Sandpaper Letters

Materials
- The letters of the alphabet, cut out of sandpaper and mounted on thick cardboard on wood.
a. The consonants are mounted on pink boards and the vowels on blue boards.
- Sixteen green boards on which are mounted the double sandpaper letters, representing key sounds
(phonograms) not covered by single letters of the alphabet.
Notes

Decide on a script. Consider the one used in the elementary school system if most children will be
attending.

If possible, use display ledges for storing the letters rather then keeping them in boxes one behind the
other. This helps to arouse interest, reinforce visual impressions, call attention to the totality of
graphic symbols, and encourages the child to do more.

Observe dexterity and the arrival of focused attention in the childs Practical Life and Sensorial work
as readiness for the Sandpaper Letters.

The Sound Games are the prerequisite for the Sandpaper Letters. The child must be familiar with all
sounds in the dominant language of the cultures. Word analysis can be competed parallel to
Sandpaper Letter work.

With readiness the pace of this work moves steadily along. Most children will learn all their letters in
about a month.

Always present the letters at a table.

Teach the letters with a Three Period Lesson.

Give individual presentations for the initial work. Later group names can be used to reinforce the
earlier experiences.

After the first presentations, continue on consecutive days. Sometimes a child may have more than
one lesson on the same day.

Before presenting new letters, review those previously given and do further work with any that need
it.

Choose three letters of contrast both in shape and sound for presentations. For the very first
experience by the child choose a sound that is of some special interest to that individual such as the
first sound in their name. Include a vowel in the early groups of letters presented. Introduce a
phonogram by the fourth presentation.

The child will get both visual and kinesthetic impression of each letter. In some children the
muscular memory of the letter will be stronger than the visual memory. Repeated tracing of the letter
is therefore very important. With each repetition the sound is also given so the auditory connection is
deeply established.

Present different letters to different children to stimulate interest for all.

Presentation 1: 1st Period Experience

1. Invite a child to come and work with you.
2. Have the child, and yourself sensitize your finger
3. Return the material to the shelf.
4. Choose three letters.
5. Bring them over to the table and sit with the child.
6. Place the three letters upside down at the top right of the table.
7. Conversationally introduce one letter. If there is a personal connection to the letter, say it.
8. Remember when we were saying our names? Your name is Robert. Robert starts with the R
sound. Well Im going to show you what the R sound looks like.
9. Show the r board.
10. Now Im going to show you how to write it.
Steady the tablet with your left hand. Using your right index and middle finger, trace the letter. Then say
the sound.
11. Trace and say the sound two ore times. Then have the child trace the letter three times, saying the
sound after each trace.
12. Then place the tablet face up in the left corner of the table.
13. Introduce the second letter in a similar fashion as the first.
14. Trace this letter as with the first.
1. Repeat the same steps as with the first tablet for the second and third letter.
2. Continue with the Three Period Lesson. Be sure to include the tracing of each letter in the 2nd and
3rd Periods.
3. Once the child is done, replace the tablets and repeat this lesson on consecutive days. Be sure the
child is secure with the letters before adding others. Continue this lesson until the child has
completed all of the letters.
Exercice
The child works with the letters he knows as shown in the presentation.
Presentation 2: 2nd Period Experience
1. Start the presentation as in Presentation 1 but you will now be working with three children.
2. Choose three letters for each child.
3. Place the three letters in front of each child in a row.
4. Ask for who has a letter by its sound: Who has a?
5. The child who has the letter says I do. And traces the letter one or more times. (This is up to the
directress)
6. Then the letter is passed around to the other two children who trace it and say its name.
7. Then it is given to the directress who places it upside down in front of her.

8. Continue in the same way until all the letters have been traced.
9. Each child puts his tablets away.
Presentation 3: 3rd Period Experience
1. This is to be done with three children.
2. Choose at least nine letters.
3. Make sure at least one of the children knows all of the letters.
4. Place them face up, in no specific order, in front of you but in the childs direction.
5. Encourage multiple tracings.
6. The pass it to each of the other children for them to trace it and say its sound
7. Then give the letter to the directress who places it upside down and away from the others.
8. Continue in the same way until all the letters have been traced.
9. Repeat until all of the letter have been chosen.
Extensions
10. Trace the letter in the air and have the child say its sound.
11. Trace the letter on the childs back and have them say its sound.
12. Trace the letter in the childs palm to have him go get that specific letter from the box.
Purposes
- To further heighten the childs awareness of the sounds in words
- To unite these sounds by means of muscular and visual memory to the appropriate symbol.
- Preparation for writing and reading
Control of Error
In the sandpaper. If the child's fingers slip away from the sandpaper he notices the different feeling by
the surface.
Age
3 1/2 - 4 years
Personal Notes
1. Keep individual records of letters learned.
2. Plan on ongoing letter work for each child. Include individual presentations as well as reviews and
practice in the group games.
3. Some children need long and repeated 2nd period work. This is often the case who enter the class
late (after the age of three) and havent had time to prepare readiness fully through the Practical Life
and Sensorial Exercises and the Sound Games. These children may need several first and second
period experiences with the same letter before they can succeed with the third period.
4. Today, many children for reasons not always easily identified have difficulty with the sound games
and/or the Sandpaper letters. Some cannot separate sounds into separate phonemes and therefore
cannot identify single sounds or their places in a word. Some cannot retain the image of a letter or
remember its sound. Others cannot identify the beginning point in tracing a letter. A few have

difficulty separating two fingers from the others so as to use them for tracing. The teacher must find
addition ways to help these children. Here are some ideas:

Use a game of slow motion speech for help with sounds.

