ASSIGNMENT MODULE 6

Rabia
Shazeb

DK2007

QUESTION# 1
How do we give the concept of grass letters, root letters and sky
letters to the child?

The most important preparation of the environment for the successful

development of spoken and written language in the child’s personality is
the home language. It is never too early to speak clearly and precisely to
the children. The successful environment for the language is created at
home by the mothers and caregivers. Reading aloud for the child at
home, gives the message to the child that reading is fun for him. Reading
the story books for the child by his mother at home makes the meaning
clear and he knows how to use the word with the sense in his language.
The child builds his vocabulary unconsciously through listening to the
story books from his mother which would never come up in spoken
language.
Although reading and writing should not be taught to a child before the
age of six or seven, yet he is introduced to the concepts of reading and
writing by giving the sensorial experiences and appropriate materials
and sometimes as early as three or four years of age.
Since 99% of written language is in lower case letters. In the Montessori
classroom and at home the child should be taught firstly with the small
alphabets rather than capital (“a” and “b”, not “A” and “B”). During the
introduction of the small alphabet to the child the sounds are pronounced
instead of the words.
Using the Moveable Alphabets:
 Take the small alphabet set and all the letters should be in the same
colour.
 Take either one large piece of cloth or the piece of paper with four
lines, the top and bottom lines are pink in color and rest of the two
lines are aquamarine.

Concepts of the Grass Letters:

 First of all, try to give the concept of the grass letter to the child.
 Thus, take out the letter “a” from the box and place it between the
first set of lines.
 Then teach to the child that the letter fits completely within the
middle two lines called the grass letter and ask the child to try to
find out other letters than can be perfectly fit between the two
lines.
 When he has placed all those letters which are fit between two
lines, tell him that these are all grass letters in small alphabet (a, c,
e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, y, z) these letters are called “the grass
letters”.

Concept of the Sky Letters:

 Next, take out the letter “b” and place it at the beginning of the
second set of the guide lines and show to the child that a letter with
a stem goes up to the pink line is called a sky letter.
 Then, ask the child to find out all other letters with the stem going
up the pink line.
 When the child is successful in completing to fit the letters up to
the pink line then make him introduce that these letters are called
“the sky letters”. (b, t, d, f, h, k, l, b).

Concept of the Root Letters:

 At the end, on the third set of guide line, place the letter “j”
 The child is ready to learn about the third set of the guide line, tell
the child that which is letter with a tail going down to the lower
pink line is called the root letter.
 Then, ask the child to find out all other letters with a tail going
down. These letters are called “the root letters”. (q, p, g, j, y).
 Grass, sky and root letters are introduces to the child in the
Montessori classrooms through “Three Period Lesson”.
 Actually three period lesson is very important in teaching to the
children not only in the Montessori Classroom but also at home.
 Mothers of all over the world can make the child intelligent
through giving the basic idea of the knowledge. So, provide the
material of learning the knowledge to the child whenever he likes.
 Encourage the child in learning to write these groups of letters on a
chalkboard or the marker board after arranging them on the mat.
 Rabia
Shazeb
DK2007

QUESTION#2
Write a detailed note on Montessori green boards and writing on a
paper exercises.

Chalkboards:

Materials for Preparatory Work:

 Small tray, large enough to make a sanpaper letter.
 Enough sand in the tray to cover the bottom.

Materials for Chalkboard Work:

 Set of green chalkboards 32cm*50cm each.
 The first board is blank on one side and ruled to guide the
placement of letters on the other side.
 The second board has one side ruled in squares and the other ruled
in horizontal lines.
 Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust cloth, and a hand
cloth.
 Sandpaper letters and numerals.

Preparatory Exercise:
  Invite one child to come and work with you.
 You and the child choose one sandpaper letter and bring it to the
table.
 Then go and get the tray of the sand and place it to the right of the
sandpaper letter.
 Trace the sandpaper letter. Repeat two to three times.
 Then tell the child that you are going to trace the letter in the tray.
 Move the tablets over to the left.
 Slide the tray in front of you and trace the same letter as the
sandpaper letter into the slide.
 Show the child that you have made the same letter.
 Show the child how to “make it diappear” by gently shaking the
tray from side to side but keeping the tray on the table.
 Have the child trace the sandpaper letter and then make the letter in
the sand.
 The child can continue making letter in the sand.
 Once he is comfortable tracing the letter in the sand, he can then
work with the stylus.
 Once he is comfortable with using the stylus and writes a few of
the letters in the sand, he is ready to begin with the chalkboard
work.

Presentation 1: Blank board:

Materials:
 Sand paper letters
 Blank board and chalk tray.

Presentation:
 Invite one child to come and work with you.
 Tell him that you will be using something to help us to write.
 Introduce the child to the chalkboard and have him carry it in the
middle of the chalkboard.
 Then have the child choose a sandpaper letter.
 Then have the child sit to your left.
 Take out all of the materials and place it above the chalkboard.
 Then place the tray also above the chalkboard.
 Trace the sandpaper letter a few times.
 Use the chalk and write the sandpaper letter multiple times on the
board in a straight, horizontal line.
 Erase the letters written in an up to down, left to right manner.
 Use the dust cloth and clean your hands, replace it.
 Move everything over so the child can write the same sandpaper
letter.
 Suggest to the child the they may keep writing this letter.
 If the child seems very comfortable writing this letter, you may
show them another letter. If not, wait for the future time.
 Once done, show the child how to put away the materials.
 If the clothes are dirty, you will need to change them.
 Encourage the child to continue practicing from time to time.

