Learning to Read Words in the Early Years
The First Reading Activity with Montessori Pink Box 3
Apr 28, 2009
In Montessori schools, the young child learns to read using carefully selected word cards that label miniature toys. This activity is named Pink Box 3. Parents can easily create the material for use at home. Do ensure that each word is neatly written on the card, and well centralized. Handwrite the cards rather than have them computer generated. This encourages the child to want to do the same. Use different coloured cards to categorize the different reading challenges.
A Collection of Tiny Manipulatives
In this introduction to reading, the child is first encouraged to manipulate tiny objects. One by one, the child plays with the item, names and and discusses it. Oral proficiency is, after all, critical for literacy. Have the child line the objects either vertically or horizontally. Ensure that there is enough space for the word cards to be placed next to or below the objects. Do not use more than 4 to 6 objects for a start.
The objects selected may be a miniature top that the child can spin, a toy bus or van that can be pushed along, or familiar items that invite demonstration of their usage such as a peg, a handheld fan or a jug. Items that encourage physical exploration will attract the young child who is a motor-sensorial learner, whose hands must be engaged in any learning activity. Object size also matters as the young child is drawn to tiny objects.
The Montessori Pink Level Words
All the objects have 2- or 3-letter names, with the vowel-consonant or consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. Each letter makes the sound that the child learnt earlier on with the sandpaper letters. These are the Montessori Pink Level words.
Do not use items like the cow or car as these will confuse the child. Their names carry the vowel digraphs ow and ar. The use of letter combinations for speech sounds is more challenging and only introduced much later. The early words that the child reads carry only the 5 short vowel sounds – a (pan), e (red), i (bib), o (box) and u (mug).
Reading the First Word
Choose with care the very first word card that the child reads. Select a word that begins with a consonant continuant, ie a consonant sound that you can hold or stretch like s, m or f. These are easier to hear and to produce than the consonant stops such as b, t or k..
Point to the first letter of the word and ask the child to sound it out, and to do the same with the rest of the letters.Gently remind the child if he or she forgets the letter sound, which is understandable as the letters look alike and sounds are similar. Clearly children who have had rich experiences with letter shapes and their sounds will find it less frustrating when they begin to read.
Blending Sounds
Next, teach the child to blend the individual sounds, which is a new skill for the child. This means that the child needs to join or drag the first sound to the next, and the third sound. It might help to join the first and second sounds, and then to join the blended sound to the last sound. Good phonemic awareness helps in this process.
Blending of course distorts the word as each sound is stretched to meet the next one. Guide the child next to say the sounds faster and faster until eventually the word shrinks back in length and the child can hear the target word.
The Reading Process
The reading process seems laboured and tedious as the child tries to decode or sound out the word. The child may stumble over sounds and struggle to put them together. But through all this hard work, the child gains an understanding of what makes up the written word and its connection to oral language. It is this knowledge that allows the child to eventually decode all the other words that he or she encounters in print. Of course, with repeated practice, fluency will set in.
The Communicative Aspect of Print
When the child has read the word card, invite the child to place it with the tiny object he or she played with earlier on. The child then goes on to read and match the cards with the rest of the objects that have been laid out. The child is therefore reminded that reading is more than the mechanical activity of sounding out and blending. Reading communicates meaning.
In conclusion, the first reading exercise for the child is critical. When the reading process is comprehensible to the child, the child will want to continue to explore the world of print.
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