DR. MARIA MONTESSORI
Language in the Montessori primary environment can be divided into three areas. There is reading, writing as in the fine motor of writing or handwriting and writing as in the thought process of writing or being an author.
A well-loved material, typically presented during the kindergarten year, is the Story Moveable Alphabet. This material incorporates all areas of language. The large, wooden box contains small letters written in cursive on a tiny rectangle. These pieces each fit nicely into a section and contain multiples of each letter. On the flip side of the letter is its capital letter counterpart.
A child working with this material will have mastered several concepts before beginning the story writing journey. The child would have mastered phonetic reading and begun working with Sight Words and Phonograms. They would have progressed from word building with the Moveable Alphabet and have practiced building a phrase and then a sentence.
When choosing this work, the child is encouraged to think about what she would like to tell. Should she make up a story or write about something that already took place? She then begins building her story one sentence and word at a time. At this point, she would be able to also read her story as it is written to make sure it makes sense. This is not always the case when a child begins building words with the Moveable Alphabet as the child may not be ready to read just yet. She is then able to write her story down on the Story Alphabet paper. The paper has several lines for writing on the bottom half of the paper. The top half contains a blank section for her to illustrate the story.
Initially, the child may not quite be ready to copy the story exactly on their paper the way it is written. Here we are combining the thought process of writing with the fine motor of writing, handwriting. Much like any learned skill, her handwritten will be further developed and refined through repetition and practice. It's also wonderful to see the child's progress in other areas come to play with Story Writing. As the child masters more Phonograms and Sight Words, the retention is obvious as they build the words.
The child's pride in completion of this work is joyful! Story Writing takes much time, thought and concentration. The combination of many elements of language come together with this material and the children are thrilled to share all of their stories!
