Question
Do you have any resources you would recommend for Early Literacy for I/T?
Answer
Yes! The time from birth to age three is the most important time for children to become literate and learn their native tongue (and a few others while they're at it). Here are a few simple things we can do to support language development at this stage:
Question
Would you be able to tell us how many pages it would take to print the manuals (so I can estimate our print costs)? Also, we don’t have a home printer and would have to use a friend’s printer or a library printer. Is this possible?
Answer
These are great questions. Thank you for asking!
Question:
Why don't all of the Word Study materials include control charts?
Answer:
People ask all the time if we are going to add control charts for all of our word study materials. The answer is, we don't need to! Why? Because the control of error is built in on the activities that don't already have a control chart. Let me explain what I mean.
Question:
My school purchased a bunch of cloth pouches from you and I'm not sure which cards are supposed to go in which pouch. Can you help?
Answer:
We have a custom-cloth pouch for almost every card we make. Here's a quick overview of which pouches are used for which cards. We'll go from smallest to largest.
Question
When should I stop using diapers?
Answer
In our culture, we tend to wait a long time before we start helping children learn to use the toilet. But the truth is that physiologically, the child is ready to start toileting independently somewhere around 18 to 24 months of age. You'll know the time is right because all of a sudden they will start holding it and then letting it out all at once later on.
Question
We are moving. How do I find a great Montessori school in our new location?
Answer
There are three main routes I can recommend to help you find a school. First, just do an internet search for Montessori School near your new local. Get familiar with the names of the schools that exist. If there are none, maybe you should start one!
Next, ask around. A school's reputation means a lot and asking people who already live there (the librarian, your realtor, etc.) can give you a lot of information.
Third, go to the website for the Montessori association in that area.
Question
My son is four and understands the sound form of alphabets. He can also read simple three letter words. But we want to increase his reading abilities. What is a good way to start?
Answer
Excellent question. You can expand the phonetic words he's able to read with our phonetic reading cards (level 1 and level 2) and phonetic activity cards.
If he doesn't know his phonograms/key sounds yet, you can introduce the phonogram alphabet. Once he knows those, encourage him to phonetically spell any word he wants by using the phonogram alphabet alongside the traditional movable alphabet. It is this practice building words and expressing their own ideas that really helps children love language. From there you can,...
Question:
I'm wondering if you are aware that all of your 'wedding' photos in geography folder set 2 are heteronormative. If you have plans to adjust that I would love to hear about it. I felt the need to remove that theme from my folders. Otherwise I think the set is great! Thank you so much.
Answer:
Question:
I just bought two sets of phonogram booklets at our AMI/USA refresher. We love them! I'm wondering if you've ever made "sh" and "ch" and if it would be possible to have those two added to the set? Thoughts?
Answer:
Hooray! I'm glad they're working well for you! We intentionally don't include the sh or ch because the phonogram folders are meant to teach spelling variations, not phonograms. And yes, sh is also spelled with the ti(on) and ci(on) variations. However, those are not in Muriel Dwyer's book and it's not necessary to teach every spelling variation, just enough so we give the child confidence that they can crack the code on the rest.
Question
I purchased the Nienhuis montessori cursive sandpaper letters. The set includes 17 letters. It does not include the "ng" sound but does include : "er" "wh" and "au". Which one's do I need?
Also, do you ever offer multiple sounds, like the way "g" can be both "guh and juh" or do you just stick to one sound? I've wondered this, particularly with many of the vowels. I should also teach "y" as making the sound "ee" because we also have "oy" that makes the alternate sound, right?
