The Small Movable Alphabet in Cursive- Montessori

The Moveable Alphabet is a key part of the Montessori Language Curriculum. The material primarily teaches children how to develop their knowledge of the alphabet, and thus written language skills.

The Small Movable Alphabet in cursive is a very versatile Montessori material, as it has endless learning extensions that educators can build upon to challenge student’s increasing language competency. For this reason, it is known as one of the most diverse materials in the Montessori Curriculum. It is a wooden box containing 26 wooden letters. Vowels are in blue and Consonants are in pink.

Age: 4 to 6
Purpose

The Montessori Teacher will introduce this material once the child has demonstrated the ability to analyze and reorganize graphic symbols for phonetic sounds.

The key purpose of the Moveable Alphabet is to prepare children for writing, reading, and spelling.
Presentation: Building Words

Introduce conversationally the making of words and think of a nice category with the child
Have the child sound out a word with you.
Find the symbol for each sound and lay them out clearly.  The teacher makes the first word or words until child seems to understand.
Help a child to lay out the letters and to form the word that he is sounding out
Observe the child when he is tiring and conclude the work.
Ask the child to contribute words, filling in if the child cannot.
Show the child how to collect the letters by starting with the last letter and looking for the same letter in other words.
Replace in the appropriate compartment.
Once all letters have been returned, close the box and return the box to the shelf.