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| Reading Without BooksBeginning Reading Activities in the Montessori EnvironmentReading Without Books? Active learning is one of the key characteristics of the Montessori method. Maria Montessori found early on that reading should not be a subject spared of activity. Instead of passive decoding of passages from a book, the Montessori method of education provides opportunities for movement and drama - allowing the child to demonstrate a full understanding of the reading material. For a beginning reader a book can be overwhelming and not very inspiring. The beginning reader struggles with every word, and can hardly remember the first word of a sentence when they arrive at the last. Also, the books that are written for the beginning reader lack literary merit and are generally uninteresting for the child. In a Montessori environment beginning reading is done with the use of "command cards" or "notes." The adult at first writes the names of objects for the child to "fetch" - such as "a glass" or "a red mat." As the child becomes more fluent at reading these become "commands," such as "Get a big mat. Put a box on it." Later, they become even more sophisticated: "Go and get a handful of gravel. Put it in a cup. Wash it. Pick out the seven pieces that you like best and give them to me." The children love these activities; the commands are "mysteries" to be solved. They involve an activity for that child to do, and so are more personal for the beginning reader than books. Maria Montessori recognized this as important for the child in establishing a love of reading. She writes, in The Discovery of the Child:
For the Beginner, Silent Reading Most people can remember a time in school when the children in their class were required to each read a paragraph of a text out loud. Some of us remember because we were fast readers, and were anxious to know what was going to happen (and the current readers were too slow). We would count the heads in front of us, count the paragraphs to find out which we were to read, and then read ahead, listening for the sound of the person in front of us to signal our turn. We often sympathized with the children who struggled over each word, or perhaps we were one of those children, our faces burning with humiliation as we struggled so hard to read smoothly and coherently that we didn't comprehend what we were reading. Maria Montessori recognized that reading and reading out loud are two different things, requiring different skills. A child who learns to read by reading out loud is often a slower reader, and one who reads with less comprehension than is a child who learns to read silently. To determine a child's level of reading we do not ask the child to read out loud, but give them a "command" in writing, and see if they can understand and carry it out. In a Montessori environment, a child is usually only asked to read out loud if they are struggling, and the adult needs to determine the cause of the difficulty. For example, if a child is struggling over a word which has ough in it, the teacher may want to determine if it is this letter combination that is giving the difficulty. On silent reading, Maria Montessori writes,
At Home? "Treasure Hunts" and "Mystery Games" are great fun for you and your child. You can hide some simple prizes, natural objects such as pretty leaves or nice pinecones work well, and leave a trail of written clues. All of the children in your family can play, with a prize at the end for each child. The "clues" can be written for each child's reading level, with simple ones such as "in the sink" for a beginner. The more advanced reader can have a clue such as "Look in the top drawer of Mom's dresser. In an envelope you will find the next clue." Each clue leads to the next, and each child can have their own set of clues geared to their reading level and their own "prize." For a tentative reader, start simply to ensure success. As your child gains trust in their abilities, there can be a gradual increase in the level of challenge. Repetition is important - some words can be repeated often to help reinforce them, especially "sight" words, those that cannot be phonetically decoded and must be memorized, such as from and to. The prizes, if any, should be simple, as reading and following the "trail" is its own reward. [1] Montessori, Maria. The Discovery of the Child. (New York, Ballantine Books, 1990). pp. 238-239. [2] ibid pp. 239-240. First printed in 1995 by Educational Pamphlets, St. Paul, Minnesota
Revised edition published 2004 by:
Copyright 2004 by Ellen Lebitz No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieveal system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechnical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. |
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