DIY Montessori Language Cabinet holds tiny 3D miniature objects that represent the beginning sound for each letter of the alphabet to promote early literacy and phonemic awareness.
Turn your craft cabinet into a DIY Montessori language cabinet. A Montessori Language Cabinet is an organized storage system to sort and store language objects. The cabinet I am using has 24 drawers, so I used one drawer for letters X, Y and Z. You can also place a movable alphabet letter in each corresponding drawer to reinforce sound to letter association.
A Montessori language cabinet holds tiny 3D objects that represent the beginning sound. There are various early literacy games you can play with these 3-dimensional objects to match the beginning sound for each letter of the alphabet.
You’ll Need for Montessori Language Cabinet DIY:
- a cabinet with compartments (I am using a 24-compartment cabinet) ~ see 25 drawer cabinet HERE)
- labels PDF (download FREE below))
- language objects (see examples below)
Montessori Language Objects
Some examples of language objects are:
- veggies
- farm animals
- wild life animals
- forest animals
- Safari animals
- house furniture
- garden plant tools
- wagon/watering can farming tools ~ or a set with boots here),
- a wagon
- 15 pcs porcelain tea set
- mini musical toys
- bathroom porcelain accessories
- mini food/drinks
🌟 WHEN: After you have played letter hunts for individual sounds, you can use a language cabinet to keep your collection of language objects organized from a to z.
🌟 DIY Montessori Language Cabinet PURPOSE: to teach a child to recognize the specific sound a letter makes.
Montessori Language Cabinet DIY
Montessori Language Cabinet DIY
Montessori Language Cabinet DIY
🌟 AGE: Typically, you would introduce an entire collection at around three years old, but you can start playing sound games without associating them with letters as early as two years of age.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness. When a child can hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest units of sound, they have Phonemic awareness ~ ability to segment words into their component sounds. For example, separating the word “cat” into three distinct phonemes, /k/, /æ/, and /t/, (that is being able to hear the sounds in the word cat, and not the letter names) requires phonemic awareness. Being a basis for learning phonics, phonemic awareness improves children’s word reading and reading comprehension, as well as helps children learn to spell.
Phonological Awareness
Phonemic awareness and phonological awareness are often confused since they are interdependent. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual phonemes. Phonological awareness includes this ability, but it also includes the ability to hear and manipulate larger units of sound, such as onsets and rhymes, and syllables.
Phonetic Order of Presenting Alphabet
In a Montessori Language curriculum, alphabet letters are first introduced to a child by the phonetic sound they make rather than the letter name. Moreover, sounds are introduced first in phonetical sets or groupings rather than in the ABC order. The reason you introduce letter sounds in specific and predefined groups is to facilitate the child’s ability to form as many words as possible using those sounds.
There are a few orders suggested by Montessorians,
One of the suggested orders of a presentation is:
First set: c m a t
Second set: s r i p
Third set: b f o g
Fourth set: h j u l
Fifth set: d w e n
Sixth set: k q v x y z
I hope you enjoyed this post. Do let me know if you have any questions in the comments and whether you have tried making a DIY Montessori Language Cabinet yourself.
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