Montessori Education Center of the Rockies – Early Childhood
Ross
Reading
Phonetic Word Cards
Materials:
Three baskets containing word cards:
 Basket 1 contains 3-sound phonetic words such as cat, mat, log, sit
 Basket 2 contains 4-sound phonetic words such as fled, plum, crab, rest
 Basket 3 contains 5+ sound phonetic words such as basket, zigzag, dentist
Words are often, but not always, color-coded to correspond with Movable Alphabet
(usually vowels in blue and consonants in pink)
Preparation:
Object Box 1, Pictures and Word Cards
Age:
4 years
Direct Aim:
To develop reading skills – single phonetic words
Indirect Aim:
To improve the child’s reading and self confidence with reading
Presentation:
Vocabulary:
Any words the child is not familiar with
Points of Interest:
1. Reading new words
2. Reading progressively more challenging words
3. Having the consonants written in blue and the vowels written in red
Control of Error:
None
Variations:
Words could be hand-written in front of the child.
Phonetic Reading Cards
Extensions:
1. Introduce nonsense phonetic words in the same way.
2. Introduce word booklets instead of separate words.
3. Make word lists.
4. Introduce silent reading of the words.
5. Do all the above with phonograms
6. Make Read and Illustrate Books. Make small booklets with one word written at
the bottom of each page. The child will read the word and draw a picture of it in
the space above.