PARENTS'

LITERACY

LAWRENCE

2111835

EDUCATION

ISBN 0-609-80335-2

-Montessori

Read & Write 1\ Parents' Guide to Literacy for Children

Lynne Lawrence

THREE RIVERS PRESS

NEW YORK

DEDICATION To Steve, Tom and Jamie

Project editor Isabel Moore Goldie

Copyright © 1998 bv Lvnne Lawrence

/\11 rights "eserved. No part of this book mav be reproduced or transmitted in form or by :my me8n;;;,

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Published bvThree Rivers Press. a division of Crov,rn Publi:;:her<). fnc..

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Originally ruhlishcrl hy Ebury Pre". 1998. First US paperhack eeliti0n printed in 1998.

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Printed in Italy

Library of Congress CJt;d0ging -in-Puhl cHlon 111t3 upon requt'sr

ISBN 0-609-80335-2

]09876 4321

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Contents

Introduction

About Maria Montessori 7

CHAPTER ONE

What you shouLd know about your child 12

CHAPTER Two

Developing a Montessori approach 24

CHAPTER THREE

Preparing the way 39

CHAPTER FOUR

First steps towards reading and writing 62

CHAPTER FIVE

learning to write the letters 85

CHAPTER SIX

Starting to read 104

CHAPTER SEVEN

Reading for meaning 117

CHAPTER EIGHT

Creative and accurate writing 127

CHAPTER NINE

Templates and other resources 136

INVEX 158

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I should like to thank Billa Patell and Muriel Dwyer for

their support, c-nCQnragc'mcnr :md lfl<.;pintion over the-­

last 20 years: Renilde r-,'\ontc"ori

the -world insF1T-ing those \VhD Montessori

educarion is an educatlon for life, ::md for taking time

out from a busy schedule to advise me on the

hiogr:lphy; ond Rmcmary ')"ssoon, wh,,,e und<:rstanding

of children·s hanchxTiting is outstanding :md \vho<.;~

passion is infectious l Jesse Scott,James Irwin and Eve Lawrence kindly worked their way through rhe carll'

hook too, to Hilary \Vhire

for her shared lnrerf''1t :mrl expenise. I ;:1m very gratcfiJI

to my editor I'lJbcl ?vloorc for her enthusiasm and

understanding :md 'Co photographer Ron Sutherland

whose hc:wriful rhotogr:lphs proof of his :lhility to

work well with children. Isabel. Ron and I had an

intense but hugely f'njoyJhk rime working ,-vith

children of the Maria 'v10ntcssori Children', Home

Thanks must also go to the childrcn, parents, studcnts

and staff of the ]\!laria \ionressori Training Organization

who colbhoratcd so enthusiastically, and to Scilla lown5

for help in compiling the f-ook lists, Finallv. I must thank

rny fJrnilv ~md :1il the ::~lpporr they so

\vl1lingly as I \\TOtc this boole

Publisher's note

The f'llhJisher \vould to thank S3.s~oon and \\lilliams

for pcrmls';10n to u<;(' the Sassoon Tacri1c

on pages 142 to 15 L Every etlort has been made to gain

pernl1,)<:lOn other rublicT(ions qlJ0tcd in the text; SJll

details of the SOurces of ail quote-d mJteTiJl

RihliogrClphy

uction

children master the arts of

reading and writing in an ctfortless Jnd enjoy­

able way. There are no big secrets to this - it is

noc a question of money and it is not difficult.

What am certain of, is that the process is easy

and natural under the age of sLx.After sLx it is, at

best, an uphill Struggle.

This book is not written for mv peers or for

the studems I teach; nor is it written to

persuade sCf'ptics of the value of the Mome)Sori

lJ1rroach, or to challenge any prevailing notions

of what the hest method of teaching

reJding and writing. It is simplv written for

those parents who want to offer practical help

to their children along path to literacy.

Many parents locked out of the process

of helping their child to read and write beCJuse

our cultural attitude t("lls them that it difficult

and that it is somerhing tor reachers to do. This

really should not be so. The preparation for

reading and writing begins long before formal

schooL and parents dre the first and best [cJchers.

I am also convinced that literacy is the only

\Vav children to burst our of the cultural and

social hmdings which cO!1Stnin their lives, to lift

their sights and extend their horizons, and

ultimately to plav their part in advancing our SOCIety.

The ability to read and write is not, in itself,

a sufficient ambition. What is of supreme

importance is bringing about, in J child, a desire

to read and write: this is the Holy Grail.

This book is not for just dipping into as the

whim takes you. It charts a developmental

process with activities ,hat tit with the matura­

tional process in a young mind. It is like

building a house on solid foundations, each

brick upon another and tInally a roof. If you

build precarious tower on sand, may look

good for a while, but it will fall down.

The foundations for literacy are love and

encoungcment. The basement is constructed

from the joy of being read to, knowledge of the

world, a langmgc-rich environment. develop­

ment of the senses and control of the body. The

ground floor rooms arc made from an awareness

of the sounds in language. The upper Hoor is

created from the ability to attach symbols to

sounds and the attic is made from the skill of

using those symbols to express your own

thoughts. The roof is reading and writing. In

such house a child's mind can reside for a

re\varding lifetime :md no hurricane can blow

down.

In each chapter of this book you will find

important activities which are the huilding

blocks of literacy; they rdeet the kinds of acriv-

ities, but are not necessarily the as those,

thar go on in a Montessori school. In <lddition,

there are lots of games that are ideally suited tor

parents to engage in with their children at

home.

INTRODUCTION

Read each chapter before you embark on

helping your child rc:tding :md vvriting,

as it will give you teei for the overall

approJch, which requires you to foilow a

number of paralkl paths, As a rough guide you

will find that Chapten 1 and 2 relate to the

general Montessori JppTOJch; Chapter 3

provides actlvities that underpin reading and

writing; Chapter 4 contains three essential

activities that are the gareway to reading md

writing; Chapters and 6 must be read in

paraUel with each other as they deveiop Your

child's ability to read and write; Chapters 7 and i

8 must also be read in prallel as thev develop

more sophistioted skills in reading and writing;

and Chapter 9 contains advice on how to make

some of the activities referred to this book

and provides you \vith templates to

Please rcmC'mher you go that, in young

children of three or tour, reading does not

precede \vriting ~ these abilities pregress hand

in hand, with writing initially slightly ahead

leading the way, Children who have learned in

a Montec;sori cnvironn1cnt '>;tdrtlng at ahout t\yO

l~TRODU iON

and a half years 'old will, quite naturally, write

before they read,

I have written this book as an aid tor parents

to use at home, and although it is compler", in its

own right will also supplement any work

being done in schooL While parents are always

the main educators of a young child, the role of

the .. teacher is also important, A Montessori

environment for a young child is a very appro­

priate solution to the pressures of modern life

where parents seldom have the choice of being

at home full-time, However, Montessori is more

than just a kind of schoo!, it is an attitude, an

approach, and I hope that in reading this book

you may come to understand a little ;]hom this

approach and will feel inclined to tollow it with

your child,

Any shortcomings that you encounter in this

book will be mine; they do not reflect on the

Montessori approach,

If, as a result of reading this book, one parent

helps one child to learn to love reading and

writing then, tor me, wriring it will have been

worthwhile,

Lynne Lawrence

About Maria Montesso

M aria Mo~t,:s:ori \;\;~s born in 1870 _in the

town at Cmarvalle, Italy. Her tather,

Alessandro, made a career in the civil service

and her mother, Renilde Stopp;mi, was well

educated and forward looking, Their house was

apparently full of books for Renilde loved

reading, a passion which she passed on to her

:\1omcssori family moved to Rome in

1875 and the following year the young :\1aria

enrolled in the puhlic ,chool on the Via di San

Nicolo da Tolentino, As her education

progressed, she began to break through the

barriers that constrained women's careers

from 1886 ro 1890 she cOlltillL1t'd her studies at

the Regio lsti1'mo Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci

initially with the intention of hecoming an

engineer, unheard of tor a woman, At some

mnmem and for reasons she herself was unahle

to explain, she changed her mind about

engineering as a career and decided to become

a doctor of medicine,

At that time it was nnrhinkahle that a

woman should emer medical schooL However,

it seems that Pope Leo XIII interceded on her

behalf and in 1890 she enrolled at the

University of Rome, initially studying physics,

mathematics and the natural sciences; in 1892

she passed her exams, receiving the Diploma eli

Licenza, her passport to the Facultv of

Mcdic;ne~

At mediol school her male colkagues 'xer~

hostile to her presence and no dnuht somewhat

intimidatcd~ For [he sake of propriety, Maria

found herself excluded from anatomy and

di"ecring classes ~ it was comidercel unseemly

for a woman to look on a naked body in the

r:ompanv of her male colleagues ~ and so she

undertook her dissection work on her O\vn after

hours,

:\1o:1tessori's hiographer) rcbte the story ofa

seminal moment in her studies when, after an

isolated evening in the dissecting room, she

departed with the imention of ahandoning her

medical studies~ On her way horne she '.'las

confronted bv a beggar woman with a two year­

old child who was playing WIth a piece of

colored paper. She was deeply affected bv the

expression of harrinc" on the child's face ;1l1d

by its toral absorption in the activity with the

piece of paper, and later reJared that she was

moved bv emotions she could not herself

explain to turn around and return directly to

the dissecting room, Perhaps in the activity of

this poverty-stricken child she had found her

vocatlOl1,

In 1896 Maria Montessori grJdmtcd trom

the Uniycrsitv of Rome with top honors as the

first woman donor:n Italy. She was immediate­

ly ('mploycd in the San Giovanni Hospital

attached to the University. Later that vear she

was asked to represent Italy at an International

Congress tor \Vomen 's Rights, and in speech

to the Congress she developed a thesis tor social

A 0 lV1/\R! /\ i"v10

reform, arguing that women should be entitled

to equal wages with men.

In Novemher 1896 :'v10ntcssori added the

appointment as surgical assist:lnt at Santo

Spiriw Hospitdl in Rome to her portfolio of

tasks. Much of her work there was with the

poor, and particularly with the children of the

poor. As a doctor she was noted for the way in

which she "tended" her patients, making sure

they were warm and properly fed as well as

,jiagnosing :md treating their illnesses. In 1897

,he vohmtccred to join research project at

psychiauic clinic of the University of Rome

and it was here that she worked alongside

Gimscppe Montcs:mo, with whom a romance

was to develop.

lis part of her work for the clinic she would

visit Rome's asylums for the insane, seeking

'l]hjecrs for treatment at the clinic. She relates

how. on one such visit when she saw a group of

children a bare unfurnished room, she

realized that their cnvironment deprived them

of the sensorial stimulation tor which they

naturally craved. thereby contributing w their

condition. She began to read all she could on i the suhject of mcntJily retarded children, and

particlllctr she studied the gro\lndhrcaking work

of two early 19th century Frenchmcn. Jean­

Marc-Gaspard Itard and Edouard Seguin; she

was so keen to understand their work properly

that she tr:mslatcd it henelf from French into Italian.

During the 1897-98 university terms she

mught to expand her kno,vledge of education

by comses in pedagogy and studied

the work of Rousseau. Pcst:Jlozzi Jnd Froebel.

Froebel had in 1837 estahlished a school for

voung children

which he called a radical innovation.

Kleinkinderbcschadh-s::ngsanmlt. ,m appropriate but nther un-vyicldy

nde that has given way to the modern word

Froebel, convinced of the value

early learning. developed a series

13 (; U : .. M.~ Fll,~ Nt 0 NT E S SOft I

toys or apparams which he called "gifts" and

these anticipated the development of Montes­

sori's materials.

In 1897 Montessori was asked to address the

Narional Medical Congress in Turin. where she

advocated the conrroversi::ti theory that the lack

of adequate care for rctJrded and disturbed

children was a cause of their delinquency. She

cxpnded on this in 1898 and in September of

that addressed the National Pedagogical

Congress in Turin, presenting vision of social

progress and political economy rooted in

commonly supported educational me~si]rcs.The

notion of social reform through education was

an idea that was to develop and mature in

:\1ont~;ssori's thinking throughout her life. Bv the end of 1898 a committee had been

formed to generate funds for a national

medical-pcdagogiccal institution, the National

League for the Education of Retarded Children.

As a representative of the League, J\1ontessori

embarked upon a lecture tour in 1899 which

gave her the opportunity of svnthC'Q7mrr her

arguments ror the emancipation of women, the

:llleviation of poverty. the education yery

young children and the tOtlndation of a peacenll

and prosperous civilization. Were she alive todav

promoting such ideas she would be considered

ahead of her time, so it is worth reflecting for a

momC'nt that she was a young woman of

0.venty-seven speaking out a century ago.

:vlomessori's involvemcm with the National

League for the Education of Retarded Children

led to her appointment as co-director with

Giusseppe Montesano of a new institution

called the Orthophrenic School. This school

took children with a broad specuum of different

disorders and disabilities, and by July 1900 these

children \verc showing such progress that official

visits were made from various important insntu­

tions. Montessori spent tWO working at the

Onhophrcnic School. She brought a scientific

analytical attitude to her work. teaching and

ABOVE Maria Montessori.

observing by day and writing up notes by

night. She acknmvlcdged this period as hemg

the time she truly came to understand

pedagogy, and it was here that she first devel­

oped ideas tor her ",dllcarional materials. gomg

beyond the ideas of Seguin, Itard and

Froebe!.

The relationship with Giusscppc :'viontcsano

had developed into a love affair, and in 1898

Maria gave birth to child, a boy named lv1ano,

who was put into the care of a family who lived

in the countrvside near Rome. Maria visited the

child often. but was not until he was older

that Mario came to know that lvlaria was his

mother. Certainly a strong bond was maint:l\fll,d

and in later vears he ,ollahorated :md

with his mother, corlt1DUmg her work aiter her

death. In 1901 Maria leEr [he Orthophrenic School

and immersed herself in her own studies l!1(Q

educational philosophy :md anthropology;

U R r

11)

suh,c'1ucnth~ in 1904, she wok up post in the

Pedagogic School of the University of Rome

which she held until 1908.

Rome during this period was growing very

rapidly and in the of specui:Jtivc dc\'Ciop­

ment some construction companies and

13nciowncrs were falling into bankruptcy,

leaving untlnishl"d hllilding projects which

quickly attracted squatters. Onl" 'l1ch develop­

ml"nr stood in the San Lorenzo district behvccn

the old Roman wall and the cemeterv. The

building project was rescued by a group of

wealthy bankers, the Beni Stabili gronp, who

undertook a basic restorJtion creating a

iencmcnr block containing indi\'idual apart­

ments, which soon occupied by

impoverished working f1ml1ies. With parents

out at work all day, the younger children

wrnked havoc on the newly completed

huilding, and Beni Stahili s011ght help from Dr.

;\1ontcssori to provide ways of occnpying the

children so that they would not damage the

premises

!'v1ontt";sori grasped the opportunity of

working with normal children and. bringing

some of the educatioml materials she had

developed at the Orthophrenic School, she

f>sobii,hco her firs( Casa dei Bamhini or

"Children's House." Within three months a

second Casa was opened. There was no expec­

tation that she would achieve ;mything with

[hese children, which gave her the opportunity

to experiment. She put many things into [he

children's environment hut kept those that

engaged them.What Monte,sori to rC;llize

was tlut children who were placed in an

env-:ronrncnt ;;ctlvitit'~ de'slgned (0

suppon their natural development had the

po\ver to educate thcn1sclvcs. She \vas to refer

II mcrhi1d of Edliraticl1, I little r-fiildr(,tl a dr,1l1rC to liv('.!

ABO

It is a t(,stament to her insight thar contem­

porary discoveri,,, ahont the ,vay chilrlren groy\·.

develop and learn consistemlv reinforce her

conclusions.

The children in the CJsa made extraoroimry

progress and soon five-year-olds were writing

and reading. News of Ivlontessorj's new

approach spread rapidly and visitors arrived 1:0

see for themselves how she was such

~ results. In the summer of 1909 she gave the tIrst

training course in her approach to early educa­

tion to about one hundred students. notes

trom this period developed into The Montessori

Me1:hod, which was 'llhsequcmly published in

the United States in 1912 and has become one

of the most influential hooks ;:over written in the

field of education.

On December 20,1912, her mother died at

the age of sevemy-two. Maria was deeply

affected by this event, and in the year t()llowing

her mother's death she brought her son Mario

to Rome to be with her.

A period of great exp~l1Sion in (he Montes­

sori approach now followed. Montessori

societies, training programs and schools sprang

to life all over the world, and a period of travel

with public speaking and lecturing occupied

'vlontC';sori, much of it in the United States, but

also in Britain and Holland. Thomas Edison and

Alexanoer Graham Bell had invited her to the

U.S. where;} hurgeoning !\1ontessori mo\-cment

was underway; Bell himself was the president of

the American !\Ilomessori Society and JVhrgaret

Wilson, daughter of the then President of the

United States, was its secretary. Much of the

expansion. hmvcver, was ill-t()lmrko oisrort­

ed by the evems of World War 1. It lTlUSt have

been very difficult for Maria, who had no

independent income, to remain in tollch with

the broad spectrum of devl"]opment that was

going on in her name in so many parts of the

world, and she developed a growing concern

about her legacy that was to c111minatc in the

cstahlishmcm of the Association Monte5'ori

internationale (AMI) in 1929 in Denmark.

Todav ANI! monitors the standards of 45 full­

time training schools around the world for

teachers of children !Tom 0-3.3-6 and 6-12.

On returning from America in 1917. and

after Mario's marriage to his firs( wife Helen

Christie, she based herself in Barcelona, Spain

where a Seminari Laboratori di Pcdagogia had

been created for Her son and his new wife

joined her and her four grandchildren were

born there: tWO boys, Ivlario and Rolando,

and two girls, Marilena and Renilde. Renilde,

her youngest grandchild, is today the General

Secretarv of AMI.

Maria nursed· an ambition to create a

permanent center for research :wd oevclopmcm

into her ~pproach to earl:: years education, but

ing. In 1939 Mario and Maria embarked on a

Journey to India to give a three-month tnining

course in f\'hdras followed by a krtmc tour; they

were not to return f()[ nearly seven years. \Vith

the outhreak of war, as Italian citizens, Iv1ario was

interned and Maria put under hOllse arreSL She

i spent the summer in Kodaik;mal :md expcn-

ence guided her thinking toward nature of

the relationship between all living things, a

theme she was to develop until the end of her

life and which became known as cosmic "duca­

tion, an approach for children bNv,:ccn six :md

12. Montessori was well looked after in India,

where she met Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore. Her

70th birthday request co the Indi:m government

- that I'vlario should be released and restored to

her was granted, and together they gave

courses to which hundreds of stuoents

any possibility of this happening her hfNime i In I'L+6 they returned to Holland and to the

in Spain was thwarted by the rise of fascism in gnndchildrcn who had spent the war years in

Europe. By 1933 all Montessori schools in the care Ada Pierson. In 1947 Montecsori,

Germany had been closed and effigy of her now 76, Jddrcssed UNESCO on the theme

was burned above 3. bonfire of her books ll1

Berlin: the Third Montessori Congress, q;hed- i

uled for Berlin in 1934. was cmcclled. In the

"Eduotion ~nd In 1949 she reccived the

first of three nommatiol1S for the Nobel Peace

Prize and at the UNESCO Conference in

same year, after Montessori refused· to i Florence in 1950, the Director General Jaime

operate with r\1ussolini\ pLms to incorporate I Torres Bodet procbimcd her as the symbol for

Italian Montessori schools into fascist youth

movement. he closed them all down. The

outbreak of CIvil in Spain forced the family

to ahanoon their horne in Barcelona and they

sailed to England in the summer of 1936. From

England the tnveled to F!olland to stay

in the familv home of Ada Pierson, [he

of a Dutch banker. Mano, by now

estranged from his first wife, was la[er to

marry Ada.

Plans were made to create a model school

and research center at Laren in Holland. and

with Amsterdam now the headquaners of AMI

the future for the ~1onte"oris looked promis-

eduCJtion and world peace.

Her last public nl(T;WCmrnt was in London

in 1951 when she attended the Ninth Interna­

tional MontessOTl Congress. On May 6, 1952, in

the house of the Pierson family in Holland, she

died in company of her beloved son Mario

to whom she bcqucJthed the legacy of her

work.

That work continues in all parts of the

world and with children from all cuitures

i and backgrounds, and it as relevant today as it

ever was.

r\130L'T JV1/\RlA 1"v10NTESSORl 11

CHAPTER ONE

you should know urchild

is one of the most fJscinaring of

attributes. \Ve watch it develop in

voung children but as undcrltand very little

about the proceS'. We do now know that

voices, particularly those of the mother and

father, are points of reference for a newborn

child: songs sung to a fetus in the womb will

have a calming "Hect a distraught newborn

baby as she recognizes something that is

familiar. After birth, the attraction a child has

the ground well in advance of these abilities

developing, and you will need to spend time

I building up all the skilIs that required for

these two complex processes.

, Don't be tempted to rush her. Your aim is to

i help develop a love of reading and writing

i so that throughout her she will choose [Q

read and choose to write. If chilclrcn d<:vdop a

love of books and of reading, the'lNorId's

knowledge becomes avaihble to them, all the

coward bnguage, even when ,he

'.JndcntJnc1 a \\'orc1} is

cannot i stories, myths and legends, in fact and fiction.

As a parent you are the first and most

important teacher of your child. The more in

tune you are with the way ,he develops. there­

fore, the more successful you \,vill be in

providing what she needs. Language develop­

ment in ail children follows specific and

patterns. once you underst:lnd

what is h:;ppcning you will feci confident about

the help that you can otfer your o\Nn child. To help to write and read well, you v"ill

need to begin to develop her ability to commu­

nicate with others about the things that she

knows. It will be essential for her to have good

voc:tbuhry, to able to express herself contl­

ientIy ;ll1d to have heard a variety of sources of

rich lnterestlng Research no\-v

shows that children with these good verbal skills find reading and writing easier.

If you wish your child to become a good

and "writer" you will need to prepare

You SHUCLD KNOW ABOCT Yo

Each time they open a book they will become a

time-traveler. For a moment, real time is

suspC'ndcd as they become engaged in the story.

A book can take them to explore worlds known

and unknown. can help them travel forward and

backward in time. Children who become good

readers will haNe the power to pursue their own

interests beyond the limited information avail­

able from the adults around them. and children

who become good writers will haNe ways of

expressing their thoughts and teelings in more

tangIble and lasting torms.

There are many things thaI need to be done

betore vour child can read or write and it is

helpJ1.l1 if you do not have in mind a definite age

for her to have m;lStereQ these skills.

Preparing vour child to read and write

means that you must first start to prepare for

RIGHT If you can help your child then not only will she be able to choose to do 50 throughout her life.

CHI LD

reading and writing "[cadiness," and to do this

you must haVe' some kn(),ylcoge of the basic

:vlonrcssori principlcs that applv to child oevei­

opment in this area.

In the tlrst SLX years of life all children:

• Have ;10 :lbsnrbent mind.

• Have moments of acute toward

their environment, which are called "sensitive

periods."

• Have strong urges to communic:ltc, (0 be

independent ,mo to explore.

• Learn primarilv through their senses and

through movement.

The absorbent mind A child in the first six years of her life has a

lTlind that functions very differently trom an

adult mind: it appears to absorb vast JmOlmts of

information without any effort on the part of

the child. How does a child injnst three vears

manage to create all the basic clements of

bnguJgc?

,~,t birth she cannot speak any bnguage, yet

by three she has formed [he basis of her

and by six has command of a wide

vo(·ahubry. Of C01me bnguage will srill develop

alter but not in the same way. We also know

[hat provided a child has an opportunity to hear

I:mgl1:1gc in this period, she will learn not just

one hngmgc hut as as she is exposed to. In

many parts of the world children of six arc tluem

111 as manv as three different bngLuges: children

in Kenya. for example, may come to a i'v10nres­

,ori school at the age of three knowing a tribal

such Kikuyu, their African bngnagc

Sv\:ahIli. and English. Could you an adult, in

three short years, do as much? Not only do the

Kenyan children learn the vocabubry of each

they can also produce perfect sounds.

No matter how long you took as an adult to learn a you would never quite pedect the sounds in [he way that a child can.

For the first three years of life a child is able

simply to take in information from her

surrounding environment withont <~F,cn1'nHl1-

tion and \vitho\H effort. creating and huilding all

the basic huilding hlocks of her personality md

forming her mind. From the age of three on, she

is still able to take in information but bringsw

this an element of choice and selectivity, and

theretore makes a more COYlSciOlll exploration of

the world around her.

Imagine that a child's mind is like a sponge:

if you place a sponge in water it will soak up the

water, whether is it clean or dirtv.A child's mind

is like this - it will absorb, without effort.

it finds in the cnYironn~ent. A sponge,

very ditferent from

when it was drv - you could say that it has

transformed itself; it is different undenvJ(cT, it is

soft and pliable. A child's mind is also trans­

formed by what it takes in from the

environment. The sponge, however, can only

absorb so much water; the child's mind is not

like this it can absorb huge quanrities of infor­

mation simplv by living.

Looking at a newborn baby you will nO[ice

that from the earliest days oflife her IS

tocused on the mouth of the person speaking to

her. She appears to be drinking in the whole

person while listeni:1g looking intently at

the mouth that speaks. We know that talking [0

a baby a lot signific:mtly speeds up process of

learning new words.

The mind only fimcrions like this in the first

six years of life, and not only will a child acquire

such obvious human char;lcteristics as

but J.!so knowledge about the world and how it

works and kn()\vlcdgc about values and

cmtOl11s. Basic attitudes toward life will be estab­

lished ,lIld the foundation of the indi\'idua]

p<'rso11;(liry estahlishC'd.

This onlv serves to underline the import:mc<,

of your creating a rich cnyiwnmcnt from the

very beginning, where good convers;ltion,

I WHi\T Y()U SH()Cl,]) KN()\V L'1.BOUT YOLJR CHILD

reading and writing is already taking place.

Perhaps it's time to turn off the telcyision and

read more for YOllrsC'lf. and with your child.

Perhaps it's time to write letters and not simply

make telephone calls; to send cards and thank

you letters; to enclose first dra\vings and "fforts

at mark-making in em'clopes to seno to gr:md­

parents. uncles and aunts as messages from your

child. Perhaps it's also time to convene with I

vour child rather than instruct and to collabo- '

rate using language the medium, to use rich

and marvelous whenever possible ,md

to sing and rhyme. So much of what your child

will learn during this period is done uncon­

sciouslv, that making a start means starting

yourself.

Developing your child's mind Studies of the brain have gradually revealed

what educators and parents have known

instinctively £:)r years: that the experiences

children have in the early years of their life have

a direct etfect on the quantity and quality of

connections made in their brain. In addition,

there is now evidence to show that, as Dr,

Montessori ohscrvt'd many years ago, there are

times during this period when the brain is

more susceptible to different types of experi­

ences than others, creating what are called

"learning windov1is, of opportuniry"

or "Iensitive periods."

When Dr. Montessori made her observa­

tions of children and responded to what she

saw, she had recourse only to words and

imagery to try to alert p:ln:'nt\ and educators to

the extraordinary influence that the environ­

ment could have upon the formation of a

young child's mind. In her book The ,1b.'orbcnt

.Hind. she said.

may be said that we (adults) acquire by the (hiid

ahsorbs b1(l1l'lcdgc ilirt(ti}, il1to his psyrhic

do /'lot I11crriy (,11(('r

they form it.

At no other time have we had more compelling

scientific evidence to show us that a child's

dcwloping hrain is directly dependent upon the

quality and quantity of experiences avaibblc to

her in her earlv years.

Scientists have also idenritlt'd the important

role that repE'Jted experience plays in the

strengthening of these connections. Pathways

that are repeatedly used become strong and

resilient dnd continue to retlne and ocvelop;

those that are not reinforced wither awav

around the age of 10, leaving only what is strong

and flmctional to develop.

\Vhen you watch your child repeating an

action, persevering until she has tlnished, you

will realize that she is doing ,0mNhing far more

important than it may appear. So otten we

cannot understand Ollr child's need to repeat,

what to us, appears to be a pointless action, wirh

such tlerce determination and concentration.

What you are watching, at this moment, is the

action of "life huilding up."

Windows of opportunity In her observation of children Dr. Montessori

pointed out that as a child developed there were

certain periods of time that appeared to be the

most favonblc ones for creating and retlning

particular human cbaracteristics such as

bnguage. She called these special periods, "sensi­

tive periods," a term she had borrowed from a

hiologist. Todav the latest research tends to

describe them as windows of opportunity.

Sensitive periods ,1[e import:mt bc.clllse at no

other time 111 a child's life will she be able [()

acquire a particular ch"racteristic so easily and

well. Once the window of opportl:nity closes it

becomes much more difficult and sometimes

impossible tor her to acquire these abilities

WHAT You SHOULD KNOW AUUUT YOUR C 15

The etfectiveness of each wmclovv relies i The sensitive period for language entirely on the enyironmcntal stimuli that a The sensitive period for appears co

child finds in her environment in the case of operate mainly during the first six years ofhfe.

language, the more linguistically rich her I During this time your child will namrally rocus

C'nvironmC'nt, the greater is the opportunity for I on those experiences that will best serve this

dt'velopmt'nt. particular window. i\.s a consequence you will

Dr. tvlontessori referred to sensitive

periods that she observed in the young child:

Lmguage

• Movement

Socialization

• Order

Sensory perception

.. Fine detail

We shall look at just two of these periods:

see that she n:)[ur;;lly focuses her attention on

the human voice and is both enthralled and

fascinated by it, excited and soothed by it.

From very early on she will focus her atten­

tion on your mouth as you speak and observe

intendy the movements mJde by your lips as

I BELOW All children experience these sensitive periods. The bold lines beiow show the window of opportunity that exists for each period. During this time. the experiences offered to a child directly influence the way its mind forms.

\V HAT You S H 0 U KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHI

well as the sounds produced by them. In each

sensitive period there will be a period of inter- ! nalization hefore there is anv active sign of the

chJrJctenstlC

Through focus on her bngllage environ­

ment your child acquires ,he ability to

reproduce sounds of her mother tongue

with ali its nnances, dialects ;md intonations.

intensity of contact that she makes in the

cr:Y1rOnmCnr concentrated on L1thc:r

than on gencr:1I1y, no matter how

she to other sounds: she does not

reproduce the whisde of a train or the barking

ABOVE From the very beginning children are fascinated by the human voice.

ofa dog instead ofbnguage. The ;;hility to learn

a second language is highest dnnng this "vindo,,"

of opportumtv.

All children :lrotmd the world will produce

speech in much the same way, lrrespecrive of the

complexity or simplicity of their

there appears to be general timetahle of readi­

ness that they follow. All the funC1:;mcnr;d

constructions of language take pbce before the

age of three:just atter this age an "explosion·' of

WHAT You SHOU KNOW ABOGT YOUtz CHIL 17

18

speech, and evidence of a real hunger for words,

shows. And gradll:dly after that, attention to

language expands from spoken bngu:lgc to an

exploration oflangeage in a form.

TVhat can you do to heip? One of the easiest things you can do to help is to

make sure that you talk to your child from the

very beginning of her life.You can engage her in

conversation long before she herself has the

capacity to understand the

vour words or before she has the ability to reply.

Those close to a child, particularly the main

caregrvers such par:nts, will otten wait nafllnl­

ly for a response which may be glVen

with a little wave of an arm or movement of the

lips. Use and varied language 'when

talking to your baby. Tell her what you are doing

and give her the proper names for the things

around her - tor example, if you are cooking her

dinner. talk about wh;\t you are doing, ,-,vhat you

are using and how delicious ir will be!

You should sing, rhyme and to your

child as often as pmsible. Very often children

who have an older sibling beneflt as they are

read to from the moment they arc born simply

because tbey arc present while you read to your

firstborn.

You should make sure vour child is included

in social situations where she will have the

benefit observing conversation and social

BELOW Sing songs and recite as many nursery rhymes with your child as you can - it's both enjoyable and an essential part or the process of preparing her to read and write. The better she rhymes, the more in tune she is with the patterns of her language,

WHAT YOu SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHI

interaction. Try to put her in a position, either

held in your arms or propped up, to give her

good vantage point where she can see what is

happcnin:;. Encourage her in com'crsation. Give

her <:'nollgh time to express herself - children in

their early years search for the right words to

use to express their ideas and this takes time. If

you guess what it is you think wants to say

and it wrong, she will usuallv have to start

all over again. She may get frustrated around

two, when what she wants to say and the

vocabulary she has to say it with don't match

up.Try to remember that children have a much

Idrger "'passIve" vocJbubry th:tn an actlve one,

and that they can understand much more than

they can say themselves.

Listening to what children to say gIves

them a feeling of value and self worth. Being

listened to wiil also encourage them to listen to

others, too. Listen scnsitiyc!y to what your child

is saying and help her to extend her vocabulary

through a gentle questiomng process. When

you haven't mmaged to underst:md what she is

saving, you may have to ask, "Did you mean.

or did you mean .... " In searching for [he

correct lmerprnation, you give the message to

her that you are trying to underltJnd what she is saying to vou, and at the same rime you are

helping her to hear how she could have

expressed herself. If she says something that

could have been expressed differently don't

correct her - simr1y provide a "model by means

of confirmation." For example "Me like milk

no!"You may reply, "Ah, you don't like milk."

Remember you arc a role model for vour child,

if you want her to read, you should read; if you

want her to write, she needs to you doing

so, too.

your child acquires it - having an ,mdc-rstanding

of this will help you to provide the appropriate

stimulation tor her.

is the unique pmscssion of the

human being - it is imro"iblc to conceive of

anv human society functioning without

language. Human language is primarily crotive

and produces forms of itself continuallv if

required.

We use language for two basic illHctions: it

helps us to comr;H1nicate with one another,

e-;tJbhshing J.nd maint;1ining social rebtlGns, Jnd

it provides a svstem of symbols ;md patterns thrit

being in its own way limiting. The

is rhat CriD help to structure

in the !'v10ntcssori context, children arc helped

to identify problem, them,clves and to work

am to their questions. L1l1guJge can

also determine the we perceive rhings. Thi,

can be both helpful, by clantying cone-cprs and

by creating a new level of thinking, or it can be

a limitatl'1l1, for it reqUIres intellectual effort to

see things in any other way than our hnguagc

,ugge,ts

Your child's mind is being formed at a rapid rate In earlv vears and wha( is clear is that

the quality and qUrintity of connections made

depend upon imprc"lOns of the \yor!d rccci';ed

through her senses, reinforced through activity

and repetition. It is what she experiences for

herself in the "real" world that will shape her

mind for the fUture.

of opportunity ror developing

by which we mean physical coordi-

First steps to acquiring language nation, "pprJ" (Q begin ,hortlv after birth when

Having focused on the fact there is a I basic motor ,kills are dn'eloped, and the

Wi!ldov: of opporn:nity for the dcwlopmcnt of refinement of these skills seems to

look at whrit bnglngc is J:ld how begin around 18 months. The period

WHr.T You SHOULD KhOW ABO YOUR CHILD 19

of dev-clopment seems to take place in the first

four years of life. Giv-ing your child many

possibilities for development in this area in

these early will therefore pay dividends.

It is through mowmem that your child's

pcrsonJlity expresses itself. The more coord-in;1t~

cd her mind and body are, the better able she

will be to bring into reality the thoughts and

feelings that she has.

There are many reasom why you shouid

help your child develop good coordination.

• When reading and writing she requires a

knowicdge of the \vodd - ,vithotlt it she will

be a disadvantage when it comes to

interpreting books and may be sruck tor ideas

when she comes to write.

• If she has developed good tlne hand control,

she will End it easier to turn the pages of a

book. control a pencil, illustrate and so ('11.

• Increasing your child's independence

through her own will her sclf-

,',"1"hri0nr'p She will know that. generally

'peaking in hcr life, she is able to tackle things

on her own and be relatively Sllccessfill. She

will be more likely w try things and w have

had plenty of practice at solving problems, ali

of \'vhich will help develop of the

cttirudC's ,113t are helpfi11 if she is [Q bec()me a

reader and an author.

If your child has gained control over her

physical c()ordimtion, she will find it easier to

sit and uo things ~ some children iInd it very

difficult to keep their bodies still or to sit, and

this hampers their ability to give auC'nnon to a

task or activitv.You cannot force her to be still;

is impcmihic. \Vhat you can do is to help her

[() gam enough control over her bodv to allow

her to \vill to be still. This reqm;es lots of

bring greater control to her T1l0VCments.

Your child needs to be omside playing

games as much as pmsible so that she learns to

move in increasingly well c()ordinated wavs.

Taking her into the park. going for walks and

letting her explore as much as she is able to will

contribute gready to her development. Games

such as Gf3ndmother's Footsteps, Statues, Tr;Jffic

Lights and "What's the time Mr.Wolf?" all help.

I Devel()ping ball skiEs. the ability to skip, hop

and run should also all be

development.

yital to her

Since coordinated movement is a result of

experience in the environment, you will need to

undcrst:md that. as much as pmsih!e. your child

needs to be helped to do things for herself.

Although in the bcginniI1g this will mean that

you will need to invest more time in helping

her, once she can do things for herself and in her

own time everyone ',Vill be pleased.

You should try to prepare your home so that

she can explore it in safety and in relative

freed()m. It is worth remembering [hat she

learns to control her movements through being

active herself: sho\ving her to do ,,,,ill

have a more positive effect than stopping her

tram doing things. And you will tInd that it is

easier tor "no" to mean '"no}' "vhen you are not

using it all the time.

for give her a small pitcher with a

sluaU amount of juice it so that she can pour

her own drink. This will give her the ability to

use her hands with judgment and with little

drama should she spill some in the beginniI1g.

