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JennyM
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| Posted: Sept 23 2009 at 4:55pm | IP Logged
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Hello! I am new here and this is my first post aside from my introduction in another thread.
My question is about teaching letters. Do you teach the sound or the name of the letter to your toddlers? I know in the end this isn't something that's going to make or break their ability to read and write, but I'm just curious. Some Montessori things I've read have encouraged teaching the sound-- of course, the Mont. activities and progression of learning follows nicely from this so it makes a lot of sense to me.
This is what we're doing now: up until recently I only used the name of the letter when reading or talking to my daughter. Several weeks ago I started using the sound of the letter when talking about her magnetic letters on the fridge and that has really seemed to click for her. Now, I go back and forth between sound and name when referring to a particular letter.
Thanks for any thoughts you have!
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JodieLyn
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I LOVE the leapfrog dvd's letter factory, talking words factory.. and you hear both on those.. "the A says ah" type, but I've seen kids (mine) and heard of oters that simply could not learn phonics make progress with these.
So I'm happy using both.. besides, I'm sure since I'm not convinced that using the letter sound is superior that I'd be awful at remembering to only use that anyway. 
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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Maryan
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| Posted: Sept 23 2009 at 9:44pm | IP Logged
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I read that too in Montessori and thought I should do that. But I just can't break myself of the habit of calling it the actual letter. And then the more I thought about it... I liked doing both better. When they ask: "How do you spell...?" I can answer with letter names and they know what I mean. So I'm like Jodie doing both like Leapfrog. Just my similar to Jodie's cents.
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Maryan
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Sept 26 2009 at 8:39pm | IP Logged
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I guess I'm thirding the Leapfrog approach to letter name and sound!
We start by introducing the names that the letters have, and then there is a short period of time that we all kind of reinforce that "A says ahh." from the DVD...and then it's never long after those Leap Frog DVD's that they're sounding every letter they see out - so it's not, "hey, mommy, there's a letter W"...it's..."wuh, wuh".
And my children seem to move on their own pretty quickly from there to blending...
My kids have never had trouble with the idea that a letter has a name and makes a sound...of course this is a connection they sort of make on their own - not one I really push.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Sept 26 2009 at 8:40pm | IP Logged
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Oh...one more thing...I meant to say...welcome to the boards, Jenny!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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MaryM
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| Posted: Sept 28 2009 at 1:07am | IP Logged
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I'm bumping so I remember to post more later today when I have a little more time. I am inclined to avoid teaching letter names as the first thing. There are other aspects of reading preparation I found more beneficial than either learning letter names or letter sounds first. Phonemic awareness is what I'd focus on first. It's closer to learning sounds first, but that is too simplictic. I'll explain more later.
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Mary M. in Denver
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: Sept 28 2009 at 6:21pm | IP Logged
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Definitely the Montessori approach is to introduce the phonetic sounds first, followed by digraphs (or phonograms, depending on which resource you're reading - basically letter blends), then followed by puzzle words (words that just don't make any sense, like "the"). By the time a child is doing puzzle words, they are also learning the names of the letters so that by age 5 (if following Montessori to a T and who does that here?  ), they are definitely able to recognize both.
I think the biggest trick is earlier for the introduction, making it fun and hands-on, but not forced. My son knows all of the above, but still doesn't read proficiently, but at least he has the tools for when he is ready. (he's 5 1/2 now)
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happymama
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My older boys were both reading well by age 4 following Montessori style. I have only taught those 2 children to read, which isn't much of a sample size, but for what it's worth:
Lower-case sandpaper letters are so useful. I pick 3 of them, sit with a 3-year-old, and lay them out on the floor. I pick up the one on the left, trace it with a finger and say nothing except for the sound of the letter, and then continue (using the Montessori 3-step method.)
At other times during the day we frequently sing the ABC song. They don't know what they're doing, but they are easily learning the letter names just by doing that.
I proceed the Montessori way until the child is fluent in all the letter sounds, and then (because I'm too lazy to go completely Montessori,) we use the simple book Phonics Pathways to continue, while supplementing with our favorite Montessori language activities as my time permits.
Now, as a caveat: teaching language is the last subject I would choose to spend my time on if I intended to send a child to school for K or 1st grade... if they are already reading well then they will be bored stiff in school... just my opinion!
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JennyM
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| Posted: Sept 28 2009 at 9:35pm | IP Logged
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Thank you so much for all of your input. I really appreciate your experience and thoughts and have much to consider!
MaryM, when you have a chance I'm very interested in what you have to say!
Another question, for those of you who used some of the Montessori approach to teach reading, what were your favorite resources (books) that you used as a guide?
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violingirl
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With my boys I've always used the name and sound together. If I or one of the kids points out a letter I would say "yes, that's a *buh* B." I started doing this because my older son is very black-and-white in his thinking and if I would tell him that B is called B he would argue to the end of time that it is *only* called B and never "buh"!
Favorite Montessori resources for me are the books Basic Montessori and Montessori from the Start. My favorite website is My Montessori Journey. If you want to purchase materials, my favorite for language stuff is www.montessoriforeveryone.com
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Erin
DS (2005) DS (2007) DD (2012)
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Teaching Letters - sound or name?
