Stage I: Pre-reading

In a Montessori classroom, this stage of reading and writing is taught and practiced using the “reading boxes”. The reading boxes are a phonetic reading program that break down the skills needed for reading and slowly builds upon itself. Once the students have mastered their letter sounds and can consistently identify the beginning, middle and end sounds of a word, as well as blend three sounds together to create words (ex., c-a-t), they are ready to begin with the Pre-selected boxes.  Follow this link to directions on how to make your own movable alphabet at home https://www.montessoriprintshop.com/make-moveable-alphabet.html.  The Sizzy and Pals Books that accompany the reading program can be found at the bottom of this page.

The color coded letter tracing files each include a black line page that can be used with tracing paper and a dotted line page that can students can write on directly. The colors correspond to our letter groups (ex., red letters are s, m, a, t).