the letters have been
covered.

The teacher now lays out all the lower case letters at random in vertical columns, leaving ample
room beside it to place the capital letters. She gives the child the upper case letters one at a
time and has him place each next to the lower case letter. She then poses a question to him in a
manner of discussion, asking if the capital letter looks the same or different to the lower case
letters, using the terms ‘capital letter’ and ‘upper case’ interchangeably. Once all the letters
have been covered in the lesson and placed accurately, she checks with the third set of cards
before replacing it. She concludes by collecting the lower case letters, as well as the upper case
letters in alphabetical order respectively.

This exercise enables children to recognise and differentiate the upper case form of the letter
from the kind he already knows, i.e. the lower case. It als aids in the punctuation of a sentence
as well as indirectly helps the child write.

Question 4: Explain How would you give the concepts of subtraction and division?

Materials:

- Collection of objects/animals

- Colour-coded grammar cards - black nouns, royal blue adjectives, red verbs and grey articles

Presentation: The directress starts off by introducing children to the box containing the
collection of objects/animals and giving them a chance to set up the farm and have a discussion
about what the objects and different animals are unto. This is very helpful for children who are
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not proficient in the language of instruction as second-language speakers, as well as kids with
delayed language concerns as this gives them an opportunity to practice and explore the
language in a stress free and casual environment.

Once they have worked with the early grammar noun cards, they can then be introduced to the
noun cards in the farm. The teacher should ask the child to set up the farm, take out the black
and naming cards, and then read them out one by one as she places them next to the relevant
objects. Similarly, once the children have familiarity with early grammar adjective cards, they
may be introduced to the farm box adjective cards by demonstrating to them how to place the
adjective cards next to the noun cards. The child first reads the noun card, attempts to find the
object is then asked to go through the adjective cards to try and find a word that best describes
the objects, for e.g. ‘plump’ to be paired with ‘piglet’. The teacher may also introduce the first
set of lower case article cards by teaching the children how to place this next to the adjective
card. Allow them to continue this exercise with the rest of the objects and pairing cards.

Finally, the verb as well as upper case article cards may be introduced to the children, with the
verb cards being placed next to the noun cards, and article cards next to the adjective cards. The
child starts by reading the first noun, for e.g. ‘man, finding an object to match it, and then
associating an adjective with it, for e.g. ‘strong’. The teacher then directs them to the final part of
the exercise by asking, “What does the strong man do?”. The child may respond in one of several
verbs, for e.g. ‘sits’. The directress then reminds him that they are constructing a
sentence, which needs the article card to start with a capital letter. The child finds the card
saying ‘The’, hence completing the sentence, i.e. “The strong man stands.”

On each occasion the cards are returned to the bottom of their respective piles so that the child
can read the next card. The child then reads the next noun card and continues sentence
building as before.

These exercises assist children in learning the grammatical structure of phrases and sentences
through the use of cards.
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Question 5: Prepare material for the following and send along with assignment;

. Logical Adjective Game

. Logical Adverb Game

. Noun Cards

. Adjective Cards
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. Verb Card