Welcome To Our Fall/Winter 2000 Supplemental AMC Newsletter Page

Fall/Winter Issue

American Montessori Consulting
P.O. Box 5062
Rossmoor, CA 90720
Heidi Anne Spietz, Editor
Frances Henderson, Manager
ISSN 1084-743X
Copyright 2000
All rights reserved

Click here to visit our AMC Montessori Bookstore

To Visit Our New Primary Montessori Resource Section

Contents in Part 2 of this newsletter include:

Make Your Own Beginning Reading Books - Part II

The LearnablesÆ

The following copyrighted information may not be reprinted without permission from American Montessori Consulting.

Make Your Own Beginning Reading Books - Part II

Looking for Missy can be used by the parent or teacher as a prototype for creating additional story books for young children. You will want to review the chapters covering beginning and intermediate phonics presentations in Montessori at Home and Modern Montessori at Home. Both books should be available from your local library.

The story centers around the bear, Rusty, who trys to locate his pal Missy. Rusty enlists the help of Dotty the doe, Ollie the owl, and others. Finally, Rusty finds Missy busily playing with a new buddy, Charley the chipmunk. You will immediately see many differences between Looking for Missy and Gabby and Her Goslings. The amount of sentences appearing per page has increased in Looking for Missy. This book is ideal for the beginning reader who is comfortable decoding most monosyllable words and is eager to reinforce knowledge in decoding base words with ing, ed, and s endings.

You'll also notice that the sentence structure is a bit more complicated. Many of the sentences appearing in this book are longer than the ones appearing in Gabby and Her Goslings. Double spacing between sentences is still used, but because the beginning reader is more comfortable with reading, the font size can now be decreased. The New York style, size 14 font was used for this story in print form.

Parents will also want to present lessons involving root and suffix endings, as outlined in Modern Montessori at Home. Rules for endings, i.e. -ing, -ed, -er and -est as well as lesson presentations for parents and teachers are outlined in Modern Montessori at Home.

The base word look is found in Looking for Missy. The words look(s) and look(ed) also occur throughout the text. Besides using the base word look, you'll also see the base + suffix for run = runs, and run = running. Thus, the child receives reinforcement in identifying and correctly pronouncing the base word, with, or without a suffix.

A limited amount of words containing phonograms like th, ay, ear, oi, oo, ew ,and ought are used in this story. Therefore, you will want to review pages 19 through 49 of Modern Montessori at Home to make sure that your child has received lesson presentations covering the various phonograms in preparation for the new words he will discover in Looking for Missy.

By using the lessons and charts included in the phonics section of Modern Montessori at Home, you can create interesting stories that your child will enjoy. You can tailor some stories to fit your child's personality and interests.

Repetition is important. Select your words carefully. Try to limit the amount of phonograms you introduce in your first few stories. Let's suppose that you have just finished presenting the exercises included on pages 34 through 36 in Modern Montessori at Home. During your learning sessions you notice that your child has a keen interest in the ocean and beach. He thoroughly enjoys the missing letter and spelling games you have created using the words which apply to the ocean environment.

Use your imagination to create a short story using these words. You might want to write about a lonely crab, a friendly whale, or a boy searching for that perfect seashell. Which ever theme you select, you can easily incorporate many of the words mentioned throughout Looking for Missy into your new book.

Use the phonogram charts located on pages 42-47 in Modern Montessori at Home to assist you with word selection. Initially, you will want to use many monosyllable words, especially if your child is just beginning to read. You will find complete information about monosyllable words in Montessori at Home.

If you have a computer, you can print out your stories for your child. If you don't have access to a computer, you can print the stories on writing paper, large white index cards, or on construction paper.

You will want to use clip art, photos, or actual drawings to add interest to the story. Spend time discussing the story you created with your child. For example, while reading Looking for Missy your child may have many questions about bears and their interaction with the environment.

Below are some selected pages from the book Looking for Missy
Copyright 1997© American Montessori Consulting

Rusty climbs a tree. He is looking for Missy. Rusty can
see very far up in the tree. He looks and looks. Rusty sees
many things, but Rusty does not see Missy. Where can
Missy be?
Page 2

Rusty finally reaches the top of the hill.
He looks and looks. He cannot see Missy.
Rusty now feels tired. He sees a nice place to take
a rest. I will rest for awhile, thought Rusty.
I can look for Missy later.
Page 9

Missy, Charley and Rusty play for many hours.
Rusty likes the new games. He is happy that Missy
asked Charley to join in their fun.