Exercise:
This game is to be done in a group. The directress would have the
children sit in a circle around a mat. She would then hand out the
materials (for example one cube of the pink tower to each child). The
children hold the cube behind the backs and feel them. The directress
would then ask for the largest cube to be placed on the mat. By
feeling their cube, the children are being asked to feel for the
recognition of the sizes of the cubes. Contunue asking for certain
 cubes working your way from the biggest cube to the smallest cube,
until all the cubes have been placed on the mat.
Presentation 2: Square Board
Materials
 Chalkboard with squares and chalk tray.
 Sandpaper letters.

Presentation:
 Following the same procedure, show the child how to write a
single letter pr numeral in a square.
 The same letter will be repeated across the row.
 The child may choose to make the same letter ove the entire board.
Or she may choose to make the different letter for each row.
 Some children will find doing the whole board too much, so the
child can build up to it as they are ready.
Exercise:
The child works with the board as shown.
Presentation 3: Double Guide Lines Board
Material
 Double guide line board and chalk tray
 Sandpaper letters
Presentation:
 As before
 Show the child how to place the body of the letter between the two
lines an show how the stem goes above the line and the tail goes
below:
  On the first set of lines, do a letter with only a main body. On the
second line. Make a letter with a stem, and on the third line, make
a letter with a tail.
Exercise
The child, if ready, does not need to use the sandpaper letters.
Presentation 4: Single Line Board:
Materials:
 Single line board
 Sandpaper letters.
Presentation:
Same as above
Exercise:
Child works as shown
Note:
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 his
own writing. Sometimes it is helpful to talk about “why” one may look
more like the sandpaper letter.

Purposes:
To give the child practice in writing.
Control of Error:
The sandpaper letters and numerals
Age:
4 and a half onwards.

Rabia
Shazeb
DK2007
QUESTION#3
What are the upper-case letters? How do we introduce them to the
child?

Materials:
Three sets of twenty-six card, one for each letter of the alphabet.
 The first set is 8*10cm, one for each card has one letter written in
the lower-case.
 The second set is 98cm*10cm and each card has one letter written
in the upper-case (capital letters).
 The third set is 16cm *10cm 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.

Presentation:
 Invite one child to come and work with you.
 Introduce the material to the child and have him bring it over to the
table.
 Choose three letters fir the initial presentation, where the capital
letters look a great deal like the lower-case letter.
 Use the names of the letters in this lesson.
  If the child gives you the sound, affirm it but go to using their
names.
 Show the lower-case first and use this term.
 Show the upper case and give the term. Also give the term “capital
letters”.
 Repeat for two more letters.
 Teach the new term with the Three Period Lessons. Be sure to use
the terms “upper-case and “capital letter” alternatively.
 When the child is sure of those, continue with three at a time, until
you have completed all of the letters.
 Lay out all of the lower-case letters at random in vertical columns,
leaning sufficient space to put the capital letters beside them.
 Give the child the upper-case letters (one at a time and have them
place each next to the lower-case letter. Discuss now and then if
the capital letter looks that same or looks different to the lower
case-letter. Use both terms alternatively for the upper-case letters.
 Once all upper-case letters have been placed, check with the third
set of cards.
 Replace the third set of cards.
 Collect the lowest case letters in alphabetical order.
 Collect the upper-case letters in alphabetical order.
Exercise:
The child works with the materials as shown.
Purpose:
Direct:
 To help the child recognize the upper-case form of the letter he
already knows in the lower-case.
 To aid the punctuation of a sentence.
Indirect:
To help the child write.

Control of Error:
 The card showing both lower and upper-case for each letter.
Age:
 5 years onwards.
 Rabia
Shazeb
DK2007

QUESTION#4
How do we introduce the concept of noun, article, adjective and
verb to the child with the help of farm environment?

Materials:
 Collection of objects/animals.
 Color-coded grammar cards – noun (black), adjectives (royal blue),
 Verbs (red), articles (grey)

Objective:
To learn, through the cards, the grammatical structure of phrases and
sentences.

Presentation 1:
Introduce the child to the box and allow him/her to setup the farm and
discuss the objects and what the various animals are doing. This is very
good for second-language children and language-delayed children as it
gives them the opportunity to explore in a unpressured environment.

Presentation 2:
When the child has worked with the early grammar noun cards, you can
introduce him/her to the noun cards in the farm. Ask the child to set up
farm and take out the black cards, the naming cards. He/she can read thr
first card and either place it against the object, or bring the object down
to the card.
If the child id enthralled by an object and want to start with that
particular one, do not worry. It just means that the child has to read more
cards as he/she has to read through the pile to find the appropriate card.

Presentation 3:
Again, once the child has worked with the early grammar adjective
cards, you can introduce him/her to the adjective cards in the farm box,
showing him/her to place the adjective cards in front of the noun cards
(revision of noun and adjective game). The child reads the noun card,
finds the object and is asked to read through the adjective cards to find a
word that describes the object, e.g., “plump” to go with “piglet”.
At this point you can also introduce the first set of article cards in lower-
case showing the child how to place this in front of the adjective cards.

The child then puts the cards at the bottom of their respective piles,
reads the next noun card “man” looks through the adjective cards and
find “strong”, e.g., “the strong man” the child continues to use the cards
this way.
 Rabia
Shazeb
DK2007

QUESTION# 5
Prepare material for the following and send along with the
assignment:
 Logical Adjective Game
 Logical Adverb Game
 Noun Cards
 Adjective Cards
 Verb Cards
LOGICAL ADJECTIVE GAME:
LOGICAL ADVERB GAME:
ADJECTIVE CARDS: