'I made my Mum cry'

"I made my mum cry yesterday," said one of our five-year-olds as he entered the room on a sunny Friday morning. "But it was a happy cry," he quickly added. "She loved my card so much that it made her happy cry, so now I want to make one for my dad, too." He then went off independently to get the moveable alphabet and his writing materials. 

This experience showed the child the power of writing. He could see concretely how putting a single thought down on paper that he had throughout his day could make such a beautiful impact on those he loved. It made us, as guides reflect on how, without the moveable alphabet, this opportunity might have been missed and how this loving thought may have passed without being expressed.

Communication is a natural human tendency, and we have created a system of written symbols to share our thoughts, experiences, and feelings. In Montessori, writing comes before reading. Children learn to write phonetically, sounding out words as they hear them using the moveable alphabet.

 As they gain more experience and phonemic awareness, they begin to form words with correct spelling, indirectly preparing them for reading. 

Throughout the day in our environment, you can see children expressing themselves through writing, whether it's about their weekend or their favourite animal. The earlier children are exposed to sounds, the more independent they become in expressing themselves. 

According to Dr. Maria Montessori, a child’s sudden interest in writing is deeply linked to their natural sensitivity to language, which is most active when they first begin to speak. By the age of five and a half or six, this sensitivity fades, making it more difficult for children to learn writing with the same ease and enthusiasm. Older children often need to apply more conscious effort and willpower to master this skill.