Maria Montessori’s approach to language incorporates the idea that children from birth to age six are in the age of ‘The Absorbent Mind’. During this time, children’s language acquisition is a developmental process involving the hand and the mind, facilitated largely by sensory development.

We encourage parents to introduce children to as much vocabulary as possible in their early years allowing for the development of an internal dictionary. Begin with naming objects in a child’s immediate surroundings and expand to more specialized vocabulary.

The sequence of language materials developed by Maria Montessori follows a pattern as the child progresses from pre-reading (e.g. matching, sequencing, categorizing etc.) to the pink series (three letter short vowel phonetic words) to the blue series (consonant blends) through to the green series (phonograms and long vowels).

• Phase 1: Spoken Language — Create an internal dictionary and practice using words in it.
• Phase 2: Phonetic Awareness — Learn the sounds within words and the sounds/symbols of the alphabet.
• Phase 3: Create Words (Writing) — Learn to put sounds/symbols together to make words.
• Phase 4: Reading — Learn to decode those sounds/symbols to decipher words.