DevclopiI1g this small skill will mean that

i cn·ntually she ca n help herself to a drink when

necessarv, put milk on her cereal in the

morning, or water plants - or in Jo

;mything that requires that panicular level of

motor coordination. Helping her to toilet and

teed herself, to dress herself. in fact to do almost

everything that is helpful for a small human

being to know, 'Nill also help her reilne the

control that she has over her body: it's much

quicker to put her shoes on than to help her to

do it for herself, but once she can do it you are

\V H You SHOLJLD KNOW l1.BOUT YOUR CHILD

not needed unless she is reeling tired or in need

of help. The more iI1dcpendent your child becomes,

the more she will be able to participate in life ,

and the more you will tlnd that she will have a i

positive attitude to all its c1ullcnges.

Developing a good ability to communicate

and to move with control will greatlv enhance

her ahilirit's to act indcpC'ndcmly ~nd to explore

ABOVE Don't be afraid to let your child do as much as she wants to for herself - even pouring her own milk at breakfast! The better her general hand control is, the better her writing witt be.

the world in which she lives. You will notice

that she has strong urge to do things as you do.

for parents of course. [he natural educators

of their children.

\'II/HAT You SH LJLD K ow A13 UT YUUR C ILl)

Developing Language

0-8 weeks

Watches the mouth of the speaker intently. Makes

mainly biological noises - breathing, eating and

those that will hunger or pain.

8 - 20 weeks

Good social response to sound of familiar voices.

Coos, smiles, enjoys singing, chuckles. May turn

head to find source of voices. A variety of sounds

made, many sounds being produced.

5 - 8 months Vocalizes tunefully, begiris to put syllables together,

repeats a variety of sounds. Goo, gaa, muh.

Responds to tone of speaker's voice. Gradually over

a period of 24'50 weeks the range of sounds become

more specific to those uttered in the particular

language of your child.

8 -12 months

Uses sounds to communicate with others, babbles

tunefully to self and others. Understands the sense

conveyed in language and begin to respond to

show that she understands. Can sign "goodbye,"

"hello: etc.

12 months Starts to use words intentionally. Shows under­

standing of what is said. "Where is your hat?" "Bath

time." Can hand known objects to the speaker on

request.

12 - 18 months

Use, simple words to convey sentences. "Dada"

could mean, Come dad, Dad where are you? There

you are. Sometimes it is the intonation that will

convey the full meaning.

18 - 24 months

Loves nursery rhymes, books, likes to sing. Moves

from pOSSible 6 - 20 words to simple sentences and

vOC<lbulary around 24 months. Wants to know the

names of th;ngs and will point and ask, "What's

dat?" "Why?"

ASOVE Make books easily available at home so that your child and her friends can discover them together.

2 - 3 years

Loves to be read to. Enjoys rhymes and poems, has

favorites. Many sounds still not pronounced accurate­

ly, but huge increase in vocabulary and complexity of

sentence structure. All basic language structures in

place, Refinement and expansion now possible. Talks

to selfwhiie playing and to others.

3 - 4 years

Able to use language to convey more abstract

thoughts such as likes, dislikes, bad dre;Jms, etc. Can

speak logically and grammotically, tells stories and

continues to expand vocabulary. nonsense

rhymes and jokes, and sound games.

4 - 5 years

Uses language to coordinate activity with other

children while Begins to use language in

more abstract forms such as writing.

5 - 6 years

Asks the meaning of abstract words and uses them.

Can use to describe future past events.

Very ciear on tomorrow, next week, etc. Precise about

age. address, telephone number. Loves jokes. Most

grammatical structure is complete by this time.

Enjoys listening to stories and "reading" them.

I W-HAT You SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHILD

De~fei.iopjing coordination

0-8 weeks

Head lags when pulled to sit but gradually develops

rontml ilS an object may be visually tracked, or turns

to the sound of a voice.

8 -12 weeks

Head and chest are held off the floor when lying on

stomach. When lying on back enjoys watching and will

begir; to play with hands. May begin to coordinate

hand and eyes. f{eaching for interesting mobile.

12 - 24 weeks

Will learn to rollover. When pulled to sitting keeps

head firm. Once sitting the hands are free to "piay"

and so needs stimulating objects that are close

enough to pick up: a wooden egg and eggcup and a

soft knitted ball are useful. Can pass toys back and

forth bctw0cn

6 - 9 months

Becomes more able to sit sturdily. Likes to play. Tries

to crawl. Loves to poke things with fingers. Uses

one hand 10 reach for toys, beginning to use fingers.

Mav begin to pull herself to standing position if there

Legs seem to

position. Feeding herself

on tnn ~ome environment! 15 beginning to

build obiects. Enjoys books and likes to point at

pictures. Enjoys

paper. moving it across

15 - 18 months

Enjoys moving things that require strength. Can walk

up and down stairs with a little help. Likes to be busy

with things in the home. Will heip unload washing

machine. Likes to fetch books and will try and turn

pages. Begins to practice running.

18 - 24 months

Exploring environment. Wants to take part in life. To

dress herself, to toilet herself, to eat for herself. Likes

to hold pencil or crayon and make marks on paper­

usuaily circles, lines and dots. hiwd often

used for picking things up, Wants real work to do.

2 - 3 years

Likes to ciimb. Enjoys cycling on small bike. lumps and

runs with confidence. Kicks balls. Likes TO use hands in

increasingly coordinated way and a variety of

tools. Enjoys gardening, cooking, cleaning, washing.

Wants to use your tools and do everything herself.

Loves finger rhymes.

3 - 4 years

Increases large movements through Likes to

play games that challenge her physically. Has good

billiskilis good balance. Climbs further and more

confidently. Uses hands to increase her

independence. Relutively fine hand control when using

scissors, paintbrushes, pencils. Loves finger rhymes.

Loves painting. Enjoys feeling objects. Likes

Sandpaper Letters.

4 - 5 years

Has learned to skip. Moves with greater rhythm to

music. Draws recognizable figures. Enjoys writing,

both pretend and reai. Can color outlines well and is

good at sewing. Is always busy. Likes to practice

writing.

5 - 6 years

Hand really begins to become the tool of the mind.

Your child is busy bringing the i-)anri under ever more

perfect control of the mind. Will work on topics of

interest for hours provided that the hand is also busy.

Perfects letter formation.

WHAT You SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR CH!LD

CHAPTER TWO

ping a Montessori approach

you may think !Ylonte5sori

'" ("lll",n){HI is :l mC'thod, a word that encap­

much better is :lppro:lch. The sulates it

'\10ntcssori approach cmbodi;;s attitude to

life and particularly to young children as they

grow and dC'vc]op. It is quite p05Sihk to do

without 5pecialized '\10ntcssori materi;)1 and

still have a Nlontessori approach; it is also

pnssihle to haw' all the specialized Nfo!1(cssori

matenals in the world and the

There are many activities in this book. snme

reflective of the Kind of experiences ynur child

would have in a Montessori school and others,

mostly games. that will provide extra support

Jnd more tun tar as she gains in knowledge

and CC1ntjdence. In all these activities it will be

important principles that reflect the '\.iclJ1tes;;ori

I :lttitude toward educating children, all of which

I hope vou will find reflect good common

sense.

Children have the power to educate themselves

I Simply living in an environment that contaim

appropriate and heir, your

child learn. esp('ciallv in the first six years of her

life. \Vhat is important is to create the right

conditions for learning. Resed.ch shows us that

children who are relaxed and happy learn much

more easily chan those who feel stress or

tension. Much of what your child can learn will

be :wtom:ltioily picked up from you in rhe \V,W

important for you to maimain right atrimde that you go abom your life. If you wish

about her learning. A.t all times you m.ust your child to read and write, then she should

remember that you cannot learn for your child, live in an enyironment in which sees you

only she can do that! \Vhat you need is reading and writing. In addition, when you do

'lppro:lch that helps her to learn for herself. one attempt [Q give her a "lesson," it should always

that makes learning fun. Above all it is impor- 'I be plcamrablc Jnd fi.m in itself and not part of

[ant to realize that you helped to learn to I the "If you don't do this. you won't learn to

walk, talk, become sociable and so much more.

by prcwiding a mood for her to copy and learn

from. Your child absorbed your model and in

her own tlme practiced and mastered it. You

doubted tar one nlomenr that she would

be to do all things, and vou never

made her feel a failure if she didn't v~alk or talk

tol1ovv'ing your tinle frame of expcctJtl0n.

\Vhat tollows in this chapter some of the

read," syndrome:

Children learn best when so at their own pace All human beings learn besr when

do

are able

to learn their own pace. What your child's

i pace is will depend on many ditferent things: in

part it will depend on her being able to use

! prcvlOus experiences to support new Ideas,

D r~ VEL () P [ ~ G >\ !Vi () N T E:::, S 0 R I A P PRO A C H

concepts or skills; in part it will also depend on

the of day, her mood and the interest she

brings to the activity. Some things she will learn

very quickly and some things will take much

longer. You cannot judge her by the rate at

\'Vhich she learns. Fast is not ncccss;;rilv better.

nor can \ve say that the :raster she learns, the

brighter she is l What coums is chat

your child learns, she must feel secure in the

knowledge ,he has her pace

requires vou to be aware of her and aware of

ABOVE Children like to do things for themselves, learning to cope with everyday things like dressing gives them confidence in themselves. Confident children are always ready to embrace challenges.

your own cxpcct:ltiollS. In this way you will be

able to slow down or speed up according to her

learning patterns.l'crhJr' you will spend

days exploring something that you thought

would five minutes, and five minutes

doing something that vou thought would take

several davs.

DEVELOPING :\ lViON S 0 R I A p P l~ 0 A C H

The ages Jrrrii<l1tC'd to each of the activities

in this book are "best guess" gUIde and should

be treated as approximate, What is certain is that

all of rhern can be enjoyed and played by

children under the age of six,

Children need to make their own discoveries Can you rememher the last time you made a

discovery~ No matter how small it was, a great

wave of pleasure was;-:ed over you, Sometimes it

felt as if a light Hashed on inside your head.

Whatever is that you now know, you know

because you discovered it younclf - it is first­

hand experience, You get quite a different

feeling if you are about to discover something

and someone else helpfully reveals the ;'n5vver to

you! All the effort you put in while you were

searching for the answer now seems wasted,You

often hear children saying, "You shouldn't have

told Ine, 1 "vas going to that!" You get a

grumpy response rather than a grateful one,

i coming up to rne and saying:

Child Do you know, three rimes three is nine

and that's a square, and three of those is and

that's a cube,

M.e My goodness, how do you know that?

Child I don', know how I know, but I do

know,

I did, of course, know how he knew, but

wouldn't have dreamed of robbing him of his

discovery, or of the confidence he had gained in

I the knowing,

The art is to learn how to lead your child to

the brink of discovery, then leave her to it. It

may be a discoverv vou vourself had nO(

I th;ught of yet! In th'is ;vay cilildren will begin

to love learning for its own sake and not feel

that learning depends upon adult intervention,

Children learn when they are interested

i If you want your child to get the most out of

Children love to tlnd out things for I the games that you will plav together, you must

thcmselves.Yom Job is to try and help them to be sure she is interested in what you

do so, not to do it them, It is extremely hard ,hm"in£; heLThe tollowing gnidclines will also

to hold back an answer when to you it's so I help,

obvious, but hold back vou must and give your .. Choose [he right time of the day, Games that she

child time to make the discoverv tar herself I alreadv knows and enJoys can be played at

The skiH is in providing just the right 3motmt I almost any time; those that are neVi will need

ofhclp and no more. The form this "help" takes ail her attention dnd should only be played

will vary: occasiomlly ir may mean thaI you ask

her a few leading questions; sometimes you will

nced to provJC1c a tew extra steps for her to

reach her goal: most otten you will be required

to do nothing other than give her more time

and observe her more carcflllly, Doing that is

very hard, So otten, as adults, we like children co teel that \-ve are the reason they learn

when she is fresh and ready for a cllalknge.

.. Be prepared to ,'rap a pame ifshe TO

play, or hcromil1gfi1.I.,-tr,1ted, You \-vill have maDY

more opportunities to intr'oduce her to it-You

need a positive response, not negarive one, If

YOU have spent some time preparing the

activitv, it can be difficult to accept that she is

not interested when you are dying co show her

something, This gives us good feeling, but ie I something ne\v'

doesn't help children teel ,hat they have the I .. Cliilrirm ,ire il.'Haily interested ill

power to learn and discover things for they can use some or ddl they

themselves when It comes to more farmal I have to play the game, Always trv to playa game learning. I a child of just under tl-ve that builds on previous achievements,

2G ) 1) E L C) P 1 ~ G ;\ I'v1 0 N T E S S 0 R! A P PRO ,A., C

.. rVithollt interest there is no ~ffort but withour

iffort there is no interest. If you plav a game with

your child that is too easy, she will play it once

and not bother to play it again; if you plav a

game with her that is too hard, she will be

discouDged am: not play it again either.

Getting the amount of challenge just right is

quite a skill in the beginning, To do this, it's

helptul to assess how much of what you are

doing is known and how much is new, For

instance, you willneeci to judge the size of the

"steps" that you take when you move from

one activity' to another. Knowing your child

will help: children who find new things

daunting will need to take little steps while

those who need a challenge if you are to get

their attention need much larger ones!

Children need to develop concentration Children need to develop the ability to concen­

trate without it, it is very difficult to achieve

ABOVE When reading to your very young child, wait until she has finished looking at the picture before you turn the page, In this way, you wilt help to nurture her ability to concentrate,

very much in life. The more we able to give

our full attention to a task, the more likelv we

are to succeed, Concentration is simibr to any

other skill we possess: the more we prrictice, the

berter we get,Young children otten already have

the ability to concentrate and adults often, quite

unwittin£;ly, do not help to strengthen it, Before

your child can begin to concentrate, she needs

to be able to give her full attention to th:~ g:lme

or task at hand, Once she is able to do that,

provided the challenge is right, she will begin to

focus more and more deeply on what she is

doing, It is this deeper level ofattention thar we

cali concentration <

When your child was a baby, she would

often look intently at the page of the book you

were reading, or at some object that had attract­

ed her attention, Did you wait until she had

changed the focus of her attention, or did you

distraCL her from So often, when children aTe

very small we do not consider the txt that they

might be concentrating, When your toddler is

1rnmcrsed in a game, do you interrupt her

without thinking, talk to her and c!em:md her

attention? When she wants our :lttention, we

will otten ask her to wait until we are finished;

when we want hers, we often insist on it

instdntl); no matter what she is doing, In many

ways, quite unintcmionally, adults disturb the

concemration of young children and then

worry about it years later when they teel that

their children lack it!

There are a number of things that vou can

do to help,

.. ellt down [he !1umhrr of trlcdsirm and video

programs that your (hild lIA11(he8, Tclcyj,jon in

particular is designed to keep her no

maner how boring the program, It does mis by

flicking from one thing to the next to keep the

audience cntertained. It's very difficult for a

child to learn to concentrate in this situation,

Do not confuse occnpation with concentr<ltion

- they are not the same things at all, In

DEVELOPI:'.J A MONTESSORI ApPROACH 27

~ddition, when your child does watch

tclcyi,ion. do try' to make it a more active

experience than it might otherwise be. For

instance. talk to her about what is happening

and ask her to predict what might happen

next. Extend her interest in a prognm by

doing something practicai or creative relating

to it Don't watch for hours on end.

If you have the time to w:ltch tcln'ision with

your child, be brave, turn it off and read her a

story instead. Rc~ding her a story will

her to create im:1gcs in he-r ovvn

with the viords. Television

ability to visualize their own

pictures in the mind .

.. If you are pl,1ying !l gmne, fry to have the table or

floor clear of orher distracting items. Put on the

pbying surface oniy what you would like her

to give her attention to. T'f not to turn on the

television or raclio as this will make it more

diffiClllt for her to focus on what you are

doing. Music can be good to have in the

background, ;lfoviding that it forms a gentle

hackdrop Jnd is not jarring.

lHake sure you ,'1'crythil1g j'01f will need to

play the pame be/arc )'au .,·t,1ft. Getting up and

down w Gotch things can be verv distraCling. If

you have other chi]orcn in the tJmilv, it may

be wise to make sure thev are occupied with

solTle[hing that guarantees that you will not be

.. r/~~7lett your child is attit'it)j

try to avoid interrupting 170: Without 1L

we can interrupt even by praising at the wrong

lTlOmC'm. The result of interrurtion is often

that she will 'rop ,vhJt ,he h;], been ooing.You

may :1.lso need to make sure that other 111Clll hcrs oi~ the do not interrupt her

of this the

t'arly 1110mhs of her lite on.

There of course times when you are in a

hurry or needs to happen urgently.

'These l11()J!lC:lltt;; 1>C(,0111(, the exceptions in

! your and your child's daily lite, and can be

:lccommndated more e:lsily If you see that she

concentrating on an betare you

need to go out, give her advance or

the fact 'lOU will be going out soon. Tell her

that this will mean she will need to think ot'

stopping what she is doing quite soon.

Children learn by doing When children learn, they need to be active. not

passive. They learn far more by doing things tor

than they do by just watching others.

Apart from the times when you are rc~ding to

your child, ,he should be more active than you.

In addition, in the lirs[ six years of her your

child learns preoominantly through reccivi:1g

impressions through her senses. The more that

i [here is to see, hear and touch. the betteL

Children need praise and encouragement, not treats and stickers It can be very tempting to offer some kind of

I trade-otT to your child to encourage her to

i complete a given t1sk. The "If you do this, I'll do

thaI" kind ot'blackrnail may appear to work, and

it orten does in the short term. but it gives her

the wrong message: that there is no intrinsic

value in the activity and the only reason to do it

! is to gain a reward at the end. Very otten

! children who do things became there nuy be a

cookie, candy or toy in it for them. do not enjoy

the experience ano dn not jt':lrn so well

of it. Children are also expert at bargaining and

i usually hold more aces up their sleeve than you

do, so it's a tricky road to start down. Praise and

cnc'ourac:ement are ali that's needed. task is

worth doing, then it should woreh doing for

its own sake. If not worth doing, you

RIGHT Your child will team most through her own activity. Try to give her experiences that will awaken all her

I senses: the more she can touch and see, hear and smeil, the better,

:::g i D P!Ne :\ I\·10:-JTESSORI ApPROA.CH

"bnllldn't be doing it :1nY"Y:1Y· When prJi,ing your child beware of simply

telling her that everything she does lovelv,

brilliant, fantastic etc. Mos[ often children enjoy

a real recognition of their effort more than

blanket praise, Comments 5Uch ;1,:

You found that quite difficult, but you've

managed it.

That took a long time; you must feel

proud of yourself.

[like the way you ""rote that "e" which

one do you like best?

Manv years ago a little girl of four hrought me

a de:i~n she had been working on, and asked i

me what I thought of it. I didn't reallvknow

what I thougbt of it and, pbying for time, I

asked her what she felt about it. This was her

answer: "Well it's not the best! can do. but it's

the best I can do today!" A fantastic judgment.

dnd not one I could have come close to

matching.

If your child begins to concentrate on ;m

activity, you will also begin to realize that, with

('('n,('nrrrltion, ,he will otten dt'velop the ability

to persevere and work things through even

when they are difficult. The ability to persevere

in an ilttempt to solve a problem "vill be a very

useful ability for her to acquire, especially when

she is engaged in more formal learning activities

that may require a little If children

have had the opportunity to persevere and

generally arrive at a good solution, they will

have a great deal of confidence when tackling

the new and the unknown. They will also not

mind so much when things don't work Out, or

they need to call for J"istance.i\ child who teels

that she can soke problems is i1hle to

take the fact ,hat occasionally she can't in her

stride. However, if she believes, before she starts,

that she won't be able IO manage, she will either

not start at all or give up at the first sign of diffi­

cultv.

Mistakes are an opportunity for learning It is important that children and adults feel at

ease when they make a mistake. A mistake or

error in judgment is an opporwnitv tor learning

,orncthing new. If we never make mistakes. we

don't really push the boundJ.rics of our skills or

knowledge :md we stay well within the limits of

what we know. So often children (and adults)

are made to silly or stupid when they make

a mistake. We carry around with us a fear of

making an error even though rnost are acciden­

tal or unavoidJ.ble.There are mamr ways you can

help your child develop a friendly relationship

yvith her

.. Even when she is very young, you can

cultivate a positive to accidcm~l

occurrences. If she spiEs or drops somethin);,

don't tell her off - show her how w clear it up,

or clear it up vourself, then take the

opportunicy to show hovv to carry or use

the object next time. You'll be amazed at how

! responsive she will be. In ;lddition, YOll will find

that next time she spills or drops something,

-:.n ! J) E LOP I G r\ IV1 0 N T E S S 0 R I A p PRO _A. C H

she will know what to do IO clear it up.

• It can be very irritating when somcone

always points out our It's mnch better

if we have some possibilirv of recognizing we

have made hefore someone dsc

comes along and rells us! Whenever possihle,

try to have some kind of self-checking

mcchrlnism in [he games your child plays. In

!\!lonte-slori terms this is called a "control of

error:'There are varions ways of providing rhis

self-checking mechcmism:

You could prepare a "finished prod1lct"

which vour child can use to check at the end

of a gan1e. For (;xamplc, if you have a game

where she is reading matching ,vords to

pictures, a checking device could be added.

Write the appropriate on the hack of the

picture or make a second set of pictures \\ith

the name attached. These can then be used to

check at the end of the game. (See

Cards, page

You could add some kind of color code cO mdicate if an activity has been done accmarciv.

For ('xamric, when playing the Sound Boxes

(see page 57), you could put matching

colored dots on the bottom or' each pair of

OCC;tsional1y, von could show your child

that she could check what she has done by

using a reference book. Once she is able to

write, you will be able to show her how to use

a dictionary to check her spelling.

The of helping your child to check

feel dependent on other people's judgment

about her efforts: she will instead be able to

judge herself.

Even when there is no means of providing a

self-check, you can look at things together to

see there is anything that needs attention,

rather than pointing out what is wrong

imn1colJtcly.

unafi'aid of making

thev will develop an attitude that

allows them to try some-thing even if it looks a

I little difficult. We know that children who

develop this attitude find it easier to read. The

reason. for thIS is that they don't mind if they

don't get each and everv word right; they simply

i cry reading what's in front of them and will

quite often make a guess at vvhat an l1nknovcn

i word could be from the various clues thev pick

, up from the rest of the page. Then they check

for mcani'lg as they progress on through the

sentence. Children who are afraid of making a

rnistake will otten dwell on each and every

sound in the word, or simply spend a long time

staring at it trying to figure out what it savs.And

thev will do [his at the expense of nn dcrstand­

ing what the words arc trving to say. These

chiioren will need a lot of help when they start

to read and will need to have their contlckncc

and self-esteem boosted.

Repetition is important in children's learning

herself rather than having you check everything i

is that she will grildually develop the ability to '

ask herself how she thinks she has done, and this

will develop her ability to make a judgment

about her own ettons. Learning to ask the

question, "How have I done?" can be very

helpfUl. \Vhen we are faced wirh becoming the

active partner in our own learning, we feel

more in control of oursclv-cs.your child will not

As we have seen in the previous chapter, repeti­

tion IS important in strengthening and

reinforcing neural connections. Even without

this k-lmvlcdgc know ho,\! the act

of repetition is if we wlsh to make some(hing

our own. To be able to do something well,

without a great deal of effort, we need to have

pracriced iL The old ;l(bge that "practiCf makes

perfect" is [rue. Young children often engage in

repeating actions, much to our puzzlement. You

can watch your toddler putting something into

DEVELOPING A :VI0NTESSORI ApPROACH :11

a box and taking it out over :md over again,

apparently without purpose. However. if it

keeps her ,memion, there is something within

her that is being cst:tblishcd and worked out

that we can only guess at. Enco:1faging your

child co practice will be especially important

when it comes to wriling. She will want to

practice if the practice is made interesting, and

she definitely won't want to if what you suggest

she does looks boring and pointless. Here are

t'"vo <)uggcst1ons:

• You can pro\'ide a nricty of different

that help your child practice the same skin. For

example, there are many types of games you

can play to reinforce her letter recognition.

(See Chapter 4.)

• :\void anything that looks horing. A good

rule of thumb to ask vo urs elf if you find it

boring. If you do, then your child probably

will, too! Don't give her page page of

ktters to or dull, boring workbooks or

TC'Jriing prinlcrs!

Children learn best when they have chosen an activity themselves .' We all tend to be much better motivated when

we choose to do something ourselves. It's

eaSler to ch1l1enging

want to, rarher than because we are told to.

Helping your child to choose will stand her in

good stead later in her lite. Choosing is not

really an thing to do althongh \ve orten

it for granted that everyone can do it. Think

c;;rcfiJlly ;1hout your Do they all have

the ability to make choices. or do some of them

find it difficult 1nd try to avoid making them at

Jny cost? It is, of course, easier to say that we had

to do something due to force of circnmsLlncc or

oecause sonlC0nc us to. (~hildren say

they \;vere1 "nlade to do SOHlething."

If we wam to make a choice, we must have

SOlne "-IHJWiC"S,C ohyhat the options before

I we make it. Witham this any choice we make is

really made on impulse. For msrance, in need to

make a choice between two things and! only

:mderst:md \vhat one of them actually is I can

either opt for the one I know, which keeps me

safe. or take risk and opt for the one I don't

knOw. This is not really more relving

on luck or chance. Equally, if I wish to buy a

box of candy and find myself in a huge candy

store, it's almost impossible to choose

Too much choice usually leaves us feeling we

still made the wrong choice, no matter how

long we took to decide'

Helping your cbld to make choices needs to

be done slowly and carefully. It can begin by

otTering her choice of two "known" things.

You could otfer her a choice of socks, dunga­

rees, etc. Show her a green pair and a blue pair

and ask her to choose \vhich one to wear.

Gradually, over time, she call choose from a

much wider selection. Perhaps you could pm

selection of clothes you'd be happy for her to

choose from into a few drawers or shelves. Don't

be ccght am bv summC'T things in

the wimer! And do be sure that

once she has chosen what to wear you don't

complain. If you don't want her to we;;r ::m

orange sweatshirt wlth pink trousers, don't

include them a choice.

There will be many occasions when you will

be able to involve your child in making choices.

During mealtimes you can ask, "\Vould you !ike

to have juice or milk today, cereal or fruit?"

"Shall we do some or shall we learn

more of those letters today)" Gradnalk she \vilJ

develop the abiiity to make reallv good choices

as she practices weighing up

of many different :;:inJ3rlOn<:;.

pros ;tnd rons

Very otten, offering your child a choice of

:lCtlvitv, clothing or food CUtS down the number

of times you enter into contl-onrarion with each

other.

• Ke::p an area such a shelf or table ready

i DEVELOlJl0iG A i\10 SORI ApPROACH

ABOVE Helping to sort and organize her dothes will help your child to become aware of the choices that she has each morning when she gets dressed.

RIGHT Make sure that your child feels comfortable when she comes to draw and later to write, A table and chair that aHow her feet to touch the ground and her arms to be at the right height are best,

with ali the things that your child might need.

The sheif could have a variety of gJl11es.

pencils, paper Put the current Jcriyiticcs

that you are using out. Inaking that she

can reach the shelf herself. Try to keep the

things she uses regularly in the ,8me ;-,1ace so

that she can always find them. In this way she

D LOPI0IG t\ !v10:\'TESSORl ]>PROA.CH

will be able co choose for herself what she

\vould like to do and when would like to

do 1t. If possIble - and this is a rather expensive

option - try to let her have a small table and

stool of her very own.

.. Take time to check that everything on the

shelf is complete Children like to be able to

on with what they have cho,en. and if

something is missing they be di\Trted

tram practicing or plaYing the g~une altogether.

One additional wav of helping yom child to

make choices is to make sure whatever she

chooses to do has reasonahle chance of

If she choose:;: something rh8t Vv'()rks out

well, she will more like choosing again. If

what she chose was unsuccessful, she will feel

less like choosing again. That's nor to say that all choices ,hould have favorahle ontcomes, hut it

is wIse in the hf'ginning to limit choices to

those activities that are within her reach rather

chose thai: are ~lmpos~ibly difficult.

Learn to observe your child Knowing what to show your child

when she needs practice, when she

needs praise. when she needs a challenge. all

these things rely on vour knowledge of vour

child. Ohscrving her is essential if vou WIsh to

her the help at the right time. Perhaps

this skin alone is the art of a good teacher: to

know '.vhat Jssi~tancc to vvhen to gIve It

and how to it. The follO\ving guidelines will help

Trv not to let your child know that you are

w:1tching hcr.\Vhcn people fccl ,varched they

do not usually h",haYc naturallv. Develop the

skill oflooking Out of the cor~er of vo~r eye.

Try to watch out for small details rather than

more things. If you are watchmg

your child dr::wing, rather than concentnting

on what she is drJ\ving, concentrate on how

she IS Ohserve how she holds her

34 i!) E V U P [ "C .A :'vI 0 CJ OR! i\PPRO!\C

pencil, \vhich mn\·,'TnCTlrs (0 come most

easilv [Q her, which ones she might need extra

practice with. the IS 111 right

position, whether hodv is rell.xcd. Note

time. Does she like lo do trus kind of activity

this time every day? If so. would be a good

moment to introduce similar activities that may

provide more experience in handling writing

tools?

.. If she finds something to do. try and

isolate exacdv what it is that is causing her a

problem. If your child always seems to spill

milk when she pours h(,T>clf a

to Judge the following. Is it

pitcher is too full.

pitcher too large.

vou need

She fails to center the lip of the pitcher

over the mouth of the glass.

She starts pouring before she centers the lip

of the pitcher.

She moves the pitcher before is turned

upright again.

pours lOO (1Sr.

She doesn't hold the pitcher securely.

She rests the pitcher on the rim of the

glass.

does the pitcher actually work) Many

of them seem to be

without dripping l

not to pour

Learning to obsen;e which of the above is

causing the problem means you are halfway to

solving it; the other half is solved when vou

show Your child how to master the part chat

causing the

It can also he helpful to observe situations

that cause your child to react in a particular \;y~ay.

Learning to recognize leads her to enjoy

or dislike an activity be very useful. Differ-

ent children have jitferent 'pace requirements

Some like to work almost on top of other

people while others prefer to keep quite a

disr;mee between themselves othcn; ,ome

are quite happy to work in a confined arf'a and

others need to spread out.

Learning to observe your child will enable

you to become even more sensitive than you

already are to her needs. her likes and dislikes .

and to the \vay she reacts and interact;:;, \-vith

others. You will sense when she is ready to

learn something and when she needs

rC;lS'llranCe and a chance to repeat what she

already knows quite well. It's well worth

rcnlrrnhcring the old saying that "Childhood is

a journey, not a race:'

aPlprC)ach to reading and

Before hCf:;inning to your child to re:ld

,md write there are a few other pieces of infor­

mation that will be useful for you to know

about the Montessori approach. Knm,,-ing them

wili help you adapt any of the 111 this

book, and any others that you come across, to

'lour particular child wit!iom losing the integri­

ty of the approach.

lZeading and writing are both complex

activities that require a child ro develop many

skills and abilities, and to use them all In concert. It is better to master each skill, one

bv one, especially the skill is easy to learn

bcrausc it belongs [Q a g:Jme that's to play,

whether vou are learning to read and write or

not. It is very important to play of the

games in this book Its ovvn and not

pan of a long, never-ending slog toward

learning to read or write. You mav know that

each activity you show your child Will help

her to do these things, but vou don't need to

tell her that! One day using all the skills and

abilities thar you have helped her to build, she

D

shouid just find herself able to read and write

spontaneously, as you will see in Chapter 4.

To help your child overcome diftlrulty

at a time, you will play games that make use of

things that she can :l!re::d\\' do and which

encompass only one new skill or ability. In this

way she can progress fi-0111 mmcthing she knows

to something that is new in small, attainable

steps. Should she need more help, you should

simply make the steps smaller, and if she finds

things too easy, you might find vourself taking

two or three steps at a time. The important thing

is to fo]]ow her lead.

To begin to judge the different steps you

need to rake to prepare your child to read and

write, look at both of these complex activities

and try to assess all the different skills, ;jbiiities

and she may need to accomplish

them. In doing this you will be able to develop

chese skills in advance of when they will be

needed, helping her to practice them for their

own sake. She will love pbymg the g;1mcs in an

atmosphere of fun, under no pressure to

produce an end result.

Skills and abilities required for reading and writing

Your child will need .. To love and enJoy books so that she wants to

learn to read and write.

.. To have knowledge of the world around

her so that she can make sense of the hooks

you read to her. and use this knowledge to

express herself in writing.

• To have rhe ability to use her own

well and to enjoy the sounds, rhymes and

patterns in it. as this is the starting point for

both reading and wrinng.

• TO develop a knoy';kdgc of print and how it

is used in both reading and writing.

• To develop good control OVEr her bodv, and

OR! Al'PRU/\C

in particular her hand. if she is to tlnd writing

relatively easy

Specifically she "vilI need .. To be able to iink the sounds of her

'lnguage to letters of the alphahet.

.. To be able to write these letters.

.. To use her kn<)w]"d,re of the ,,;orld and of

her language to extran meaning trom written

text and to give meaning to her own \wiring.

+- To use a variety of str:1tcgics to recognize

words, somc>times instantly through their

pattern or her f:nniliariry .\vith then}, or

her ability to work them out.

Finally, once she can read and write, she will need +- To explore how

convey meamng .

.. To discovc>r accur;1te

is used to dfc>cr to

of spelling ,yords

based on regular and irregular patterns.

.. To explore rhrongh her o\'.'n writing and

reading the different tGrms that text can take,

i.e. stories of fact and fiction. poems, letters. diary entries. hooks and q) on.

.. To explore the use of pllncmation as a

mc;ms of helping both and writing to

DEV LOPIN .-\ l'v10 ORl ApPROACH

become more

Throughout th;, hook you will tlnd activities to

support all these strands oflearning, and each of

them builds one upon the other until they all

combine to contribute to the reading and

writing that your child do.

Although there has been a vast amount of

research in the fields of reading Jnd writing,

are still ,omcwhat in the dark as to how it all

comes together. Increasingly there seew-S to be

some support for children being encouraged to

learn how to read through their own writing,

and this approach is one rhat Montcs'ori schoob

for children under the age of six have rollo\vcd

since they were founded. Dr. "v1omc,sori was

probJbly the first educationalist to suggest that

child, with sufficiem knowledge ofletter-sound

correspondence, would tlnd it easier to write

down her own thoughts as a first step rather

than read the thought, of others. She said in The

Dis(OFcry Clf the Child:

~Friril1g is del/fl0pcd ill the small (hild Pasil)' and '!'ontallfotlsly, ill The also a motor

lain:

HmVC\Tr, it is worth noting that she

also suggests children who do

not have good hand-eve coordi­

nation may prefer to read first

because they may find the act of

writing too onerous. What is certain

is that both writing and reading

are fused together in a kind of

dance, the presence of one

ing the other.

LE FT Help your child at the right time and in the right way and he will enjoy discovering the different ways that words can be spelled.

To understand how it is possible for \"Titing

to precede we could look at a simple

version of the two rroce,ses.

\'(lriting using [his model appears to be

Reading When we read, we look at text that has been written

by someone else. We start with something

unl<nown.

in order to read we look at the print and try to figure

out what the word is. We may do this by letter­

sound correspondence, which we must then fuse

together by recognizing the word as a whole

or by guesswork.

Having identified the word we must cast

back and forth in our minds to give it a

meaning. and this will depend on our own

experiences, the context in which the word

appears and the role it plays in the sentence.

I When we need to help children to associate a

name and an object together in a Montessori

cla"ronm, we follow a procedure which we call

The Three Period Lesson (it is so called bEcause

the lesson falls into three dimnct stages). The

amount of time spent on each period will

depend on your child - usually. hOWC\Tr, most

time is devoted to the second stage since this IS

when child practices as)ociaring the object

closer to spoken language than to reading, and I

more immcdi1tely accessible. From child's

point of view. to the sounds she hears

in her head and working out which letter she !

will need for each sound requires only a little

and name together. It is a simple procedure,

which can be applied to almost :myrhing once

you have it.

knowledge. In these verv early days

young children are not concerned with accurate

spelling and many do not particularly care

,vhether you can read what they have written or

not. (You will soon get used to trambting what

they have written.) They are jnsdiably proud of

the fact they can wTite and that seems enough.

I The three period lesson

Having begun to words into their

component parts, it is a verY short step for your

child to read what she has written. She will do

Usuallv about three different objects are intro­

duced during the lesson.

Stage 1 Place one of the objects in iront of your child

this pardy from memory and partly from a ! and say its name clearly. Do the same for each of

growing of the way that she has made the other two objects.

the word in the first place. This stage is characterized by the words 77,is

Throughout the book you will find activi- is a ..

ties that require your child to acquire specitlc

information: the name of an object, the shape

and sound of a lener. [he of a word.

Stage 2 Place all three ohjects together and ask for one

DE\, E LOP I N G /\ 1\1 0 r-,,; T E S S 0 R I A p P lZ- 0

of them by name. Once your child has identi­

fied the object you want, mix all three up

together :md ask for another one. Repeat this

until she is able to identify the objects swiftly

when you ask for them. her to

repeat the name of the object after you from

time to time, but don't at this poine ask her to

try to remember the name. Keep chis stage

interesting and fun by varying the reqLiests you

make, and keep them short so that her attention

is not distracted by the command.

