After teaching my first daughter letter sounds and names the traditional way, I kinda felt like my mind was blown when I discovered the Montessori approach. I taught my first born letter sounds and names at the same time and drilled her (e.g. “What is this letter? What does it say?”). Between that and Sesame Street, she had all 26 down pat. We were all happy about her progress toward reading.
What I’ve since learned about using the Montessori method is that you should not introduce letter names AT ALL until the child has a firm grasp on the sounds. At first, I found this ridiculous. After all, I didn’t do it this way with my first born, and she’s doing fine. Why would I switch gears now? Well, here’s why. Now that my first born is older, (soon to be four), I’m finding having learned her letters and sounds simultaneously may have made word building harder for her. For example, when she works to build the word, “sun,” she might suggest starting with the letter, “c,” because the name of the letter has the “s” sound. Not a huge deal, but annoying, nonetheless.
How do you go about teaching sounds only? Well, I’m trying it out with my middle child right now.
Here are some sound-based games:
- Just like “I spy,” but with sounds. “I spy with my little eye something that begins with, “ch.” (saying the sound, not the individual letters, “c” and, “h.”) You might start out a little more broken down for younger kids/beginners by showing them two or three objects in your hands and naming them for the children. Then, you could give them the statement, “I spy…” For more advanced kiddos, “I spy with my little eye something that ends with —” or work on middle sounds. As a bonus, unlike teaching letters and sounds together, you get to teach all sounds including combinations of letters, such as “ch,” “sh,” and “oy” without the confusion of having to try to understand what those sounds look like on paper. Once the child demonstrates knowledge of the sounds (or if he/she wants to work with letters like big sib), it’s time to move on to letter play activities.
- Magnet letters: take a few letters that are of interest to the child such as “m” for mama and “p” for big brother, Peter. Then, show the child the letter and say its sound only. Then, you can say “mmmm is for mama, mmmmmmama.” After a while, he/she can take the known letters to the corresponding people in the family. “What sound is this? Can you take it to Mama?”
Pictures: Currently, I’m taking pictures of family members and some story characters whom my child knows well by name, and I’m asking her to tell me the first sound of each. Next, I plan to give her a small number of pictures and corresponding letters (you can use magnet letters or print some on paper and cut them apart) for her to match up. For example, I might give her pictures of Mama, Dada, and Auntie Bebe with letters, “m,” “d,” and “b” laid out for her on the table. I might have to help by saying, “put the picture of Mama next to the, ‘mmmmmm’ sound.”
Which is best? Should you teach letters and sounds together or separate them like Montessori suggests? I prefer Montessori’s approach, but my oldest is living proof that the mainstream method won’t do permanent damage. She is now working on building words and enjoying it! It’s a bit tricky, but I’m not worried that she won’t get it in time.
