The great thing is, most Montessori materials have multiple uses for different age groups. So, here are a few things you can do with the Language Basics:
Beginning set up for 6-9 language:
Pink, blue, & green series materials
Word study materials
Movable alphabet
The Pink, Blue, & Green series materials should include word lists or spelling cards, and pictures and objects of Pink, Blue, & Green series words. Pictures can be photos, clipart, or even cut out of books or magazines. Objects can be easily found around the house or classroom; here’s some suggestions:
Pink Objects
pen
nut
jet (toy airplane)
bag (small gift bag)
cup
bus
map (print a small one off the internet & laminate)
peg (from lite brite)
rug (a small oval of fabric)
top (toy that spins)
box (small jewelry box)
animals from a farm or play set: cat, dog, fox
Blue Objects:
ball
bell
block (wooden toy)
brush (paint or hair)
clip (paper clip)
rock
flag
ring
shell
sock & shoe from a doll
Green Objects:
spool
leaf
rose
dime
cube (square block)
bead
soap (hotel-sized bar)
seed
globe
Okay, now that you’ve assembled some Pink, Blue, & Green materials, you need a movable alphabet. Those can be easily stored in a plastic tackle box (find that at a craft or hobby store).
The child can use the objects and/or pictures to spell words, rhyme words, and write stories – all with the movable alphabet. Have them take all the objects from one set, put them on their rug, and spell each one out with the movable alphabet. Or, choose one object, spell it, and then think of 2-3 words that rhyme with it and spell those out too. Or, have the child spell the color of each object.
The word lists or spelling cards can be used as story starters, spelling tests (both written and oral), spelling bees, and alphabetization practice. Pink, Blue, and Green series words can also be looked up in the dictionary for dictionary practice.
Word Study materials should include title cards that say “masculine/feminine”, “short vowel/long vowel”, “person/place/thing”, and “singular/plural”. The child can use the movable alphabet or slips of scrap paper to write appropriate words for each category. Other word study cards include compound word matching, homophones, prefix/suffix, and contractions.
These materials – and the variations contained within – could easily be used for the first few months of school for 6-9 year olds. Stories written with the movable alphabet could be written on paper in cursive by older students; either they could turn it into cursive on their own, or use a cursive movable alphabet to start with (naturally the difficulty of the story itself will increase as the child’s age increases).
Take a look at our Pink, Blue, and Green Series Materials!