This stage is chJncrerizcd by the words Gil'P

me the.,., Show me the ... , Put the "., Hold the,."

TOuch the., , Point to rhe ..

Stage 3 Point to one of the ohjcC'ts and ask your child if

she knows its name. Do the same for thc other

two objects. Repeat this step a few times Lintil

she is really convinced that she does know the

lumes of the objects.

This stage is characterized bv the words

vVhat this? Do yNi whar rhis is?

The lesson follows logical process, which

helps children objects and ideas; and

through a more tlexible application, it can also

be used to great etTect in learning any new

knowledge.

The first stage clearly sets Out the parame­

ters of what is to be learned.

The second stage gives your child time to

actively connect the new information to her

own experience. If you don't give this phase

long enough, she may not have had enough

time to gain the new knowledge. she is

we tend to use it as a springboard for further

exploration - your child may use her new

knowledge to extend her ideas and experiences

in ways that you haven't yet thought of]

Should your child not be able to tell you in

the last stage what she has learned, or if she gets

verv muddled in second stage, don't worry -

simply tell her what the object is and bring the

lesson to a plrasant clme. It doesn't matter l You

will have many, many more oppormnitiC's to try

again on a different day. This activity is not a test

i that must be passed; it's simply a good way

i of helping children learn particular concepts.

Following the developmental route Before we move on to the nexe chapter, it's

worth remembering that what follows works

i because it account of the develop-

ment of your child,

.. The tremendous power of a mind

i appears to be limitlc:ss in the amount that

take on board, particularly through sensory

i Inlprcs~ions.

.. Periods that relate to specific

developments in the ,vay tb::tt a child's mind is

formed. In particuiar, scnsiti,'ities to

:l1oVC'mcnt, order, social dcve'lopment ;md the

developmcnt of perception through sensory

expcnences.

.. A strong urge tor indC'pendencc

.. A desire to communiCltc

.. .A strong desire to find purposeful activity or "work."

unable to remember the names of the objects i All of these can be nunured in a loving and

during the third phase, this usually means she supponive enVlfonment, an enVIronment ill

has not spent enough time lea~ning them which adults mmt recognize that, if thev are to

properly in the second be successful in helping their child to learn to

The third stage heips your child to identif)' I read and write, they must follow the lead of their what she now knows that she didn't know

before. To know that vou know eives confi­

dence. When we are se~ure in our ~knO\'dcdge, i

i D ELOP!!',;G i\ ,\rio OR; PROACt--i

child. She is unique on this earth, someone \vho

has never been before nor ever will be again,

CHAPTER THREE

paring the way

you prepare yom child to read and write,

role \"-111 be rather like that of a

,0ndllClor rc.hcar'ing an orchestra tor a concert,

She will need to draw on manv cliffC'rcnt pieces

of knowiedge, and in order to do so, you will

need to help her interpret and slot the dispafJte

pieces together in the correct way so that she

can succeed.

As parent you have a unique advantage

over teachers. You are natural e>duc:1tor and

you have a very special rrlatiomhip with your

child. You know her in a wav that a teacher

never C:ln: you und~'rsI3nd her 1n:::.rc~ts and

humor. You have rim_es when you can be

together witham the diseraction of ocher

children and wirhocr timetahle to tollow.You

know that your child is man'clous, and all

children thrive in an 3tmo,phcrc of love and

Pablo Casal.s in Joys and Sorr,1I1'( C'xprcssed it

well:

Each second we li~'e is a new and 'mi'lu/' a moment that n.ever

was before alld I1fl'(r !I)i/l be ag,1in And u!har do

lUI' teach our 111 Hie them rhat and 111-'0 make jOllr and thar Paris is the ral'itai or France, lYe shmlid say fa them: Do

you

are Imi'lue. In all the ,{'orld illiTt 110 other child exactly like you. L-ind 1001, at your body -

it is! Vil1lr leE-', your arms, your the way you 1nove! You Fnay

11Namr a Shakesrrarc, a ,'\1iri7rlal1gf'io, a

BeethovClt. Ynu haw the (,lrari!y J11' anything

Yes, you are a marl'ri.

From the very beginning of life your child has

learned many things trom you, by 1nd

:iltening to you, bv being with you and by

sharing her life with you, She learned them

simply by living. You can help prepare her for

reading and writing in the same way.

What makes children want to read and write? Your child will want to read and ,vnte if she sees

that you C'njoy writing, JUSt as she

learned to speak bcc;msc you spoke to her, so she

will WaIl[ to read and write if it is lomcthing that she sees rhat you do. This means thar she needs

EO see you enjoying good read or writing in

the natLiral course of the dav so that she will

come to realize it is something cnjovahle that

you do tor yourself. This is not to say that vou

have to be seen only "good" literature or

writing a sonnet I It won't matter to your child

what it is that VOl! like reading: light

fIction, nineteenth-century novels, comICS,

poetrv or the sports pages, Nor wili it maner EO

her whae it vou like Writing: lists, letters, notes,

crosswords, word puzzles, competition Entries or

poetrY. Just seeing you read and write will make

aU the difference.

The other single most important factor in

helping your child EO read and write is to read to

PREP_,\R[!:'G THE WAY 39

her. Read \vhencvcr you can and whatever you

can - but don·t read Jnnhins boring. Read to

her at least once a day and continue to do this

for as long as evervone enjoys it. One family I

know still reads togerher c,nd the children are

now 12 and 14 years of age respectivelyl

There are many children and aduits in the

world who are unable to read and write and,

tragicallv, there arc even more who can read :md

write but never choose to do so. Don't let that

be the tate of your child. From the very begin­

ningvou need to a love of the printed

word in all its forms. You need to help create a

desire in her to become a reader and a writer.

and the best time for this is before the age of

SlX, during the period that is the most formative

of their lives.

at home H:lving a book is rather like having a passport

that allows you to travel without ever leavmg

home: it can take you to another country and

can transport 'lOU eirher b:lckward or forward in

time. Books can make you laugh om loud and

they can make you sad; they can help you

llucin'f;llld more about yourself and more

about other people; and they can help you

nuke sense of personal situJrioIlS or help vou

discm'cr new facts ;cbout the world. Books call

also help us co fInd om things for

we can have access to evervthing that has ever

been written down should we require iI.

Fil1dil7g a place to read You will need to identify at least one place ill

the house where you will be comfoft:1hle

enough to read to your child on a rcgubr basis.

i\ comfy sofa or large armchair in the living

room is often a convenient place, :mci it can also

be useful co have a comfortable SDot in

bedroom., too. Tty to have a se!ectio; of books

close to the place or places you have chosen as your reading Spot or SpOts.

Pk R! '"'IG \Vi\Y

\\Then your child is very young, create a

small bookshelf at her own height so that she is

able to choose books for herself when she w:mts

to read. Children can choose books long betore

they can walk, so the shelf shouidn't be very

high, If you don't have room tor a shelf, prop

some books on the t100r up against rhe wall,

making sure the IrOnt cover of each book is

visible it's nearly impo"ihlc tor child!'cn to

choose books when they can only the spine.

You'll find that when books are swred with

onlv the spine showing they will tend to end up

in a heap on the noor more often than nor,

because children pull off the shelf as they

hunt for the cover of the book they have in

mind. Change the selection of books rl'0111 rime

to time, too, making sure that the favorite one at

that particular time always remains. to have

least one book of poems and rhymes and one

factual hook on the shelf at anyone time.

display the books, you will have fewer

than YOU actually own, but as vou change them

around you'll soon discover what your child·s

particular tastes are, which ones she likes and

which, tor the time being or even

not appeaL

ever. do

If you put a little shelf in her bedroom,

arrange a few soft pillows, a rug or beanbag

nca.rby; everyone needs to be comfortable

they read. Some children like to stretch Out on

the floor to look at books, and all children like

to sit on their parem's lap,

Reading together Read aloud as often as you possibly can to your

child, and at least once a day. Reading a story

out loud is a shared experience and it is

important that she teels included. Physical

comaCt often vital and both of you must be

able to look dt tbe book at the same time.

Pictures are an important means of engaging

her attention and in the he ginning ,hey will

help her to visuaiizc \vh:!t it that the text is

ABOVE If you want to encourage your child to read, try to organize a small "reading corner" in the living room. AU you'l[ need are some low shelves that he can reach by himself and a comfortable place to sit,

CClnvcying. If vou orJy have one child in the

family, this is quite easY to do: but when you

have lnore than one, a certain amount of

organization is essential so that no one feels

left out.

Reading together has a value that goes

beyond rhe simple experience of reading a

book. It is possible that IS the

onlv shared activity in day for busy, working

parents and II can help create a special bond

between YOU and your child. It is a very rare

occasion tbe a chiid will not want to listen to a

story!

You can sIart to read stories to your child

shortly after she born, Younger siblings are

otten verY lucky as thev get to listen to stories

trom birth. As adults we teel a bit strange

looking at a book with a child who is not

talking, but children of ,lIlY age can appreciate

books. In any event, start reading as soon as you

feel able w.

Here are a few simple tc,"hn'ql1cs to help

your child learn to handle books. Spend a little

time prJCficing them with your tv'io-vear-old

and she will take very good care of her books.

PI\RING THE WAY 41

the pages of a book Your child will \yam to begin [0 turn pages

herself very quickly, so ,how her hm\' to do it.

Children sometimes try to use their whole

hand to scrunch up the page and turn it, or they

may hold the page close to the spine, which i

quickly leads to split pages, Show her how to

litt the top or bottom corner of the right-hand

page bel:\veen her thumb and index finger, then

slide the whole hand under the page you

turn it tl'om right to left. Practice this together.

Board books, illtho1lgh ,turdv, arc too thick for I

the pages to be turned properlY so you will '

need to show her how to do this with ordinary books.

Carrying a book

Show your child how to carry a book using

PREPARING TH \Vr\Y

ABOVE Take time to show your child how to turn the pages of a book (or get an older friend to show him), It wiU

foster his tove of books, as he sees exciting new pictures emerge each time he turns the page,

two hands to grasp both sides firmlv, Children

will often hold only the trOnt or back cover, causing rest of the pages to flap about.

Ll'arning to put a book back 011 the shelf If your books are propped up with the cover

facing out vou will need to show her how co put

the base of the book fi-1Ither out than the walL

then tilt the top edge of the book back on to

wall, If vou have books' spines

you can show her how to make room for the

book betore trying to slot it into place, This

pf'2Vcnts one book being forced on [Op of

another.

With experience, your toddler will get to

know which way up a book goes, how to turn the

pages and in which direcrion they ,houtd :-urn,

and how to return it all by herself to the shelf

'-X1hen your child begins to go offby herself

and choose a book, gets comtortable and starts

to look through It in a world of her own, you

know that you have succeeded in creating a

reader - a child who chooses to read, A child

who hal knmvledge of the hooks have

to otTer. She is a child who understands rhat the

'llustrati01ns ;md print carry a message for her to

enjoy. When you see that the book is the right

way up, that the content is being studied and

that the pages are being turned in the right

dirt'ction, you know that YOU have achieved the

single most important step in helping her to

read and write,

Choosing a book When choosing books for your child.

that a loved book is one that YOU

wii! read many times over. It important that

you are not bored by it. as she will ask for it

time and time again. If the story, or the pictures,

seem lifeless or dull. give the book awav to

'omcone '.vho may appreciate id If the book is

a gitt. don'[ feel bad about putting it away for

later. prohahly much Iater.Your child needs to

listen to books that you value and love; never

read a book out of duty. Trust your own

~l1dgmcnt - if you think book is boring, it

proh;]bly is,

There is nothing wrong with telling your

child that there afe some books that do not

appeai to you or books you feel are not well

WrItten, I have a real Jve"jon tor the sugarv­

sweet, ,Emmed-down of children's

classics that have been re-written in order to

cash in on the larest carmon release, They seem

to me to be very badly written, lacking in any

real emotion;]] coment and otten inaccunte, My

children, on the other hand, quite like the

pictures hecause they recognize them from the

cartoon and all the other merchandising

offs they find in the stores, I would rather read

the original versions to them when they are a

little older.

Because children enjoy the same book over

and over again they very quickly remember all

the words, If you are reading last thing at night

to your child, do not be tempted to paraphrase

book because you are anxious to get to the end,

Nor should you attempt to miss out certain

pages to get it over and done with, If you do,

I you will have to rely on your memory every

tIme you read the story again, Worse still, if your

partner takes over the rca ding f()[ one night he

or she will discover that the version your child

wants to hear bears little actual relation to the

story in the book l

Be clear before you begin how much you

are going to read,With small children the stories

tend to be quite short and you can decide

together whether you read one or two, Once

you are reading books with chapters, you will

have to agree on the number of chapters you

will read per night. Your child ,vill always wam

to hear just one more chJptcr and you can

explain to her that this is sign that the book is

written by a verv good author. The only other

hazard you have to avoid when reading to your

child at night is falling asleep before she does,

and there are no tips that I can recommend to

help you avoid doing that!

your child grows older and really begins to

listen to the words of the story, look at the primed

words on the page and ask her open-ended

questions about what she thinks might happen

and what she believes the characters might be

thinking, This will encourage her to give active

attention to the story, and active participation of

this kind has been shown to have a good effect on

I reading ability in young children,

PREPARI01G THE W,~y 43

It's also good to discus' the mc~ning of some

words as you come w them so that she under­

stands both the and the look of the

word.

When words repeated as part of the

repecition of the story, let your child begin to

help you say them. This is especially easy if the

words rhyme.

D(~ve~lojJm,g a love of the way larlgllag;e works in books

you read to your child over the years, she

will develop an undcrstJnding of the way

language is med in stories and the form which

stories take. Book bnguagc is different

ti-om spoken hnguage and has its own rhythms

and styles. Children soon begin to realize that a

swry begins with words that set the scene and

build ;mticipation, words mch as "Once upon a

tin,e," and "Long ago," are favorites for older

children, while often for younger children a

more direct introduction is made. They also

begin to tmdersrand how a story ends: that

there is always some kind of resolution, [he

cqni','alcm of";md they all lived happily ever

after" or simply "the end." Writers use many

other ways to help them predict what is coming

next and children grasp all of them as they are

read to. In reading stories 'iNrittcn by six-year­

olds. I notice that manv of them seem to start

with "One day," and all are brought to a conclu­

sion, sometimes very ahruptlv'

Book hnguage is much more descriptive

and more Thyrhmical than spoken language. A

good book will help your child, through its use

of words h~lild pictures in her mind.When

1Il speech would you ever say the following,

from The IYlwles' Song by Dyan Sheldon and

her a

'Once lipon a time,' she said, 'the ocean was .filled il'ith !lJilalcs. TIley as h(g as the hills. Tiley "'CIT as as the moor!, They llJere

PRE!' /\ it: N C E \VA.Y

the mOSi fl'ondr(Jus

1111(1,51i11(,.'

),(1U ((luld C1-'cr

books can also give children experiences

that will help them to move on to more

complex forms of books as they

The author Mem Fox describes how in her

book :\J'1gir she deliberately bcgim with.

"Once upon a time ... " in order to link it to all

the stories children will have heard before they

read her story, and those stories that will come

after. She also makes Possum ;\1agic an archetypal

quest swry, in preparation tor the nnny '1~lCSt

stories that children will meet in the future. such

as Homer's Gdpsc)' the Arrhuri;m legend;;.

It is worth mentioning that children also like

the sensa,ions that a book otters. The size of a

book, the smell the type of paper that the

book 15 printed on, the illustrations, all these

clements play their parr. There no doubt that

some books make J. deeper impression on

children than others. and in part this can be due

to the fact that more senses have been ~lrouscd

by these books [han just the ear and the eye.

The importance of illustration Illustrations play an enormousiy imporunt role

as vour child listens to vou read and begins to

read herself. Good illustrations will help her to

work out what is happening in story. The

vounger your child is, the more vital the

pictures are: it is very often the p1ctures that first

fix her attention on a book, and she will use

them to help her to predict wha[ the story line

Helpful illustrariom will clearly ,hmv what is

h:lppcDlng in the text. Long before your child

can read she will sit down with a book, study

the pictures and use them as a way of "reading"

the storv. It is possible [() see children as young

as 18 months doing this, and by the time they

RIGHT Book illustration should be inspiring and absorbing - like this one from The Whale's Song by Dyan Sheldon and Gary Blythe. Pay as much attention to the quality of

, the illustration as you do to the text.

+6

are about nvo, you '\vill ,,)()1l1crin1C'\ bear them

telling a story to go along with the

There are very good pIcture books for

young children - some use photogr:1phs and

some illustrations. Try to find sorne that tell a

story using pIctures onlv, then your child can

help you to tell the story ~nd also '''read'' it to

herself and others,

Illustrations can also inspire children to

create artwork of theil' own, so it's a good idea

to choose books with beautiful examples of

different I'm not in the least artistic

but many have appealed both to and the

chIldren that I have known, and I have listed

them later m this book, in Chapter 9,

l\rt activities You can use a good book iilustraticlJ) as a model

for your child to look at to Geate her own

picture - all you'll need to supplv is some

dnd penCIls in lots of jolly colors), or

a small hlackbmrd and chalk<;, The fact that you

have chosen i]]\1stLltion from;) rook to act as

your inspir;Hion fmv in turn inspire her to tell

her own swries using pictures alone, She may

also decide co :md pm her own words w

her <m:work. Depending on her ahilitv to write,

vou may down words as she dictates

them, she may put "marks" on her own illustra­

tion or she rnay vvrite a {e\v vvords or \vhole

story to go with it.

In some books the illnstl':ltious tell the story

in more detail th:m the words, and can be particular tor your voung child. For

example in classic book by Pat Hutchins,

R,'sie 5 H41k, the story very simply teils us of

Rosie's '\v-alk h0l11e through the farrnyarrl to :he

hen house. The humor of the story lies with

~1hFrrJrionsJ vvhich sho\v the disJstrnus :1ttcrnpts

of Ihe fox to Rosie as she on,ohliv-

lnentions the ~rc')cnce of the

jokes contJined in the

PRE KINe THE \VAY

once

pictures, and atter one or two pictures are able

co anticipate the of the fox.

A guide to the content of children's books To help you to get to know the choice of books

J\'aibHe for young children I would recom­

mend that you join your local library. Librarians

are trained to kno\v what is :n;aibhlc for young

children and should be able to suggest tirles for

your child that will revolve

they also have :lCcess to all the latest tides.

Libraries also sometimes have storytelling

sessions tor young children, and other events

that revolve around books, all of which can be

fun to attend. \vllen your child is around three,

she may be able to have her own library card.

Recent studies show that children seem to

benefit most from text that is slightly more

complex than theIr own speech, and that they

love to hear lllore complex voc;::thulary than

they themselves use

A good rule of thumb to tallow is that the

tlit' child, the more realistic tlie content

should be. Trv to limit the fantastic and

grotesque stories umil your child is six or over­

many of the traditional Brothers Grimm or

Hans Christian Andenon fairy rales are more

understanding of the differences between the

two. Around the age of four most children will

start to tell you the between

something that is pretend and s()n~cthing that is

real. Mv own children identitled the

by adding the words "in true life" when [hey

were speaking of something really had or

could happen. Around the of six, children

clearly

\rvith

good

to enjoy the tensions that come

adventure have a really

to ;tpprcciatc the ""rightness" or "\yrongncss1' of

human anions at this age and can put

th(':nsc]ve~ into the position of others, so they

arc ready tor this kind oflitcr:lturc.

Choose conrent for your child that is life-

affirming and that helps to explore the

facers of her world and extend

her :mdcrstanding of it. Repetition cmd rhyme

are also important factors in choosing books

that appeal to this age group.

What follows is a rough guide to the type of

content that children may be

according to their age. There is a fuller list of

books you may tlnd useful in the book, in

Chapter 9.

Up to Two Very young children will \vam to go backward

as often as they wam to go torward when they

look book. The pictures win catch their

attemion. This is absolutel,- in the early

stages they need tirne to comprehend chat a

story has a hcgmning, mlddle and end.

Try to toilow your child's Jlthough

not p0inting

the illmtT<ltion,s and

talking about them, then look 3t more

complex aspens of the dnwings.You em art<lch

a little story to the dr:l\vings dcscr:bing what

is haprening in them. The next step is to

summanze rexr dnd eventually vou will be able

to read the text.

to set aside a panicular time each day on

a regular basis for "reading" and don't be disap­

p01nrcd if she loses interest quickly. Songs and

rhymes will be \'ery popular at this stage, and

'well-illustnted books which contain those

songs and rhymes fanliliar to your child can be

helpful.

Books rontdining photogr:lphs of well

known evervday objects and can ;Ilm be

of interest this age. Particularly popular are

"flap" books thar reveal all manner or things

hiding under the t1ap. Board books are swrdv

and last well, although they can be difficult to

manage wh,:n your child begins to want to turn

the pages.

Two to Three Books that expand the range of nursery rhymes

and poems that they already know are partiCL1-

lady popular with this group, as are everyday

events made into stories. Subject matter that

centers on things that happen in and around

horne will help your child's sense of securi(y

. develop as she finds herself able to predict what

bppens in her life. Look out tor books that

your environment, whcrher it be inner

You should now be

simple plot that will

and so on.

storics with

be learned bv

heart. Don'c try to skip any pages!

Rememher to look factual books as well

as tlcrional one,_

Three to Four Stones should conrinue to follow [he everyday

haprc:nings of your child. At this stage

,:n!1[C!1[s of some of her books should not only

support and confirm her knowledge but aiso

stretch it.Trv to tind :lCCuLlte, inf0rmJrive hooks

based :lroul1d your child's interests. she will

now be cunous to till out what she knows with

much more detail. Books that deal wi(h

emotions are also very helpful for children of

this age group, as are chose that help her deal

with new situations. q1ch preschool,

going to the doctor or havmg a new brother or

sister. Humor tends to he enJoyed if it is of the

>\;Jap<:;tick" variety.

Four to Five Now your child needs books to help develop

understJnding of the \vorld, books that open

\vlnoo\vs infO other pc('\p1c's liYes, ho'.,v they

and what they do. Stories should be getting

longer wich more complex storv lines, and

PR THE WP,Y

should have more than pictures so that thev i As always, respond sensitively to vour child.

can be read aloud. Provide lots of reierence I If she seems imerested in spending some time

books. You will also need to search for books looking at "print" then do so: if she is singularly

that she can start to try to read and remember.

She is more likely to read about some'thing she' I

is interested in than something that is easy.

Choose bOOKS where the bnguage is simple but

well written. Humor hecomes even more

lacking in curiosity aboH[ it, ~ave it tor another

dav.You will be to her almost every day

tor at least six years and during this time many

of the points below will arise quite naturally.

important now than it was before children are I • Help your child to see lI'hirh

able to identif.j when 'omcthing pre'dictable is I

used in an unpredictahle or inappropriate way,

and rherefore enjoy more subtle sense of

humor. Many poems offer children the chance I

you read. In the Western wodd children need to

know that print is read from lett to right and

from top to hottom. One of the ways that vou

can show this is to let your Hnger run along

the page as you read. Only do this from t'lffie to to appn:(iate a m01'e humorous vit'w of life and

also t'xet'llent for the heginning rt'ader. I time, however, and be carerul not to let it inter­

fere with the rhvthm and pace of the text as

Five to Six Your child ,hould now be able to enjoy longer

you read. She will soon

.. Tell her who the

irritated if it does!

Explain that the

books with tewer pictures and more complex author is the person who thought up the storY

plms: you could start to read books that have and wrote it down; explain what an illu"rator is.

chapters. She will apprecia,e books that give • H'I1fIl yuu read to your child, don)tjust start

instructions on hO','1 to make things or do i where thc'h'ry ,tarts. Read the title of the book.

experiments, dnd an atlas and perhaps first then the names of the amhor and the

clictlOnary could be useful additions to her illustntor. Show her where this information

library. Humorous poetry will be enjoyed, too.

particularly where there are subtle \vord plavs I

which affect the mc;ming of tht' mbjecr matter.

Books by Roald Dahl also brilliant for this

group.

can be found. If there is a dedic?tl0n. read this

and e:\:plain to her \vhat a dcdicltlon me:1ns.

• Do the sillne with any poetry that you read. Look

at the different lavout of the words, check

where the title of the poem written and

where the poet's name is.

• Look ourIor the i!!/Cml1dtien rages. The contems Raising children's awareness of print ! page, chapter page numhers

Alongside the sheer pleasure of teading to your

child, vou can take the opportunity to help her

to become aware of "print" itself the more

;lware she is of it. the more this knowledge \vill I

support her when she comes to read and write.

In drawing attention to print in the

books that you read, to avoid making

::-eading into a tormal teaching experience. And i

nO[ to spoil the How of the story or the

special magic of the moment simply to point

OUt, for CX;tn1rle, the use of a capita 1 letter!

PREPA1~ING HE \VAY

can all glVe you a great deal of

information aboLl[ the book.

• Study the words on the page as you read. If you

read a long word, find it on the page al"ld have

a look at it. If you read a very short word, do

the same thing. Ask your child to [ell you

which of the written words is the long word

that you have Just read.

• Study !rokingjor ,mf thing ar Ii time. Look at periods and ask what thev are

for. Find question marks. Ask her to tell you

whether all the print on the page looks the

same. Point out when capitalleaers are used

after periods or D)[ names.i\sk her how can

tell vvhen son1cone is '\pe~king.

Becoming aware of print in the environment The printed word is found evcrv,,,-hcre in our

environment.Your child is constantly absorbing

all the aspects of the world in which she lives

and it will not take her very long to work out

that print symholizes bnb,1age.

You can help by explonng it ,\lith her in the

(ollmving

• ~Fririllg ),otlr rhild's name of the

most potent ways of dmll'iug her aftel111011

Use her name in appropriate places around the

house, for instance on her bedroom door. Or

you can \vrite het name on the refrigerator

door in letters and on special items

of clothing. The possihilities are t'ndless.

ABOVE Making your child actively aware of the print in her environment is easy and fun. This little girl can already recogniz" the different kinds of print her mother has taken from a newspaper and is now cutting up individual letters to glue them on to paper to spell out an important message - her name!

PREPARING TH \,'vAY

50

.. Let her ruT out ail the letters in her name from

al1d nC1!'Spal'CfS- This will enahle her

to notice all the cliffcrc:1t of writing these

letters. Let her choose which she likes

best and glue them down to make her name_

.. Children quickly become thor print is

10 idi'l1tify Store names,

foodstuffs and signpoS[5 arc jnst a few examples

that your child will encounter on daily basis.

/\s you go out and about with her, look at

these names :md p0im them out to heL When

you are in the superm~rkc[, ask her to collect

well-known items and use the opportunity to

poim out the names on the labels_

.. Draw or cut nUT mad signs. !'v1ake t\yo sets to

playa simple game with vour child. Turn all

the cards face down and see if you can find

pairs bv taking it m turns to turn up t\Vo cards

at a time. The one who gets it right gets to

keep the pair; the one who gets it wrong turns

her cards face down again.

.. Play this l.'Crsion on spy. Choose the first

letter of your child's name and

tImes you can things that

how manv

'Nith the

letter when you are out for a walk. Choose

other letters on other days.

Collect Il'hen you ill rhe post

uffice or bank. Keep similar forms that get sem

through the post. Your child will have fun

filling them in l

FX1.lmining print

be ?urposeful

your child should alW1.lys

part of a wider exploration

of l:ing\lage. \Vhat vou must not, under any

circuill<;tJnCCS, do is pTovide ;'f]ashcards~' for her

to learn by he;1rt. One farnily I attached

! to your child learning isolated mc:mingle"

words has no value at all. Children do not

become readers for the ple;lmre of decoding

words. Thev of course, learn to recognize

words on paper. and their minds have such

fantastic capacity that they will, if you make

them, recognize words taught in this wav. But

what value do they have; Will they help her

choose to read when Ihe time comes or will

they simply make her precocious?You will be

wasting vJluahlc: reading time if your trv to

teach her in this way. Print conveys meJning Jnd

meaning must connen with experience of life

i to have any value. Kr:o\vlcdgc unacr')tJnd--

ing of the world is of vital importance in your

child's conquest of reading and writing.

Why your child needs knowledge and understanding of the world to help her read and write \Vhenever your child reads or read to. she

focuses her ;lttention, not on the words

! themselves, hut on the that lies behind

the words. Children when they read are in search

of me:ming. In order tor your child to grasp the

(~"cnce of \vordsj theretore, ;;;he must have

ences that corn:'spond to the that hears

or reads. She does not need to know ail there is

to know_ but lllust have

to make some sense out of them. No child can

does

there is a \yondcrful floT<\Tring

of imagmation. This Dowering is valuable for

children whether they are interpreting words

written by c1sc or trying to \\Tite dO,\\Tn

primed names t.O all the items offurnitnre in

,helr house in hope that, as their toddler

h:mped into them. she would focus on the I

printed word and learn it. This is at best sad and

their own words. It is in the "gap" bet\veen the

words on the paper and your child's own experi-

ence that something and creative

able to reflect

upon the resonance hctwC'en the world [lut ,he

knows and the world that she is ilTI1.lgining.

1.1 real misconceptlOn of the role that the orinted word plays in reading. '

Print is only v:11u;:1hle ifit conveys mC3TIlng "Vhat your child will get out of d book will

RIC E "l'/ A Y

depend very much on what she brings to it. In

addition t.O general of the

world. she will bring her own preferences,

tasIe" interests, humor :md hum:mity. Who said

listening to stories was ('1.151'0

You can help by making sure that you take

her out and about and give her experiences of

the world that she can talk about and have all to

herself. Incontrovertible! Take her out at night :

tion that the size of our adult vocabulary can be

predicted by the number of words that filter

through us during the tirst three years of life_

Reciting the dictionary to your child everv

morning is not, howe,-cr, going to achieve the

desired effect. Words must have meaning, even if

the meaning needs refining and developing

through experience.

to look at rhe stars; SIt in the park when the To help you can:

grass has just been mown: listen to the rumble i .. Use your II'rll. Use

of the trucks thev go down your street: taste different words to describe events, feelings, tastes,

lemons. Let your child explore the world : in short everything. \Ve sometimes Iny when

through her very own experiences - you can't

sn'lell mo"\vn grass on tclcvl"10n~

Developing language Experiences need bnguage :lr:d needs

to be precise, varied, fia'-orsome, structured and

rhythmical.

Your child's ability to use spoken bngu1.lge is

the foundation upon which all other torms of

will rest. The importance of helping

her to develop a good \-ocahubrv cannot be

·m;1crC'stimatcd. Of equal importance is the

,h8ping and structuring of the form languagc

takes. its and texture and

quality of her LmguJ.gc development will

depend very largely on the kind of speech that

she hears in her social environment.

Children love words. they love the sounds of

words and. dare say, they love the taste of them.

They want to know the names for everything

that surrounds From a very earlv age they

point and ask, "Wots dat?," or simplv raise the

tone of their voice in a quC'stion, "f-Iuh?"

There IS no limit to the number of words

that vour child take on board, nor is there

anv limit to the length of words that she can

understand. She may nm, of course, be able to

produce a long word accurately for herself. but

this does not mean she lacks understanding of

its meaning. Recentlv there has been a sugges-

we choose words to describe experiences.

.. Ttl1'oln' yt~ur rhild in rl{S

-,1rilm day". Talk through what you are doing.

Ask questions. Use llllcsrions to build 10gic~1

thinking. "What shall we do next'." "What do

we needo,""How many shall we buy?" I used to

I tell mv three-month-old child that I was going

out of the room for a short while and would be

back.i\lthough I knew he didn't the

words. I'm sure he understood the message.

.. Give

.. Play games that acr·rl"f'l11f11l.

See pages 52-53 for some ideas.

"P~ A

thev were three and four was to use unconven­

tIonal words to replace name-calling. "You

teapot. you glass of milk, you empty sugar

bowl!"\Vhen we began, the words we used

were alw;rys randomly chosen hut gradmily, as

\ve became better at it. thev had to be conncct-

ed. All their anger very oIten d,,,mr)('1.l'CCd in

ho\vls ofl::-iughtcr as each chiLi to

tind more and more bizarre words to hurl at

the other.

If vour child is redding and is faced with a new

w~rd. her mind will JutomJtically select aU the

meanings that she kn0\vs that cO\1kl be connect-

to the word. One of these will be chosen as

PREPARl,'JC E W

"nr,-or,-;",,' based on other clues conrained in I

the sentence. A child with a poor grasp of

vocabularv will draw a blank very easily.

Equally, a child who has been used to hearing

quite complex sentence structures will use her

knnvvlecige to get at the meaning of semences.

Cnmmatical and syntactical knowledge will

help her to predict the meaning of words and

unlock the meaning of Sf'ntf'nces.

obey: when it isn't preElced by "Simon says,"

you must nor obey.

Simon says "Touch your thumb." Child does

so.

Simon says "Bring the milk pitcher." Child

does so.

"Turn your head."

Child does nor do

so.

Children's use ofhnguage helps in other

ways, too. Without necessarily having a

kn()wiedc:e of nOLlns or verbs, etc .. a child can

often predict what kind of word is she is

looking for trom the place it occupies in the

sentence. For ,;xample: Rachael dortrand the

boat. A child who hasn't come across the word

dortrand before will search for words that

have some kind of "action" to them. This is

based on her deep knowledge of the particu­

lar word order in English: she knows she is

h11l1ting for a verb.

I Naming the parts of objects

Here some games you can play to help

with bnguage development.

Naming objects This is like a treasure hunt.You name an object

and your child has to find it and bring it to

vou.

You can choose to ask for

objects, such as a corkscrew, ladle, or spaghetti

tongs.

Naming your body Name all parts of the bodv. Don'tjust stick

the ubvious one). Remember ,hin, instep,

earlobe. cheekbone, shoulder hbde, cllf. etc.

Simon Says Once your child has acquired the voc~bulary,

both of the above games can be played as Simon Says.

It's easv to plaY: when a commanci

pref'1Ccd bv the words "Simon savs," you must

p;,,:: R r N G

Take a single object

and see if you can

name all the pans on

it. Choose anything

that you can stand in

front of for instance

car: radiator, door,

\vheel, steering

vvheel. rearvie\v

mirror and so on.

Guess the object Age: around 4

You will need

large bag or

ABOVE Choose an everyday object such as a door and see how many of its parts you can name. Here you'll find a handle, lock. door­frame, knocker, fanlight, number and panels.

blindfc)]d. Pur several different but

objects into the bag ifyou're using that instead

of the blindtolcL If you're using the hlindfold,

put the objects on a table or orher surface.

How to Play

Your child purs her hands into the bag and

describes what she can feel \vithout actmlly

saying the name of the objecLYou try and

guess the name. Mer a while change places

vvirh other.

the lllincHolci makes rhis game a

little simpler. particularlv if you put on the

blindfold.Your child can look the object and

I trv to describe what she sees; you have (0 guess

I what it is. After a while change places with

each other.

Guess the word around -+

How to Play

This is like a very silnple game of charades.

You can do it with "actions" to begin with,

then later you can do it with prepomions.

You act out an action - for instance. hop.

Your child guesses ,yhar the "vord is. If she

gets it right it's mrn.

You will find that she will alltorrntiC311y

choose a verb to name what you are cioing.

Start with very obvious things, then become

more subtle as you go along. Other actions

you might use are:

~,kip,Jump, run, smile, laugh, cry, dance, think. sleep.

To play the game with prepositions.

couple of toys from your child's collection, or

you could act it our yourself ming your body

and a chair, bed, table or

seems rnr}V!"'lf",t

Assume vou have small can

and a marble:

ask -

'W11fre is

Your child WliJ say, "In the can."

PUI the marl)l, on top of the lid ,~f the

and as/" 'Tl/licre is Your child wiiJ say, "On the

can.

"Vllhere

Your child will say, "Next to the

or perhaps they will <ay,

"Beside can.

Continue until you have

exhamred all the possibilities, Take

turns.

RIGHT Playing Guess the Word can involve a lot of activity - even if all you're showing is ~'steep!"

The question game Age: aDou( 3 on

This game will help your child to develop

relevant vOClhllbrv logical thought

structure around a theme well-known to them.

Even though the questions you ask should

provoke logical ans'wers, they very often do

not. Keeping her on the topic and gathering as

much inform anon as you can is quite an

achievement. At the end of the questioning

period you can weave the informacion you

have g:lthered into a story.

Choose a simple event that she will have

experience of. for example D:ldciy

baked a chocolate cake.

Nrltalie

Ask her a series of Cjuestions around the

event to build up as much background as you

can. Try to keep everything logicaL

PRE P i\ R 1 (~"i H E \V ,\ Y

If you start by asking qu eshons ;) bout the

subject - Daddy and Nat:llie in case you

should receive information that will be useful

for setting the scene.

vVho is this srory all about?

IVhat do v:e know about them?

Move on ro ask questions around the verb - in

this case baking. This should be usel'l11 for

gathering inform:ltion aronnd the action of the

story. Now ask tor iuformat;on dbont the cake.

~Vhv were they baking a cake

How?

l/Vhen?

f·111crr?

IT/ith what?

f"l/7wt kind of cake?

Finally ask some questions that wili bring

abom a ,·onclmion.

So wh.at iWl'pcncd iii the (11(/1 How did cuerymlf

JeeP

The follm;;ing game "\vi11 also helr your child

to seqllenC(~ events ~md ten stOry.

