Montessori Read and Write

I managed to get this book for very cheap from someone a year or so ago. It is a fantastic book for anybody wanting to working on beginning literacy activities. It is chock full of great activities, tells you the rough age you can first work on it, materials you need and how to do the activity.

This week, I'd like to play different levels of the I Spy game with the kids. This game is just like the game most of us have played with colours, but instead it uses sounds. It starts as simple as holding a single object, like a pencil, in your hand and saying to the child, "I Spy with my little eye something that starts with /p/." (Say the sound, not the letter name.) The next stage is to have two objects in front of you, each starting with a different sound, so maybe a book and a cup. It builds up to analyzing sounds in simple words where the kids have to think about beginning and ending sounds or all the sounds in a word. I'd also like to make letters/sounds books with the boys. I've got a bunch of magazines and catalogues saved for cutting out and lots of paper and glue so I think I'm set!