Language Curriculum and Sound of the Week

Overview of the Language Curriculum

At Juncos and Junipers we follow the Montessori Language curriculum and each child progresses at their own pace.

The first step in the curriculum is teaching phonemic awareness and one way we do this is by playing "I Spy" with sounds.  We have a bag of tiny objects and either individually or in small groups, we identify objects by their beginning sound.  If a child is new to "I Spy" we begin with just one object.  We hold up a cat and say, "I spy with my little eye something that begins with c".  The child says, "cat," and then they get to hold the object for the remainder of the game.  As the child gains more experience with the activity, we add multiple objects and the child must find the one that begins with the requested sound.  Once they have mastered recognizing beginning sounds, we move on to ending and then middle sounds.  This is a great way to introduce the concept that words are made of sounds. 

After the children gain confidence with "I Spy", we introduce the shape of the letters using the Sandpaper Letters.  When the children know a majority of the sounds and their associated letters, we then introduce them to the Moveable Alphabet (basically a fancy wooden version of alphabet refrigerator magnets) where they explore spelling out words.  Again, we use objects to grab the children's attention.  We put out a cat and ask the child to tell the sounds they hear in the word "cat".  Then they find the letters and write the word.

After some time with the Moveable Alphabet the children are ready to read!  We start off reading simple words and then move on to short books.  It is such a joy to witness the pride children feel when they begin to read.  We do not expect that all children will be reading by the end of their time at Juncos and Junipers, as each child will develop at their own pace.

For Sound of the Week and beginning phonemic awareness we teach the short sound of each letter.  In the list below you can find an example of each sound (pay special attention to the vowels and c, g, x and y).

Sound List

a - apple

b- banana

c - cat

d - dog

e - elephant

f - fox

g - girl

h - hat

i - iguana

j - jump

k - koala

l - lamp

m - monkey

n - nose

o - octopus

p - pumpkin

qu - quilt

r - red

s - star

t - turtle

u - umbrella

v - violin

w - wig

x - end of fox

y - yellow

z - zebra

“Sound of the Week” 

As a small part of our language curriculum at Juncos and Junipers, we will be focusing on one letter sound each week.  Identifying the sound a letter makes is an important first step in learning to read and having a “Sound of the Week” is an exciting and fun way to involve the children in sound recognition.

We will announce the “Sound of the Week” on the bulletin board.  During the week we will engage in several activities that help us practice our sound, such as acting out different animals that begin with the sound or writing the letter in sand.  We will introduce the sound to the children on Mondays at grouptime, focusing on the sound the letter makes and not the letter name (see the list below).  We will introduce the letter shape on Tuesdays.

The children can bring a “Sound of the Week” sharing to school any day.  Parents can help their children find one small object from home that begins with the sound of the week.  For example, for the sound of the week “s”: snake, salt, or sand.  The children can bring their sharing to school and leave it on the Language shelf for the day or for the week.

The goal of this activity is exploration and we hope that the children will come away thinking that letter sounds are fun and that they feel inspired to further explore letters and the sounds they make!

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