Jlliaking a storyboard Age: about 3 on

You will need

Picrures you hlVC out of a or that

you have drawn. You don't need to be an artist,

h0\Vc\"t:r - you (oulcl. for instance, llse

rhotogr:lphs of your chilcl during the course of

her dav: of her getting up, brushing her teeth,

getting dressed :md so on. The important thing

is that rhe pict11res should form a

How to Ploy

,'\sk your child to place the pictures in the

she thinks they should go intG. Once

m sequence, you can make up a storv

to go with them and she should be able to

help vou do this.

If you take photographs of your child's

you could make them into a book to create a

n10re pern1~nent record of the story (see

P l:t. R! >...,J (; T \VAY

Chapter 9 for simple ideas on how to do this).

She will enJoy looking through the pictures for

many years to come.

You can become quite :lci-,Tn1t:ln}US in

choosing your theme: you could draw the

sequence that neecls to be to;]owed to

cookies or oat bars. Once your child has put

them in order, she can stick them down or

make a book out of them, and make the

cookies following her recipe!

ClassifYing Another type of game that helps your child

develop a "<;vider \'oClhlliary is one in which vou

sort and classify objects that belong together.

Children org:mi7t' and order their experiences

all the time, along with the words that they jearn

to describe them with.Yoll can prepare a whole

range of pictures or objects that could help them

to do this see Chapter 9 for more ideas.

Classified cards Age: around 2 - 2112 on

You will need

Collect a set of pictures that belong together.

For example, for younger children

of objects from each room in a house;

possible, have one card that shows the room as

a whole.You could also use pictures of things

in a street, in a park, in a supermarket and so

on. On the back of each picrure

write the name of the object it contains. For

older children you could put together set of

J.TIything th:1t they \,-vere In:

motorbikes, wild animals. garden flowers.

How to Ploy

If your cards are of rooms a house. start \'lith

one room - say the kitchen. Take out the picture

that shows the kitchen as a ·whoL,. Talk abom it.

Now SflO",,; pictures of objects in the kitchen and

see how many your child name. Use the

cards as opportunities for di,cusslOn.l\rrange the

cards that she knmvs uncler the picture of the

whole room. Help her learn the ones she

doesn't know using the three penod lesson

descnhed in Chapter:2 (see pages 37-8). Ifshe

looks at a picture of a chopping board .md

','oluntcers "bath mat" use the opportunir:y to

"classiJ:Y"You could ask her whether it was likeiy

that the bath mat would turn up in rhe kirchen l

\\iben she can the (,:lrds from more than

one room, nlix them up and see if she can sort

the objeCLs into their respective rooms.

If YOLl place a little idemification symbol on

the back of each set before you play the game,

she will be able to check herself whether or not

she has sorted the cards correctly.

Sorting objects i\ge: around 2112 on You will need

A selection of any items that can be sorted or

tor instance:

Objects that sink or float

Objects that are magnetic or nor

Objects that are hard or sott: feathers, pebbles

and so on

Objects that are used for dr~\ving ebjens

that useci for PJlnting

Objects that are heavy or light

,'iow to Ploy

Show vour child how to sort out the objects

according to the Y\7aV you have dJ\slfied them.

You can S(:rafatc the group' ontO each <ide of

a table or a plastic mat.

If Vall want to prOVIde her with a

mechani~m ror self-correction you con1o

tbe objects, in their groups, on a piece of paper.

The importance of rhyme Children who have a \vide experience of

are knmyn to do at reading and to

a strong sense of hmv co spell. The greater

your child's J\,\,TJfCncs". of sound and its PJrrern~,

the better the fit will become between the

patterns of letters in words and her abili tv to

predict \,'hat it is thev say. It is impossible to

rhe importance that a good

of poems, songs and nursery rhymes

will play in helping her to read and write.

Children love the humor and predictability

that comes with rhyme and they love the

rhvthms that it sets up. They also love playing

and making rhymes rhclmelvcs. You should,

therefore, have a wide repertoire of nursery

rhymes and poems. In the event you find that

your memory does not serve you well, there are

many good tapes you can buy. Play them and

learn them along with your child; no matter

how good tape there is really no suhstih:te

for singing or poems and songs YOlmclf

with your child.

In addition to focLlsing on rhyme you can

help her to recognize clusters of sounds snch as

"str" or "br.""ing" or "ake."

.. Plav games to see how many words you can

rhink up with "str" at the beginning.

.. See how manv ditTcrcm words your child

can think of that rhvme with, say, cake.

.. iVlake ,emences using the sOlmd at the

bcginn1ns of each vvorG. For In<;tdnce, Sister

Suzle sat singing sons'S by the seaside.

Poems and rhymes will also provide a wonderful

resource for early anempts at writing and

reading. Knowing what word should come next

will certainly be a great help when your child

first begins to read. Poems and songs are also

good to write down when you first begin to

make words. Poems that have lots of rhvme and

repetition help children to pick up rhe look of

the ,,'ord and ,hal' can help them to write

relatively accUf:1tely when rhey first start: writing

words down.

Alan fat lop hat

Fellj7at

(Anon)

hat

PREP_ARI:".JC THE \VAY

ABOVE from the very beginning. help your child to solve problems for himself. In Classified Cards. for instance, he can first sort the cards, then use already identified control cards to check Whether his pairings are correct.

This is a favorite of mine and one that is easy to

wote.

Rhymes and songs em also teach children

the order of the 1lrhabct and it's fun and

mst.rucnve to them otten with your child -

vou can start domg these as early as possible,

from about the of t"vo on, and continue until they don't want them any more.

PR R[i'(C T!--jE \1/

Games with rhYl11e and rhythm Chapter -+ has a selection of rhyme games, or

you could try the ones given below.

Clapping game Ciap the rhythrn of the words and sylbh1es

alongside the poems and songs you know.

Clap the rhythrn of all the names of the

mcrr:t'en f::mily.

The echo game You ciap a rhvthm and your child b:1ck

,-,vith :he saIne rhythnl. i\n alternati-ve to this

game is to collect a number of different object'

that would make a sound. Each of you has (he

same things. Sit back to back.You pick up your

(say) chopsticb and tap a rhythm. Your child

picks up her chopsticks and echoes you. You

pick up your spoon and glass, and tap a differem

rhythm. Your child has 1:0 echo you.

Games to develop listening skills Other games can develop listening

skills - plays an important role in

dcwloping speech and in helping the ear to

become Tocused on fine in sounds.

The follmving 'Nill :ell help your ehiid to

listen. which will later help her to recognize

sounds attJched to letters.

The bear and the honeypot You need at least three people to play this

ganle. One child dons a blindfdd pms a

pot (the honey-pot) just in front of her. One of

the other childrt"n (or adults) tries to approach

very honeypot. If the

that

1:0 sit down. Another plaver

then tries [Q grab the pOL If a player manages

to grab rhe honc\'1'ot, rhe l:Jiindf()ldcd plJy-cr w'iinnll1shr's the hlindfold to him the

other players.

l..istening to sounds Get your child to close her eves and try to

identify what she can hear. Suggest that she

focuses on ,mlUds that arc far then

nearby, then inside her body and so on.

Identifying the sound Choose a lot of familiar. everYday ohjects. hide

then-:t behind d or ask your child to put on

a blindfokL Pour water iuro a glass, crumple a

piece of paper, put the lid on a S:1u(cpn, drin k

f1-om a cup etc.Your child has to what

the sound is.

A moving sound Use something that makes a very soft sound -

a clock that ticks; sand in a container. a p;11r of

chopsticks. Ask your child to close her eyes and

point at the sound while you rnoYe around the

room with it.You must move very Cjuietly. If

your child to point at you then it is

her turn to make the sound.

Sound boxes i\ge: trom about on

You will need

Collect eight idmticaJ wi,h lids -

cardboard tt:bes. pLlstic pots with lids, used film

c;,nisrers arc all suitable. Norhing should be too

large. Make four pairs by putting different

mbs[Jnces into of two containers: qnd.

sugar, rice, dried beans and macaroni would all

vmrk. Identify each pair by pntting matching

colored dots on the bottom of the conuincrs

(This will enable her to check whether she has

idcmificd the

How to play

Separate out

p;]iri correcdy.)

tvvo sets of containers, ~ow

show your child how to shake each conr;;incr,

prcfc1":lbty in each car. then search for its

match.

Help her to remember the sound by putting

one set filrther away. perhaps in the kitrhen.

Then listen to one contJincr, go to the othcr

set and listen through to see if the same sound

can be found.

Story tapes Having a book and story tape that match can

be very useful, although it's no sllhtitme for

direct contact with you. There many

excellent tapes and stories 1vailahk now Jnd

these can be aseful on trips. If

fona of.

you could actually tape the story yourself.

PREPARING r \VA Y

Song and rhyme tapes These can be lovely to lisren to, particularly on

journeys, and help to expand the nnge of

nursery rhymes and songs that vou can sing or

sav ,vith vour child. i\s vour child gets older

remember to look om for "grown-up , poetrv

tapes.

Sound lotto are many good sound games

COlnnlC'rCl:111y 'l1ch as sound lotto. See

Chapter 9 for a list of [t'commended

Pl'Ie:p;rritl2: the hand for writing Before vour child can be

her hand well enough to write she must

have lots of pracnce in guiding it. Children

need actlvities that will help them to move their

hands more precisely and carefully. You can

P i( EPA R I ~ C E WAY

begin these anivities from as young as 18 monrh'),

There are many things that you can shovv'

her ho\v to do that: \vill give greater

inncpcnc1CDce. Learning hovv [0 pour can be

Ha\'ing the abilir:,r to pour things for

herself w111 allow her to take Clre of her own

needs: can have drink when she is thirsty,

PUt rnilk on her cereaL \vater plants, pour ingre­

dients into "mcepam and do many other things

that require rhat kind the same

time the m.ore control she gains over her hands,

[he easier it will be for her to control them

when wishes to write.

Try to give your child some pouring to do

at home. Begin wid1 ,omething simple, then

increase tht' difficulty, step at a

.. Using two small pitchers, put ,ome fairly

large beans in one and encourage your child to

pour from one pitcher to the other \vithout

,pilling any beans. Have them on a tray so that

if any beans spill, they won't go allover the

floor.

.. Using a finer grain such as rice, pour just

enough into a pitcher to fill three cups.

Now ask your child to pour the rice into the

egg cups. rf she ends up with rice. or

runs out of rice, she will knO\y that she needs

to try next time. Encourage her to

repeat these activities as often as she likes.

.. You can now do the same activity but using

water. Have a cloth nearby so that she can

wipe up the ,yarer if she spills iL

"As soon as she is able to pour, encourage her

to use her uc,vfmmd skilL~nd by looking

around your home you will discover many

other, similar skills she could learn. tor

to learn how to butter her own

bread. Make sure vou limit the amount of

butter in

.. Show her how to her own truit.

• Show her how to cut up her own fruit. Start

with soft such as

knife. You will need to demonstrate how a

knife is held and carried, then where tIngers

must be \vhen you use a blade to chop fruit.

She \'vill be very serious about

responsioiliry very enjoy being

allowed to do something as "grown up" as

cutting fruit.

Puzzles Look around ror puzzles that have knobs on

each of the pieces. These can be very useful

because they enwunge child to ht'f

ABOVE Being able to do things for yourself gives you confidence, Cutting up your own fruit can lead to a greater wiHingness to have a go at acquiring other new skills, such as reading and writing.

rhumb and index finger, which she will

c\Tnmaily usc to control a pencil. The knoh

heromes substitute pencil and her hand

develops ,;;trcngth anct

te-w fingers to accomplish

Drawing

h3hit of uc:.ir.g only a

Your child will have begun to draw using

crayons when she was about 18 months old.

The patterns and shapes that she draws 11at11ral-

are lines and circles. Slowly, however, her art

will become more representational. ChiJdrt'J1

will first draw something ~.nd give it a namf',

then decide what they are going to draw and

try to represent It. When your child is between

tour and five, you can suggest that she looks at

real objecr with you, then tries to draw it.

will help her eve focus on a shape

direct her hand to try and

Writing patterns Incorporating wrlting 1nto arnvork

can be a very worunvhile activity. Through

PREPARl!'lC 59

6(1

practice your child will graduaJly

learn to make all the )Crokes neces-

sary to torm Once agam,

however, don't make her draw

writing p:1ttcrns without some

other purpose attached. Encourage

her to incorporate them into

otJ\vlngs, use the]TI to make

picture frames for drawings :md

other, similar uses.

Use patterns that are based on

the \V:lY letters formed:

Stirals: (ircles)" scmi[irries;

vertical, and s!.-::uued

Finger painting Age: from around .3 on

You will need

Liquid or powder paint. \Vater-

soluble paste (the kind usually llsed to bng

\valipapcr works \v(11). /\ clean shiny surtace.

such as a formica table or tray. Paper. Children

:llld tloor surfaces should be \ve11 protected!

How to Play

l'vl.ix the paint wlth the wallp:lper paste until it

has the consistency of thick Put a few

large spoomfnl on the shiny surtace and ask

your child to spread it around. Now she can

PT;)ct1ce \vriting \virh her tlngers (:111l0ng other

things) I If she doesn't like what she's done, she

Cl;:1 ;;;n100th the design with her hand and

start again. \Vhen the design is complete, lake :l

large piece of paper and pm it on the table

over the design. so that it takes a print of the

['aiming. At this stage you can either start again

with another dollop of paint or Upl

Sewing There are J. nunlber of different

;)niVlties your child can do to develop good hand-eye co()rciin;)tion.

+ Draw shapes such as circles and squares on a

P l~ E P .t;,. l~ I N GTE \V A Y

ABOVE You can use finger painting to create writing patterns - it's even more fun than crayons and feit-tip pens, and you can create a picture of your efforts when you've finished!

heavy piece of paper using a thick pen. With a

small pllncwre holes at intcryals ;J.J]

around the perimeter of the Show vour

child how to a thick tapestry needle

with yarn and how to put the and

thread in and om of the holes. Once she's got

the hang of this, show her how to fill in the

holes right around the perimeter. Later draw

the letters of your child's name in the same way

and ask her to sew them. ;\!lake sure the lines

follow the way in which the should be

\,vritten (see the diagranl on·rage Put a

cross where you waTlt the sevving to begin. If

you're worried "hour using needles and thread.

Start her off with shoe laces. vvhich she can

thread in and om of the holes.

.. Buv cloth holes already it (Binea or

Aida,! and [each her how w make the different

ABOVE The more things you can think ofto do with tetter shapes - including sewing them - the more easily your child wi\! learn them,

stitches. Always remember to go from simpic

stitches to those that are more difficult.

.. Ask your child to draw a picture on some

muslin. Put it into an cmoroidc;ry

have her sew the picture.

Dough Of Clay Pbydough or clay great tlJn to use and CJn

also help dexterity. Like finger paiming (and for

much [he same rcason'; 1['S probahly best done

on a formica table or on tray.

+ Roll om long sam:lgcs :md form

letters.

mro

.. Show your child how to toll spherical sbpes

and sausages. Make :mimals, houses, pots,

whatever comes co IniEQ.

PREPAKINC T w,-\\

CHAPTER FOUR

ps toward reading and

that you have taken the first steps ' 'NiH have created a Vel-Y sound basis tor literacy.

toward giving your child the foundation In playing these games you wiH accompii,h

she needs to become a good reader and writer, I the f"ilmying:

there are some games you can play with her .. Raise your child's of sOlmds :md

that will have a more direct impact on her i

acquisition of these skills, The activities

in this chapter are those that you would find in

any good .'Y1onrcS)ori cbssroom (or children's

house, as Nlaria \10ntcssori called it). We call

them "keys" to reading and writing, The word

"key" is very important: it is something that

gIves access to things. When we want to

make sense of a map we look up the to

help llS make it more ;nrclligihlc. A key doesn't

give you the whole picture, but it docs pw\-ide

you with some basic tools which help you to

interpret the map more acCUr:ltC]V. IVlaking use

of a key provides you with additional help if

vou want to make the best use of the map. A reallv helpful "key" is one that proyides you

witb just enough basic information to help you

to find things out tor yourself.

The following - the Sound

Game, the Sandpaper Letters ;md the .'V!ovc:lh1c

'~':f,lnl'('r -bulld one upon the other. Don't be

[en1pted to hurry thenl or skip tor'.vard to

actiVIties that ll1ay appeJ.r n10re tJn1iliar to you.

~rhey 11lay appear to be very easy. but don't

11ll,;icrcst1m.lrc rhelf "",,,,,t>,,.'-'" in the devclop-

the way that words are made up of units of

sounds.

.. Help her recof,,'TIize the symbols that

represent those sounds.

• Help her begin to develop the correct hand

movement for

.. Help her use symbols to write her

thcughts.

.. Help her use her own writing as a bridge to

Raising your child's awareness of the sounds in her language

i You \vill have already begun to read with your

child, and manv of the books you enjoy

together will be ,torV books which have rhvme

and rhvthm in them and some will be poetry

and rhvme books. These wlll help her to recog-

sound rhymes. which will be important

later on when she begins to read since she wlll

be able to predict many of the words she comes

across because she knows they rhyme.

In ~ddition to this wav of listening to

mc'nt of your child's abilitv to read and write, If I

sounds and rhymes, you can play vanety of

games to focus her attention on them and to

raise her awareness of the role that sounds play. she 111dSter these three sinlple activities, you

FIR STEP') T0\VAJ,D l~EADINC ,I>o...ND \VRITiNG

How the sound game inter-relates with the sandpaper letters and the moveable alphabet Level 1 Initial sound, one object at a time, no opportunity

for mistakes Age 2';'

Initial sound, choice of two objects or more.

Only one object can be identified as the correct answer Age 2 '/,-3

Level 3 Initial sound, choice of part ~f room or wh~le room.

Many objects can be identified with the same

initial sound. SJndpilper Letters

---------

or 3 as appropriate. Age 3'1,- 41<

with any objects or any words. The object does not

have to be "spied." Age 3 'h - 4 '!, Move~ble Alphabet

Level 6 Take a sound and think of as many words as you can

that contain the sound eitrer at the beginning or end of

the word or have the sound somewhere in Age 4'/'- 6

first in spoken 1nd then in

vvriting.

The sound game Age: from 2 on

What you need to know

and

This game will help to make yom chlld aware

of the sounds that make up words. Playas

otten as you can; it is one of the most

important ways of prcraring her tor both

writing and reading.

Nlake sure you say the sounds correctly'

Your child will use the skills she develops in

this game to help her sound out ,he tIrst words

she writes and reads, so if you're careful with

,he sounds the rest is eaw.Thev should

shurt, and you should try !lot to have much of

a vowel sound to tollow. For eXllmple "b"

should be '\ol1ndcd as in tub. not >lbu" as in "bun.'l

lRST

i

Sound Chart

a at huh! 0 on v have

b tub i in p tap w win

c tack fudge quit x fox

d mud tack r rat yes

e egg mil! 5 russ buzz

f off m hum at

g peg n hen u up

Note that "c" and "k" sound the same.

If you can think of words where the c<'n'lon/mrs

come mainly at the end of the word and

vowel sounds at the beginning, you will hear

sound you need to make.

Sadly, many alphahet books and pictures do

not ponrav all the sounds accurately. Check

through [he books you have at home to make

I sure that objects chosen to represent the

ps TOWARD RE:\DINC j) Wit! T! J'..;C

ABOVE level 1 of the Sound Game helps your child to (onnect sounds with familiar objects - here the sound "b" with balL Start with just one object at a time so that he won't get confused.

sounds correct. The sound that is most

corr!r.only mi,)"cp1"C)entcd is "x" which should

cill these digraphs.

Common digraph sounds in fnglish*

ai train play

ch chip

ee sleep leaf

ue

er

00

blue shoe zoom

her fir turn

cook sound does in "fox" not as in xylophone

I th is pronounced "z'"

path

pie sky

ng ring

hard part for you will be listening to

the sounds and forgetting (for the moment),

ie

th with

ou pout clown

or far raw bow words are spelled. Don't panic! Children at oa this have no idea that words can be speiled :

loaf window sh fish caption

oy boy spoil from the they ,inee thcy

yet.

Engiish in all i[s various dialects is a

llor1-PllorlCClC Llnguage, you yvill also need to I

ar car

* Parents in the United States and Canaaa, and in Austraiia. New Zealand and South Africa, wilt need to decide ifthere is a difference between the sounds "or" and "au."

TEPS TOWARD RE/\DI G \ND \VR 1 G

l'v1any other sound combinations will crop I

up as you stan to explore language wirh your

child, so be relaxed and usc your o\vnjudgment

as to how they should sound. What you are

building in her is an a,YJ1TnCSS of rhe different

sounds as they are heard in your own language

or dialect.

Let's practice!

Cover over the letters in each of the right-hand

columns below and practice sounding the

words in the left-hand column.

Can you give the first sound of the following words?

cat bat

chop ch think th

is older than twO and a half when you start, you

should still begin with level 1 and move her at

her own pace through the different leyels of the

game.

Level 1.

:2 on

What you will need

Gather together a few objects which your child

can na.rne and put them on a table in from of

you. In the beginning avoid ohjects that '>fall with

similar sounds, such as "p" and "b," "v" and "w:'

Purpose

To help your child to hear inciividlJ:ll sonnas at

the of words.

knock center I How to Play

acorn ai phone

owl ou australia 0

can you give the last sound of the following words?

mat lamb m

dance window oa

bench ch cage

tap p party ee

cake books

Can you give all the sounds in the following words?

dog d-o-g bottle b-o-t-t

pamper p-a-m-p-er tough t-u-f

house h-ou-s since s-i-n-s

shoe sh-ue parrot p-a-r-u-t

fetch f-e-ch quiet qu-ie-e-t

Once you 've mastered ,he art of hearing "nd I

articulating the sounds of your language, you

ready to play the Sound Game. which is

based on "I spy." There are six levels [0 the

game: level 1 can begin as early as cwo and a

and levels 5 and 6 should be played at

around four and a half to live. Even if your child

Choose one of the objects, tor example a pen,

and hold it out to show it to your child.

spy something in my hand beginning

with 'p.'"

Your child will say ·'pen." Confirm that she is

"p" for "pen.'" Change the object and

place where it can be round to

"I spy something on the table beginning

with "d'" .... (perhaps doll)

"I spy something f ;un toucbing heginning

with .... (perh1ps cup)

"I spy something on finger beginning

with ... (perhaps ring)

'f something I am waving heginning

"h"' ... (perhaps hand)

She will quickly grasp the rules of the game

and happily tell you the names of the objects

fOLYou will rrobahly need to

of the g~me for several \veeks

beti:;re she actuallv makes the C0nnccnon

the sou~d that you say and the sound

of the object you have

FIRST STEPS TOWARD lZE/\J)ING D WR1TINC 65

66 I

ehmen. \Vhen she appears to be heginning to

listen to sounds, you can lTIOve on to

Level

Level 2

What you will need

objects you have gathered from

house. In the begmning the initial

sounds should be contrasting, hut as the game-

proceeds over the you em choose

with similar inicial sounds. Purpose

help your child distinguish one initial

sound an ocher.

How to Play

sounds (this could be, tor

car and a motorbike, as in the

photograph, or cup :md mug, and so on).

"I spy something beginning ·'m.

now has to make a choice, and you

to hear hO\v well she distinguishc<

«)Unds. Continue changing ~hc objecrs bm

onlv two at anyone time. To increase the

place three objects in front of her and build to having as many as five

objects at once. You can now become much

more subtle and show her objects beginning

with similar sounds, tor example, ring, watch and van.

i Level3 i Age: around

What yau will need

does.

Purpose

of the game can be played

and is closest to "1

is good one to plav on car

tired ofit before your child

To make your child aware that many objects

may begin with the same sound. Once she has

to introduce

her to (See Sandpaper Letters

on pages 69-70 of this chapter). How to Play

Choose area of the room or :nck.·vz,rc, and a

sound that r"presents than one ohject in

it. (If you run out ofimpirariol1, me the photo­

this game')

"1 spy things over there by the

that hegin with 'b.' "

I She will otter only one word, since this has

been what has been expeCTed

should ,,~oIunrccr ~ome

more and have her join in ,"'ieh

you (basket. bottle, books. balls and

on). Now move on ro anmher

sound in the same or a different

Rememher you are not asking

her ro search for one object rhar

you thinking of ~ut any item

with that sound. As soon as

LEFT In level :I of the Sound Game, you can show him two contrasting sounds, for instance ~'c" for car and ~·m" for motorbike, and ask him which one is which.

TEPS TOWARD R.Er.DfNG AND -\}lR1TI~

ABOVE For Leve! 3 of the game, look for a variety of objects in the room that share the same sound - here you'll find "b" is weH represented in bird, basket, bottles, books and balls.

enough items have been named, move on to

another sound.You don't have to insist on your

item being found. Move to other parts of the

room or garden, then gradually move to the

whole room or outdoors in generaL

She can now take turns "l.vith you to choose

the sound for the objects and, of

course, you can begin to play "I

spy" in the more conventional way.

Level 4 Age: around 3

What you will need

At this stage you will need to

temporarily cither to a

collection of objccts or to a part of

the environment as in Level 3.

What you do will depend on vour

child and what help she needs for

this sLage. R..:gard1css of whether

you choose a coileccion of objects

or parr of the room, you will be

looking for objects whose ipitial

sounds are the same but whose last sounds are

different, for example hall, hag, bracelet, or pen,

peg, puppet. Choose enough objects to keep it

Purpose

To help develop your child's awareness of

ofall the sounds in words is essential

You say, "I spy something on the table (or in

part of the room) that begins with 'b' and ends

WIth 'g:"To begin with she may take a little

time to learn [Q listen to the last sound. If she

says "ball," be positive in your response. "Yes,

ball does begin with 'b: but I asked for

something that hegins with 'b' and ends with

'g'; let's listen to the last sound in ball." Say it

slowly and Now help her to listen to

the sounds of the other objects until she finds

"bag."

BELOW it's important to help your child to listen for both I first and last sounds in a word: in Level 4 of the Sound

Game, YOIl play with three objects, alt beginning with the same letter but ending with different ones - bag, ball and bracelet.

FIRST STEPS TOWARD READING AND WRITING 67

68

Once she has mastered listE.'ning to the initial

sounds the last sounds for 0bvious objE.'cts.

move to the whole environment and take it in

turns to search for the objE.'crs, always giving

the and last s011nds.

l.evels Age: 4'/2

What you will need

Nothing at all unless you wish to use objects.

Purpose

help your child to analyze all the sonnds in a

word. This skill that ,vill be helpfill when she

and write. She will need to

this level before using the !\10vcablc

Alphahet (scc page 76 of this chapter).

to play

stage should follow on natun!1y +rum the

one betore. Once your child can readily find a

word that begins and ends with a particular

sound, Stop and listen for all the sounds in the

with fairly sl10rt words. For

\vord is "cup·' and she has

idtCnrifitCd that it begins with "c" and ends in

could say, "Let·s listen to all the sounds

say it slowly. C-u-p. Did you hear

the sOLlnd after 'c'? Let's say 'cup' again."

two of you slowly say the word and

so LInd. C-u-p.

know all the sounds in 'cup: let's

tlnd all the sounds in 'pan: then 'corree.'"

Gndmlly become longer

longer. and the two of you can h:ve lots of fun

more and more difficult words to

sound OLlt.You have stopp::d spying the objens

:md think of any words that you like.

Levei6

What you will need

Nothing!

Purpase

designed to use all the knmyldgc

in words.

How to Play

to p13y with the sound"

Think of a sound. for example "m." Now t..hink

of all the words that have the sound "m" in them

somewhere. Think of words with "m" at the

beginning: mat, mlmch, mother; "m" at the end:

farm, ham, clnlm;"m" :lIlj"evhere w1thin them:

n1arm:lJadc) nUITther. 111inin"lUlTi, etc. Have fun!

Note

Remember to use the ages given above as a

guide only to at your child's pace.

Some children will manage to listen to the

sounds easily and quickly while others

will take some will not need to progress

in such a steIP-b,v-step wav.You know vour

child and will be able to make the appropriate

judgmem.

More games to help vvith sound recognition

I spy rhyming words This is a simple game where, instead of spying

things that begin with a sound, you find things

[hat rhyme with word. For example,"\ spy

something that <0\111ds like jug:'The answer

maybe or "rug." Alternatively, "I spy

IOmething that rhymes \yirh bee."The answer

could be etc.

Inventing poems You can invent some funny nonsense rhymes

with vour child - this often appeals to her sense

of humor.

High lJ1 a

I saw (your child says ·'bee·' or '·knee"

or "Uea" or anything else that springs to

mind)

r PS TOWARD RE.A,.DING A~D WRITrN

Using all your pmvers of invention vou now

conC1nue

a tree High in a cree

I saw a bee I sa"v a t1ea

saw me It said tee nee

And flew on to my And then bit .....

Sorting pictures that rhyme or begin with the same sounds Once again a mail order catalog can be very

Cut OLlt groups of objens

rhyme and that are familiar to your child. If

good at drawing, you could draw your

own pictures of familiar nbjcCIs. For example:

Jug, rug, mug

Bat, mat, hat, cat

plane. chain

Pan, van

Ask your child to SOrt the pinures occnrding to

the wav rhyme. On another day you could

do the same for initial sOllnds. You could also

lIllX all LIp and play rhyming snap.

Odd one out Once you vour child is able to judge

which sounds rhyme, you can play this game

L1sing one group of pictures only :rnd ~dding in

a single picture that is the odd one out. Ask her

[0 find the that doesn't rhyme.

P,bern.1ti\·elv, ask her to idemity [he pICture

that starts with a different sound to the others.

For

Jug, mug and bat

Book. ball., boot and car

Books You can Llse any beautifully illmtrared book to

piay"1 most of those rCCCOITllTl,encied m

Chapter 9 would be 'lJltahlc. To make the

game more try to tlnd illmtr;ltions

objects that begin with the same sound.

FIRST S PS RD READI!'..:G /\f'.:D R! T J "-.J (;

70

containing lots of derail and a variety of

objects.

The sandpaper letters Once your child can play the Sound Game at

level 3, she is ready to begin to idemify the

letters of the alphabet. It is important to wait

until she has reached this stage: whenever we

learn something new. we build or gratt it on to

existing knowiedge. so if your child is secure

with the sounds hears the beginning of a

word. she evil! find it easier to understand that

the lerter or symbol you wish to teach her is

simply the way the sound that she already

knows is written. In this way new learning

becomes more straightforward, since it tests on

foundation of previons experience.

You will need to make a set of letters· for

your child to learn, and !Tom a substance that is

tactile because you will teach her to feel [he

shape of the letter as well as to recognize it

visually.

In using this approach, your child will have

both a visual and tactile experience

of the letter, which means she will

use more than one sensory channel

to receIve information and

remember it. Often a child who

strugges to remember the letter

visually \vill reme:nber it immedi­

ately when she is encouraged to

feel again.

In addition to receivIng

m"X1mum sensory input to help

her recognize letters, her hand is

learning, well in of actually writing

letters, how each letter is formed. You should

make sure, therefore, that each letter can be telt

in the way that it should be written. The more

practice a child gets at feeling the letters, the

more her hand will "know" how to stan and

form a letter when writing it.

Making the letters TraditionJlly, these letters are made from the

finest grade of sandpaper, which you should be

able to find at your local hardware swre.

HO'wever, if you prefer you could also make

them from velvet or even a coarse-quality paper.

The important thing is for your child to be able

to experience the tactile quality of the letter.

The lerters should be enougb to allow her

hand to get a really good feel of the shape of the

letter. (There are ternpbtes in Chapter 9 of this

book, which you could use w JTl..ake the lerters.)

You will need to mount the letters on

board or thick cardboard, and vou should have

three colors of crrdboard to distinguish berween

vowels, comonants and digraphs. Vowels, tor

fttST STEPS TOWAR l~EADIN AND WRITING

instance. couid be moumed on blue. COllSOTums

on pink and digr:lphs on green. The color

distinction will help your child to become

a\vare of the between of

letters. Choose colors that appeal to you but

make sure you continue to use these colors for

the ocher lener games in the book. too'

If you know that your child is right- or left­

handed, the letter can be placed more to the

right (tor a right-hander) and more to the left

(for a lett-hander). This creates a wider space on

the board for the child to hold it steadv with

one hand while she traces over the letter with

the other. If you are unsure whether she is

right- or left-handed, you will be safer placing

the letter centrally on the board.

Make the following letters:

Ilowels

(blue hackgrouncl)' a e i a u (y)

i(lI1S0nants

(pink hackground): bed f g hj kIm n p (q) r s

tv 'vV X (y) Z

In some languages "y~' is a vo\ve1. and in

.'q" is ahvays f011o\yed "'u."

digraph instead of a single letter.

In non-phonetic Ibng:13gcs

where there are more

represent them), children will re-quire addltion­

al help. English is non-phonetic and, depending

on the countrv in which it is being spoken,

there are approxim:ctclv 40-45 differcl1t sounds.

IdentiJ:Ying these sounds, or digrllphs, can be

very helpful, although untortunately they can

often be spelled in several - for

the sound "ai" as in train. can also be spelled

"cake" or "reign" or "plav." Choose the spelling

that seems most common or appropriate for

your child's early reading when you create your

digraph letters, or follow the suggestions given

above. (See Chapter 3 if you want check the sounds they make.)

Digraphs (green background): qu ee ie oa LlC ar er or eh

sh th oy au 00

In North l'\merica and Austrdlia, New Zealand

and South A!Tica an additional digraph "au" may

be userlil. The sound would be represented by

the word "awful" while the "or" sound would

be rq::rcscnt:cd by"tork."

Note

It is impornnt to give your child only what is

essennal to her writing and reading; if you

try to give evelY' possible digraph th;]t exms.

task wIll be overwhelming :lIld instead of

helping her vou will slow her down and even

hinder her

There is currently much debate as to what

kind of letter shapes children should learn. In

the it was felt to be important to teach a

:Cenci write printed letters in

the first instance. then when she was older [0

teach her to \vrite with a more 01[SlV(:, or

joined-up hand. However, research has now

show-n us that children can learn to read very

well. even if thev do learn WIth a more cursive

style ofletter, since they are used to seeing prim

of all types around them and have no dit11culty

in translating one style letter to another.

Equally, new research shows that it is just as easy

h·1T1rh.,,;ririn<~ as it is IO learn the "ball and stIck"

the end does not

need to learn everything tI.vice. Indeed_ ( hilde''''l

or;;cn will not tonn primed letters they

should be wntten because rather them JS a line rhey see a circle and ,1 stick

(hence the description ball and snck), and will

forn1. the letter Jccordingly. This can bc very

di±Iicult to undo ae a stage when

IRST STEPS REA D ! N CAN D Y!J I~ i r IN (;

the correct formation ofletters.

Try to avoid teaching your child to write in

capital letters as her first experience. Usuallv

capitals present no problems tor children as

there arc many ways of writing them correctly.

They can easily learn these after they have

mastered lowercase letters.

It is lowercase letters that require careful

learning. They will determine the ease with

which children will forrri a good flowing hand

later on, so it is worthwhile [Q begin at Ihe

right moment, offering Sandpaper or velvet

Le[ters that will prepare [he eye and the hand

for both writing and reading.

Teaching your child Sandpaper Letters Age: about 3-3 (when your cj-,jld can do level

3 of the Sound Game and while she is intense­

ly interested in touching things). If your child

has very poor hand/eye coordin:lrion, continue

to practice the activities in Chapter 3. It is

important that she does not find feeling rhe

letters too difficult.

Teach only Ihree leIters :my one time and

mix vowels. conson:mts digraphs rogether.

For each lesson choose letlers that sound ditIer­

ent and look different. (In addition you may

wish to look at Chapter:) to choose letters that

come tram the same writing group.)

Choose a moment when your child is ready

to sit down for a while, and never force her to

learn the letters. Don't be disappointed if she is

unable to say them at t:.':te end ofLl)e first time you

play the game. Be positive and use praise at all

times. Some children rrecd to play the game a

llnmhcf of ti;nes hdorc they begin to shmy you

that they remember the letters yon arc ~eaching them.

If vour child seems unable to the

letters the end of the first lesson. don·t be

negatIve m any way. Don·t go back to the

beginning of the lesson and try to repeat the

! whole thing again or she will swiftly feel some

sort of compu1sion to '"get it righe" Don't go

back to the same letters next dav either.

simply choose three ditIerem letters. You must

not risk giv-ing your child a sense of tailure just

as you are about to cmbcuk on one of the most

rcvv;miing activities of her life. Having

fully helped her to achieve so much in such a

short space of time. don't risk turning her otf

Deemse of your own expectations. So if she

seems nnimercstcd, you mmt stop and wait unnl

she is l

During the lesson cncourage your child to

feel the letters as orten as pOSSIble, but. make sure

she is feeling them correctly. Ifvou can manage

to find 10 minutes a day to play thIS game she

will soon be contldcnt about r('cognizing the

letters. Try to play the game when she requesIS it

- she \vill progress much faster if she has chosen

to do the activity herself. can help to remind

her thaI when she is ready to play the letter

game she Just has to teil you.

How to feel the letters Feel lerter using the index and middle

fingers of your dominant hand. Ifvour child is

left-handed, you should them with your

left hand. Feel them in the way that they are

written (see the diagram opposite). Make a

point where vou scart and complete ac:t1()n

in one smooth movement. It may also be usefUl

to add a line at the base of the board so that

your child knows which way up to it.

