C Says “s” before e/i/y Montessori Style Reading Rule Cards

Here are cards to establish the reading rule C says “s” before E/I/Y in the English language.

We are following Spell to Write And Read, a curriculum that offers English language rules to children as they learn to read and spell. I am developing Montessori matching style cards for our learning, as I think the Montessori matching method is stronger than the Spell to Write and Read “dictation” method. In our alphabet, three consonants (C, G, S) make more than one sound, I’ll be posting the other cards as I make them here.

C says “s” before i/e/y

 

“Green” Montessori Inspired I Spy Jar

In an effort to reuse our broken toys in the house, I thought I’d put them into a jar and make an I Spy game like the ones I have seen in stores. I’ve always thought the game was cute, but passed it up. Anyhow, a light bulb went on when I saw my poor pile of broken toys and items that have no good home. I used a canning jar with lid and ring, but think any recycled empty spaghetti sauce jar would work. We had a pile of beads I put in, but you could use rice or beans too. Finally, I poured in beads, shoved in our poor, broken toys headed for the trash, and sealed it up. It literally took only a few seconds and will lead to tons of fun. My 5-year-old is used it for language work immediately:)

Our recycled toys:

(1) die cast scoop with a missing bucket

(2) a wooden plane ornament with a cracked wing

(3) a used spool

(4) a baby spoon we no longer use

(5) playmobile scuba tank with a cracked top that no longer clips on our people

etc. USE WHAT YOU’D GET RID OF:)

Before:

After:

 

Environmentally Friendly Montessori Sandpaper (Felt) Letters

I LOVE Montessori because everything is learned using tactile methods. This, however, means there are a LOT of materials to prepare. Sometimes I worry about the “greenness” of all of these materials that I keep making. Here I found a “green” option for Montessori Sandpaper Letters that uses recycled pop bottles and cardboard. These were super fast, cheap, easy, and when they are outgrown we can recycle the felt for another project.

1. I purchased these letters at Joann’s store. They are made from eco-fi as the packaging says, and are 100% made from recycled plastic bottles. I love closing the loop on that recycle chain:) The letters are precut and have sticky backs. Just peel and stick!

2. I cut up our cardboard boxes into matching size cards. I didn’t have enough right away, but quickly finished them up.

3. I applied the letters to the cards. Not much to it:)

4. Our storage box is 1/2 of a small tissue box, I just cut it in half.

 

Montessori Car Bingo

Montessori Car Bingo Match-up

You will need:

Print out the following file: Reading Bingo (The words are printed in lowercase print, however, I have the word also in Spanish and in capital letters. These help my son when he is sounding out words and he gets confused with “d” “b” or “e” “g”. It’s a way for him to self check. They are at the bottom so just cut them off if you don’t want them, or if your child is at a different level you can use those words instead – the game is still the same.)

1 – File Folder

2 – sandwich baggies

3 – velcro sticky dots (10) loops (32) hooks

1. Print out the reading bingo file, cut out the words and laminate.

2. Put your file folder open wide on your table, inside facing up.

3. Put your laminated cards face down on the table and place your hook side (the rougher side) sticky side down on the center of the cards. Then place the velcro loop side to connect ONLY 10 OF THEM, this will leave the sticky side of the loop side UP & EXPOSED.

4. You can then take those 10 cards and line them up in your file folder. Place them evenly down the folder in two aisles, see photo. Place the words down the left column and the pictures on the left column.

5. Put the left over photos and pictures in the baggies, one bag for photos, one for words.

6. Staple or tape the baggies on the left side of the folder so your child can store the words he/she isn’t searching for at the time. These are available so your child can change-up the game and not become bored easily.

7. Fold up your file folder and store in the car.

To Play: Have your child select five words and velcro them on the left column. Your child can then read the words and search for them while you are driving. Once found, your child can velcro them in and search for the next.

