Language ARTS
What is Language Arts
In a Montessori classroom, there are many sequential works that teach the skills of reading, writing, language, and speaking/listening. Daily circle activities, small group lessons, and one-on-one interactions between teachers and children also give ample opportunities to enhance these skills. Children are exposed to great children’s literature and have access to many books that match their developmental stage. They learn how joyful reading is, and how liberating writing can be.
Reading:
Children will practice:
- Phonemic awareness by rhyming, blending, segmenting and manipulating words
- Letter/sound association, with emphasis on lower case letters
- Composing simple CVC words, using the moveable alphabet
- Reading simple 3 letter phonetic words in print form
- Reading environmental text
- Listening to both literature and informational texts
- Responding to text in a variety of ways (speaking, writing, art)
In kindergarten, children will also work on:
- Specialized reading instruction, either in small groups or one-on-one
- Aspects of curricula written for public school kindergarten programs
- Learning a selection of common sight words
- Learning longer phonetic words and some phonograms
- Using appropriate decoding and word recognition strategies
- Understanding text read aloud: identifying main idea and supporting details
- Retelling familiar stories
- Identifying title, author, and illustrator, with teacher assistance
- Reading emergent-reader texts with understanding, as appropriate
Writing:
Children will practice:
- Appropriate pencil grasp and control, using sand paper letters and metal insets
- Writing own name, first and last
- Drawing, dictating, and writing to share experiences and information
- Copying environmental print
In kindergarten, children will also work on:
- Left to right, top to bottom orientation
- Printing letters, using proper formation (we use Handwriting Without Tears program)
- Using correct spelling of smaller frequently occurring words
- Using journals to record occurrences
Language:
Children will practice:
- Using language to express thoughts and needs
- Listening to and understanding increasingly complex language
In kindergarten, children will also work on:
- Printing many upper and lowercase letters from memory
- Using phonetic knowledge in writing (inventive spelling)
- Using capitalization and ending punctuation when writing
- Using correct grammar when speaking and writing
- Understanding and using question words
- Exploring increasingly complex vocabulary and usage
Speaking and Listening:
Children will:
- Engage in social informal conversations
- Learn ground rules of group conversations (taking turns, listening, raising a hand to contribute)
- Ask appropriately for help as needed,
- Provide assistance to others as requested
- Describe occurrences outside of the school environment