How to Play

To play this game you will need to [he

three-period lesson described in Chapter 2,

rtdapting it as outlined helmv to teach the

letters. lYlake sure you are mung beside your

child and not opposite she must always

be able to see the letters the right wav up.

Stage 1: Choose three letters.You may want to

choose them from the same writing family (see

Chapter 5) - for example: "c~'H'dn and "a.!'

STEPS TOW/\RD READING "~ND WRITIN

Begin by plaving Sound Game, asking your

child to spy am·thing beginning with (Cat,

cup, card etc.) You can join in to help. Now

shmv her the letter "c."

This is how we write "c." Feel the letter and

say the sound oIthe letter (not the name) and

help your child to do the same. Feel it. using

BELOW It is important to fee! each Sandpaper letter in the way it is written. The dot marks the place to start, then your child should follow the direction indicated by the

the index and mIddle fingers of your writing

hand (use the hand she wii! write with: these

will be the fingers she will use to guide a

pencil later on). So have your left hand hold

the letter steady and trace over the surface in

one ,mooth, £Iowmg movement with your

right hand if she is right-handed and do the

reverse if she is left-handed.

Do the same for each of the other letters.

Stage 2:This stage is the longest one hecmse

!ii'.;,ll I l,.

psT 0 W i\ R D R j) 1 ~ c; :\;--. I) V/;:;. I t ~ (

your child needs time and plenty of repetition

in order to 4<:.;sociate the sound and letter shape

together. Be p~rient. Each one of us requires a

different :lmount of practice time

we learn new.Your child is unique

and vou need to sense how long she needs to

feel confident of recognizing the letter you are

asking for.

l',sk at random for the letters. using their

sounds. Ask in many ways but keep the

instructions shorr :lnd simple. Each time the

letter is COH('Ctly, encourage her to

teel it and repeat the sound.You will need to

do this, too.i\l,vaVI return idcntitlcd letter

[0 the group once it has been felt, and

continue ,vith your J'vlix the letters up

each time to add excitement to the game and

to help her really look tor the letter you are

asking If she does not want to feel the

letters vou should do so :1nyway. Be inycntivc

'and have fun I Some examples:

Touch "m"

Put over here

Where's "In"

Hold·'t"

Be cardLll not to follow the same order each

tlme, to look at the letter you want, or request

the last letter you t01.,encd. Children very

quick to work out patterns and ~ysten1s~

Stage 3: Point [() one of the letters and ask

your child if she C(,1011',.,-1I")"'r5 \vhich one it is. If

she can rf'nlC'rnlicT, ~nc()l1rage her to feel Ie once more. If she can·t, enCO\lr:lge her to feel it

Jnd see if this Jogs her memory. If she does not

,"ememher, say It for her and don't dwell on

the fact that she rouldn·t tell you "vhat it said.

Focus on the letters that she can remember

I ABOVE Once she's got the hang of letter shapes and sounas, you can move on. Ask her to match the sounds (and letters) to familiar objects in the house; she may bring you several things beginning with "mOl in addition to a mug!

and make her feci pleased she

them.

rernernbcr

If she gees muddled, don't worry. Perbps

you didn't spend enough the

sound and shape in the first stage: perhaps she

lost interest. Whatever the reason. she has at

least three years to make this connection, so

you must not see it as a disaster. Feel the letters

and her the names again, then h'lppilv

bring lesson to close. Come back to it

another day.

Reinforce what your child knows

Each day. before teaching your child any new

letters, always go over the ones she knovvs

ctlready so that she can see the hum of her

efforts. This can be very encouraging tor her.

and by the letters she knmvs, you are

cDCOUT:Jging her to learn a more. If she is

unsure of any letters prCViOllSh- learned. include

them once again in [he next lesson but still keep

to a maximum of three letters at a time.

STLPS TO\X/:\R RE:\DI0JG AND \\1R1 NG

More games to play to help with letter recognition

You can play many games with the Sandpper

Letters as they grow in numher, which will help

to encourage her even more. As the number of

recognized letters increases, you can encourage

her to count the number she knows. She can

tiptoe back and forth betv,reen rooms collecting

and feeling the letters you ask for. Encourage

her to feel around (he edge of :my she

sees on posters, T-shirts and magazines.

Letters and objects Have a basket or bag of objects that begin with

the sounds of the letters she knows and a set of

Sandpper Letters corresponding with these

sounds. See if she can match the object with

the correct letter.

Ask your child to collect objects from

around the room that have the same sounds as

the letters she knows. Again have a set of these

IR.ST

letters handy. EncOlJr:Olgc her to put the object

next to the correct letter card. Whenever

possible encourage her to feel the letter in the

way that it should be written.

Choose only one letter and ask her to collect

as many objects as possible

sound.

begin with

Remember you will be continuing to

play the Sound Game while you are

introducing the Sandpaper Letters, and if you

are still on ievci 3 you could ask her to spy

objects beginning \vith the sounds of the

letters she recognizes. This would mean

holding up the letter card rather than saying

the sound out loud. Perhaps your child could

choose a letter and ask YOLl the question I

Letters and actions Hide some of the letter cards in the room and

ask her to find each one. "Can you find 'to' "

Place the letter cards around [he room and

ask her to hop to "m," jump to "1," tiptoe to

"oy" and so on.

Letters and books When you are reading books to

your child, point out some of the

letters she knows. Perhaps, if she is

interested, you C;111 encourage her

look at the pages of the book to

see if she can recognize any of the

lefters herself.

Making an alphabet and other books Write one of the letters your child

knows on a pIece of paper and

look through pictures and

LEFT Making an Alphabet Book is easy. The letter "c" is going to be illustrated by sticking down a picture of a crown and a cat. both cut auf of a magazine. The letters in this case have been written by an adult.

TOWARD READING A0JD V/RITI G 75

:6

mJg:lZHlc':S her. Cut out those objects

start with that letter. (A mail order catalog

be very useful for this.) If she isn'r able to cut

out the herself, then you do it, but let

her paste it to backing paper to make a

"page." If she able to. you could encourage

her to draw own pictures of objects she

can think of that begin with the letter.

Encollr:1ge her gndmlly to build up her own

alphabet book. Tie it together when it is

finished so that it looks really nice - see

Chapter 9

Make a

some '\imple \"i.lggCSfl0r.S for

book "Dd \vrire a letter at

top of each section. Then ask your child to

to find (and paste under the letter) pictures of

objects that start with the letter. Another

version of rhis '\vould be to vvrite a \vord across

the top of each section and paste in pictures of

objects that with each of the letters of

each word.

The jolly mailman NL:tke an envclope cach letter of the

('(len one to collect pictures

that begin with that sound.

jigsaw puzzles There are many different jigsaw puzzles

JV:libblc objects and iOY\'crca",

attached you buv them, make sure [hat

the objects the pictures reflect the sound

the letter accuntely As your child gets better

and bener fitting the shape of rhe piece into

its socket, you can begin to find out how many she

Do VOLl

of an arroyv you place your feet on a

colored on a pbying m:lt \Juril onc

pbyer could no longer stand up. This is the

~:.ln1e garne, only this tilne you need to

some of the letters your child knows on

FiR S T TCW/\l:-z.D RE!\D!

paper circle on a n1J.r in vvash::1ble ink. Play the

game in [he same way, spinning the arrow, but

this time call out rhe sound of [he letter that

[he foot must land on. Write each letter at least

once on each half of the circle.You can play

withjusr three letters as many as your child

knows.

I Jigsawmat Sponge mats put together like jigsaw Fuzzles

are lots of tun to build and play on, and many

of them have the leners 11phaber as

separate insets. Putting whole mat together

can be great fun on its own, but you can also

invent lots of games to play on it.Your child

could match objects to different letters or

jump from one letter to another: or she could

see ifshe could touch ,Jl letters of her

name in one go with aU the parts of her body.

The resr I leave up to you!

You will find that within very short period of

time your child will be co recognize many

of the letters of the by playing just

two simple games: rhe Sound Game and the

S:md,npcr Letters. You will have prepared hc:r

well t-;',r writing ;ind reading.

The moveable alphabet - the I bridge to reading and writing

Once vour child is with aoout three

quarters of the Sandppcr Letters, you can

begin to encourage her write down words,

sentences J,nd poems set of letters you

have made for this purpose. We call it the

:\1oye:,ble Alphabet. game provides the

vital link £01' your child benveen reading and

vvriting.

Your child must cx;)cri.cn,:e for herself the

po\.ver of USIng

swries and poems for

leave messages.

to read. The act of

rf"rm:lnence and

therefore importance to vvhat may other.visc be

WRfTING

spoken and forgotten.

Giving her letters that have already been

prepared divorces the creatIve and expressive

side of writing from the slower and more

m-;dcrdcvcJoped skill of writing by hand. The

development of both ofrhese arcas \.vill progrcss

along parallel lines for a while: in this way the

actual act of handwriting, which needs practice

and repetition, doesn't hold up her grovving

ability to use language in its ,vritten form to

express thought.

The t\vo parallel paths

• Expressive and crearive writing. which is a

vital foundation for reading deld writing (for

Wllich we use the !Viovc;lhle Alpbhet).

• Preparing the hand to write letters fluently

and easily (for which use tile Sandpapcr

Leners: see Chapter 5).

These parhs will join wgether quite nat\1[;,lly

later on. You will ±lnd ,hat your

child will spontancously begin to

label dn\',;ings and

and eventually as

a mrunl physical

thar you used wallow for the

nowering of her creative writing

will nor need to be used.

In addition co the henefits

tha[ accrue to vour child from

being able to writc as

she begins w write using the

Yiove:Jhlc Alphahet letters, she will

directly experience

which letters make

way in

and how

prim goes from lefi: to right and

from top w bottom. It will give her

an opportumty to ,\yritmg

LEFT The Moveable Alphabet can be invaluable in helping your child recognize letters. Get him used to it by encouraging him to take out and put back individual letters in their compartments,

FIRST

wi[h speech and, in

easy it is to make words by she

will be very quick to make the leap between

writing things dovrn and actlully heing able to

back what she has written.

Don't make your child read back any oEher

work with ,he !viovC'aHc /\lphahcLTrust

in all the prepar;](ion vou have done and in her.

To begm with she will rememher what she has

written and "teel" that she is reading, and this is

:1 boost to her a child who teels

shc is a reader can become a reader. But one day

as she is composing her stories vou will notice

dut attemion co each word as she

"reads" what has been put down. Words that can

be easily rccmcmbcred are being studied and

pronOlmced more siowly. Some words will be

rec<ogrllzcd as "sight" words. some worked out.

I She has taken the magic step all by herself and

now you have both an author and a reader.

R D l=t E c\ D 1 :-J (; !\ 01 I) \X/ R IT: :-J C;

r"Vhat your child needs to know before using the mOlleable alphabet The Sound Game: She must be able to break

words down into their differem sounds.

Remember that doesn't mean as they are

spelled. but as they sound. This is around level 5 of the Sound Game.

The Sandpaper Letters: She should know

three-quarters of the letters. including some I

digraphs and cert:linly all the vowels. Working

with the Moyeabk Alphabet encounges her to

learn the remaining letters as she discovers that

she needs them to write down the words IS

thinking of.

What you need to know

for tbe dots). If possible try w have compart­

ments large enough to take each letter flat and

glue one w the bottom of each space so it is

easy to replace the letters in their correct

compartment. Make the letters a reasonable size

- if they are too small, they become too hard to

vvork vvirh, and your child \vill

crying to use them.

Before you play the game

frustrated

Bring Out the box and playa game to help her

find where each lener is. "Can vou find'm?'"

"Let's if you know this one?" (This is a good

indicator of how many letters she knows and

may encourage her to set about learning the

ones doesn't.) Take some letters out of the

box, mix them up and ask her to find their

"homes:'\Vl-.ile you are busy doing other things

This activity is fun.You supply the letters your

child needs if she doesn't k.'lOW them. Spelling

doesn't matter this stage - yOU vvill help your

child to spell using other games that will appear

later in the book. Gradu:llly, as your child plays

the other parallel games (Puzzle \Vords and Key

Sound Envelopes, Chapten 6 and 7) the words

that she sounds out in the beginning will start

to be spelled more accurately. This aCIivity is

coilaborative in the beginning, so if your child

wants a permanent record of what she has

written, you will have to write it down for her.

However, you must make sure you write it

down using the correct spelling.

I have her find different letren trom the box for

vou. The farther away you are, the more fun it is.

I Let her ask you to do the same ching. Take

letter and see if you can find it in her favorite

book. Link the letters in the box to the leners in

How to make the mOlleable alphahet the same shape ofletter you used for the

S;m0paper Letters, only slightly smaller (use the

tcmrbres in Chapter 9 and reduce them on a

photocopier). Cut Out 10-15 copies of each

Use one color for consonants and one

color for vowels. (It helps if they are the same

color that YOll chose for the Sandpaper Leners.)

Remember to out appropriate-colored dots

tor tbe "j" and the Place the letters in the

compartments of a large box (it needs to have

:26 separate ones for the letters and an extra one i

the book. While you are +'11~niii'\1'i7ir'0' yourself

and her with the letters, point om which way is

up on the letters and show her that the "i" and

"j" have dot added to the top.

Playing the game The writing down of words should stem from

a spontaneous conversation with your child

and should be done tor a reason: all writing is

purposeful. Perhaps you might decide to wrire

down the names of all her favonte toys, foods,

people; you inay \.vish to ".vrire J menu for

lunch or supper: or perhaps you want [Q leave a

for a rebtive or remind yourself ,hat

the oven is on. Decide to vvrite your cbld a

message which you will then read and she can

WrIte ans,ver. i\ simple "yes" or "no" may

be enough in the beginning. Have your

digraphs nearhy, as you will protnbly need

tnem.

IRST STEPS TOWARD READING AND WRiTING

ABOVE When she can recognize and sort Moveable Alphabet letters easily. your child can move on to create words phonetically. Don't worry about her speUing! This Ilttte gict is creating her favorite shopping list.

Your may '1omcthing like this.

"Let's go shopping - you can help me write a

list. What. do vou think we needi r know, eggs.

Can you tell me the sounds in 'eggs?'"

Your child should be able to sound Out eggs.

She may sound it or e-g-z doesn'[

Inatter! Ask her for the first sound again:

Adult What did it start WIth?

Child e

Adult Can you tind e?

Your cbjld finds it and places it on the table or

£loor, wherever you are. Move it to the and

just under the box.

,1dult "\Vhat sound COll1es next?"

Child "g""

,,4dult UCdIl you find

Show your child how to place it next to

tirst le~ter. Be carerul not to ask tor rhe second

F I It 5 T S r s To \V A R l) REA D ! N C; /\ ~]) \YJ!t! ! ~ C

sound or the third sound: she will not have a

concept at there being" certain numher of

letters in a \ivord. By asking tor the "next"

sound you can explain that the "next" sound

must go "next" to the other letter.

Should your child produce a "z" for the last

sound, accept i[ and carry on. You should not

be concerned with spelling at this stage.

~4dult Look. you've \.vritten ·'eggs." Let's

vVfite another word on our list.

Choose another word or let vour child choose

one. Very soon you'll have a terrific list of

words that you have written together.

Throughout the game encourage her to take

the lead as much possihle, ,md try to choose

shorter words to start with, and if possible

those that are mostlv phonetic tor tlrst few.

If she cannot find a particular letter-sound

corresponder:ce. simply give her the letter. This

process should he smooth and effortless and a

I real delight to your child who is truly able to

write and e}"llress thoughts with very little

erlort.

I Dealing UJirh sounds such as "ch," "oy," etc. \Vhen these crop up, produce the S;mdpaper

digraph and have vour child identifY the cwo

letters [hat make this up. Prior to [his she

learned these as" one picture," but as we are

now ,maiyzing the )ocmds in words she should

be able w identifv that cwo letters go together

w make a single sound. Keep them handy so

that she easily to them.

Don't worrv about spelling at this stage. The

important thing for your child to feel is that

she is able to write easilv and tluentlv and that

her is understood.

Now you can encourage her to use the

alphabet everv day. You can write down poems

and nursery rhvmes that you both know and

gradually little swries - ,,'metimes

a good story can last three

senrences and sometimes they

much longer. Don't worry about

capital letters this stage. Keep

everything very simple and just

watch your child become

'\vriter:"

Very quickly, as your child

becomes more practiced in her use

of the ;yloveablc l\lphabC't, she will

become aware of a number of

importam things. By taking out

letters and putting them together,

she becomeS aware of how words

are tc)rmed ;md made. She also

nncter<.;t:1Uc1S that she should place

LEFT Kum to mi party! Once she understands the principle of creating words from the Moveable Alphabet letters, your child can have lots of fun writing messages for her friends.

80 i FIR STEPS TO\V,~RD RE/\DING AND WRITI"z.:;.

them tram left to right, that there should be a

gap between each new word, and that the gap is

usually about the space of one letter. Don't be

tempted to use objects with the Moveable

Alphabet - you will hinder the creative devel­

opment of her writing and limit it to a very

mechanical level.

Give her lots of cncoungcmem. she

wishes, she could illustrate what she has

"written." Don't encourage her to copy what

she has written just yet; it's too soon for the

hand to write accurately and at speed. Of

course, if she sp()f:tancou<sly begins to i;:vrite you

messages, then be very and

supportive, but try noc to suggest that she copies

what she has written with the Moveable

Alphabet as this will make a chore am of

,omething that is a ple:tsure. \Vhen she Gn

write easiiy and well, she WIll not wam to use

to him and how he would like to describe it. I

hope I need not add that this poem was not the

I product of hIs teacher suggesting that the

children might all like to write poem about

Autumn! He chose to write it himself

Please remember not to ask your child to read what she has written If we return to our vision of the two procf"ses

of reading :md you will that

yvriting is very close to speech and in the begin­

ning simplv [(:qn;rp rhat we analyze sounds.

Reading has to make use of a number of

additional srrategies, You will find that when

your child writes with the !y10vnble ""'lphabet,

she will need you to read back whar has been

written in the beginning. Sometimes she will

"chant" the words she has written becmse she

can remember them. Be delighted with her.

the i\lphahct anv more and her ability to write One day, however, .she will begin w study

well and creatively will quite natnnllv make it i the words she has written and will stan to read

ohsolere.

You will be surprised at the varietv and

quaJity of what vour child may write with ;:he

:\10vc;]blc Alphabet over a period of time. This

poem \;vas written by a child in a Monte"ori

school when he was four and a halt~ using [he

!\1m'CJble Alphabet.

/\mum iz cool and culrlill

Thai raik leavz

And maik homtlerz.

This is a \'vondcrfully CfE"::ttlve poem for child

ofrhis age to have written. I have long since lost

contact with him, bm the beauty of his poem

remains pcrrr::mcmly with me. He could not

have physically \vrittcn dovin the letters for this

poem - it would have taken too long and been

too laborious for him. He could have asked one

of his teachers to be his scribe, but I suspect [hat

in order to write this poem he needeci to be

alone, quietly thinking or- v,lhat autumn meant

RST S

,hem back to you ,pontaneonsly. Usually YOu

can easily tell the difference between the

I moment of rerncmbcring and the moment of

reaciing, as she seems to spend longer actually

looking at the letters and linking them together

imo a word, and her attention seems different

when she is reading.

This is a magical moment and can happen as

quickly as a few days after the first introduction

to the Alrhabet, although often it takes longer.

The important thing for you and your child is

that it happen> spontaneously; she ,henld simply

find herself able to do

Suddenly yom child not only feels herseif to

be a reader, she is a reader! Her eyes will linger

on words tha[ you have just read: her a[[emion

will be caught by a single word. Silently you will

see her lips moving as she confirms her kno\.yl­

edge of hOy,," that '~articL11ar word sounds. You

\vill also notice her be cOIning lTIOre

! in recognizing '""\vhole" \cvords that she h~lS seen

trcquemly in books or when she is out and

TOWARD ! N G 1\ j) \'V R i T I 0: c:

about \vith you.

\Vhen your child has rcached stage Computers described above, she wiil be keen to progress I Don't in a hurry ro introduce your child co

her reading skills; this ,vould be ~ goml rime to

begin to play the games in Chap[er 6 vvith her.

Games to that involve messages

M(J'gm~tic letters on the (ridge ~')U may have to buy more than one of

magnetlc letters to get enough vowels to

chis work vvell.Write simple mt:'ssagcs to your

child and her to wricc back.

Sponge letters in the bath letters are fun as they stick to side of

the bath. Your child can write aD)vvcrs to

questlOD) mch "Have your brushed your

teeth?"H\YJhere~s your hlue bucker?"

Magnetic pictures with words Well-chosen puzzles with \vords. such as those

by Joily Learning, are cleverlv done the

I the computer. Unless you can find a keyboard

wirh lowercase letters on it, wait a lide bit

longer. Most children have an uncanny vvay of

"knowing" many of the uppercase letters and

once your child seems to recognize them easily,

a simple lesson in how to write messages using a

computer can be useful. Beware, however,

because computers also need a lightness of

wuch and a knmdedge ofho\y 'paces,

and you do not wish to extend the time your

child spends in tront of the Children. as a

general rule, find that writing by hand is much

qmcker tnan writing on screen to begin with,

and this should be encouraged. An error on the

compllt('r can be quickly corrected; the hand,

however, needs to develop to a stage where

accurate ,"Tiring is not a chore.

your child to send mcss;]gcs to

other people:

letters can go in order and your will I .. A thank-you card for presents received.

have to sound them out to get the word right.

Printing and stencils with letters Simple printing sets and stencils can help

chiklren to their ovvn letters

their o\.vn labels and mess3gcs.

Junior Boggle This is an excellent game to encourage

cbildren to form words. The cards that come

\vith the g;:une have a huge nUlnber of

phonetic words addition to othen .har vou

can use as your hecon1cs more proficient

spelling. In addition. ht"c~use the words are

\vritten clearly on each card, she is :lble to

herself if she doesn·r quite manage to get it right.

PS TOWARD RE.ADING .,\ND WRITING

.. A hello, how are you

• A birthday greeting.

• A stOry abour ",,,hat she has done t..hat day.

Ask her to dictate to you what she would like

you to write for her.-Write down exactly what

she then read it back to her so chat she

can decide if she agrees with what is written.

Perhaps she would like to include a picture or

some "writing." Encourage her to decorate the

paper that you have written on so that the

FIRST

AaOVE Letter stencils can be employed in lots of ways and 5Iml ... ":O il!;i!. Labels for a book or ciothes shelf, or

Cards, are only two

note is truly a collaborative venture

two of you, As you play these games, watch the way

which your child, although speaking,

aware that she has become a writer. She 'Nill

I search for the right words to use, and as

STEPS TO\VARD READINC AND WRITINC

becomes aware of the liILi( bct\vcen storles and

her own dictated story, she will begin to use

story convention. Many wili begin with "One

day ... " or even "Once upon a time .. :' and the

words "the end" can come very suddenly!

Similarly, as she uses rhe Move~hle Alphabet to

rom pose stories, you will observe the way in

which her language changes to a more authori­

al style rather than conversational. Because you

have read to her so often, you have given her a

lot of experience and knowledge about books

and how they work. She quite naturally assumes

the role ofamhor, and an importJnt toward

literacy has been :lchievcd.

Your child's own writing When your child begins to write with ease (see

Chapter 5), you can encouuge her to plav all

the above games by writing them herself. A.nd

leaving her fun messages should encourage her to leave you tun messages, too.

An received from one of mv own children is: "I hav left."

A message sent from the six-year-old to rhe four-vear-old went as follows:

"Will the person in the bottom bunk bed

please not disturb me when he wakes up in the morning, Tom."

Wei!, the tour-vear-old woke up early and

realized that the "nO[e" must be for him. He

came to mv bedroom and woke

me up at 6.30 a.111. to ask me to

read it to him - I must admit I

felt like adding my name to the

bottom of the note as well! The

act of writing (he note was heipful

and benefieial to bO[h children,

though. The four-vear-old was able

to learn more about the nature of

the printed word and im:mc,diaicely

lCLl'sUlZed, even though he couldn't

that the note was meant for

him. The six-year-old felt happy and

confident that he had expre'sen and

conveyed his feelings in a nonverbal

way, and that the had been

received and noted!

Think of as many ways as you can to encourage your child to write, Here, a chHd has written a menu to accompany the family meal,

Fr T c) WAR 0 REA D I ~ G :\ N 0 \V R I T I :"J G

CHAPTER FIVE

Learning to write the letters

begun co teach 'lour child to reach, but nO[ in the way of either the paper or

-A.:reC,[1gTuze the letters of the alphabet, you her arm. Don't sit too close to her as this may

can now also start to help her write them. In j cause her co swivel or turn her body into an

addition to all the general preparations vou've I awkward position.

been making to create a "readiness" to write, i

vou should now also concentrate on some Writing tools specifie skills: handwnting is an art that has to I Provide a varierv of pens or pencils. These should

be learned. As with anv skill, if you begin by I vary in color, allowing her to exerClse aesthetic

forming bad habits, correcting them can take a I choice. Children seem to develop strong prefer­

lot of time and effort, but with the right help at ences for colors at a \'ery early age and fJvorires

beginning, you ""ill be ::ible to help her

acquire good handwriting habits and skills

which wili stay \,v1th her all her life. Here are some points to bear in mind before

you start.

Posture

are pink, purple, reci, blue and green! Pl'Ovick

ordinary lead pencils and also S0l11.e felt-rip pens.

The of the \~Tiring impleOlents should

also vary as some chiklrC'n tlnd eaSIer to gnp a

slightly rhicker pennl while others may prefer

those that are triangular or hexagon:tl in sha],f

You will need to observe which pencils your

child seems to preier and which she feels most

comfortable holding. The points of the pencils

should be sharp but not brittle.

Make sure she is sitting comfort:lbly at a table - I

it's helpful ifher feet can reach the t100r. The

height of the table and the chair should allow

her arms and hands to be a good angle to the

tabletop so that her arms are free to move across : Storing pens and pencils the paper without being cramped or tense, You

should also check that she is not sitting wo

close to the table or lOa dVvav. If she leit­

handed, you may need to seat her slightly

higher so she can see the marks she is making

over the top of her hand.

Space Make sure there is plenty of space on the table

so that pencils or crayons can be placed within

Have a container of some kind for

and pens - a jar or beaker will serve

pencils

well. as

they can be taken out and put back easily. Pend

cases can be tun to use a little later on. but :.It

I stage the pencils tend to be out and get ill

the way or drop ott the [able. of vV!1ich wiii

interiere with your child's abili[y to focus her

anemion on the task. Don't be cempted to cran, toO nlany

and pencils into one container as [his will not

HE L

help her to make a choice. If you really want to

observe which pencil or pen works well for her,

she needs to be able to see what's on offer. If

there are too many pens to choose frOln, she

will find it impossible to know which choices

she has and will settle for whatever catches her

attention,

Tty to keep this container and the p::tper that

you have selected in place accessible to your

child. She can then choose when she wishes to

"write" by herseii:~ in addition to the rimes th:1[

you choose to wTite together.

Paper Whether you choose to start writing on paper

or on a blackboard, try to make sure that

select is of good quality - there is

nothing more frustrJxing than flimsy paper or a

shiny blackboard. To encourage a good hand,

R:'-;[NG TO WRITE RS

the surface being used should not be

nor should your child be forced to press hard on

it to make a mark. Don't anchor the paper in

any way as she will need to svvivel i[ to suit the

hand she is writing with. A firm table mat can

serve as a good surface to put under paper, or a

plastic floor tile if you have one large enough;

failing this a large piece of blotting paper or

heavv-grade painting paper may do.

You may need to help her place the paper in

an appropriate position, Usually right-handed

children need the p~per slightly to the right of

their body in front of their right hand, while

left-handed children need the paper slightlv to

the left in front of their left hand. Some children

like to angle the paper: a right-hander mav angle

the top slightly to the left and a lett-hander may

angle it either slightly to the lett or slightly to

the right. Try not to have paper that is too large

to manipulate - a 5 x 7-inch

right to begin with.

Decorating the

will be about

If you decide to use a table mat or heavy-grade

paper under the paper your child will write on,

you could encourage her to decorate it to

provide markers so that she'll know where to

position her writing paper. Once she has found

an optimum angle for her paper, ask her to put

a little star at each corner on the undermat or

paper to mark her position,

PencH hold Check that your child is holding the pen or

pencil appropriately. There are a number of

acceptable holds: good one will usually

involve her holding the pencil between her

thumb and index finger v,ith middle finger I

cramp his hand.

good contro!.

acting as support. blunt end of the pencil

can be relatlVcly upright or along

of the child's forearm. Any tension in the of the hand will not help her to write and may

indicate that she is not holriing the pencil in the

best pmition. The imporolll to remc;nhor

that there are several ways she can hold i[ -

most of us were taught that there was only one

way and we either conformed to it or were told

that we held it "incorrectlv." Your child may

discoycr a hold ~hat \'IOrKS but has not tr;1CiitloD-

ally been acceptable. For ex;tmple, a cornf,xtable

one may involve [he shaft of the pencil resting

between the first ;md second fingers rather than

hetween the first finger and thumb.

Light Last of all. make sure that your child can see

what she is writing. Is there enough light falling

LE:,R~I~G "[0 W/Rl r H E: L ERS K7

on the paper? Does her hand create a shadow

over her ,vriting?

Having prepared yourself as carefuily as

possIble you can now start to help her to

develop good h:mj\vriring rechniques.

or left-handed? It's not always easy to teil if your child nght­

handed or left-handed when she is very young.

Be relaxed about whichever hand your child

uses to draw or write with. Some childYC'n use

both hands for a variery' oftasks.You might like

to your child to use whichever hand she

feels will make the best job of writing the

letters. If she appc;;[s to be favor1ng her left

hand, here some tips to make life a little

easier for her.

.. Sit her slightly higher on her chair so that

her lett arm is able to travel freely across the

paper. A rcicphonc directory can give the

necessary st:lhi!ity; pillows could make her feel

Insecure.

• If pmsihle arT3nge things so that hoth of her

feet are on the ground.

.. Place the paper slightly to the left of the

mid-line body. The slanting of the paper

should be left to the child, but try to make sure

she has a relaxed and comfortable body pO,\1t10n.

Enconrage her to use a \vriting imrJerncnr

that Hows smoothly over the page, such as a felt-tip pen.

Make sure she has enough space to place her paper to the lett.

.. Check that she is able to see what she has

wntten - the thumb ob5cnrcs it.

Suggest that she holds pencil litde higher

up the shaft. fllrther from the point of the

pencil if she seems to be having problems It.

""rn-",.., ... the letters When children write letter, it is important to

Rl'\fNC TO WRIT TH RS

rCl1lerr:bcr this is largely to do with

opmg, from the beg:nning, the hahit of forming

the letters in the right "vay.Your child can learn

to do this easily once she has relativelv good

control of her hands. Letter wriring is learned

and,just like learning to walk, once YOU can do

it, it just comes naturally. It's very important for

her to get off to a good start, and the followmg

3cti\'i1'ie5 will help her hand to develop natural­

ly the kind of movemem req~lircd to write the

letters. The more practice she has, the easier it

,vii! be. Remembec it is much more diftl­

cult to undo bad habits than to learn good ones

from the beginning'You will need to make sure

that she starts starIS a letter in the correct place

and is able to vvrite fol1o\,ving the correct £lo"\v

of the letter. (See the S:mdl'aper Letters

on 73.)

Choosmg a script There are many differing opinions 1hollt what

kind ofletters to use. It IS nor advisable to teach

your child to write using capital letters she

will learn these fairly easily at a later stage.Your

first concern will be to teach her to yvritC' :.1sing

lowcrclse letters, and you must decide on the

style or' these trom the start. The two mam stvles

are prim and cursive (see temphtcs, p.142).

I would recommend that you reach your

child some torm of cursive scnpt trom the verY

beginning for the following reasons.

• Cursive script j70ws and it easy for your child's

hand to move across it mlONhly Pnnt tends to be

more abrupt movement, ;md prmt h,ners

often lead children to look at the letters

write them using what is called the ball and

stick formula. This will trequently lead to

letters being formed incorrectly, and bad habits

can quickly become C·'U·lJl,·,,"C'd.

.. The shapes of cursive letters ,lre less likely to make

letters look like you

can see:

b d, bd

pq pq

easily. She will therefore only need to learn

how to form letters once. Letters that aren't

formed properly become hazard when she

gelS to (he s(age of joining them up.You

shouldn't expeer her to join her letters until

she can easily achieve the correct moycmcnt

for each leIter (that is, starting the letter in

right place and moving her hand in the right

di.rectioll to

letters, it

will allow her the j?o."ihility ojjoining

il1 rhcJirrurc. This is another reason for

preferring cursive script. When tormmg a print

letter. children will tend to exert most prcs'Clrc

on the pencil when tlnishing the letter on the

~iaschnc;j()incd-l1r "i\Titing actually requires

the hand to do the oppmitc.Whenjoining

ieeters together rhe hand needs less as

it moves trom the t:nishing point of one Jet(er

to (he s(arting point of the next. i\lthough

most parents wlllnot need to be concerned

aboUt ~caching (heir child joined-up writing, it

as well to prepare her hand now, rather than

create a habit that will need to be altered in

the tuture. Be wary, hmycver, of letter styles

that have too many loops. The writing s(yles

produce look hut often

onlv work if there pknty of hme to write

ana no pressure.

isjasrer to write. Ifh:lnd;vriting

the purpose for which it is

or crc;1nng a

Finally, it is up to you. If you are tmc:ot:vinccri

bv the I would suggest that

YOU trY to (11<cO\'er what of script your

child will use when she begll1s tormal

Lctters.

The tollo-wing games are fun to play and will

make sure that your child's hand is moving in

the right direction in for using

pencil.YoLl can start playing them when she is

able to recognize and feel many of the Sandpa-

Leeters well. You'U need to play ail of these

games at table, or on the HooT.

Sorting into families Age: around 3

You will need

set ofS3mipapcr lctters

Purpose

This game will help your child to explore

which letters belong togcth.er because of the

way they are written. Although it would appear

that most leotteTs have theoir own individual

shape, are distinct t8milv groups and

getting to kIlow them will as a key to her

und2manding;. Instead of I'here heing 26

in(11Vicin;:d each of which is a distinct and

separare shape, she will come to understand that

mastering the shape of one letter gives you

of how to write othen.

How to play

Separate out ail the Sandpaper Letters your

child knows. other than and suggest

that you sort them into families. It's probably

best to do one family at a time to hegin with

until the sorting process hecome' easier

Take the letter lie" :md ask your child to

it and say the sound "c"You might suggest that

needs to find all the other of its

family, as they seem to have got lost in

letterbnd' l\sk her to be detective and find

the other or YOLl may prefer to be

more straightforward about your search! The

NING TO WRITE THE 89

1)0

only way to find the family is to feel all the

other letters until vou find one that makes the

shape "c" as you begin to feel it.

Feel the letter" c," then choose another

letter "a" (pre-arranged in your pile). This

begins in the same way as "c." Have your child

feel the letter and discover that in £1.Ct "e" and

i\S soon as a group ofletters has been

identified, feel through them as orten as

possible. Play [he game orren enough for your

child to be able [Q sort out "her" groups of

letters very easily.

Making letter shapes in sand "a" are related. Pur "a" on the table where the I Age: around 3 - -I- '12

family will go. Feel "c" again and choose

another letter. Graduallv the cable fills up ,'vith

all those letters that belong to the "e" family

and your pile of rejects gets put to one side.

are the families that you should be able

to find

The fanuly

cadgqo

rnmhbp

The "i" family

1 t 1 u y j k

T"he "v" group

V \tv X

Certain letters will not fit into any group and

these can be called the "odd" [tInily. Some

letters, depending on the way you have drawn

them, could belong to one of several families

"k" for example, mav belong to the rather

than the family if it has a curved rap.

Ifyou are using the templates from Chapter 9

Letters, the odd letters will

Be ;mdd by your child's decisions about

:~~ odd lett~~s;,Some children are happy to put s mto the' c group because of the rounded

shape made at rhe ami some

happy for "z" to belong to the

it contJ1ns. a di3g0t1lL

RNING TO \VRI R.S

You will need

lI. small ttay or something similar - [he lid of a

, cookie tin will do, but don't use anything ,hac

h3S high sides. A small amount offine sand,just

enough [Q cover the base of the tray. If you

i don't have sand, and if you can s[and the mess.

I you could try dour your child will love i[!

Salt maY be better al[ernacive, but make sure

she doesn't put her tlngers in her mouth! A few

I Sandpaper Letters.

Purpose

This game wiH help your child to practice

I writing the shapes of letters using her hand

directly, before she begins to use a pencil to do

so. Gradually her hand, using the model of the

Sandpaper Letters. becomeS rnore and more

able to make a good attf'mpt at writing the

shape ofletters.

How to play

Let your child choose a Sandpaper Letter chat

she can feel "vvell. (You may vvan-c to limit the

choice [Q those you know she can manage.)

Take the letter of her choice to the table and

put it beside the trav w-lrh the sand. the

checkbt opposite to make that her

postnre is good. Feel the Sandpaper Letter. then

show her how to make the same shape in the

sand tray using: your nvo vvriting (your

first and middle ones), saying the sound out

loud. either as VOl! trace it or immediatei\'

atterward. Admire the result, then gently shake

RlGHT Drawing Sandpaper Letters in sand is effortless and I makes learning letters more interesting. Make sure your

child follows the 'correct' movement when tracing the let­ters, (See the diagram on page 73.)