 

Montessori Word Match Treasure Hunt

So, my son is really enjoying the command cards, reading them like mad and I’m trying to encourage him to read his pink level cards. He CAN, but he’s bored with them, in fact I don’t think he’s ever used them, so I created this game. I hope any of you with boys can use this. I’ve noticed they like a little action!

You will need your picture and word matching cards, one note card and enough envelopes for all of your pictures. That’s it!

1. Take your pictures/photos and tape them onto any size envelope (a baggy would work too). Keep the words in a separate pile. We started out with six of them. Every picture needs to be on an envelope and have a corresponding word.

2. Designate one picture as your “treasure.” I drew on a note card “You have found your treasure.” We also put an X because of course it marks the spot! (We didn’t put any money or candy inside, I didn’t want to encourage him to read for prizes, but just for the fun of it. He was completely fine with this. In fact, he told me this is by far his favorite Montessori game. (Sweet!) )

3. Slip your “found your treasure” card into ANY envelope and set aside. Now slip your rest of your words into any envelopes and you’ll have one extra word left. This will be your first clue. PLEASE NOTE: Make sure you DON’T MATCH the word to the SAME envelope picture. This is very important. I just start with the word that would match the “treasure” envelope and work backwards.

4. “Hide” your envelopes around the house, classroom, yard, wherever. The pictures NEED to be visible, at least in the beginning. We started hiding them later as my son wanted more of a challenge.

5. Go back to your first clue card, (the word card that was left out of all the envelopes) and let your child read the clue (the card). Then he/she finds the matching picture on the envelope placed around the house. When he/she searches and finds the picture, he/she opens the envelope and reads the next clue, which then sends them to find the next picture on the next envelope and so on, until the end. Then we find our treasure and start again. It’s just picture matching with walking.

Please ask any questions, I hope this makes sense. My son is loving it! So much so that you’ll notice in the photo he wrote his own clue word as well.

 

Short Vowel Command Cards (in Spanish too)

My son LOVES command cards, he’s giddy to read more and more because we do something too (this boy loves a little action in his life). Anyhow, I made these command cards in lowercase, but on the bottom right is the word in uppercase (to help with some of his trouble letters like (e/g)(d/b), etc.), and I also included the Spanish verb untranslated. This is to continue our Spanish exposure. I find if the word is in front of me, I use it more often. You can print and cut or you can just copy the info on 3×5 cards because they’re sturdy.

short vowel sound command cards

 

Montessori Moveable Alphabet

Our Montessori moveable alphabet is made from chipboard letters in the scrapbooking aisle. I paid $10 for a stack of tons of different colors because I wanted the red and blue in the stack. I used my husbands old nut, screw, bolt sorters that he no longer needed. My son put some stickers on the lids (which are great because otherwise my 2 year old would strew the letters across the house – the lids prevent this), and I screwed the three separate containers onto a small piece of wood to keep them together. They are smaller than the moveable alphabet, but my son doesn’t fail in handling them, so they haven’t provided any problems.

 

Montessori Sandpaper Letters Download

I have made our own sandpaper letters in one evening, with the help of a four and two year old. Here are the files to download the letters, just print them out, laminate them, and then paint in the letter area (which is white) with fabric paint. I used yellow because it’s my son’s favorite color. They dry quickly and the fabric paint allows it to flex so they don’t just peel off. We have renamed them our “feeling” letters as they are not actual sandpaper. I don’t want to confuse them. They are red and blue to match Montessori sandpaper letters.

lowercasealphabet

uppercasealphabet

lowercasephonograms

 

Montessori Pink/Blue/Green Level Language Games Link

Thanks to wonderful sharing in the Montessori Yahoo group I found this website. It has great phonics print outs.

Phonics Activities

Here is our flip book I made with a four and two year old’s cutting help in two nights! I would also recommend using a sturdy cardboard instead of their suggested construction paper. It needs rigidity to stand properly. Finally, for the rings you can use very large key rings if you don’t have anything else available.