Introducing Exciting New Literacy Tools to our children

Huge thanks to the Two Todman Community fund in Brooklyn for donating money to purchase exciting new literacy tools to our children– Cursive Sandpaper Letters and a Moveable Alphabet! These new materials add tremendous value to our literacy programme.

Literacy is in a dismal state in our country. The teaching of handwriting, especially cursive handwriting, has become unfashionable in mainstream schools where digital tools are increasingly favoured. Even though research shows that writing letters by hand activates parts of the brain that are not activated by typing or tracing letters alone, teachers are rarely trained to teach handwriting in the classroom.

Maria Montessori developed Cursive Sandpaper Letters for her students. These letters engage students because they are sensorial. Children trace the letters with their fingers, then ‘scribble’ them in a sandbox. This sensory process lays the foundation for later use of pencil and paper.

Montessori Sandpaper Letters provide a natural developmental pathway for children to learn the beginnings of writing from the motor skills involved in scribble drawing. Cursive letters improve muscle memory and strengthen letter recognition, especially with reversed letters such as b/d. Research indicates that it is easier for children with learning difficulties such as dysgraphia (estimated to affect 5-20% of children) to learn cursive handwriting. Here, our children also learn letters phonetically and are able to spell simple words with the Moveable Alphabet before they are able to physically write them.

We are inspired by the progress we see our children making using these exceptional learning tools. We are grateful to the Two Todman fund for making a tangible difference in the classroom and to our children’s lives.

Interested in learning more about the materials we use in a Montessori preschool classroom and how Montessori can support your child? Get in touch to organise a visit.