Ifit is,

paper?

at using the lightly in other situations is do more drawing and coloring,

reeling of :'le Sandpaper Letters emphasizing "tightness of touch."

draw the pen/pencil across the paper?

the right position? Does she have the right kind of pen or pencil? Is the size of her chair

observe what works for your child. Remember that her "nnds are a lot sm311er than

unique in their own way. Try the alternative hold mentioned in this (~apter ;:;nd see if you find

light source and the size of her paper.

difficulties that are apparent are nor caused by tension on the pert of 'lour chiid to

before she is ready to form them will result in stress Clod tension, so

is ready - vvhen she wants to write, rather 7han when you want her to.

pre'writing experience to in control of her

in which the lettEr is written without any clifficulty,

,he tray to make letter disarrcar. Do the

same thing again few times, ,hen ask her if

she would like a mrn.

Encourage her to repeat the or the

letter as many times as possible hefore you go

on to another letter. Alwavs give your full "Jttemion to ,he start of the letter and

cncoura.ge her to continue the lllovement o(

letter to leave her alone

to explore the letter in sand. IVlake sure she always feeis the first berore she traces the shape in the sand. You lTlay like to her that

can teach write bv feeling the letter. In this \Nay she will r a'-' great

of achhc\ocl11cnt.

\VR 1 KS

Feeling and writing the Sandpaper Letters Once your child's hand can make a reasonably

good attempt at tracing a shape in sand. there

are manv other steps you can take co help her

to develop good It be

nccessJry to practice 'v1lTiting in cc);lil;:nctlOTI

\yith the SJndrapcr Letters until her hand no

longer needs co learn the correct

rnaking the snape; once this has the

Sandpaper Letters are no longer useful.

I would recorr;;;tcnd that you progress

through the follo\ying g:nnes as to

your child's skills. They vvill helD her

to master the fOllowing:

.. Handling a writing implement.

.. Controlling a writing onpper.

.. \10ving the writing implement in a

particular direction and forming particular

.. Producing letters that are in

Feeling and writing the sandpaper letters on a blackboard

around 4 on

You will need

A set of Sandpaper Letters.

Chalk - different colors, but preferably not

long, thin pieces they break easilv.Try to

find chalk that is short and stubby. You may

want to dusrfree chalk. Most good

)uppliers ';Nill have these as will most good

children's toy stores.

A really good hlackboar,iYou could use

those that are often found on the other side of

pamtlng easels happen to have one at

home,11though ;lre some onwbJcb to

,his. The moyerneritl that your chIld's ;lrm.

and fingers make when writing on a

surface, such as table, is very to the

nl0vcmC~TCS made :::t:1nding up an

easel. Standing up to practice isn't the

best solution but may be the onlv one that you

have to begin with. Ideaily, vou will buv or

a hlackbo:mi that is "bout 8 x 10 inches.

It should rest firmly on the table and should be

heavy enough nor co slip and slide about. The

mrtace must not be shiny. Don', buy one until

you have tried it out - dmningly stores do sell

boards ,hat are sometimes almost impcl'Sible to

on:

If all else tails you should go to your local

supplier. and buy

painted the side

children had a wonderf',ll bbckboard to dId\v

on and she fdt that her ugly \y~shing mJchine

had been put co good use.

You will also need a really good hhckbo:ud

eraser or a damp sponge .

How to ploy

Ask your child to choose a SJ:1dPJper Letter

that she likes and can feel easiiy. Ifshe needs

heip, give her a choice of some letters in her

name or any mhers that may have particular

for her. Place the letter slightly to

wilinot

twist her body into an position \vhen

she feels it. Now you feel ,he letter, pick up the

several times; fill ,he board with as many

as you trying each time to form a

heautiflll sh:Jpe. Now ask your child if she

would like to do the same. Rub out your

letters and let her start. In the beginning it

doesn't matter where the leerer is written on

the board, but her to fiil the bo"rd.

size of the letter doesn't matter either.

some nrne wili start to write the

letters at a size that she feels comtortable with.

When she has rilled [he board, ask her to look

all the letters she has written and choose [he

she likes best!

Children have a clear idea orhow they

e:\-pect their letters to look, and the bbckbo;;rd

provides a helpful start letter that

your child is with c;ln be erm~d

:rnmcdidtc]y ifshc doesn't like it. It's much

better tor her to practice on a blackboard

betore she moves on to paper.

Writing letters on paper around 4-

c:ont1dent ahout

on. when your child is

on a blackboard

When she starts to practice \Nntmi;

she ,hould be rebtivelv happv with what

she writes. Do no, encourage ,he use of J

pencil eraser.

You wiil need

A set of Sandpaper Letcers.

You could offer a choice of colorful

1~C; TO WR! TEL

')4

crayons. snnIlar size to the chalk,

or a limited choice of fe-DeiJ" and

felt-tip pens. Don't have too many

to choose froin.

Plain (i.e. unlined) pdper - this

-;hould be 5 x inches and

you could offer choice of colors.

Make sure, however, that all the

crayon colors will show up on the

colored paper.

How to piay

Firs[ make you have run

through the checklist on page 92

regardIng :1nd the position

of the paper. Then you could do

Lt~ttcrs as YOll

did with the hlackhoard.

.. Create a border around the edge of the

paper and. when the middle has been filled in

,-vith b('auritlll

decorarc the border.You '\vill have

R N I N G 'J/R I T E

ABOVE Writing on lines using the Sandpaper letters .

BELOW Drawing a border around her work and then deco­rating it will help your child feel proud of her work and wilt also help give her the idea of margins. And the middle can be used for a poem, a thank-you letter or a message.

modern day samplerl

.. Choose one of the letter (see

Sorting into F:Jmilies earlier in this cbrtcr)

and write all the letters from it on one sheet of

paper. Repeat for the orher t;,milies, each

family of paper.

Now the'

Llmilies, too.

+- Observe her "'Titing to see what size of

letter she generally produces. Use this as a

guide. Fold (he paper over as if you were

creating accordion or fan - width of the

first told to be determined by size of her

letters; first fold should be about twice the

size. If your child's letters are much too big to

allow you to do this easilv. then she is not vet

ready tor this activity. A good indicator of size

is otten to look at the size that writes her

own name. Ask her to write her letters in a

iine. using space betv;;een fold,. This

acrivity should encourage her to start her

letters on the left-hand side of the page and

will help to regularize their size. Please

note that you are nor asking to write on

the line, rather you are cnC:0urJ.gmg her to get

letters moving in a line.

If she tinds it ditEcult to to

start, and this may be particularly difficult for a

lett-handed child. she could decorate the

margin down the lett-hand side of the page -

you could make a simple hookmark and

decorate to fit on to the side of the

page.You can do this easily using a strip of

,:Jraboard cutting out a at the top

- the V can fit over the top of the page and

remaIn stable vvhile she is \-\Titing). If

your child is not in doing this,

might like to draw a colored line down the

side of the page to remind herself instead.

Writing in the air Have vour child sit on your lap. Hold the hand

that she writes with and draw a letter in the

air, using her hand as the pencil. See if she can

guess which letter you viritten. Be sure

you write in one smooth movcmC'nt, ,qrting

the letter in the correct place. This is a great

way of making sure that your child really

"feels" the vvay the letters are wTitten.

Fingerpainting the letters rfyol! were brave enough to organize tlnger-

painting to encourage making in

Chapter 3, it will be a natural step for vour

child to draw the shapes of the letters in the

paint with her fingers, and to make a prim of

these on paper. Those she isn't satisfied with

can be "iped away easilv. Don't let her use the

LC1:ters as a for this activity

they're almost certain to get spartered! She will

probably start to paint the the letters '.vithont

any prompting from you, but if she doesn't,

only suggest it when you are fairly sure she can

make a reasonahle at forming the

shape without using the guide of the letter.

NING TO \VF..1

Painting the letters If your child enjoys painting, you might like to

provide her v,;ith smaller pieces of paper and

finer brush. She can sit at table and paint

letters on paper. Once again, you would not

really be wise to use the Sandpaper Letters as a

guide as they will prob:ll,ly get painted

il1JdYertJntlv'The main purpose of this should

to make sure hand is able to control the

brush J\')llowing the correct letter moyement.

The letters do not have to be perfect.

and paint Use really waA)' crayons. Encourage her to

write the letters on paper, then cover the paper

with a light wash of paint and watch together

as the letters appear through the paint.

Gluing letters You will

\Vater-soluble glue. Either buy some or use

w:1ilppcr paste, which is cheap and easv to

n'lake. Use a painthrush nthcr than glue

brush. which has a blunt edge, If you can find

theul, there are :1vaib.blc glue

Fens Ihat v(lOrk well with this activity.

You will also need glitter, or sand

J.nd good-guality colored FapeLYou mav tInd

it helpful to do this over a trav since it carl be

qUIte messy.

How to play

yom ,:hild to write letters in glne over the paper as guickly as she can. Now her card~!llv over ghtter, sequins

or sand and shake. Watch the glue letters appear.

j.\re 50111e nlovcrncnts more difficult than

others? .A..IQngsidc her practice\ encourage

n,ore pattern making and still-life dr:r\Ying as

R ['-..; [ G T (, W R ! T E

oudined in ChaFter 3.

Revisiting the sound and letter recognition games If you look back at some of the games you

played in Chapter you will see that many can

be rldarted for your newly t1cciged to

write. For instance, she can label the picmres in

the rhyming games you played: she can make

her own alphabet book; she can ,tdIt to use her

own hanchniting to send mCSSJges: Jnd she

\vTite lists and menus, and gcncT:llly

incorporate writing into her play.

Worksheets and workbooks You will have noticed, I hope, that I have

avoided suggesting you pro\'idc dotted lines for

children to trace over or use the many commer­

cially av:!ihHc workbooks on the marker.

Schools often send children home with

photocopied sheets on which to practice

writing their letters (not good Montessori

schools, I hasten to add!). Manv schools,

because they have to teach brge numbers of

children w write anyone time, otten are

unable to Ihe kind Jttcnt10n

i you can give to your cbld. Repetition does, of

course, help children. but repetirion that is

boring will not help anyone. Sadly the problem

with "tracing'" letters is that very often children

do not trace them correcclv in the first place.

They tJ.ke their hands off the letter at the

wrong mom em, have to conform to the ,ize of

letter on the sheets ;mn the 'pace provided for

writing, and frequently these sheets are

produced with print letters.

Your ch11d's h:mchvriring is and ,he

should feel as proud to produce a bClUtittll

letter as she does a beautiful or painting. There should be no. sense of dUey

attached to dnwing letters. You can make

practicing her letters and fun bv

I proyiding rnJny different v'lays of doing it.

Helping your child to control a pencil on paper Age: around

You have encouraged your child to ciraw and

color in pictures, and you have also been

helping hcr to explore patterns and shapes on

paper. There is now one ;Jdditiol1J1 activity that

you could introd!lCe just as she is getting ready

to do more comrollfd writing on paper. In a

Montessori class it is called Metal Insets,

although the children otten call them mental

insets or metal insects' is possible to buy

them, but vou can just easily make use of

things around the house to achieve much the

same etIect.

You will need

Some good-quality colored pencils. Some

good-quality plain \mJined) paper in lots of

colors.An object, such a small saucer or lid

to draw around, or use insets from puzzles

your child had when she was smal1cr. (These

would be ideal if Ihey were Wlm

knobs hecause the knobs would steady her

hand.)

Purpose

This activity will increase your child's control

of the pencil on paper whIle prJCticing

techniques that \Nill be

How to play

for writing.

Have your child draw around the outside of

the chosen shape as carefully as possible. This is

quite difficult as her hand ,vitI tend to shoot

off in differem directions at the

Then show her how to color in the oudine,

moving the hand from lett w right and

in an up and do\vn

imiGlreS the flow of the

\vriIing hand as it travels across paper. From

quite long lines at the beginning you can start

to color in bands. then gradualJy introduce the

idea of shading the

Before you move on to help your child to

write on lines, it may be useful to summarize

ABOVE You can use any object, like this box, to draw a shape to help your child control a pencii on paper. After she has drawn the shape, encourage her to color it in, using up and down strokes and traveling from left to right,

the range of activities she is already engaged

on:

• IVriting creative!v with the ;vl(wCJhle

Alphabet lists, stories, poems and messages.

, • Practicing writing letters using

Srlndpaper Letters, through a number of

different

., Drawing and p::tlntlng, Jna to

I refine her hand control.

I • Starting to use her own handwriting (as

opposed to her earlier mark making) on her

drawings, and she mav use her own

hand"\vriting to send rncssagcs and \.vrite

lists, nlenus~ etc. Many of [he garnes yon

piayed earlier for sound and

I can be plaved agam at this poim

Chapter 3) and she WIll now be able to

her own len::ers.

.. Cor:tinuing to be read to.

• Starting to read fer herself.

F" N 1 NG \1/ k JET 1-! I

Helpine: your child to write on lines ~.;

Giving your child lines to help her to write and

space \vell can be very useful, 35 long as you are

to :l(bpt the ,ilE of the lines to the

of her wrinng.You will be able to judge what

size the lines need to be if you check her

writing on plain paper - a very good indicator

is to look at the size she writes her own name.

There are various types of lined paper you

can to help her pr;.cticc on. e<lch with a

slightly different purpose (see Chapter 9 for

you can use). Choose which type

you'd like vour child to try, but be prepared to

change it if what you've chosen doesn't work.

You will also need to change the size of the

lines as her writing devciop" until a single line

is adc'luatc. Use') x 7 -inch paper to start off

wilh. Don't encourage her to use lines for all

her WrIting, hmvcvcr: there will still be some

things that are bes( \vritten on plain paper.

The lined p;iper templates in Chapter 9

each geared to proVIde a slightlv ditTerent

3CtlVltY·

Graph Paper This provides a general guide for your child and

\tvill not lirnit the size of her letters.

Line This gives a guide for the main part of the letter

leaves the height of the ascenders and descenders to the child.

Double line wirh darker base line This focuses attemion on the base line and gives

guidallce for the of the mam part of the

lines: color coded ThIS guid:mce for ascenders and

ders as well the main part of the letter.

LEARNiNC \Vru

Placing letters on a line Age: around 4 5 on

Before you start the following actiyities, your

child should be able to mClke the correct

movement of the letters by herself withoU(

needing co refer co the S;tndpaper Letters

there are srill one or two that cause difficulty.

She should also be keen :md eager to write, and

you must strike a balance ber-ween providing

the necessary practice and making sure that the

writing has some purpose. She should now be

writing easily with the l\1on:ablc AJpnahcL

You wi/I need

One of each of the letters of the aiphaber -

vou can remove them tYom your Moveable

Alpbbet. !fthese are too large to fit on the

paper, reduce them on a photocopier. The

letters will only be used for a short space of

time in this activity so they don't need to be on

cardboard paper ,houle! do.

Decide which type oflined paper you are

going to try first; any of the templates - with

the exception of the paper - wiil

Take a large sheet of paper (11 " inches

"vould be about right), and dra\v the lines

you've chosen on the paper, using the size of

the letters vou have made as your guide.

If you're using a two-line Iormat, ,he middle

two lines should the" c" size: if you're using

a four-line format, the top line should be at the

height of the ascender in "h" and the bortom

line the depth of the desccndcr in "v."

How to play

SorringJor size

Explain to your child that she has been vvriting

in lines and now you are going to show her

where letters go when they are written on

lines. Ask her w son throl1gh all the and

leave all the letters that fit benveen the shaded

or blue lines on the paper. Those that do nO( fit

should be put aside.

acelmnorsuvvv

ABOVE Discovering where to place letters on a line will prove valuable when your child comes to write on paper. This little boy has discovered letters that descend below the line, and those that sit on the line. He wi!! discover those that ascend above it

Clear these away after enough tIme has been

spent looking at them.

Novv ask her to sort out all the letters that

have ascenden that go 1hove the shaded area

or reach the top line.

b d h

Clear these away atter sufficient time has been

spem looking at them. Sort out all the letters that have descenders that

go below the shaded

line.

or reach the bottolTl

g j p q

You will be left with two odd letters

which ne\'er qlllte catches up with the

ascenders. and "C' which may above and

below the main lines.

Now ask your child to m:x up all

ana see if she can sort them out to

size, placing them on the line as she goes.

Ask her to place all (he letters on the lines at

LE,>\ R:-.II :--""G \V1'. i LE

lOd

random and see can rCIT1C'mbcr

placement of each let(er.

Sortin,---?Jror.!~l,fniii{'s

l\sk her to son the letters out onto the line but

in their "movement" fa.tnilies (see the Sorting

into F;lillilies game. page 89). The letters that

begin" c," those that begin "i," and those that

begin "r," then the odd ones.

rl/~"irif1g on rhe

Take some lined 5 x 7 inches paper and ask

your child to sort out the ,'\'loveable Alphabet

letters in any of the vvays outlined above. Using

the soned letters as a guide. she can write

down the letters on the lined paper.

You must now tlnd a variety of ways to help

her pnctice writing using lines. Try to avoid

asking her to repeat rows of a particular lener

since this hccomcs boring. You could

choose groups ofletters according to way

that they are wrinen or '·move." For instance.

from the farnily lTIO\'-Cmcnt group, and

''1'' could be practiced together, and "u" and

couid be practiced together. Expiore the

possihilities together, taking family group

a time, then look for similarities ",herher by

or by shape. The combinanom are

endJe~s) and <1uring the titne you are studying

the letters together. her kno\:vledgc :1nd

of the way letters arc formed and

written will be

As she increases in confidence and speed,

she \,vill \vant 1:0 'evrite on the lines more often,

aud vou \vill need to be needs dnd the paper to suit grO\Vlng

clpahilities. \Vithin rEhtively short period of

she may able to write all her letters on one Ime.

To alSlSt this process, keep all kinds of

paper on a ,hclf so ,he can choose

(he kind that suits her best, as different tasks

\vill require difterent paper. She \'lill \vant to

L E t\ R i'i!.'J G \YRITE TH

begin to write down longer messages and

stones, and gradu:illy (he dttr;Jction of the

;Vtoveablc Alphabet dwindles as she IS

able to write JUSt as quickly by hand. Over the

period of time between to \HUe

v,rith the Moveable Alphabet and being able to

write well using her own hJ~lrh\'r1r·InQ'.

erratic, purely sound-based spelling she

began with will graduallv have changed.

influencd by a number of differt'nt things. As

she to read, her awareness of the way

words look when they are written down

begins to change. She meets w-ords that are

not easv to sound out. and she meets words

that she can recognize bv looking at them as a

\;y~hole. She vvill meet \vords chat require some

special knowledge to help her to crack the

code, such as those ending m "tion" or those

that have a silent letter such as "k" - knee,

knot. etc.You will see from the next two

chapters that. as she has reading,

you have encouraged her to become more

caretlil about which letters make up particular

words. At no time, howc\'er, during her v,,'ork

WIth the Alphabet have you cmrhasi7cd

correct spelling over self-expression.

Nevertheless, there will have been a subtle

change in how spells those words.

Once she is vVl'iting well on lines, vou expect

her spelling to be quite good. \Vatch out tor very

common words that are repeatedlv mi"rclkd,

however. and show her how to write them.

\Vhen she writes certain words by hand. the

form 'Nords take can become a habi(, and

while not correcting all the spellings, you need

to watch out tor ~nnhing that might hecome a

habit. The activities suggestc.d in C-:hapters 6,7

and 8 v'l'ill all have 3..c'1 impacr on speiling.

\Vhen your child first starts on

it can be very helpful to provide her with some

written models [Q follow, in addition to her mvn

Writing models /\.ge: around 4h­

What you will need

Provide paper your child seems most

comfortable with see me samples in Chapter

9.\Vrite a variety of words, sentences, poems.

jokes, messages that you think would appeal to

her. These first

but should increase in length and move on to

different paper as her interests and needs

develop. You will also be readv to "scribe"

:mything she may want to write with the

"proper" spelling. In this \lvay, some of the

will remain for a period of time

while some wiUjust be required once.

How to play

You may like 1:0 begin with your child's name,

which is alwavs very special. or :mything else

you think she wili like seeing written on the

line. but do not begin w-ith something

lasts longer than a line. Equally, don't reduce

this 1:0 another drill, whe,e words are simply

copied without purpose or mc:ming. She has

been writing her name tor some

time, bm now you have an opportunity to

show her what it looks like on a line.

Cm strip from writing paper and

write her name, making sure chat you art

writing the letters with good mOVement.

Place your strip of paper directly above her

own lines and ask her to copy it. Move the

strip down as each line is completed. Once

you have are more than line

long, you can either put them above her page

i)[ beside (To the lett of a right-hander and

the right of a lett-hander so that they can see

and "vvrite the Salne time.)

Leave some paper strips witl-: or

names on an shelf so that if she feels

like WrIting and wants a prepared model to

follow rather than own thought;, she has

access to it at any time.

Some possible ideas tor e:-.:amp!es could be:

,. Simple rhymes and poems that grow in length.

I ,. The days of the \veek, months of the year.

,. The families of letters.

,. Letters grouped according to their

,. The names of all the mcmhen of yom

,. Capital letters and lo-wcrcase !etten

side.

If your child is lefi:-handed, you should attempt

to write with your lett hand, too.Jl.Jld don't

worry if it doesn't look all that good - it isn't

the perfect shape of the letter that matters hut

the

the way the letters are formed that counts! If

vours doesn't look all that cncollngc

her to make a betterjob of it than you did.You

can explain, if you need to, that you feel !TlOre

comiortable writing with your right hand. If

vou are lett-handed, then you will have the

opposite problem if your child is right-baneled.

Spacing \Vhen helping your child to space her words, it

can be helpfuL if she seems to need guidance. to

IS to

is doing normally. Do not space

as this will cause small writing to be unnecessar­

ilv spaced out and large writing [() be too close

together.

Capital letters A simple explanation for a capital Jetter is that

we use it when we wish to draw attennOll to

'omcthing important, i.e. a name or the begm­

ning of a new sentence.

Capital letters very rarely need to be taught

- most children wiiI pick up many of them ftom

their everyday exposure to them: the 1\1 f<')r

?vlcDonalds is just one example. Many capital

letters also very similar to their lowercase

relatives. You may need to teach a few capitJI

letters but your child will know the lIlJ)Orltv of

LEAR:\lI~G -=.-0 \VF...i E L lUI

them. Helping her to write them is also a much

simpler task than helping her to learn to wrice

lowercase leners as they are mostly, bar one or

two styles, written using predominantly straight

lines that can be written in a variety ofwavs.

What you may need to do is to teach the

names of the letters to your child. Up until now,

you will have mostly concentrated on the

sounds, but once these are secure you can

BELOW Make recognizing the differences between capital (etters and lowercase ones into a game. When your child feels comfortable matching them, take away the control cards and ask him to do it from memory.

L ARNJ G TO WRITE LETTERS

explain to her that [he letters have name as

well as sound.

Use anvaiphahe[ -;:ou kno\v to the

names with the shapes of the letters. Invite your

child to "vrite the capital and lowercase letters

belonging to, for example, D, giving the naTIle

and not the sound.

Matching lowercase and capital letters Age: around 5

You will need

Two sets of26 alphabet cards, each of which

has a capital letter followed by a

letter. TaJee one and em it down the middle

to separate the rapita] letter from the iowefcase

leneLYou now have three sets of cards.

How to ploy

Layout the large cards, then ~ake the capital

letters and mateh them underneath the

cards.As they are laid down, name the letter.

Do the same for the letters. When

this has been accompiishcri, pby the game

again, only this time layout the capital letters

first and match the 1.0"\\'C.rc:1se letters to them

without the guide. Use the large cards to

check at the end to see if they are all matched

up. If your child knows the order of the

11phahct. then she can sort them into the

correct order.

Encol1!"'::lge her to practice

and together, then watch as

they gradually become in her

writing. Be sure not ro introduce capital letters

until she bas no difficulty writing the

h0v~-cvcr. In all the vvriting

vou have done in front of her. you have used

letters if they vvere arrr0rrj(lte~ ann

through her reading and vour cXClmp1e she \vill

soon how to them.

l\1ore games to encourage writing Notice board Pm up notice board at your child's height

and leave for her to read.

her to write her own nlcssages or Jnswcrs to

your mcssJges on the hoard.

Letters Children love envelopes. Wrire her

little messages Jnd P:l'( Into envelope

with her name on. :Ybke 'UTe vou also provide

some em~dores on her writinb l!lelf so ,hat

she can wrire letters w you.

Books You can now to wrire real books

together. Look at real book and discovc'r

what you will need to do. Where does the tide

appear;; \Vhat is on the inside cover? Will you

need pictures? What will the story be abom?

Don't be too ambitions 111 the beginning­

some very good stories can be written with

very few words. Perhaps your child ~vould like

to make little diary tor herselt~ recording one

panicular event thar she remembers a day)

her to make card, to send to friends

::'-Ji0iG TO \YJRITL THE

CHAPTER SIX

ng

the moment when your child is I

co read is very exciting for all

concerned. By now you will have made sure

.. She has IrCTSCU: Through \vriting do\vn messages and "tories \vith the

'vlo\cT"ble AIr habet. she that pnnt

that she has had different experiences

w1th words which. together, have created in her

to read.

>$> YOti have gillen her h"/0l1kdge of the II'arid.

Through taking her Out and about :mci

~ots of C011Ycr':1tion you have

given her experience of the ·world. You have

used ;:ichlv md well. and attached it

to realEfe and real-lite experiences so that

'.vhen she reads 1"vords. s1tl1:1t1.0ns and

nn'ClH'll1Wnr, \\~ill have some' resonance.

.. Un! halle given her a ,\:nOlvie~gc uj i'e,,!::s. She

"",~('r,ro,"d, thc importance of print to convev

thc forms that srories

take. She knows how to handle books. She

feels a sense of ownership of ,nme of her

hnnks will choose to look at

chern even when there 15 no prospect of

someone reading to her. She has experienced

rhrtt can be had fronl n::;:;,d~ng or

bemg read By sharing books with you she

learned to recognize SOlne ""vords alrcJdy withom any effort.

$ She has a {~o(id kl10wlfdgc c:f '-(lund;;) ,711d

She hcts learned these through the

In~Ul~\,i songs, pOelTIS and nlirser~r rhY1l1CS you

recited together. ::rifongh "~;1riOllS ,,(jund g:lITICS

you have played with her and through iearning svmbols that are JtTJchcd to "

conveys her thoughts, that words are sound

units that can be strung rogerher into mFJning~

flil units, and that she is able to read what she

herself has wrinen.

• She feels like a reader, Having written her own

I messages and read them. having "read" many

stories. and having a fanuly vvhere books are

valued. your child will rhat she is a reader

I and will be eager and readv to

more and more.

reading

I Ho\v vou help to get her started: The ability

to read will depend on her being able to do a

number of different things at once. Perhaps the

Erst question you must ask voursclfis rhis:"\Vhy

should choose to read?"

\vhat she reads interests her and gives

a sense of :lccornplishmcnt. It gives her

lTIOre ;-1utononlY vvnat she can find OUt for

herself and a greater sense of indercnccnce, She

will be able to discover for herself and she

will be able to take herself ott into other vvodds,

\'vhich \vhat she reads has only her o\vn

ilTIJgin:1tlon as its lirnit. She \vants to read

I because reading has d purpose for her. The

reading that you do \vit:h her lT1Ust then be of

to her. it cannot simply be reading for

Don't be tempted co buy a of basic

readers or primers co help you through this

stage. The value of these books is usually only

to help a teacher know what level of re:lding a

child can do. All too often they rely on very i

limited language, which is often removed

from either real language or real book

with stilted rhythms and awkward

word sequences. The limited nature of the

YClclbulary can often make the £low of the

words boring. h is also rare to rInd contem thar

actually interests children of this age in these

books. Although there are some that are above

lvcr;;ge, havi:g to read through books all !

about the same family can be extremely boring

a while I

choice of all possible known to the

reader. In a split second. betore vou are even

aware of it, the mind able to choose what

believes is the most suitable for the

comext. The wider your child's cxpcrifnces and

vocabnlary, the more options WIll pop into her

mind and the more likely she is to find the

that fits- the sentence.

She wii! also use her own natural under­

of hnguagc to help her guess what

wight be COIning next, what would make sense

and what any given word might be. As she

reads, she uses her intrinsic knowledge of

gnmmar to help her to get to the meaning of

the words that she reading, A very good

of how we use our knowledge

I 1,mguage to help us to crack the Children rarely rerum agam and again w

these books and they hold no real pleasure tor

them other than to encourage a c01Tlpetitive

clcmem to reading, Rather than discussing the

content of these books with each other,

children t('nd to what number or color

level thev have reached. Recent research has I

of a

revealed that :llrhn\1gh these bonks trY to focus

on a limited vocabularv, ordinJrv storv books in

sentence C:in be found in the wonderftll

nonsense ,hvme by Edward Lear, The Jabber­

wocky. The tlrst hnes read like this:

Ttvas hrillig} and the slith}' topes

Did gyre and gi'llhlc in the ,mhc,

give a child more pranice at the most I

;\Iiany of these words are not used in [he English

language. But can you pick out the words that

describe the action? Can you discover

commonly used words.

When children read they \vill use a variety

of strategies to help them ,"vbt they

seeing. They \vjll, for rely quite

heavily on anv clues they can pick up tram the

surrounding 'Nnrds, pictures or <irnation: we call

this the context. A child coming across the

word "kangaroo" may look at the picture for

help: if she doesn't find it much help, she may

use her kn(1wledge of the siwanon and her

ability to predict what mav tollow on from it as

a natural cnr""(llh'lnCp

She will also reiv on kn()\vledge of the

\vorld to hel? ~o predict a 'Nord is

likely to Inean.'JJe kno\v \vhen Vife come across

a word that could have a variety of meanings

SLlch as "bear" mind presents itself with a

subject of the <cntcnre' \Ve not recoglllze

j the "vords, but our unof"fsranding of our

language can help us to go some way toward

of the semence. \\lh"n

we search tor m rhese lines, we cry to

imagine what "slithy toves" would look like and

then what actions best fit "gyre and gimble." I

use this poen1 sirnply as an l11ustration and not

because I think yOU should use for your

children to read at this stage;

Pb.y the fol1o\\'in; games [0 launch your

child easily and relatively eiTordessiv inw

, re:1ding. You can play thern 4t

: yOU begin to share the

together, They are

putting sounds together w make up words,

which will enable her to read more iluentlv

R T 1:'.J '-; R IllS

on ~ you will begin to

that -;he ha~ ~vrittcn on her o\vn \v"ith the \lovc:1hlc i\lph:1hC't.

This relies on your child ha\'1ng

-..:njoved Sound (~;ime, the S:1ndp:lpcr

Letters and the l\10veable AlphabecYou aren't

ro teach her ncw pbying

von 'will simplv build on her past experiences Jnd kno',vL~cigc T1TllTI three

Your child dlready knovvs that sounds can

R"f'l:"1 G

Writing down the names of favorite toys or other objects in front of your child wiU help her make the connection between objects and sounds, and writing and reading.

be reFf'scnred by \\Titten symbols and by

placing them dOvvtl in a particular order \vords

are made. She has also begun to blend these

sounds together tor herself :mel reael her

vwiting.

What you will need

Two different sets or'smail objects (have least

eight things); they COUld be garhered from

around the house or you could visit a my store

that sells mini~,turcs. if you really wa.t"t to to

townl The objects [hat you collect should all

be objects of desire and they do nor need to

relate to one another.

The first set should be objects that are

spelled phoneticaliy; that is. where each sound

the ,vord is represented by one letter only

so that as it is sounded out, it can be blended

together to create the name of the object

\vithout

';ounQ\).

distortion or change to the

you did a quick round of the

kitchen and your child's bedroom, you could

end up ,'I/ith the toUo,ving objects:

cup lid lamp pan nut

pen lemon van jug drum

milk pasta panda Gog

COIIllC nutmeg meion can mug

cap hat bag clip vitamins

As you can see, YOU don't have to stick to

three-letter words; a few would be helpful bm

don't try to use this game to move from three­

letter words to four-letter words and so on. You could also introduce \vords that have

double letters in them aiter a short while, such

carrot, doll, bell, clock, egg, brick (although

the "c" and '"k" look different. the sound that

they make is the same).

The second set of objects should be objects

that contain a digr:lph in them (those that your

child already knows from ,he Sandpaper

Letters). In every other respect the words can

be out the objects in thE first set.

Examples could

train cloth brush ketchup toy

star book letter !OrK coffee

pie coat blue quilt trout

As soon as your child has read these a few

times, you could introduce

more [han one digraph such as squash or

cheese (the silent "e" doesn't present a

difficulty as it doesn't alter the way any of the

other letters sound).

If you want to make a game thaI she can go

back to, you may want to shop around for little

objects to supplement what you have at home.

Montessori schooll have little boxes for this

galne with all sorts of delightful objects in

them, which means they can change the

objects around so children are always

interested to rcad is in them.

If you were reallv stuck, you could always

just collect pictures of ohJects, but the objects

themselves arc much more fim,

You will also need some paper strips and a

pencil so you can write the names of the

objects down.

Purpose

The purpose of ;>bying is to help

your child realize how easily she can put

together the sounds ,hat she alreadv knows and

read them the objects are used w create

"context" for heL She will know that the word

has to be trom the group of objects in front of

her and this should help her to read the labels you will her.

How to ploy

One of the most important clements of thIS

game is that you are going to write down the

names of the ohject'; in front of your chiH so

that she your thought iitcrally

Onto paper in front of her eyes. The

mC'ss3gc you are that when v"lie

read we are reading the thoughts of someone

else. The tact that \vritten \vords are :lhvays !.:he

i product of someone's thought is importam;

~ives value to the written word and links

together "Tiring and r'-CKeSSt's.

Your child will value the littie labels you Wrice

for her to read far 111Dre than does ready-

prepared labels.

10N

Collect the ilrst phonetic of objects

together, "jther on the floor or on tabk (A

table would be prctcnhle hecause you are

going to vvrite.)

Vocabulary check

.i\1ake sure your child knows the names of ail

the objects are using. If you have chosen a

tov cat and she uses the word "kitty" to

describe it you will need to give her the name

you wlil use for the game.

"Well. that is your 'kitty,' but for this game

we need to call it 'cat.'"

You couldn't use the word kitty

not phonetic.

ltis

Write your thoughts do\vn for your child to

read

Tell your child vou are thinking of one of

the objects on the table. Ask her ifshe knows

which one it is. Some children will pick up an

object if she do not

accept it as the objecr you were thinking

"\Vell, that not the one that I was

rhinking of Let me give you clue:'

Some will ask for J. clue tram the oU(sec.

rrntches the style rhar you have chosen to

teach your child, the name of the ohjC'ct vou vY;lntec1.

"This is what I wamed."

Let your child see vou wnte down the

letters on a strip of paper. In this wav she will

see the conncet10n hCf'Yvccn \\-har you ;:ire

thinking and what she will be reading.

:,oundln'a out Give your child the Strip of paper and ask her

to sound om what she sees on it. She will

[Q run then1 to;Nhrr

Elster until. vvith C()m~1n3tion of:ilcnding

sounds ,md looking to see which of the objects

n"ldV relate to, she will ohject. Be

<;;ne

R AD

knows what you thinking ofbccJUiC ,he

was able to read your mC":l;e. Pm the object

and the label togcrher "lnd cominuc an the objects have been labeled.

You "vill observe that she will partly be

';;reading" the vyords and partly using the objects

as "contexT." She knO\vs that ,vhOlt written

relates co the choice of objects placed in from of

her. She will combine a of,tratcgics to

read the word in front of her -

that begins with "p," for """"I"")',,,,,,n."'''''

she will sound out rnrnni"otFiv

Repetition and confirmation i\sk your child to read over all the objens and

their labels. This will help her to tocus on the

word as a whole. She will, of course, knovv the

object and will then "read" the word easily. It

helps if she can poim to each label as she savs

it, bringing her eve to a of the whole

vvord.

You will tire of this game long before she

does. If you wam to see if she can do the

activity bv herself, you could prepare some

labds for her to use. If she is writing, she could

write her own labels for the objects. Don't

expect her to read the labels withom any

contextual She may be able to do so, but

you should nor It.

Reading the digraphs You can imroduce the second ,ct of ObjCClS

containing the digr~rh') as ~oon as your

finds it easy to read the first set: chis could be

the nexr day or the day after for some children_

-You must rcrncmbcr that she doesn't have to

iearn nc\v to do these She

only has to apply the kn.owlcdge

alreadv gained the Sound Game and the

Sandpaper Letters, and use her experiences

\vith the :vloveablc ar:d the

i that you have been doing with her.

How to play

Do exactly the same with the second set of

objects as you did with the tirst. Howcvcr,

vvhen writing your underline the tWO

You \,vill note that some are easy to read and to

do, and others require a little more

interpretation. If she gets stucK with the

imcrpretation of a carel. you will also need to

letters thar bct\'\'ccn th('m make a single sound act it out! Don't simply read the cards; they

for example, book. i have almost no value unless they are acted out.

Depending on your child, you might wam \Vords that could be written on the cards

her to idemi(v the sound hefore

trying sound out the letter. As you continue

to write the labels, accordir;g to your child's

abilitv, Stop ,mel have her identify

digr-aph on her ovvn.

If you ,vould like to make this activity more

Dermant'rlt. you conld collect little objects that

you have found to buv or among her tOys and

keep them in a box with the words that were

originaily wrirten oy you inside. Add different

objens and their labels from time to time to

keep her imercsted in inside.