Say the sound the entire time the fingers are tracing a letter.

Give the childs hand a piggy back ride on the teachers hand as the letter is traced and its sound
given.

http://www.infomontessori.com/language/written-language-sandpaper-letters.htm
Introducing the Sandpaper Letters Three Period Lesson
Over the past couple of weeks, Jordan has been showing interest in the Montessori Sandpaper Letters and is
always watching the lessons I give to other children. We have worked with the I Spy game several times and
he has become quite proficient with identifying which objects begin with the various sounds. Today, Jordan
brought me the box of Montessori Sandpaper Letters and asked if we could do sounds together. It was
wonderful to see him initiate the presentation and of course, I seized the opportunity.
A Three Period Lesson with The Montessori Sandpaper Letters
We sat down together at a table with three of the Sandpaper Letters, m, a and s. Jordan was very
eager to begin and fortunately, the other students were all working beautifully at the time. I moved the
Sandpaper Letter on the left (m) toward us and slowly and lightly traced it with my primary fingers while
saying its sound. I then invited Jordan to try. It was delightful to see him carefully trace the m with such
precision and focus. Jordan told me that he wants to learn his sounds so that he can read big books like his
sisters. We continued with a and s and it was clear that he was ready for a Montessori Three Period
Lesson.
First Period (Naming):

Using my primary fingers, I slowly traced the sandpaper letter, m and stated its sound: This is
m[phonetic sound "mmm"]. Jordan did the same.

Using my primary fingers, I slowly traced the sandpaper letter, a and stated its sound: This is a
[phonetic sound "aaa"]. Jordan did the same.

Using my primary fingers, I slowly traced the sandpaper letter, s and stated its sound: This is s
[phonetic sound "sss"]. Jordan did the same and even told me that s starts the word snake
definitely off to a good start!

The Second Period (Recognizing): "Show me...

I randomly placed all three Montessori Sandpaper Letters on the table and began the second period.

I asked Jordan if he could show me the sound, s and he pointed to it right away.

I repeated the process with a and m and he was very quick to point them out and trace the shape
of each one.

I then asked Jordan if he could place each sound in my hand as well as in the corner of the table. He
did so with a grin on his face and without any hesitation whatsoever.

The second period was clearly a success and he was still very focused on the presentationon
to the Third Period!

The Third Period (Pronouncing/Recall): What is?

Again, I placed all three Sandpaper Letters face up on the table and began the Third Period.

First, I pointed to the sound, s and said, What is this? Jordan responded, s [phonetic sound]
like in snake.

Then pointed to the sound, a and said, What is this? Jordan responded a [phonetic sound] and
said, A starts my sisters name, Ashley.

I then pointed to the sound, m and said, What is this? Jordan responded m [phonetic sound]
and said, Just like mom.

Jordan clearly understood the lesson and I asked him if he would like to play the Knock Knock Game
with me. The Knock Knock Game is something that I have been implementing for years when presenting the
Montessori Sandpaper Letters and the Montessori preschoolers love it. It is essentially a follow-up to the
Third Period and reinforces the sounds one final time. He was keen to play the game so we began.
The Knock Knock Game - Extension

I invited Jordan to flip over each of the three sounds so that the sandpaper side was face down on the
table. Jordan had seen the game played many times before and knew exactly what to do. He
promptly turned over m, a and s.

Then, I asked him to gently knock on a door. He carefully knocked on one of the letters and as I
flipped the letter over, I said Whos There? Jordan responded correctlym.

He then knocked on the other two doors and correctly identified both of the sounds.

I thanked him for working with me and recorded his progress on his sound card.*

Jordan worked so hard today and remained focused the entire time. It is clear that although we havent
formally worked with the Montessori Sandpaper Letters until today, he has been watching and absorbing the
sound lessons that I have been presenting to other children. Some children are such careful observers while
other children need more repetition and hands-on practice before they master a particular concept. It is
wonderful that the Montessori environment is so conducive to each childs unique learning style and I love
the effectiveness of the Montessori Three Period Lesson!
*Note about recording a childs progress: I keep a recipe box on the Language Arts shelf and inside the
box I have a Sound Card for each child. Essentially, it is simply a recipe card on which all 26 letters of the
alphabet are written. When I introduce a particular sound or sounds, I circle or underline them on the
students index card. The next time I do a sound presentation with Jordan I will check his sound card and
review those that are circled or underlined. If Jordan is able to identify a sound without any hesitation, I will
circle the letter to indicate mastery and will move on accordingly.

http://montessoritraining.blogspot.co.id/2010/11/montessori-insights-and-reflections-of_26.html