Learning to Read the Montessori Way with Phonics Books

Here is a list of books and cards which are wonderful for early readers. They are applied to children’s interests, are sweet and short, engaging, and are great for use in a Montessori environment.

Recently I made a new set of Montessori Inspired Phonetic Word Exercise Cards- Pink and Blue Series – that are there to facilitate children’s learning to read process.

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Reading is a fundamental skill that allows children to explore the world and cultivate a love for learning. The Montessori method, with its emphasis on child-led education, provides an ideal framework for teaching children to read using phonics books. This blog post will explore the benefits of the Montessori approach to reading and how phonics books can enhance a child’s literacy journey.

The Montessori Approach to Reading:
The Montessori method recognizes that every child is unique and progresses at their own pace. The process of learning to read begins with a strong foundation in phonics, which teaches children to associate sounds with letters and phonetic patterns. The Montessori approach encourages hands-on, sensory learning, providing children with the tools and materials they need to explore language independently.
Importance of Phonics Books:
Phonics books play a crucial role in the Montessori reading curriculum as they offer a structured and sequential progression of phonetic patterns. These books feature simple, repetitive text that allows children to practice phonetic skills in a meaningful context. They gradually introduce new sounds, blend familiar ones, and expand vocabulary, keeping the child engaged and motivated to read.
Development of Phonemic Awareness:
Phonemic awareness, the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds in words, is an essential precursor to reading. Montessori phonics books focus on developing phonemic awareness by providing explicit examples of various phonetic patterns. By using these books, children become adept at recognizing, blending, and segmenting sounds, which are essential skills for reading and spelling.
Promoting Independence and Confidence:
The Montessori way of reading fosters independence and builds children’s confidence in their reading abilities. As they engage with hands-on materials and phonics books, they develop a sense of ownership and pride in their progress. The sequential nature of phonics books allows children to gradually build upon their knowledge, providing a sense of accomplishment as they navigate through each stage.
Multi-Sensory Approach:
The Montessori method values a multi-sensory approach to learning, incorporating tactile, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic experiences. Phonics books align perfectly with this philosophy, offering children the opportunity to engage their senses and reinforce their understanding of phonetic concepts. Children can touch and trace letter shapes, hear the sounds, blend them together, and create their own stories, enhancing their learning experience.
Cultivating a Love for Reading:
One of the ultimate goals of the Montessori approach is to instill a love for reading in children. Phonics books, with their systematic progression and meaningful content, lay the foundation for a lifelong passion for books and literature. By providing children with the tools to read independently, the Montessori method empowers them as active participants in the learning process, which can inspire a love for reading that extends beyond their early years.

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Learning to read using phonics books within the Montessori framework is a powerful combination that nurtures a child’s natural curiosity, independence, and love for reading. The multi-sensory approach, focus on phonemic awareness, and incremental progressions found in Montessori phonics books make them excellent tools for teaching reading skills. By embracing this method, parents and educators can support children in developing strong linguistic foundations and a lifelong love for reading.

Bob Books Series. This is a widely accepted loved series for early readers. It begins with my First Bob Book; Pre-reading Skills.

Expanding upon the Bob Books method and philosophy, these brand new sets offer children and their parents simple and satisfying tools that lay an important foundation for reading readiness.

My First Bob Books: Alphabet helps children match sounds to letters, letters to words, and words to a story through the introduction of uppercase and lowercase letters and initial letter sounds. My First Bob Books: Pre-Reading Skills uses humorous read-aloud stories to introduce spatial, relational and sequencing concepts that kids need in preparation for reading.

Here you can find more from Bob Books Series: Bob Books First. Set 1. Beginning Readers Bob Books are back, now with a bright, unique box display and colored illustrations throughout that make learning to read even more fun! Bob Books Set 1: Beginning Readers Teach a child letter sounds with Bob Books Set 1! With four letters in the first story, children can read a whole book. Consistent new sounds are added gradually until young readers have read books with all letters of the alphabet (except Q). Short vowels and three-letter words in simple sentences make Bob Books Set 1 a fun confidence builder. With little books, comes big success.

Bob Books Set 2 – Advanced Beginners. Bob Books Set 2: Advancing Beginners Bob Books Set 2 continues to build reading skills. The use of three-letter words and consistent vowel sounds in slightly longer stories builds confidence. Children love hilarious (and sometimes mischievous) stories and pictures. These twelve books, filled with fun, drama, and surprise keep interested high for even the youngest readers.

Bob Books: Sight Words. Kindergarten. Sight words are common words that appear again and again in your children’s reading material. Knowing these words “by sight” is essential for reading fluency. Children learn to easily recognize these words in Bob Books Sight Words. Consistent short vowels and simple stories mean children sound out (decode) most of the story, and must memorize only three sight words per book. With plenty of repetition and context clues, your young reader will quickly master early sight words.

Bob Books: Sight Words. First Grade. These ten books provide 30 more sight words, in slightly longer stories, to build confidence and success in the progressing reader.