Reading without using objects IVl3.J.1Y of the \vords !hJ.t describe actions in

English em be written using onlv Sandrarer

Leners and dignphs. You can make up some

verv imert'sting \-vords that your child vvill be

able to read and act our very easilv she wlll

love .:tcring out the words vou have

and in doing so she vvill have to

df'moTlstTd[e that she has ;mdcr<Tood

What you will need

\~T rite out on small cards as rnany

action words as you can think of that can be

read using only Sandr::tpe-r Letters and the

digraphs. (You will be using the same

knowicdge your child employed to pby the

two prc\'ious There should be

onlv one action word per card. ThIS time,

however, there are no objects w provide a

context: her experience ana the fact that she

will act am the words on the cards should help

her test her under>randing of the

Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

i include:

Jump run hop skip stand wink

blink think drink yawn spm

grunt moan Grag np tap hug

sleep gnn clap smg groan tap

: How to play

I You can either write these down you go

along or have them already prepared. As with

i all the other rlctivirics, it would be be,,:er if you

wrote them down as you went along, then kept

them in a box so dut your child can to

them when she feels iike it.

Explain to her that you are going to write

down some words and the :mportam thing

i about them is that she must do what thev 'dV.

\Vrite "run."Your child reads the word and VOll

encourage to do the action. When she returns, write another word. Contmue until

she has had enough.You will find that re;lding

these words leads imo all kinds of disCll"inns.

Be as dramatic as po"ibk.

, Writing sentences to be interpreted If you have child who loves actIng out, vou

I could extend this activity into one in which

you write out different semences for her to

read, interpret and do.

For instance:

Ferch your best doll/car/book

Find a green marble/red sock/blue

Tickle Dadi?vlom/Grannv/Grandad

READ

l iO

RIGHT The better he can read, the more complicated

R T! ~ G RE A f)

Pretend you are a doctor

Pur your toys in the basket

Run your bath

Find three things for us [Q munch

Plant a seed

Fix vour truck

Put on some music. This game can go on all morning - perhaps

even all day. The amount of cllJoymem gained

from reading these 'imple semences is

:mmcnsc, Be prep:m:d for the game to be

so that vou are on the rccei\ing end

of messages trom your child l

These activities shoulel gi\.-e yom child 1ms

of confidence when reading vou. There

some suggestions for the kind of hooks '-ou

might like to read with her in Chapter 9,

although you should ahvays remember that she

will be most keen to read what she lnterested

in, even if this means thaI she \viU choose

books that look too hard for her. If this is the

case tor your child, use some of the tips offered

later in this chapter to help her accomplish it.

have watched learn to read suhject

Inatter ac levels of rC'Jdlng were much

harder than I would have chosen for them.

From this point on vou will see that her

ability to read will progress in leaps and

bounds, foEowcd by periods of c:lim. On your

[rips to the library, your librarian should be

encouraged to

of reading Jnd your chiid has. Be

wary of the librarian or hookstore cierk that

points you in the direction of a particular

reading program!

If your is a rhonctic one, you can

Jump tonvard towad the end of this chapter,

which de:lls \vith helping your child to rC:ld

bOOKS. Bm if your first language is English.

which is non-phonetic, you need to consider

how you can help her to recognize quickly

some of the words that cannot be sOlmded our,

and you should therefore read on.

Recognizing common words that cannot be sounded out (Puzzle Words :1.) Age:just after you have tirst imroclllcee! the

reading boxes and while your chile! is

still enjoying doing them. This will be the first

game ~:ou ha\~c in a \ynilc is going

to offer something totally new to learn.

Purpose

/\5 with everv other activity in this book, the

aim here is not to'try to provide difficult

word that your child may come across in the

course of her early attempts at rcae!ing.We will

try to choose some COlmnon ones that it would

be useful to know so that, once again. while she

word,

more easily. To try to give too manv would

cteate more clifficlirics rhm it would solve,

as a nJTHr-C'JH1er, not as a

mountain She is at this moment

gliding through air, lmking Llse of the

now been beyond her reach. She uscs what she

needs to extend and expand her horizons.

to c1in:b,As she

has progressed

enjoyed each

because it "vas

has arrived '.vithout ever kno\ving

and she

:,ct out.

There have been no failures and no dlfEcuit

goals,just 3n exploration oflanguage m verbal

;Jnd written form. \vords that [-rinnot e;lsiiy be souncied out \ve

cali puzzle '.vords because r:he;/re such a puzzle~

What you wiii need

You will need to discover which words are

impossible to sound out yet appear most oite;]

Iii

i 12

books your child \vill be reJ.ciing. B~lo\v

! h::tve given S0I11e for you to drayv on.

C:hoose- cibout ten or t\velve the most and

make them up into indi"idual cards,

To be \ve by the are

you anv your they vvas some my

like here do

How to play

Cboose about three of the \vords you \vish to

tocus on: make sure that they are very different

in the \Vav they sound and look.

'Tell your child du.t these \vords are quite

because Clnnot sOlll1d them our -

out the \yoro ';your" for eXrlillple.

Explain to her that she must simply be able to

;md

that ir wlll reaily help her co read if she knows

whar they

You are once again going to follow rhe

model of the three period lesson, first diKussed

in C~hapter (see page 37). This is ho\v you

could go about it. Before you start, you will

lleed to make sure what the words mean and

vou can do [his as tallows:

.. 'Today you can learn to recognize S0111e

\:\/o1'ds tnat diftlcul[ to "{lund out. I-Jere is

one of them. (You write the word "your:'

using the san1e sl"yle of script as the S'1ndp~per

on a strip of p3-per.)

• This savs "your" can't sound it om verv

casIiy, shall tryO (You try, but it comes om

,is YU a u ru.This lmusc her: Now put

the vvord "your" into a sentence so that she

he<lrs it in context. "Your dress is very pretty.~'

"Your color is purple:'''I like your grin."

PUt the \-'lord aside and repeat the S;1I11e

\V1t11 [\,vo other ""vords. '~the" dnd "like:'

S I' A IZ. r! :'\! ( R ,\])

repeat it, [00 .- "your" "che"' '~like'-"

Sra~f!e 2

Ask questions:

\Vhich viOrd says "your;"

Can YOU read "like" - make sure she looks

the correct card.

Put the \Nord "the~' over here ~ return it to

the middle of the table.

Point to "like."

Continue with ,his unnllt seems for

your child to read the wO;'ds. EnCOllTrlge hn to

repeat the words as otten as possible a£i:er you

have said them: you aren't asking her to

rcn1c;111'CT them at this mornent, sirriply to

"ssoci;][e the mmes with the way they look on

the paper.

Sta2c

You ask your child can read rhe words,At

this stage you careful not to the word

unless she gets stuck, in which case simply

out loud and knovi that you \viil try

with this one on anorher day.

Can YOU read this; Do vou know what this

one says)

This lesson should take no longer than five

minures, Keep all the puzzle words that you

make in a Ettle box since you will need them~

for the activities that rollo,,\',

Reading sentences using the word that has just been learned You should yo-:..:r chilo to rcad the

\.vord in sentences. To begin \vith, you could

v:rite some simple senrences with the words

she has just learned.

Your dress is red,

your doll.

your lunch. Find

The kettle hot. Find the marbles, Is vour

book on the table?

Your rabbits like carrots, Mom and Dad

like bOOKS.

You can fetch a book that you are reading

together and srart to tlnd the new words that

she can read.

Writing sentences using the word that has just been learned Using the Moveable Alphabet and puzzle words

Encourage your child to put out letters of

the puzzle words with the .'vioveablc /\lph:lbt't

so that she focuses on each letter and itS

sequence in [he word.

See if, after a while. she can read the word,

turn the puzzle card tace dOWTI and put Out the

:\iove::blc Alph:lbct ]cncrs in limn

memory. You could make this much harder by

putting the puzzle word cards in anorher room

to see if she can still remember ho\v to Fut the

Alphahet letters om when the lapse of time

greater bet\l.,7een reading and \vriting them.

When she is wriring 'pomancomly wuh the

\iovc;Jbic Alphabet, you CJn encourage her to

refer to the puzzle YITords if she forgers how

they go. If they spelled incorrectly, you can

gentlv remind her that she knows how to write

the words, and either help her to sequence the

letters correctly or suggest she finds the puzzle

word that 'lOU 'ATote. Slowly and gently the

\yords that she is writing WIth the Alphabet

will begin to become closer to the accepted

conycnt1Oif:ll spelling of your :Jngu:1gc.

Using paper

Her !1nytcl\1nd

eilect on

~hould ;tho

she is writing down using

R!GHT The so'caHed Puzzle Words (see page 112) often create problems. One way to help your child to become more familiar with them is to create individual puzzle word cards and encourage her to use the Moveable Alphabet to match them,

her ovvn hJnd~,vr::1ng.Y()u coulri thdt

she might like to copy the words onto some

lined paper. if she is at the iined paper stage in

writing. Bevvare. however, of creJting a boring

activity tor her [() do - always try to make sure

chere is real purpose and [() each one;

mnhing "m.indless" soon leads to the feeling

chat wnting is a chore! You could include the

words that she has learned in sentences th~t she

dictates to vou and which she can then copy.

Treasure hunt This is a simple variacion on the adult game.

\Vrite simple clues to lead your child trom one

place to the next until she finds the "treat" you

have hidden. Clues such. as "Look in your

boots," "Go to the kitchen:'''Open the

drawer" would all make use or'the words she

had come to recognize.l'tnd if you want

further inspiration, follow the clues in the

rhotogrJrh:

Reading together You have been reading to your child every day

S T.'\ 1 ~ (; It f.\!' il3

since was tiny, and vou have watched her

deveiop love of books, You have watched her

begin to recognize s"me words in the flmiliar

and much-loved books that you have shared,

She now chooses hooks to read to herseif and

pores over the pages on her own, Her use of

langll;;gc has grown and she is now able not

only to speak well, but also to write down her

thoughts using the Moveable /\lplubet ~nd to

some extent in her own handwriting, and h"s

begun to read these, too, She can read most

phonetic words and those with digraphs, ;md is

extending her of puzzic words. The

reading that you do togerhcr nnw ,vill gr:tdual­

Iy change in halance: her reading '\vil! incrc:1se as

yours dCCl-cascs with certain books. You will

certamly not stop [c .• ding to her, but you also

need to find time for the two of you to read

together. and you will no",,,, begin 1:0 choose

bOOKS that you em read together. This will

pro"bJhly mean revisiting sorne of your old

favorites and looking out for ne\v bOOKS that

will hold interest for her.

Here :lYe some tips for getting started:

• Reading should chore.

be a pleasure. never a

Never force your c.bild to read.

• Choose a time when she is not tired.

• Ask her to choose a book she would like to

read, or otter her a choice of books and respcct

choice.

Encourage and praise

don't msist on perfection. ncceSS:lry;

Don't any kind of times calc - 10 minUTes

of concentrated reading is better than half an hom of nagging.

Choosing books You wIll want [Q haw the right kind of books

available to get off to a good start and so, in

addition to your old favorites. you may decide

i S iNG TO READ

ABOVE A treasure hunt can be educational as weH as fun. Write out simpie messages for your chiid and hide them around the room to find - and read. The final clue to this treasure is in the mug.

RIGHT The more you read, the more your child (or grand· child) will want to read.

1:0 go to the library and come back with d selec­

tion, or visit your local bookstore.

• Choose books that have a strong story line.

Too much description in is not

helpful

• Choose old fwo1'1t('s or new :;ooks rhat you

know your child will be

• Choose bOOKS ,vhere

In.

complemcnt the text: this will help her obtain

extra clues fi'om the pictures.

• Choose books whose content falls within her experiences. She should lln,cl"r,nrlc1

the book is abom and be able to predict the

likely events.

• Choose books that don't have too many

.. Books \'vith large print not rlcCCSsarllY

easier to read; choose the bOOK tor the content

dnd the pleasing layout of the texL.

• Some books are \vritten with text on tvvo

different levels, both helonging w the story.

Very often the stor, text runs along the page

RTINC; TO REAP I

and the rlctures have ~impler

"\yhcn you are a book.

.. Don't exclude conlics and books about

- don't just read fiction.

.. Rhyme and rhythm pIa'\' an importJnt part

in helping children to predict \vhat may come

next.

Giving the right help • it's heipfUl to run your Enger smoOthly

under the text as vou read, and may help

vour child to do the same. If she has difficultv

Ihe holding a strip of

paper under the line she is reading may help.

.. Do nothing at ail if vour child misreads a

word but gets the sense of the right.

She alight mbscitnre \vord "supper" for

"dinner"This is tlne; she is

lnC:lnlng ;1nct the

altered.

of the "cnrence isn)t

.. If she makes a mistaI;:e in the mcailing, wait

until she has tlnished the sentence :1nd see if

she corrects herself. If she doesn't, you could

ask if the word she used ,mmded rigbt. Return

ro the sense of Ihe :md ifshc can

identIfy the word correcdy.

If she is stuck on a word rfshes stllck on a word. trv to judge which of the

tol1ol,ving would be mosr hclphl1 for her.The

most imporr;mt thing is to keep the flow of the

story going, so you don't want to stop too often. If she is rnaking so many It

[he rhvthm and pace of the story, you mav wish

to read \vith her to lessen :::tny frllstr;ttl0n 'She

begin to cxrcricnce.

Supplv [he word so that the tlow of the storv \vorried

\vould benefit from your using

one tol1ov-,°lng clues to help her to read (he word you will be the best judge or-

[N G TO

which one might be most helpful. If the one

you choose doesn't work, simplv tell her the

word rather than ('ontinuins; to dweli on what

she doesn't seenl to know .

• You could ask a question about what has gone before in the text .

• You could ask her to predict what thinks

it might be.

• You could help her to sound the word out: if

it's long one you may need w break up

into syllables .

• You could to the picture; if the word

actuallv in the picture, you could simply point [0

Rcmemhcr that praise and go a

long way [0 suppornng your child when she is

learning something new. Don't be tempted to

criticize her reading or measure her against

other siblings. can be so casv to destTov the

confidence rh~lt she needs if she [0 become a

successful reader.

More games to play There are lots of commcrciJlly aYJihhle g:lmcs

that ,,'ill build on the skills vour child has

acquired in this "hapter­

of rec(1mmcrdcd ones

Book making

Chapter 9 tor a list

In almost chapter of this book I have

encouraged you to make books with your child

and this one is no exceprion. Bv now can be

encouTrlgcd to write in her own words and

the more she does this, the easier it will be for

her to read "her" book.

CHAPTER SEVEN

.. Reading for m nlng

child is now reading and and

is choosing books to read with you

and spont:mcously writing little stories and

messages. You will see her pore over books by

herself, yvatch as her lips move silently, working

out words that she gets stuck with. She has a

number of stnteg;cs that she can call upon as

she reads, and when she gets into difficulty she

knows that she can ask you to help if she reallv

cannot a word she comes across.As

she begins to simple books on her own,

you can sometimes discU5s story WIth her as

way of discovering how much she has

to the story

You enjoy going to the library '.vith her

when you can, time passes easilv when you

visit the hookstore.

You will :lOt now have to worry about

helping her to read or write, and can turn your

attention to seeing if you can play some games

with that will make reading and writing

even more

Words not only need :0 be read with the

eves: they need almosr to be tasted if we are

reallv to enjoy using them, The activities that

follow here will heip 'lour child get a lot more

irom the words they w-ill focus both

her a feel

do them. As d

result ,hese activities should raise her abiliT)' [0

interpret what she reads her to become

more playful with words when she writes.

Activities to help fluency and spelling \Vhen reading Engiish chere are some helpful

clues that we can otter regards the many ways

sounds can be wr;cten down.

If ,ye think of the sound "ai," for It

can be written as in train, play, cake, vem.

Having given your child a start by including the

digraph "ai" as a key sound, you could find a

way of helping her [0 begin to read other Ionns

of··ai" quickly_

Look all the waY' through the S:mdpaper

Letters your child knows, the

sound rhey maKe, ;md choose those that

commonly spelled in more dun one way. For

inst:mcc. from the Jist helow "ai" be spelled

in play (ay), cake (cake' and vein (ei).

Key sound envelopes j

Age: around :3 Some key sounds that can be spelled in

different ways:

aI a-e. av, ci

ee ea, le

le 19h,

Od ow,

ue 00 e\v u-e

ph

R E ,,; D [ ~ C F 0 11.. .\1 :\:"-i 1 ~ (;

118

ge/gi age

ci/ce

aU,dW,

lr. ur

ou ow

You will need to make some or little

paper strips for the alternative ways of spelling

[he key sounds. Write each sound on a card or

strip and on the back put the sound in

small letters 1,., color. Put each pack

mark (ront of the

envelope with [he key sound.

N ow pm a little book of paper strips into

the ElCh paper strip "page" of the

book should carry small scnt('ncc containing

number of words wlth the :iOlmd in it.

For FXample, in the "ai" folder you might

1:::" h. I) I N G r 0 R lVl E A l'>i ! N G

i\S mail train the station. SLarLed

(Q rain

Every day we play hide and seek and then

run away.

Let's bake a cake and then make some

biscuits.

Finally, put little packs of "vords \vrltten vvith the

alternative spellings into the envelope. For

instance.

Train~ rain, InaiL tail

lVlake, bake, cake, crate

Vein, skein. ii-eight

Plav. stay, day, awav

How to play

Bring out an em-elope ~nd ask your child to

recogmze the key sound you have written on

the outside.

Explain that all the cards inside envelope

arc going to say the same sound. Look the

:1iffercnr rhey arc written:

Take out the pack of little words and read

through the words, putting them next to the

kev sound.

Take out che little booklet and read through

It.

She will find this activity relatively casy to

do and you should compliment her on how

well she able co manage.You should also

keep drawing attention to the different ways in

",-rich the sound can be spelled.

Do this for as many envelopes as your child

\vouJd like. This activity can be spread over

manv days so there's no need to prepare all the

packs at once. ~\lthollgh it's mee to be 8blc to

orrer her a choice of which key sound she

\vould to explore.

If Vall need to explain the "a-e" card, make

some additional cards that explain how It

works: for instance, cap bcrorr:cs

becomes tape.

dnd [:ip

Next step

Invite her to '.nite out the words and the

if ;;;he ... visnes. either using her own

Ifsne

dnd Write some

the \vord spelled using the correct "'3.i"'

spelling.

You will notice thar having become 8ware

ofche ways in which this can

be spelled when she wriring, she will begin

to ask which "ai" i1: is for play.

To help her to remember

\JVhen she has read a number of the envelopes,

take two or [nree together and take out the

cd.rds or strips. ;vlix them all up and see If she

can sort them back under'neath

they belong to. She will be able to check

herselfbv t'lrning over all the c:lyds to the

key sound written on the back.

This game is quite important to play, as she

\vill discover that the letter "y" can say "ie" and

I it can also say '~ee."e.g. "sky" and "party." dnd

that the let'Cers .• ea" can say''; ee" and also" e,"

e.g. "teach" dnd "bread."This is the reverse

discovery to the one she uude earlier: first she

looked at sounds that were spelled differemly,

can

haye more than one sound, too.

Once the cards can be sOHed out, mix up

the >"ords from the di£l:erem packs and encour-

age her to wnte some more or

stories usmg these words.

Puzzle Words 2

Age: around :5

You may already have made a set of Puzzle

111).Thi5 Words in Chapter 6 (see

variation of the original will on

your child's increasing interest in the In

''1hich words formed - the Key Sound

EnveloDe game above will have helped

stimulrlte this.

For this vou wiH need to make

i second set of puzzle words which this \vil1

focus on com!TIon patterns vvorcis that l once

learned, can be applied to d wide range of

otner words (see Chapter 9).

Choose some of the to

second

could

through

all - call, fall, hall

air - fair, hair, chair

silent K - knee, knot, knit

silent B lamb. thumb. comb

silent W write, wrong. who

tion - station l natioD-

~nro

This set of puzzle words is to show sm8U rules

i that may be useful for her to know. Begm by

ivi

elre thar vou to be the

archetype: ·'ail,""air:~·'tion.'~ Choose three

anv one time dnd imrodure them as you did

the mher puzzle words - first bv putting them

into context then by tnllo'.ying ,he three

period lesson. I\1ake sure you examine

letters to see ho'.v they go together.

When your child is able to reau these three

archetypes, introouce ochers that are like For

example "Now that you can read ;air~' you

read 'fair,' 'lair.' 'hair.·" Either have ~lready­

prepared oros for these or simply write them

down and see if your child can thip~l;: of anv. It

'Nill be easy for her to come up vvith rhylnes,

but more (hfficult tor her to which

words have silent

Classified cards and labels help your chi'd's nuency, it can be

he1pnll to m:1kF me of the cards that you used

ongimlly dewioping YO cabl1larv. \Vrite the

name of the object C'1,~h on the

R

of it and make a label that is seprirare. PUt out

the cards and ask your child to read and match

as manv of the labels as she to the cards.

She can turn chern over to check if she has read

them correcdv: if the words match, she knows

she's got right.

Naming the house You could write all the names of the objects in

different rooms of the house f()[ her to read -

usmg post-It notes tbs is fun and very

com-cnienr.You write and she reads.~'\fi:er a

\vhile she '..vill "vant to \\'Tite, too.

Using books Af\nother '"'lay of extending this experience is to

aack to the books that you used w1th her

when she was around 18 months [Q two years

old. Many of them were single pictures on a

page with a word undcrne1th. Cover words

\vith posr--it nOles and \vrite labelS on nl0re

post-it notes. She can read and match the

names. There are some \\'ClDdcrtul

books chat you can buy that are

designed for incrc;1::ing vocJ.bl'-bTY

in particular subject are;;s the

in Chapter 9.

Reading for meaning Your child has an intrinSIC kno\vl-

ecige and syntax and

how words work together. It is

rh:1t Iorma1 gr:nnTn:1r and

syntax lessons can beconle so

boring and obtuse that most of us

believe thar cannot do it.

an lin,jcI'standi:lg of the

way words work for us, and what they do, will

help us get the taste of what read and will

give us the opportunity to play with words.

You ,honld have no intention of teaching

gnmmar to your child. At this stage it is nor

only unnecessClry but even undesirable. \Vhat

we can do. however, is to give her a direct

c:xperience of what words can actually do, to

explore how they work. The preparation you

provide at this stage is simply to expencnce

em a level at "vhich she can have fun.As you are

av'vare~ rhe way that: mind works means that

these experiences arc not lost they will help

to support and bolster the more formal ideas

she will be presented with at a ]:Jter date. The

r;\l]o\ving are des1gned to gi\Ve an

experience to help her appreciate the way

word, can be made to "York.

Thev are done based on

some w1th dramatic overlay.

Using descriptive words around 5 - 6

What you will need

one of the toil owing: a child's t'irm, clolh­

house, garage collection, Playmohl people,

Barbie doll. or Action-man in short,

beion1:,'S together. Also mrtKc: sure

that there are several copies of some objects

but that they look a little ditTerent - ror

irl'lance, if you have garage, you will need

some of the following: :1rge truck and a small

one. t'NO dit1t:-rcnt-colored V:in~) a heavy van

and a dirty/clean van; a fast elf, racing car. a

yello\y car~ J.nv other color car.You don't need

several of ail the objects, but there should

more groups of obje'c[s than single objects.

You \vill also need paper and scis>ors, dnd two

pens or penc11s. one ordinary color like blue

or black (or lead), the other a bright color not

usually used for writing: red, orange, purple.

How to play

Tell your child she is going to be able to find

the VerY object you are thinking of without

any difficulty. Think very hard and write down

mc,s:lge for her. This says "The van."

Your child reads the message :md collects a

van from the garage. You agree thaL it is a van

but not the one you were thinking of Tell her

that you will give another clue. In a

different color pen write down the'

word that will the orjecL It couid be

read the word.

Chop the original label in half and put the

in choosing ,he' :lppropri:ltc obie'et.

Do this for several other objects. She will

ahvays ask yon to put in the special word that

helps her [Q find one object trom many similar

objects.You can continue writing down

descriptions of ail the objects tor her to read;

tor if [here is only one man you can

novv vvrite ~'The busy :nan:' rather than just

"The man."Trv to use lots of different types of

descrirtions for the objects - very to

stiCK with just color and size, so see if you can

be a bit lllore If!1J.gin:1t1yc th~H1 l};(~ vvords

such as kind, gEntle, angry,

[0 really stretch her :mcicr(t:;nriing of rh~~ type

of word. You have the ideal oppnrnmiry (Q

discuss them \Vltn

Discovering how important word order is Ihis activirv is hilarious for children to play.

i\dults don't ahyays quite [he hUl110r

that children fInd in nonsense! Take CIne

your stnps of paper and mix up (he word

order. The old van becomes: old the van

old the, van old.·Try all the con-:l'1n:H1()llS

and then together put it right. Do this tor other descriptions.'louT child, ('If

course, llDl:krvands \vhich is the correct

verSion she kyo",,,, what sounds right.

Bv doing dm you emphasize [hat words, to be

effective, must go in particular order.

Using more than one descriptive word You can develop this garne on another day

into one in "\'vhich you use several descriptive

worOs. For example, you could write, "The

van"; she choo')c~ you then have to

another word a different color: "The

yellow van'1 (if there are [\VO

Now you need to another word: "The

old yellow van." and if there lre nyo old \Tllmv

vans. you may need to vnite yet :lI)other

"The dirty old, yellow van." Hopetll11y, you

have now identified the van ,be vou

You can have fun playing derectives roge::her:

either vou your child add one word at a

time until the objecr that you were thmking of

is idf"ntifie-d.

1'( E A !) ! c.; FOR MEA ~ I N G

To your to in rhis vvay

about the ohjects, see if she would like to

create her own labels tor her farm, garage, etc.

You could then use [hem to combine them

into a story, which you can either tell, write

togethey- or she can write, depending on what

suits the moment.

In a MO:Jtes,ori I(hoo1. children play the game,

that tollow and use symbols as

line. The purpose of the symbols is to highlight

the pattern created we

in a panicular way. If your child attends a

~vlomcssori school, then the school will do these

actiVIties and vou will just need to follow up at

home using all the different objects [hat you

have there. If she does not go to a ]\;lonressori

school. you may wish to make the symboh

add them co the semences.

Making the symbols this activity ~/ou \vill need to

make three ditTcrcm-lized

in three difie-rent colon.

When cutting them Out, you couid

make them trom

paper so your child call

stick them on to sentences that she

has constructed.

You will need

Small light blue tri:mglcs, medium­

sized dark blue triangles and large

black triangles - the templates

provided in Chaptf'r 9.

RIGHT Certain words join other words together. Choose toys or objects from around the house to provide a context. Here the differently colored Leg-a blocks and the smail posy of flowers remind your

be

R INC; FOR E r\ N l N (

Ten your child i::hat you are going to D1.ake a

pattern out of the tri~ngles by asking

~llesrions. Take a phrase such as "the large van."

Ask her to identifY the word that told her

what it was you were thinking of. If you need

to make clearer you could ask her, "Did I

\vant a car, bus or .:::omcthing ('he?" She

should be Clole to identifY the word "van" md

put the black triangle above it. Now ask her

what word told her which van you wanted. Or

you could ask, "What kind of van did I wane?"

Your child 'houie' point to "old." Pur the

rncchum-hlne tr1:1nglc over that \'vord.l-hen

you could explain [hat the word "the" tells us

chat there was a particular van that was

required, and if it had been any van you would

have written "a."The symbol you use for the

word that tells you if 'lOU wanted a particular

van or just anyone is the small blue triangle,

Continue to ask the and pidce the

symbois tor

Wrltten.

Looking at the joined together

words can be

We are going to ,imply look at the word "and"

since other joining words such as "bur" would

be rather too difficult this

'fou will need

Objects that can be Join"d (see

below). Two pens, paper and pink symbols that

look like hyphcm.

How to play

Take several objects that literally be joined

together, such as lego blocks, flowers and so

on. Write out label each

tDr inst;)Dre) "the red lcgo block,~! "the blue

]ego block:' ",he vellow !ego block."

Ask your child to read the labeis, then to

match them to the appropri:1(e biocks. [n a

co:or "\vord Hand l' twice~

Place the first "and" between two

she has idenrified, then have her read and join

R I\D NG cOR M

the tvvo bricks together. "The red lego block

and the blue lego block," Now add the second

"and," the last phrase and the third objecc. Have

your child read and join them all together. Of

course t\vo ands is not gramrnatilcally

but it serves to make the poine.

Find out where the "ands" need to go by

moving the phrase around. "The blue Ie go and

and the red lego yellow lego." Keep going until

it makes sense again.

Ask her to put on the symhols for the words

that knows, then ask her which word told

her to join [hem all together. Show her the

pink bar, which 'lOU now place over the two

"ands"

Using the phrases that you and your child

have ",rritten for the garage, farm. etc.,join up

as many different pieces as she wams to. She

can make up sentences, using the Joining word

and stick the syrllbols over the tOp.

Using the comma i At a later stage, around the time when you are

iookmg at punctuation (see Chapter 8), you

could create a long list of objects l~sing the

"and." then show her how to avoid using "and"

all the time ov using commas until vou to

the last object.You can plav around with chis

idea using the "ands" wi[h a variety of diffE'renr

objects, tor your fridge, frOlTI the

toy box and so on, then removing them all

l except the last one and putting in commas.

Investigating the preposition Use any objects in which you alter the

place of one set of objects easily. For exan1ple,

I [he dolls' house would good, or simplv use

some pencils and a pencil case.

I You will need

The objects ::is above, some crescent

: moon shapes [he same way as you made the

i tri::lngles).You'll also need pens, p8per and

SClssor~ as before.

How to play

Write a long phrase such

The red pencil and the blue

green pencil.

and the

Have your child read and put the pencils in

their appropriate place above the phrase. Then

write "The long pencil case." Have her put the

case over this phrase. Now. using differenr

color. write the word "in." Place ir betwecn

the two phrases. have her read it and place

pencils in the pencil case. Write the ,vord

"beside;' have your child read ir and takE

pencils out of the case and put them beside the

case. Finally, write the word "under" and have

her read and intcrrrct thi~. Continue in this

\vay for as long as she enJoys it.

;Vlix up the phrases you have written to see

if she can read them md tell you what makes

senseYou'li bmh discover thar 'omnimes you

can s'evap rhe objects over and the phrase WIll

still make sense and 'omctimcs vou can·t.

The pencil case in the pencils

The pencil case nex[ to the pencils

The pencils nex[ to the pencil case

Use all sorts of words such as:

beside, beyond, next ro, with, behind and

so on.

Ask your child to put over 7Jl the

words she knows. then ask her which \vord

told her where to put them. For a word that

tells us '\vhere" \ve place a green moon above

it. Of course there are many different kinds

prcp0sition. but stick to one that she can

physically intecpret, thar of place.

Now put Out the garage, house, whatever

mujdle. Write. or have her write or have

already rrcpared, a great many cards that

describe prepositions of thee for her to use,

and phrases that describe the objecrs.Ask her

to gnclually str:1ightcn the

preposHlons.

up llsmg

Identifying verbs and adverbs Moving on to look at verbs, you can to do this

with children by acting:.

You will need

Paper, pen and large red circles or disks (made

m the same way as you made the triangles for

the verbs) and. orange circles tor the adverbs

How to play

first to identity· verbs. Write an

action on piece of paper dnd have her act it

act it out. then ask her to guess what the word

is. You will notice that she will alwavs choose

action words to descnbe what it is you are

doing. Let her write down :m acnon word and

act it Out. and you have to guess what it is she

ciomg.You will quite natunlly up

a whole variety or different words that are

actIons. Finallv you write and she acts Out.

When vou have done lots of them,

S;lv111g we use it to

when a word tells vou what to do.

To expand the game to include adverbs, play

as above, but this time vvhen your child has

cor::;p]etcc1 the Jctlvir-y', ;1Ctd :ll1oiher

different colnr. For insLmce. write hop and ask

your child to do it. Then. ho,v

she does write another word in a different

coior to change the "vay she did it. For

if she hopped around quickly, then write hop

slowly; if she hopped noisd:-, then write quietly.

Do as many of these as she interested in

doing, then change the \vord order. <':'ometill1cS

is possible to do IS not:

a question ofjudsmcnt: on fier p:lrr:.

11o~i(10n the sYIT1bols, your child to

idemifV the word [hat told what to do and

place a red circle over the tOp: then Jsk her to

identifY the word that tOld her "how" to do it

and place the orange circle over the top.

The t\vo of you can now think up lots of

sentences that actiom and how to do

ABOVE One way of identifying a verb with a red circle above it is by acting it out for a frjend!

absorb, which tells her more about wavour

them. J\1ake sure that you act them out, as this

allows you to feel what the words are doing.

I, words work together than any explanation that

a teacher could offer.

Becoming more aware of what words do and i

how they do it will help enrich your child's use

.md ability to get more out of I

her re'lding.Actmg or acting upon objects the

Key experIence In dCt1\jtiCS as it begins to

have a personal on how words are felt and

interpreted. Tbe symhols are also very impor­

tam because they otte, a pattern tor the mind to

READi~G FOR IvlEA>JIN

The \vhole process one of exploration.

Children already undemand all (he princirles of

at deep level; we Gm tell because they

speak their l:mgnage. ~What these games do is

simply to explore that on different

level an.d in a

CHAPTER EIGHT

Creative and accurate ng

have used children's bnguage

~thrClughmlt this book: as a point

tor developing their vvriting skilh,

important to recognize that there signif-

icant differences het\C\'een spoken and wriLten

When we speak, we are able to check as we

go along whether the person listening has

ll:ldcrstood what \ve are s;lVing, ami to back

dnd clarifi,', repeat or explain what it was that we

wanted to say. 'lInen we write, we need to be

Iuuch more precise in the \vay that \Ve use

\VOraS, and in logIC and ')cql1cncing of OUf

thoughts. In \ve speak, ~'vve use

nise an eyebrow, poim our finger or use our

hands to ciabor:1tc our 'reecho 'llhen we write,

our vvords need to convey informa(ion "\ve

would normally pick up through our different

senses; they need to have the power to conjure

up [he :)ituatlon our heads as if vve \",,~ere there.

\Vriting also has the power to use time in

,'lay trom the way that we use it in

speech. \\lhen \vriting, it poss1blc to move

±orw~rd :md backward in tilTH\ to stop still for

long periods of time when the thoughts of

are being the story line

luust be strong, the logical thread maintained.

Stone, also have a specific structure: III simple

terms, they have a beginning, middle and end:

the story moves from a given set of

circnmstances through to a resolution.

The g:unes you have played in the prcviollS

chapters \vil1 have helped enrich your child's

vocabulary, made her aware of the way stories

are 'sritten, and given her a "feel" tor the way

which words can be used to convey thoughts.

You can now go back and play some of these

games in a way that will help your child formu-

late her In <;torv form. Remember that your child an author.

There are many perspectives ,hat authors can

take when ,hey choose to a S[Dry:

sometimes they are :mtohiosnphicaL fc)r

1l1stance children love to tell stories about

:lnd the that hJ\'C fuppent'd to

them. Thev particularly like to tell

things that amused them. And they t"peciallv

like to write about things

mischic\~ou~: a f'p,,'orltc <;t0ry in

the time [hat my children filled the bathtub

with cold ,vaLer and rricked their fa[her into

jumping into it!

Stories like these can be relatively easy to

structure since there~s neJ.rly always a denoue­

ment. In addition, your child will have lived

event and will be able to cmbclli;;h the S111lple

facts with extra details if you ask ;inout it.

Stories can .;lIso be told through

technique reporter use to retell e,'ents that

have harpened - a straight n"porting of r;;ct. Stories

like Lflls are often chJrac[crizcd b\. \,>ords "and

tnen ... "This type of story couid be written

visir to the park or a museurn, tor instance.

CREATIV /\ND CCURATE ,XlRITING

Stories Cln ~ornC'rimc<:; be rc\YOrkCc1 or retold

stories that she already knmvs. A 'lear-old

Ii-iend of mll1d spent all mornmg wricing her

own version of Slccpng Bf':mty.

There will be times when vour child would

like to 'vi/rite her o\vn story but can't think or <:;UDJcCT: she vvant:s to vvrite about. not to

discol1IJged when she rejects your sugges­

tions but still wants you to make more

It can be helpful to think of a reason for

writing down story. Giving purpose to your

child's writing is very ;mponam. Most of us

"vvrite things do\vn for a reason anci the same

\vith '.vriring story: either we ,-vrite it bec;1use

we want to ma.ke more permanent ~o!ncrhing

that we are thinking of, or became we want to

have someone read whaI: we have put down.

Authors wrire with the idea that v)meone will

read ""'lhat they have written. Trearing her story i

interesting and important in own right

and to it ag:lin can Important

indicawrs to her that was worrh the effort.

Helping your child to 'create a book from her

story and perhaps "puhlishing" it may be appro-

Here you would need the ofa word

prOC(,S'flr or at very least;] ph()W,COf'ier

11l11stratlons can be very useful ston,\\-rlt-

- they can used to enhance the story i

It has been written, or they can be used as

base around which the story can be I

conSlructed. Be\vare, hovvever, of making your

child think that she is writing story, she

should also be dnwir:g, or ,nee Not all

children like ')onlC don't feel th;:n:

3.re very good at it. tor \vriting and drav..ring are felt to

hand, the fact of one may

orher.

If

In helping your child to 'write \veIl, vou \vill

to help her structure her e~fectiye-,viii need to her co use

or the \vay \vords function, you \vill

CREATiVE ;\~D /\.CCURAfE IXTRliI!'<C.:

need to help her to savor the words that she

chooses and you \vill need to give her an ability

co use punctuation effectively. In doing all this

you will give your child the opportunity to

becoHle PO\"\Trttil communicator.

