Module #6

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Question 1: How do we give the concept of grass letters, root letters and sky
letters to the child?
It is never too early or too soon to speak clearly and precisely to a child to develop and
subsequently improve their spoken and written language. This learning exercise begins at
home, within a facilitative environment created by the parents or caregivers. Reading
conducive but fun stories out loud are an example of what can be done to help build a child’s
vocabulary naturally in a fun manner, while also instilling a love for reading and literature
within him.

Ideally, there should be refrain in terms of teaching kids to read and write before the age of
six/seven, however, in preparation for it, certain things may be taught to create a helpful base.
This includes introducing children to sensorial experiences of appropriate materials as early
as the age of three years old.

A vast majority of written language is based in lower case letters, and as such these should
be introduced and taught first to the child as opposed to capital letters; for e.g. ‘a’ instead of
‘A’. During this stage, only sounds are pronounced instead of words themselves.

Material:
- Small Moveable Alphabet (all in the same colour)

- Large piece of paper with four lines; top and bottom lines are pink in colour while the rest
are aquamarine

Concept of the Grass Letters:

The directress starts off by introducing the concept of the grass letters to children. She takes
out the letter ‘a’ from the box and places it right between the first set of lines. She then
demonstrates to them how the letter fits completely between the middle two lines, and this is
what is referred to as the ‘grass letter’. She then asks the children to find other letters that fit
between said lines in the same way. When they have done so with all the possible letters, she
announces that these are known as the “grass letters in small alphabet”, i.e. a, c, e, i, m, n, o,
r, s, u, v, w, x and z.

Concept of the Sky Letters:

Next up, she takes out the letter ‘b’ and places it at the start of the
second set of guide lines and demonstrates to the students that a letter with a stem that goes up all
the way to the pink line is known as a ‘sky letter’. Again, like earlier, she asks them to find other
letters whereby the stem goes up to the pink line. When they have successfully done so with all the
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possible letters, she announces that these are known as the “sky letters in small alphabet”, i.e. b, d,
f, h, k, l, and t.

Concept of the Root Letters:

Lastly, she places the letter ‘j’ on the third set of guide lines as
the children are now ready for this stage. She explains to them that a letter with a tail going
down to the lower pink line is known as a ‘root letter’. She then encourages them to find all
such letters with a tail going down. Once they have successfully done so, she announces that
such letters are known as the “root letters in small alphabet”, i.e. g, p, q, j and y.

Grass, sky and root letters are introduced to children in the Montessori Classrooms through
Three Period Lessons, which is a very useful method of teaching them not just in the
classroom setting but in the home environment as well. It is vital that both directresses and
parents encourage the child in the process of learning to write these groups of letters on a
chalkboard or the marker board after arranging them out on the mat.

Question 2: Write a detailed note on Montessori green boards and writing

on paper exercises.

Preparatory Exercise:

Materials:
- Tray large enough to make a sandpaper letter

- Enough sand in the tray to cover the bottom

Presentation: This work is done parallel to work with the Sorting Letters. The directress
invites a child to come work with her. Together, they choose one sandpaper letter and bring it
over to the table, placing it next to the tray of sand. They trace the sandpaper letter a couple
of times, before the teacher shows the child how to trace the letter in the tray and explaining
that they are both the same letter. She also shows him how to make it disappear by shaking
the tray gently while still placed on the table. The child can continue emulating this exercise
with his hands in the sand before he can progress towards using a stylus/pen etc. Finally,
when he is completely comfortable with the former, he may graduate towards Chalkboard
work

Blank Board Exercise:

Material:
- Set of green chalkboards 32cm x 50cm each
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- The first board is blank on one side and ruled to guide the placement of letters on the other
side

- Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth

- Sandpaper letters and numerals

Presentation: The children are invited over and told that they be learning how to write
with the aid of something, as you have them bring over the box with the eraser, dust cloth and
hand cloth. They are then asked to choose a sandpaper letter. All the materials are gathered
and placed above the chalkboard, including the tray. The sandpaper letter is traced a couple
of times, after which the directress writes the sandpaper letter multiple times with a chalk on
the board in a straight line across. They are then erased in a left to right and top to bottom
fashion with the eraser, before wiping the board with the dust cloth. Finally, the hands are
cleaned with the hand towel/cloth. Now the children are encouraged to repeat the same steps
as the directress. A change of clothes may be recommended after this exercise to clean up any
chalk residue or strains. The child should be encouraged to make the letters smaller as his
skills improve.

Square Board Exercise:

Material:
- Set of green chalkboards 32cm x 50cm each

- The board has one side ruled in squares and the other ruled in horizontal lines

- Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth

- Sandpaper letters and numerals

Presentation: Following the same method as above, the directress shows the child how to
write a single letter or numeral in a square. The same letter will be repeated across the row
and the child may even choose to make the same letter over the entire board. Alternatively,
they may choose a different one for each separate row. Either way, their choice should be
respected. Some kids may find doing the whole board overwhelming or boring, in which case
they may be allowed to follow their own pace and progress towards each row as and when
they are ready. Similarly as before, the child should be encouraged to make the letters smaller
as his skills improve.

