Montessori Education Center of the Rockies Early Childhood

Montessori Education Center of the Rockies – Early Childhood

Ross

Key Lessons For Writing and Reading

I Spy Game

Materials:

1.  Tray or basket

2.  Various real objects gathered from the environment, or a collection of miniature objects.

Preparation:

The Naming Game

Age:

2 ½ years, or whenever a child enters a Montessori environment

Direct Aim:

1.  To help the child become aware of the sounds of his own language.

2.  Phonemic awareness - to help the child become aware of the fact that words are composed of sounds.

Indirect Aim:

Preparation for reading and writing

Presentation I: Isolation of Initial Sounds

Presentation II: Ending Sounds

Presentation III: Middle Sounds

Vocabulary:

The names of the objects

Points of Interest:

1.  The imaginary spyglass

2.  The objects

3.  The “I spy” phrase

Control of Error:

1.  For one object, seeing the object in the teacher’s hand.

2.  There is no control of error with more than one object.

Variations:

1.  Increase the number of objects to two, then three, and finally all the items on the rug. as the child becomes comfortable with the game.

2.  Play “I Spy” with the children’s clothes – “I spy with my little eye something on Kathryn’s shirt that begins with _____.”

3.  Play “I Spy” with pictures, either in books or on cards.

4.  Play “I Spy” with children’s names.

5.  Invite the children to think of all the words that begin with a particular sound, or that ends with a sound, or that have a sound in the middle.

Extensions:

Begin to do auditory blending of sounds to form words. This should only be done at
an auditory level with no letters involved.

Notes:

1.  I Spy is a very important activity which should be done every day. You do not have to do it for very long.

2.  Never mention the connection between the letters (graphic symbols) and the I Spy Game. The difficulty of hearing the sound in a word is enough of a challenge at this level.

3.  Create a “Treasure Chest” of phonemic awareness games. It can not be stressed enough how essential this skill is for the development of future reading skills.