Helping with the structure of a story around 6

In Chapter 3 you looked at the Question

Game that helped to ahout and

expand their ideas around a tOpIC that was

familiar to them. In order to develop her ability

to relate co one theme rather than many, you

asked your child lots of questions

built up int,r;rrr:atlon that

could be turned into a story.

You can now use this same game to develop

your child's ability to write and structure stories.

What you will need

Paper and penCll

How to play

yourself and Your child.

You can suggest that you and your child are

gomg to playa In the game you are

going to ask lots of qucsriom of

you will write down the answers. FoEow the

same line of questioning [hat you did when

you played this game your child. First you need to agree on a topic or subject

for your scorv. Sticking coughly to subject

of the original game, you could "Let's '\vrite

about the time you baked a chocoiate cake and

the mixer yvent wrong'" NIake it clear you

intend to write story about this but

that you don't need to stick to [he of

\vnat h:1ppcncd. as this is a "Tory and a \\Titer

can make h:1rpen In .;tory that they

"vouId like to happen!

What could call our story?

The I baked u cake

Let's begin bv thinking who this storY

about.

ail

"\Vhat can vou tell me about

the character?

When did you bake the cake;

Where did you bake the cake?

Why did you want to bake a

cake?

How did you bake the cake?

With whom did you bake the

cake?

What happened when Vall

baked the cake?

How did you teel?

How did other people in

the Story feel?

each of these questions there

will be many answers and, thtough

discussion, you'll discover

of posslbil1ties.liS <-Ire gi\"Cn , record

them on one of your sheets of paper with a

word prompt such as \Vhv? or How? Record

much as is rclcvam. Try to elicit more than

For exampie,

~i/h}' bake u cake?

Because I like chocolate

more than

bcc;}u.;;c I

was hungry; it was mv birthdav; we had

Grannv and Grandad coming tor lunch.

There are no right or wrong answers and

urJess your child insists, you do not have to

stick to ,he facts of a real "true life" story.

Having gathered the raw data for story. vou

need to help her to understand the strnctC.1rC of

the Story.

Planning the story

Estahlish whether this ston; is going to have

pictures or nor. Decide whether to "vrite the

story first or draw the pictures first.

Before you the Story with your child,

begin bv explaining tbe every story has three

parts. The Erst part is the which sets

story you

who it's about

when it takes place

where it takes place

and :myrhing else that might be Importam to

say so dut the person reading the can

lln,cierstorld it trom the

The second part of the stOry is 1111ddl:=:

usually in the expkun

~vvhat h0I'pens to

about. We shall need to know:

REA. T I

what happens

how things happen

why they happen

Record to JIl

Finally, our story has to have an cnd~ng.An

ending be happy or saci~ tunny or serious.

Bm you need to tinish the story. \:{Te shall need

to know:

how the swry ended.

\Vrite down some ways that the story could

have ended. As you bye read co child

manY tnnes, she w'ill be t~miiiar with a variety

to be very close to (he

abom writing. M:my of them seem, quite

'po,nrJnc()u,i.v. to stones "One

day ... " and end them with the

"ami they allliwci happil\' eyer

Writing the story

of

You and your child can \vrite a story together

using the outline that vou wrote. Explain that

when a wnter wnres a story, she may choose

what she wants to S:lY and how much she

\,vants to say.\Vriting a story does not rnean

everything, bur

suit the \vnter best.

what will

Vhite the title ofthe story, then begin to

choose how to start the Story. Follow your

child~s advice; you could even take turns

writing or vou could act as scnbe on this Or:C.l:Slon.

Choose what you ,va,l[ to say, the words

that you want to use Jiscl1~sl()n \yith your child.

'when you get to the end, make sure that

the story reaily finished. If you like you can

END or THE at the Children

tD like this as it ,hem real

SatISfaction at having finished sOTnerhing.

C 11. E \ ~ l) \VIUTI0i

After this first rlttempr enCOtlT:1gc child

:::0 \:vrlte stories as often as \vishes, bearing

in mind the questions ,hat lllCC'd

story is to be really good.

\V riting poetry It important not just [Q look at the structure

of story and forget about other

kinds of writing that may be fun to undcrstand.

art of poetry writing also needs to have

some help. Children have always loved poems

and rhymes, and as 'well as these being important

in their 0\"'11 right, they have helped to underpin

illuch vfthe reading and \vTiting that your cl>ild

is now doing. A child's natural love of rhythm

and rhvme will lead her [0 spr,nrane(}us1lv create

poems fi-om her earliest work with the

;'Vlo\'e;Jhle Part of the appeal of a

poem is the wav that it is om on a page: the

way that each new sentence begins on a new

line and in a

deal.

fe\;v' \vords conveys a great

You can also study different kinds of poems,

for instance nonsense rhynles :lnd and

look at the different wavs in which these poems

work.

Having a tr}mcwork tor helping

your child begin to structure her stories and

poerns~ you "vill need to begin to look at the

"vay in 'vvhich punctuation CJn help to rnake

story more

Recognizing the "val" which simple

pUnCtllJtlon used \"vii1 also help in the vvay

your child unde[sr.mds what she is reading. You

will rrnhablv End thar by the age of six, she is

TI10\7}ng from aloud to [C';1ding to

herself. Don't insist that she reads aloud aU the

tlrne: there IS a very great Dct\vccn

reading aloud tor your own comrrchension of

Iivh3t you read and reading aloud to other

people. Reading aloud to others is great art

and needs to be practiced. Uniess your child is a

t1uent reader. not a good idea to insIst on

her reading aloud [Q orhers unless it hapr cns I

Ho,\yever. a k:nO\\~jec1gc of

puncrualloll

cn(]~mously when

how it works will help her

w what

she reads, and will help her to pm more expres­

sion into her voice as a consequence of this. If

yon see. for example, a at the tend

the tone that normal when a question is

asked. On recognizing quotation marks, it

heromt's to on tIl(' of the

person who is perceived to be

yOll read to your child you drew aerention to

capital leeters, question marks, periods and

quotation m~1rks in a DJtl!frll \-vay .

. A .. s she began \vriting, you e:x:p!ained various

conventions such as capital letters at the begin­

TIlng of and periods at the end.

\Vhen you were looking at the waY ehat "and"

used as a cOIl]unc[ion, you tackled the of

the comma when [here was a list of items

ch::n belonged together. So in many 'Nays you

have informally begun to look ;Ct

punctU::1t10n.

If you wish to highlight this

aspect oiwriting more dearlv, there

are games that YOll can play with

your child.

Punctuation games You ,,,ill need to decide which

marks you are going [0 iook at.

Don', focus on them all at once. A

possible '\V:1y them up

would be as T()l1ovYs:

.. Capital letters at the

of .;;cnrcnccs and periods at the

end.

.. Capital letters at hcgmning of importanr

nouns sllch as names of people and places.

.. Ql1ot;]tion marks to highlighr \vhen

someone is talking, including PllllCrtl;]tion rh:lt

follows.

.. QuestIon marks.

.. Comm;]s used for a list of lrems.

there arc other marks you may

wish to introduce, such as exclamation points

and commas that art' used in manv more

complex 'Nays th;1Il [hose mentioned

to keep it simple and clear as pmsible: you

aren't teaching your child punctuatIon bur

helping her to recognize in her own reading

and apply when she (eels able co in her story

and poetry \vf1tlng.

What you will need

For ,=ach different topic you vvill need to

prepare a htde story. If you aren't teeling very

crea[ive. it would be alll'ight to look into one

of your children's rayorite storyhoob copy

rhere. (~hoosc ;o111('thing

Depending on which punctuation you

CUR l\ T E \V i<-- I T I t-J (

wish your child to focus on, "'Tite everything

out normally except that vvhen you come to~

for eXJmple, a Clpltalletter and a period, you

will write that in a different color. On a

second sheet of paper you will write om the

salTle story. ~Io"vever, \vhenever you con1e to a

capital letter you will wflte it in in

the saIne color pen as the rest of the piece.

Vlhen you come to a period, you will miss it

out altogether bur le,lVe a little gap for it to be

inserted at a later date. You will also need to

"\vrite our each capital letter and period that

you left our on small squ2,res of paper in

coiored pen. (Or ifit would be more

srirmIiating her,just cut little squares of

paper and can rill in the correct

pllncmation on them as she goes along.) Make

sure that the size is correct tor the prepared

story thev will have to fit iuro.

How to piay

Take the correct version of the story and read

it thmugh with your child, using your voice to

show the pause and breath that you take v,hen

vou come to the period. Then

look at the other verSIOn of the

wlry:this it

thtough withoUT pansing at

end of '\cntences~ running one into

the other, stopping you

actuallv run out of breath to t;lke

one. This makes the story a very

tunny one and well [he

fimction of the period. Produce

pnnctuat10n ;1nd Jsk

help eNrect story

that has left it all out. Show her

th::-;.t you have capital letters tor the

eRE AND Ac ATE WRITING

beginning of the sentence and periods for the

end. Give her the oppormnity go :hrm:gh

the incorrect srory adding in the correct

punctuation. Read it thrnugh at end to see

if i, sounds right.

To begin with, if your child finds this

difficult she can copy original piece of

writing but if she can manage doing

this, encourage her to do so. When she has

finished she can check at the end what she has

done with [he originaL

Quite often when you have spent a little

time on this activity, you will see :111 over-use of

punctuation tor time in her srories and

poems.Verv often the period, in particular,

turns up in abundance for a while after

this game and also the question mark

very popular, not least because children seem to

like ro drav,l it!

Letter writing You can now begin to show your child some of

the conventions used when we write letters.

Show her hO'.v to pur her own address on

the leeter and the date. Explain the normal wav

of beginning and ending a letter. Take an

divide it into tour and show her that

the address in the first (Juadram

and that it can proceed verticailv trom that

point. Encourage her to write to other people.

Spelling Quite and ,pontancou5]v your child

has been developing her ability to speil

accurately: rhe more ,he reads, the better her

spelling has become. You have plaved many

games that will help her to hecome more fluent

in her reading, dnd these coo ~\yill helred in

spdling. Being ahle to spell. "vell does not neces­

sarily mean someone is more intelligent or

more wdely read than another ~ there are

some good writers who have terrible

trouble ,vi,h their spell.ing and some very good

speilers who can't write at all. Having said that,

of course it's helpful if spelling is more otten

correct than incorrect. The more cxper;ence I

have with children \'vho are naturally good

spellers, the more cOl1\'inced I rim that although

some combin:ltion< of letters need to be

learned, a good speller is one who senses the

patterns in \vords. She is SOlTI('onc who is aHe

to apply a knowledge of pattern to the abstr;Jct I

of spelling. I am convinced that this ability

has been developed from an early age and that

is a combination of:

• The ability to

in

similarity and

• The ability to compare and

patterns.

• To have a good sense of shape.

.. To be able to predict likely

• To be able to make an attempt without fear

of failure.

All of these skills have been developed in

children long before they come to even

thinking about the need to spell.

In ~ddition, rhe sound-letter :lpproach which

your child used in the '\10vcable i\lphahet

helped her to gain confidence in

dovvn vvii:hout \vorry or fear of having :0 get it

right. She was able to build words, sometimes

breaking them down into componC'nt parts

when they were verv long and building them

up syllable by syllable. She J1so has very good

sound and rhyme recognition skills, so she

nmkrsrands thar a word that sounds like another

vmrd may very well be spelled like too.

She can hear the "provi-

sion" and "station" and vvii] be able to apply the

'',;ion'' to words like "tc]eY1S!On" :md the "tion"

to words such as '·caution."

Without necessarilv being aware of it, in

playing the acrivities c:lrlicr in the book you wiH

have been indirectlv preparing your chIld to

heconle good at

Learning lists of spelling at home will not

really be very productive became list has no

real purpose. Spelling games are much more fun

to play. Here are some ideas.

Key sound envelopes 2

Take one of (he envelopes you prq'arcd for the

version of this ga...'T1C that appeared Chapter

7. Ask vour child to write down all the wavs

that she r0nv,,..,,t->ets the sOlmd "ai" could be

written ,he can look at the cards if nCCCSqr::.

Write each cOr!"lbin:lrion at wp of a page.

Now take out all the cards with the words

written on them. Call them om at r:;ndol11 :md

place them face down in a pIle.Yom chIld has

to ,-,vrite each ,"lord under its correct colu111n.

..t-\x the end she can check to see how ulany ::.:he

got right by going through the pIle of cards

Various patterns can be nhcrved 111

for insta~cc, vvith the key sound "oy," \vhich

she has also seen vvritten JS ;'01," a general rule

can be observed - "oy" usually C0111es at

end of a \vord and -'oi" usually COD1C'S in the

CRE,A.TiVE.'\ D \V R 11' J N (;

middle. Of course there are exct:ptlons

to this rule, such as "oyster" bur: it is an

observaEion that: 'Nil! serve her very '.vell.

Sit7gLrllJjrs and plurals/masculines and

Another of ,tudying words md how they

,1re written is to look words and how tbey

change frorn ,inguL1r to plural or from

11lJscuiine to fcmir:inc

You wili need

For ;mei plunls, you will need to

gather together a number of words as foPO'','s:

Find words where the plural is made by

adding In C3.t bird birds

Find words where the is made bv by

adding "es" ~ catch catches, watch watches

Find words where the piural is made

ch:mging the middle of the word ~ foot teet,

tooth teeth. mouse mice

Find words where there are ['NO parts to the

word and only one clnnges in the plural

'poon!:11 'poons+:tl, bbckbi1'd blJckbirck

brother~in-la\-v brorhers-in-Lnv.

you will need

kl11d such as gnndf:1thcr,

godmorher godhther: words that derived

ti'OlTl one another such prInce prIncess,

c1l1perOr or Th;tr C0111plctcly

difterent trom one c,nother ~boy girl, uncle Junt.

How to play

:1nd 1~!lJr8h, give your child two

pencils. Rc:ad and match the cards.

H;;ve her \vrite do\vn the \\:ords in cohnnn'S

al~ways put the plural in a differem color.

jf she can do it frOnl memory.

For fcrnin1nes, vvrite

\:\/ords on cards and have her mix thenl up and

thenl. If you have enough cards, do it nne set at a time to begin with.\Vhen has

looked LlI thell1 and <.... SOIL rhern, let her take

C ,( E i V t:: :\ ~]) cu WI:z.l :'(c

[','170 ciiffcrcnr colored pencils and ',vrite them

dO'vvn.

Collective nouns Children also like match up collective nouns

and there are some very colodul ones abom.

Yet again rnake small card:- that C;lTI be pbced

in two columns: flock sheep, pack wolves, pr-ide

lions, gaggle geese, crowd people, etc.

How to play

Have vou1' child set out the collective nouns in

one column and match up the correct single

;lnimal to e<lch one. You vVl11 need to have

little matching symbol on the back of each pair

so thar she can check herself.

Words within words Choose a long word such as clcrbnt ~sk

your child ho'vv many \vords

ofiL

can rnake out

pan, t~n, pen, hal. pant. pet. etc

Spelling snap and peimanism You need to make:: set of cards 'with four

words in each pack sharing 'rlme spelling.

For ex~mple, coat, Goat. boat: crush.

brush, push. rush: string, srrap. straw. struggle.

To ploy

:{ou can play snap or you CJn

down and find pairs.

rheIn out race

'fou will find that your chiid is flKinated by

the Vial' words work and will piaying all

these games. Occasionally you may find that

SIX

age

of seven. If you believe this to be the case, talk

to her tcachers md see [hey feel. If vou

are srill worried, then lt llUY be as well to

check turther to be ciisc:nver if she has

i or some other torm of difficulty with words.

Your child is now able to wnte clearly and she is

ABOVE Discovering how words work call be very interesting, Once your child is writing. he can highlight the change from singular to plural by writing the plural in another column, in a different color.

confident at expressing herself in writing. Her

spelling is quite good and she \CHites im:lgina­

tive and well-cratted stories. It would probablY

be (he mr\r()T"';'1'" rnornent to <;ho\v her ho\v to

draft and then produce a fair coPy when she

wants to prodUCt, for special OCCJ'l;ons,

You \yould not have dreamed this

until she was at this level.You wiIi also show her

how to look in a 6icrion~rv using her knowi­

edge of the order of the ;;lrhabC'f and her ahility

to make good guesses!

She is no\v at the stage \vhen she is :-cading

well and writing well. She enJoys books and

loves reading on her own together WIth

you. She likes to look up things in rcticfcncc

books as much as she loves to read fiction. She

seems to have a way ,,'nh words.You are justifi­

ably proud bccause she did all this by simply

living in an cIwironmcJ1( that was im''''1«''(,(11Iv

rich and had fun with

C0ngrat~l];;tions all

('Help me to do ir myself!" eloquent: is

this parad0xical The adul, must

helD the child but help him in such a way

[hat he mav act himself and perform

real work in the world.

c '-\ N D \YJ R liN (;

13A

CHAPTER NINE

Te p

iHv''':'';''LUl"' this book vou will find rerer­

er resources

digraphs. The colors tfdchionally med in

Montessori schools are blue for vowels, pink

tor green for digr:lphs; hut you can

use any color you vvish.

to various marerials, equipmem and

information cnntJlned in this chapter, vvhich

vlill help you use and enjoy the garnes and

activities I recommend, Nothing f2atured here

is expensive to buy or very time-consuming w

Inake~ and all of them 'vvill help you create the

nch c;wironmcnt will lead vour child to

! You will also need:

! a tactile material [Q make the letters from:

sandpaper (as the name 15 the

read <-lUct \,vrice ease and traditional but you could also use

or PJlnring p:1per. velvet

(\vhich is nice to feel but tends to ravel after a

\Ve begin at the beginning, with whole

senes of terr;phte,. which will form the

blocks tor letter recognition and,

reading and vvriting. They can be

used to create the Sandp"per Letters and

Alpbher tcatured in Chapter 3, and

they can even be used as classified cards'

, while).lfvou do <andfJaper, use the finest

These IFmplate, :lre easy to make and will I

only a short inveqment of your time.

Access to phorocopier would make things

even e~\S1er: you make multiple copies for

grlt.

The teem plates. which you will find following

these instructions on pages 142-149

What to do

PhotocofJY the templates. Decide in advance

how many of the you want to make

and make sure vou make extra copies of the

the games that require these, or make them letters needed.If you make all the CigrafJhs

larger or smaller, depending on the needs and <l1ggcstcd in Chapter in addition to tile usual

prctcrcnces of vour child. I recommend that 11phaber letter, vou will need:

you one set of originals, 'Chen use photo- ,I

copied sets tor Ihe games themselves. 3 additional letters "a" (4 if vou make the

digrapb "au')

make sandpaper letters 1 addirioml Lrrter "c"

What you wi!! need 5 additional letters "e"

10 make the letters used in this book, you will ' 3 adclitinmlletters "h"

need three dirfcrcnr colors of cardhoard to rnount letters themselves on: one color for

vo\-vels, one for the C0nson::tnr::; and one tor the

T [;\-1 P t ;\1'-:0 OTHtR RES L)RC~S

2 adcbtiondlleners '''il'

6 adchtional1etters "0"

1 additional letters "q"

3 addiwnalletters "r"

1 :1c1dit10T1J,] len:er "s~'

1 additl0nalletter "'e' 2 dddltionalletters "u" (3 if you mal<:e "au l

')

1 ::1-dditionJ,] letter "y"

Cur our: the black letters. Pin them or

or 12 bottles, and all have c:lrdbmyd dividers.

Cut the box and the down until you

have a tray and dividers of about 2 inches high.

1 Stick them together to create tray that has

cno'.Jgh comparrnlents for letters.

You could also find a cardboard bm: that has

glue them omo the back of the chosen paper or i a lid and use the lid as a tray.

tabnc. (Remember to pm the letters on back to Cut strips oL-,miboard the length and width

ti'om! If you don't, ail your letters will be the i of the box and make slots in them at abom

wrong wav around when you cut them out.)

Cut around the ren1plates as caret111ly as p0:-:'iible

and glue the s:mclparer or other material letters

onto [he :1ppropriare colored card that you have

prepared. Use the to judge SIze of

card you need; the will need card rhat

a little wider than the single letters.

You may wish to PUt a little spot [Q indicate

where to start feeling the letter and also a

shaded line at the base so your child knows

which wav up to hold the letter. See the

4-inch gaps. Slot the ctrdhoard ,trips into one

another to make grid, then fit this into the

box lid.

Other ways of using the I templates

Sewing : Photocopy the letters of your child's name and

diagram on page for where to place the dot i

make holes in the letter. Thread up a large

needle WIth colored yarn and tie a knot in the

end of it. If your child is old enough to thread

her O\",n needle. provide her with a plait or dnd the directlonal arrows so that she feels the

leIter using the right movement.

To make the moveable aphabet This activity is so l1nrCl[unt that you not

think that you can do without it! It's quite easy

to make. Take the letter templates and

their size on a photocopier so thac letters like

and "0" are about 2 inches high. Letters

Eke and "h" should be about 4 inches high.

What you will need

Colored c:lrdboard use the '3me color that

vou used for the backgrou:1d of Ihe Sandpaper

Letters.

Photocopv dOOut 8-10 copies of each

and abom 12 of each vowel.

Don't forge;: docs and Hj."

Making the box to keep them in is a little

more as it needs to be quite

can nYmnPl,'nd two pO'isihilities:

Many liquor stores give away cardhoJrd wine

boxes to carry away botdes. These may hold 6

braid of multicolored yarn to an

1ppropr1:lte and secured looselv at each

end with some varn. Shmv how to pull [he

I yarn tram the middle of the braid, one strand

i a[ a rime. In this way the braid stays intan and

siIe can choose from a beautiful ,uray of colors

without haviIlg to use scissors.

Cutting out letters Have your child choose her tavorite letters :md

cur them out. She can then pasre chern to

different colored paper and decorate the FJFt'L Some children like to draw pictllrt's, some

patterns and others dray\! more letters! You

I could use til.em to make a alphabet book if

She is not yet \vriting but can cut out \vell. Help

her create cards w send to loved ones with thelr

I initials cut out, pasted and decorarecl.

To make Duzzle words Chapters 6 and 8 1ntroduc:ed g1nl;:~s ll"ing- '.vhar

l'L;\TES AND ()THfR l~ES~'UR.l'

!38

RIGHT Once sile has made

decorate them in lots of ways.

Tc PL.A..T S ~i.ND OTHER RES OUR

\ve call Puzzle \Vords (so called beC:Juse tbey

can't be ,mmdcd ont

provided templates lor a possible List of words

tor you use, but don:t be tempted to rnake

an exhaustive list ~ 10-12 for sec is all you

need. Your child will learn many more just by

reading.

What you will need

You need to make two sets of Puzzle Word

(Cardho;lrd is be<;t since you v..;-i11 use

these words on their own, with the Moveable

.'\lrn;]hcr, and as guide for ,pelling.) fVlctke

each card inches long and about 2 incnes

high. Choose one color for set one ;ll-;d

dlfferent one tor set [WOo Keep the cards in a

little box on your child's writing shelf so She

can always find them when she needs [hem.

When writing the Puzzle Words on [he canis

do remember ~:ou ,ho111d write them in

same type or'letters as the S3Ddpaper

Letters.

To make the classified cards These cards can be usdul for your child in two

ways: they call be used to help

vocahulary from around the age of two and

also when your child is just be-ginning to reacL

around the age of four and a half.

What to do

You Cdll Inake as Inany different of cards

as you Eke. Ti"y to follow your child's interests.

Each card should have clear picture or the

object that you are going :0 teach the

of and each set should oniy comaln pictures

[hat belong together. For very young children

(hcnvccn rhe- of nvo and four')~ collect

pictures of objects rhar rhev will find in theIr

environmem. Group the cards according to

locltion.

You could, for mstdnCe, collect pictures that

show objects trom around the house.

If you do so, each set should be

according to the rooms in your house, for

a set of objects ii'om the hatnroom.

kitchen. bedroom. living room.

You could collect pictures that show objects

fi:om around the neighborhood. For

of pictures froTn [he park~ Qlr,0"rnOl'k-n

street or

\X/hen your child becomes older you can look at

other" groups" of objects that may :ntercst him.

and the pictures can be

rnore speciBc \vays, ahvays folio\vint; hi')

\Vherever link the cards '"vlth your and

your child's c:-,-plor:lrion of the rea] world.

If you collect cards of the itelTIS you Inight

find in the park: bench. slide, swings. Jungle

gY1Tl, tennis courr, etc then do go to a park J.nd

look at them. If YOU have collected pIctures of

animals, try vvhen you dre out, to looking for

them or draw vour child's attention to them

coHeeted a set of pictures of pets perhaps pictures of J. cat, dog, rabbit, h:1111ster. goidtIsh,

Stick insect. While you are out and aboLlt, you

of

etc.) that she (;In

type of anirnal (say cat), you could In:1ke

or· card, that would show the

of Cdt. such Persian. Tabby, l:z.usslan Blue or

.<J\by')slnian.

'.lila group them

;,.-;.ccording to you Inight ;:i1enl"

garden tlovvers, aipine tloVV"ers, \voodland

tlo\vers, hothouse flc)\vers. j\jvvays try to Ct1ClOSC

T (\ i\" D () T H

pictures that: reflect your child's In

this you will help them to explore their

\:vorld in more and develop the vocabu-

larv to extend their thinking and help them to

talk about what they see. Perhaps your child

will become expert at recognizing all makes

of car on the road if that is her inrerest!

Where to find pictures for cards

rvlail order are good for ilnding

pict11n"'s of the home and garden.

If you hJYC a you couJd your

Qvvn pictUres. ;}[c a very good ,ource

of pic-tmes and you can find these at good

,t;;conery shops m museun:tS

l\ group I once t:mght ,vere

mfected with my enthusiasm for Monet. and

although none of them were over the of

six, they could recognize many of his paintings

and make judgments on the Kind of subject

matter he seemed to iike1

How to make the cards

If vou wish to the cards nseful

YOC:lbl1hr; and for re:lding, it would

be best [0 collect caples of each picture:

one will be used to teach the name or the

object and the other Vilill be used as J

,-necking mc:cn:mism, the "comrol of error"

,<vhen your child reading.

Glue the picture, on colored C1rdho,ud.

ivbke [he cards for the 5erond set (han

th.e cards tor the set \)lncc

write the names of the objects underneath

to

them. lV1.ake a set of separate labels for !1.rst

set. You WIll USe the first set as described in

Chapter 3, teaching the names of the cards by

~1 thre~-period lesson. \-Xlhen your child is

C-:hJpter she "'vViH reJ.d the labels

and match them to the cards of the first set.

COlD_pare \vo!-d;:;, :lno ~ee

reacts it correctly. If you aren1t able to buy tvvo

se(s of pictures, you shou1d still111akc set of

labels and sinlply vvrite the name of the object

AND OTHER R U RC ES

on the back of the picture. In this way, having

read the word on the iabd she can turn [he

picture over to see if she has identified the item

correctly, It is importam to provide [pjs self-

checking mechani:;m as w11l ll1 charge

of her o\vn progr(,,~5, \vh-ich is

self-esteenl.

To rnake books

good for ner

Thwughour this book I have encouraged 'lOU

and your child to make books of your o\;yn.

Here are some ideas for all

Picture books Dra\v pictures that (ell a simple story and 2.sk

your child to organize [hem in ordeLYou can

then tell a swry around the pictures.

PhotClgraph a day in ynl1f

other event) :1nd

life- (or any

her

them into some kind of order and paste therrl

on colored Tie chen) together \'vith

ribbon. If you do this at the corner ie's easv to

turn the over. If your child CJn \vrlre she

1 may like to write a word or two under the

pictures or she may dictd'[e and you can vvTir:e

tor her.

\Vhen she is more able. she have a blaJlk

page opposite to wnte her own story,

Letter books Fold a of paper 1mo three or more sections

to create zigzag or tan book. Put letters at the

top of each section. These call be cut Out ti-om

letter tcrnplarcs, or

dravvn by you or by your child.1'he letters could

spell her name or an objecL You could find

picmres that hegin \v1fh 50nnd on

each makes, Or your child may want tel

dra\v b<egh'1. with that sound.

You could make an alphabet book with your

child. As she learns more and more Sandrapcr

Letters, you can add thenl to book and she

can fInd picmres to paste in that stan v"ieh

each lemon. Do these on loose pieces of

paper you join togerher so the book can

be added to. RCn1cmbcr that this 'tage she

,\(111 noe know the of the alphahet.

When vou have a book with aU the letters and

she knO\\'5 her ::dphahct scq:lcnCE\ you C3n

suggest she organize, the book accordingly.

Story books These may or may not have pictures with

them. Don't make your child thmk ,hat

has to be attachcci to Some

love to others do GrJduaily as your child starts ro teU you stories, you can

begin to vvrite them down for her in the torm of a book. She sees the words that she has

dictated being \.vritten. Do not be tt'mpred to

change the words she uses or the sense of what

she savs at this stage. However. do make sure

that vou spell everything correctly.You could

illustrate the story or simplv keep it in a

h"amifi11 cover that you have made together.

sure to put a title on the coYer :lnd the

author's name. Read it to her whenever she

wants. She will also take it and "read" it.

Your child may draw many pictures thctt ,h"

'Nill start ro label, and occasionally she mav put

speech bubbles on rhem. See if they can be

nude into a collection.

When she is able to quite well, vour

child may draw a picture that has a story and

you can encourage her to vvrite do\vn a te\,v

semenees to descnhe She should be quite

good at this ifshe has using the !\'!nw~Clhle

Alphabet.

In Ch:lprer 8 we looked at a way of helping

your child structure :l S(Oly and then \vfite

one. In this else [he story comes first and can

illustrated iryour child wishes. Write J stOry

together to begin with and then cnCOUr:1gc

You can make this into a book bv

tnn'cribmg omo a comput<~r

;md it together - you caD

buy good binders from q:?[inner),

stOres. Some kinds you simply

on co keep the pages wgNhcr while others hold the pages

together using a series of prepared

holes.Trv to make the bOOK look

as close w a real book as

AND ()T R l-ZESc)CR, 1 +1

Letter '-L-_lLlifIl(UA-Cl

To make the S1nctp::lre-r Letters co their traditional size, vvhen you

knee templates you should enlarge them until

le'Lter 11lC':1st:rcs 2hoi.H '7 inches high by 6 inches

wide~ an eni.HW'''",'nr of around 230~~ in total.

\Vhere

you preI~er

than one version of d letter is given. select: the one

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Puzzle 1 Puzzle \Vords 2

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h b I I l · b ours I I I ao I I t um lire atwn I I

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know

on prepared paper of paper [hat are overleaf

(pagesJ 54~5) vvill be useful for your child as a guide

to helping her to place her letters correctly on

paper. It is important choose p8per that roughly

m;}tches rhe size of her v/Titing when she is \vriting

on plain paper. The size in which she ·writes her

nalne a useful g1ude.

Graph paper This paper allo\,vs your crild to write her letters on

the base hoe but it doesn'[ iimit her letters to a

her to try to keep them

coughly the same, using the as a guide,

Four ih'1es that are color-coded \Vhen vou photocory th",e lines VOll will need to run

over the middle lines in blue and the top and bottom

in red, (You couid use any color, but you will need to

illa[ch it to a hbckhn:1rd if you \vish heT IO use one

colored lirles on ILl

Ihis paper gives for all pans of

:::he letter. The ascenders go up to top red line'

,lnd the dcsccnd~r) to the hotrom [cd

'vvhile the rest of the letter fits

blue

Shaded Line

the

This paper will help your child to form the main

bodv of the letter the ,haded pre and

the height of the :1scendcn :ind dC'~c('nders to ht":f

Qvvn jl.!dgmer1t.

Double Line with darker base l-Iere raper serves 111uch the same function as

the shaded line .. dthcugh the doned line is le"

definilc and rnay be left to cventu:dlv ~1de

k-aving a single line tor \vriting on.

If you decide to I'1hotocopy m0.re th;-:n nne

of paper, it would be heh)iul to your child if they

rnakes it casier for her to identif)r and 1['5 also nice

to have to '.vrire on \vhite all the time,

T PLi\TES A:-":D OTHE RESOUR

for eXlJloratJlon

of the meaning of words In Chapter 7 explore ways in which your child

can discover how difterent words have

be cut om and

used to create the pattern of shapes [hat she places

the labels that you write, You will find

for all of these in rhi'

Keep them in little jars so you onlv need to bring

our the ones you need for each garE-e.

6(\(\ / \

/ ' , \ / \

10 small Hght blue triangles

10 medium dark blue triangles

10 iarge black triangles

10 pink bars (hyphen shapes)

10 green crescent moons

10 smail orange disks or circies 10 red disks or cirdes

Games that you can buy that will be both fun and helpful

There are many cOlnrrlerc:laiiy available games

that are useful and tun to play that can support

your child's learning,

Orchard Toys Shopping List Game The objecr of the game is to fill your shopping

cart with food, This is fun co play and will help

your child to recognize famili;u words.

Slug in aJug This is a rhyming player must find

a card that rhymes with one of their cards,

which they to do bv turning over card

tram a selection that has been placed face

dowu. Once your child has a pair, a fUlillY

rhyme must be made up using the words on

the cank

and Learning I Spy ArOlmd the H0rld

Detailed cards that need dose nbscrvation

provide the basis for this I spy game, Children

spin a letIcrcd first to spy something

on their picture with that lerter gets ro cover it

with a card. first person to cover their

pICture WIth cards is \vinner.

Animal Sound Tracks Listen to the real sounds of animals the

tapes and match them to your game board.

which has delightfil1 photographs

Galt Picture Word Dominoes Picture and word cards linked together bv

cards ,vithjUst words on them,Verv helpful for

word recognition.

Letter lYfatch \vell-illustnted ('ards have bee'n separated om

into three One part has the picture, one

capical and lowcrc3se version of the first

i letter of the object, and one the name of the

object. Each card is cut so that it can

be correctly asscmbld C:lsily.

Stencil Set l-" box (nntaining for the clpitJI :lnd

lOY\TTc;J,sc lerrers. Paint and pencils are also

I included.

Jolly Learning Jiglets ;\1agnetic that \yill ;ltGch to your

fridge or to the small magnetic board that is

suppiied, The letters can fit in any order so the

only wav to do it is to "sound Out" correctly

The words are either phoneDC or have a

digraph in them: Dog, Cat, Hen, Pig and

Boat, Ship and Train,

Letter Sound Games These games are tor chiHren who (an already

read but need to practice, E:lch one has a swrv

book and the game will use the words and

scenes trom the storv,

Individual games include:

Donkey Niatching SounDS Game

Rook Beg1n:1ing Sounds Game

Rabbir Sounds Qmz game

Goat Rhyming Words Glune

Toad Word-:,uilding G.lme

Cocky Rooster Digraphs

Parker Junior Boggle Children try to beat the timer and reproduce

the word on their card using letrer dice, This

game can be played

memory

Spear's Games Junior Scrabble

by copylng, [hen frOID

A gaII1e whlCh Vall match the letters [hat

you have to \vords already \vntten on the

board. This is a usefui imroducrion to

ordinary Scnbble

01' E R QURC 153

: •

: .. , . .... .. :. : . : . .:. : . ·

: .. •

: .-··c ..

: · : •

•

· .. • • • ...........

: • • •• :

• · . • .... · . ·

. •• •

• •

: • •

. '. · ' . ..

• • •

:

.. ..... · ... :

•

: •

• .. : •

· .. • • •

• • .

• ' .. :

· : . : . .

-:-., ~ & •••• " ".0- e * ...... ~ ~ ~ .............................. " ....................................................... " ...................... O-.~"""" It

... ·

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: • ••

: • · :

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Good books for children

;\1:.:::roc Leaf (Puffin Books _ rrle Story

''1D OTHER RES l<-CES

Rhymes and Poems

Roald Dahi (Puffin'),

Books for you to read

Sp~Clai oreier book

Books about the ;\1ontcssori approach

TEI'viPLl\T ~ND OTHER RESOURC

Index Vinci, Rome 7

nun~bers

use 19,36

feeling :md \:<"'T:'ting 92-3, 94

UIJ,,/lll 11

104,111.

gluing letters 96 136

hand control 20, Hmchms, Pac, Rosif'~ r/~dlk 46

collective nouns 13-1-

Key Sound Envelope<; j ! 8,

120 lisr:enmg 19 usmg 0bjects 106, 106-9

158 r N D IN EX! 159

spelling 36. 3.3,101, 117. 133

mabng 122, 124

11 remplates, letter 136-40, 142-9 Three Period L~sson 37-8 Treasure HullC 113-14, 114 TV and video, watching 27- 8

1.lnderm;H:, decan ting 87 UN ESC O 11

verbs and adv~rbs 125-6. 126 12, 14.1 9,51,105, 108, 127

15- 16,16,17.

words 36, 5l descriptive 121, 122

123.124

r:aodeIs

on lines 98-100. 99 ')n prcp;"m:~d 152 p:l tte::-ns in 3rtwork 59-60

SCI; i11S0 ]angl.:;lgc; fe:'l<.iing

160 IN D E X

Useful Addresses

usetul.

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J 1424 Bdlflo'.vcr R oad NE

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Nienhuis [v1onressort USA.

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CA 94041 This Qr~mzatlo ll seils I'vtomcss()ri

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21 ViIH,'y~rd Hill London, SW19 + 44 (0) 181 This organiZJDOn :':lS tntormarion on \-1ontes.sorl schools in rhe LJI{.

eqwpmenr, reSOllrc~s and IirCf:J.am":.

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"111'Si II' I I I