“What the hand does the mind remembers.” (Maria Montessori).
Learning to read and write at Sakura Montessori is not only about practicing writing and reading on papers but also requires the work of multiple senses through hands-on materials such as:
Sandpaper letters and sand tray: Children feel the structure of the letter by touching and tracing strokes of sandpaper letters. By feeling the letters with their hands, children at the same memorise the shape of those letters. Later, when children draw on the sand tray what they visualize in their mind, that’s when they are learning to write.
Chalkboards: Children learn how to grasp with their fingertips to control the chalk. This is the foundation for the pencil grip in later writing.
Sound Buckets: Children feel and practice reading 3D items containing consonant and vowel sounds in each bucket. For example, with the sound bucket for “m”, children will touch, trace, and read objects such as mango, meat, mushroom, and mirror.
Phonetic Object Box: Children learn about the structure of words by making words with movable letters as shown on a card. Behind each card is a word for children to control their errors.
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Those various lessons will spark the children’s interest in learning, encouraging them to apply and use all of their senses (hearing, sight, tactile); thus facilitating their ability to memorize and recognize as well as their logical thinking, building a solid base for language development in higher levels of education.