Writing, writing, writing
Writing happens on a daily basis in our classroom.
There are many different ways to write and different stages of writing.
Here are some examples:
Language
writing, writing, writing
In Montessori, writing comes before reading. Children learn through their senses and begin by tracing sandpaper letters. This helps them to learn how to form the letters as well as what phonetic sound goes with each letter.
A child practicing the K in his name. We are also child driven. Although we teach cursive, most children learn how to spell their name with printed letters.
After children learn the sounds of many letters, they begin to sound out words on their own but also can sound out three letter phonetic words.
As they become more proficient writers, they begin to write in their journal. They can write whatever they would like. Some kids liked to write real stories like what they had for dinner, some professed their love for their parents and some liked to look at cards and make up a fairy tale.
As the children enter their third year (Kindergarten year) we often see spontaneous writing. Here a child is asking for what is in the smoothies we made. She wanted to write the ingredients down for her mom.
This child made a list “Eyes only” for the chrysalids so their development would not be disturbed and they could finish the process of metamorphosis.
This child wanted to make a list of what the teachers liked.
This year a few of our Kindergartners wrote their own books. (Really, wrote and illustrated!)
Some of the afternoon children wrote postcards home. Hopefully they were received in the mail this week!
We provide many opportunities for writing in our classroom! It is great fun to watch these skills develop!
Poetry
The afternoon children have had fun helping to write group poems this year. About once a week, the afternoon children gather around the blackboard and think of something to say when given a prompt. This helps inspire creativity and increase language skills. The teacher writes and says the prompt and then asks for children to add their thoughts. Some children begin by saying something similar to another child but eventually begin to think of things to say on their own.
See below each photo for the responses.
“I wish”
that I could go swimming
I had a horse
I could be a horse rider
I could have all the candy in the world
I could drive a big flat bed truck
I could take a nap
I had a fuzzy blanket
I had a wish for Penelope
I could be at school forever
“I wonder” (2 photos)
how far space goes
how far Florida is from Michigan
how (far) Hawaii is from Michigan
how many dinosaurs there are
if dinosaurs flew
how cold ice cream is
how warm summer is
how warm July is
what mom will bring for a surprise on the plane
how much candy is in the world
“I used to think but now I know”
that Earth was solid- that part is liquid
that my pet fish would not die – and now I know my fish died
Penelope was a toddler- that she is a baby
my fish wouldn’t die but then it died in the night
that Cleo was a baby dog- that she is not
that Archie would not go see Hector- that he will
“If I were a leaf I would”
crinkle
bend
blow to the North pole
sleep
blow on Santa
be a maple leaf and eat all the syrup
float on the breeze
“My favorite color is”
blue because I have always liked it
purple because I have always liked it
black because it is all the colors combined
orange because there are so many things that are orange
yellow because Noah is wearing a yellow shirt
silver because it is sparkling
pink because if I paint and mix it up it turns pink
red because it is a little dark
blue because it reminds me of the pool
“Snow is”
fluffy and white
something that makes me feel like making snow angels
made of dirt and ice
marshmallows
something that makes me think of ice skating
something that makes me think of drinking hot cocoa
something that makes me think of making snowmen
cold
Writing, writing everywhere!
Spring is in the air and so is writing!
Writing happens throughout the whole year but right now, writing is everywhere!
Practicing letter formation.
Sounding out and writing three letter words with the moveable alphabet.
Writing with the moveable alphabet and then copying on papers.
Writing a sentence in a writing journal.
Writing Practice
In a Montessori classroom, children are given many opportunities to practice writing without actually having to produce something on paper. This child is very interested in the sandpaper letters, is learning the sounds letters make and wants to write. Once he discovered this work, he was hooked. A chalkboard is provided. Chalk is rubbed on the board. He then chooses the sandpaper letter, traces it with his finger tip and practices the sound it makes. He then dips his fingertip in water and practices writing on the board.
This work has captivated his attention. In a Montessori classroom, children are not told to stop a work they enjoy doing. They are allowed to complete it as many times as they wish.
Learning About Singular and Plural
This Kindergarten aged child has become quite interested in learning about grammar! She is reading and sounding out words at the three letter consonant-vowel-consonant level and knows many sight words. The purpose of this “work” is to have the child understand the difference between nouns that are singular and nouns that are plural.
She places the tags at the top and a teacher helps her to understand that one says singular and one says plural.
She then reads each card and places it in the appropriate column.
One by one she places the tiny objects next to the cards. A lightbulb goes off!
It is a concrete way to introduce beginning grammar!
Spontaneous writing!
In a Montessori classroom, there should be many opportunities for spontaneous writing! Here a child was so excited about her nail polish, she wanted to write it down and draw a picture!
She rolled out a rug, got the movable alphabet and sounded out the words! She then traced her hand and had her story. These opportunities help her to understand how to sound out words, how to write a story and that she has something to say. She was quite proud of herself and couldn’t wait to take it home and show her mom!
A Poem For Mother’s Day
The afternooners wrote a poem for their mothers yesterday. We began this work by thinking of words that came into our mind when we thought of our mothers.
We had the children write them on sticky notes so they could be arranged and moved around.
This is what they wrote:
Hug Kiss Cutest
Best Cook Baking
Brownies Muffins
Love
The children put a lot of thought in how to arrange the words. It was wonderful to watch them work this out as a group.
After the words were written, they flipped the watercolor paper over and used crayons and watercolors for a wax-resist art project.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of our amazing Mothers!!!!
Opportunities for Writing
Writing and reading go together and we try to provide opportunities and encourage children to write. Montessori language work begins with the metal insets. Here a child learns to hold a pencil and gain some control while creating beautiful images in many colors. As they progress through the many works, children may want to begin writing letters. They move on to writing their name and pretty soon various messages. These messages can be anything from writing a sign to let others know to “take only one paper towel” to writing words in a book. Here are some examples:
T Rex was dead in a big explosion. To: Angela
Mother’s Day Book of Flowers
Rose
“ar” words
Children are not put under pressure to spell things perfectly but encouraged to express themselves by sounding out the words. Eventually, as they work through the language materials, they see many words and how they are spelled.
Verbs
Some of our older children who are fluent readers are also beginning the study of grammar. In Montessori, we follow the child and they were very interested in the grammar boxes in the classroom. We decided to first play our verb game with the verb boxes. Imagine charades with words they can read. The children read the words and we take turns acting them out for the others to guess. We then talk about how these are “action words.”
We then decided they would make an illustrated verb book. They thought of various verbs, wrote the word and then drew pictures. We then copied each child’s work, cut the papers and assembled the books.
Here are some of the words they came up with: hug, battle, fly, moving, kiss, run, go, bite, sing, eat, flip, spin, play, shoot (a basket!), knit, rip, creep, swim, button, walk, sneeze, kick, wink, nap, dig, sort, lock, cook, spit, knock, kiss and ride