Bob Books: Set 3. Word Families “Bob Books Set 3. In Bob Books Set 3, children progress gently into the next steps of reading. Consonant blends, endings, and a few sight words advance reading skills and create more complex stories. The use of word families makes longer stories more manageable. Children love the eight books and hilarious pictures. They delight in two fun-to-do activity books”.

Bob Books: Set 4. Complex Words Kids read eight humorous stories. Longer books and complex words engage young readers. New blends, more sight words and longer compound words advance their skills, while sounds repetition keeps reading easy. Meaningful stories and playful pictures keep kids absorbed”.

Bob Books: Set 5. Long Vowels The set introduces the important new skills of long vowels and the magical silent E. Maturing readers continue to love Bob Books with their lighthearted stories and entertaining pictures.

Phonics Workbook: Level 1 An introduction to basic letter sounds, helping children learn to write letters and simple words. Featuring illustrations, coloring activities, and stickers, it supports the Government’s Letters and Sounds program and phonics teaching in schools, and complements the “Very First Reading” series of storybooks.

Easy Phonics Words. Suitable for young children who are just beginning to learn to read, this book helps young readers develop their phonics awareness, a vital early step to literacy. Based on the principles of synthetic phonics, it supports the Government’s Letters and Sounds program used in schools.

First Phonics Words. For children who are just beginning to learn to read, this book introduces simple words with easy letter sounds and amusing illustrations. Follows the UK government’s reading strategy which uses synthetic phonics.

Oxford Reading Tree Read with Biff, Chip, and Kipper: Level 1: Pack of 8 This pack includes four Phonics storybooks and four First Stories at Level 1. Read With Biff, Chip and Kipper Phonics books have been specially written to allow children to practice their letters and sounds as they do at school. Level 1 practices essential phonics skills such as letter sounds and letter shapes, the alphabet and letter names, reading simple words and sentences. The First Stories have been specially written to introduce and practice a range of everyday keywords. Keywords at this level include I, and, it, is, no, on, get, got, go, up, Mum, Dad. There are two stories in each book. Humorous plots, familiar characters, and carefully leveled text create the perfect combination to build children’s confidence and enjoyment of reading. Each book includes practical tips and ideas puzzles and fun activities.

60 Easy Phonics Leveled A B C D Guided Readers Kindergarten Learn to Read LOT – Complete Learn to Read Set

This Easy Phonics Readers Set for beginning readers is Not Found in Stores!! The LOT of 60 Easy Phonics Readers includes 4 levels of reading: A, B C & D. Each Level contains 15 different books that guide your child through the beginning stages of development and recognition of the basic reading principles. Help guide your young readers through the early stages of reading for a bright future! Each book is simple and short enough that children get a sense of accomplishment having read a whole book. With 8 complete pages in each book, Level A features short sentences with only a few words on each page. As the levels get closer to D, the text and sentences are slightly more complex featuring multiple sentences per page.

Pack of 5 Phonics Readers Set 1 and Pack of 5 Phonics Readers Set 2 – designed for Montessori classrooms. Allowing a child to gain confidence at their own pace when starting to read is key to their success. Many reading schemes aimed at elementary school children take things too fast for many younger children. To address this Amazing Child Montessori has written and published a two-stage reading program to give the child high success rates and boost reading confidence. This first set of five books (Bad Fox, Hot Dog, Dad’s Cat, Pig, Em’s Egg) uses simple phonic words consisting of consonant-vowel-consonant and minimal sight words: the, and, is, and has. The text is very simple, with no punctuation, and relates clearly to the witty illustrations. The second set of five books use the same stories as set one but is rewritten with more vocabulary and simple sentence punctuation. This plot repetition is a useful progression giving the child confidence to tackle the longer sentences. The introduction page is for the adult to discuss with the child. It prepares the child for the sounds and sight words that will be encountered in the book. Sight words are only listed if they are not phonetic.

Montessori Early Reader Books
This book series is based on the Pink, Blue, and Green Series often used in the Montessori Language curriculum. In it, you will find books that are simply written and illustrated (in full color). The books progress in difficulty from phonetic 3 letter words to phonograms. Through this series, a child will discover the joys of beginning to read by him/herself. Sight words are included in each book for the non-phonetic words”.

I hope you found what you were looking for!

CVC Reading, Writing Cards and Word Puzzles Print Version

Reading and handwriting practice with CVC phonetic word puzzles, 3-part cards, student booklets, and spelling workmats (print version).
This set of resources is designed to complement the Montessori Pink Series, level 1 reading materials.

Purchase CVC Reading, Writing Cards, and Word Puzzles Print Version here

Handwriting and reading practice (print version) for short -a-, -e-, -i-, -o- ,-u- (12 words for each middle sound set)
Each set contains (blue/red and black ):
– word puzzles with real photographs
– 3-part cards with real photographs
– student booklets for coloring, tracing, and handwriting (clipart)
– initial/last sound and spelling workmats (color and black and white clipart)