Double Guide Lines Board Exercise:

Material:
- Set of green chalkboards 32cm x 50cm each
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- Double guide line board

- Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth

- Sandpaper letters and numerals

Presentation:
Follow the same steps as before. Additionally, show children how to place the body of a letter
between the two lines and how the stem goes above the line and the tail below. On the first
set of lines, do a letter with a main body only. On the second line, make a letter with a stem,
while on the third, one with a tail. Using sandpaper letters is not necessary at this stage.

Single line board exercise:

Material:
- Single Line Board

- Sandpaper letters

Presentation: Exercise is carried out the same as earlier, however, there is a possibility
that with all the practice above, they might prefer writing straight onto paper at this point
instead of a single line board. When the child is secure writing with the chalk, you can talk to
the child about the letters, and ask which one is most like the sandpaper letter. This is the
beginning of the child assessing and becoming aware of their own writing. Sometimes it is
helpful to talk about “why” one may look more like the sandpaper letter. This helps to give
the child practice in writing.

Question 3: What are upper case letters? How do we introduce them to the
child?
Upper case letters here refer to English language alphabets in there capital form.

Materials:
Three sets of twenty six cards, one for each letter of the alphabet:

- The first set is 8x10cm and each card has one letter written in the lower case, i.e. small
letter

- The second set is 98cmx10cm and each card has one letter written in the upper case, i.e.
capital letter

- The third set is 16cmx10cm and has one letter written in both the lower and upper cases; the
lower case letter on the left and the upper case letter on the right.
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Presentation: This exercise is most suited to children around the age of five. The
directress starts off by inviting a child to come and with her as she introduces the material to
him. Initially she chooses three letters where the capital letters hold a striking resemblance to
their lower. Case letter counterparts. She then introduces the names of the letters to the child
in this lesson, in contrast to only introducing their sounds as discussed earlier.

She then shows the child the lower case letter first before showing the upper case and
announcing its name alongside its nature as being a ‘capital letter’. She repeats the same for
two more letters. She uses the help of Three Period Lessons to enforce the learning of these
terms, using ‘upper case’ and ‘capital letter’ alternatively. When it is apparent that the child is
comfortable with these, she continues on with three at time now until all the letters have been
covered.

The teacher now lays out all the lower case letters at random in vertical columns, leaving
ample room beside it to place the capital letters. She gives the child the upper case letters one
at a time and has him place each next to the lower case letter. She then poses a question to
him in a manner of discussion, asking if the capital letter looks the same or different to the
lower case letters, using the terms ‘capital letter’ and ‘upper case’ interchangeably. Once all
the letters have been covered in the lesson and placed accurately, she checks with the third set
of cards before replacing it. She concludes by collecting the lower case letters, as well as the
upper case letters in alphabetical order respectively.

This exercise enables children to recognize and differentiate the upper case form of the letter
from the kind he already knows, i.e. the lower case. It also aids in the punctuation of a
sentence as well as indirectly helps the child write.

Question 4: Explain how would you give the concepts of subtraction and division?

Materials:

- Collection of objects/animals

- Colour-coded grammar cards

- Black nouns, royal blue adjectives, red verbs and grey articles

Presentation:

The directress starts off by introducing children to the box containing the collection of
objects/animals and giving them a chance to set up the farm and have a discussion about what
the objects and different animals are unto. This is very helpful for children who are not
proficient in the language of instruction as second-language speakers, as well as kids with
delayed language concerns as this gives them an opportunity to practice and explore the
language in a stress free and casual environment.
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Once they have worked with the early grammar noun cards, they can then be introduced to
the noun cards in the farm. The teacher should ask the child to set up the farm, take out the
black and naming cards, and then read them out one by one as she places them next to the
relevant objects. Similarly, once the children have familiarity with early grammar adjective
cards, they may be introduced to the farm box adjective cards by demonstrating to them how
to place the adjective cards next to the noun cards. The child first reads the noun card,
attempts to find the object is then asked to go through the adjective cards to try and find a
word that best describes the objects, for e.g. ‘plump’ to be paired with ‘piglet’. The teacher
may also introduce the first set of lower case article cards by teaching the children how to
place this next to the adjective card. Allow them to continue this exercise with the rest of the
objects and pairing cards.

Finally, the verb as well as upper case article cards may be introduced to the children, with
the verb cards being placed next to the noun cards, and article cards next to the adjective
cards. The child starts by reading the first noun, for e.g. ‘man, finding an object to match it,
and then associating an adjective with it, for e.g. ‘strong’. The teacher then directs them to the
final part of the exercise by asking, “What does the strong man do?” The child may respond
in one of several verbs, for e.g. ‘sits’. The directress then reminds him that they are
constructing a sentence, which the article needs card to start with a capital letter. The child
finds the card saying ‘The’, hence completing the sentence, i.e. “The strong man stands.”

On each occasion the cards are returned to the bottom of their respective piles so that the
child can read the next card. The child then reads the next noun card and continues sentence
building as before.

These exercises assist children in learning the grammatical structure of phrases and sentences
through the use of cards.

Question 5: Prepare material for the following and send along with assignment;
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Javeria khatoon

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