It was now time for Rusty to go back home. Rusty had a
fun day but he was tired. He looks forward to playing with his
new friend and Missy tomorrow.
Page 13

Click here to see some additional pages of the text with accompanying pictures. With careful planning, you can use your books during your lesson presentations. If the contents of your book is centered around life on a farm, you could consider using the book during a lesson presentation about farming or nature. Thus, these story books can serve as adjunct to interdisciplinary learning. You will find a complete discussion about creative lesson planning and interdisciplinary learning in Montessori at Home, Modern Montessori at Home and Modern Montessori at Home II. Both books should be available from your local library since they were reviewed in *Library Journal*.

The LearnablesÆ - Student Directed Foreign Language Learning Program
Making Montessori Easy - Ready to Use - Right Out of the Box
The Port Washington Music House - Fine Line of Musical Instruments, Gifts,Sheet Music, Musical Toys and More
Visual Manna - Exciting New Way to Combine Art with Core Subjects plus Full Line of Art Books and Other Programs/Services
Zoo-phonics - Complete Phonics Program
The International Linguistics Corporation offers The LearnablesÆ, a foreign language program which allows the student to progress at his own rate. No special teacher guides or manuals are used. The lessons are audio recorded, allowing the student to listen to the pronunciation of every word and sentence. The student is exposed to grammar naturally, as he learns the language.

The publisher shared the following with us: "With The LearnablesÆ courses, individuals can acquire a foreign language as easily as children develop their first language...." "Students begin with The LearnablesÆ Book 1. Ten picture lessons with 5 accompanying audio cassette teaches students to listen carefully and to understand basic sentences presented in short-story sequences.

After completing The LearnablesÆ Book 1, the students next book is BASIC STRUCTURES, Book 1. BASIC STRUCTURES, Book 1 teaches the students reading and introduces additional vocabulary. The students look at the picture and corresponding text and listen to the audio cassette.

Courses are available in Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Czech, Hebrew and English as a Second Language."

Click here to visit AMC Resource Directory/The Learnables.

The owner shared the following with us: "Making Montessori Easy was formed in response to the need for beautiful, eye-catching, FINISHED materials for use in Montessori classrooms and in-home teaching situations.

Over the years, we found that we were constantly being recruited to create, cut, color, laminate and complete materials for our two in-family Montessori teachers. As the years went on, many of their fellow teachers were also asking us to create card sets and projects for their classrooms. Out of this grew Making Montessori Easy. It is our goal to provide you with the best quality product available, at the lowest price possible, so that you no longer have to spend hours doing so yourself. We have come up with a product which is ready-to-use, right out of the box.

In developing our cards, we have utilized over 10 years of Montessori classroom experience, and have tested our card sets in both the Early Childhood and Elementary levels. We have worked hard to provide you with .5 mil laminate on all of our products, professionally drawn pictures and photographs, and beautiful full-color printouts for our cards. Our greatest happiness and joy comes from hearing that our products are helpful to your students and that you enjoy using them.

We are currently developing a web page with a full-color catalog and on-line ordering capabilities. Our website and should be up by the end of the year. Read more about Montessori Made Easy by visiting the AMC Resource Directory/Montessori Made Easy

The Music House

The Music House, established in 1965, carries a fine line of instruments, and educational toys for children of all ages. Drums, music sets, whistles, sheet music, rhythm instruments, xylophones and toys are just some of the items you will find by visiting the company's website.

Are you looking for specific educational sheet music for the classroom? Look no further. A site search engine is available for you to type in the sheet music request. The company enjoys serving the educational community and offers a special 10% discount to educational institutions and teachers.

The Port Washington Music House also has a special line of unique musical gifts, special items for children, books, CDs and more. The company is currently celebrating their 4th year on the web and welcomes your visit and inquiries.

Read more about The Music House by visiting the AMC Resource Directory/THE Port Washington MUSIC HOUSE

Zoo-phonics is used throughout the nation and overseas to help thousands of children learn to read. The Zoo-phonics Program teaches the alphabet using a cast of Animal characters and sounds, and a body movement that directly relates to the Animal/Letter, allowing children to utilize the alphabet immediately.

The company offers a new Parent Kit which is geared for helping children, ages three to seven in the areas of phonics, reading, and spelling. This program is especially useful for parents who want to work with their children at home.

Parents and teachers know the importance of children learning more about other languages and cultures. Thus, Zoo-phonics espaÒol will be a welcome addition to both home and school learning environments.

Creator Charlene Wrighton shared the following with us:

"The joy that Zoo-phonics brings into the classroom is through the Animals, the movement, music, game format and through the ease with which the children learn the basics of reading, spelling and writing."

Many of your questions will be answered by reading the company's FAQ's page. (Many of these questions were answered during a recent AMC Montessori Chat we conducted earlier this year.) is available at their website. To learn more about Zoo-phonics please visit the AMC Resource Directory/Zoo-phonics

Don't stop now! Read Part One of the AMC Montessori Fall/Winter 2000 Supplemental newsletter Don't forget to bookmark this page for your lesson planning and holiday gift giving! We hope you have a wonderful holiday.