Moveable alphabet question. Matt???

[BCFD]

I think I have seen this question asked here before, but I can't find the thread. I thought maybe Matt could chime in with his expertise on this one.

Today I was observing a child doing the moveable alphabet and she asked me to come sit with her so she could read me the words once she had constructed them. They use picture cards and from these cards sound out the words.

They were all "oo" words. When she got to the word "hook" she looked at me after placing h o o and said, "Is it 'c' or 'k'?" and I asked her to take her best guess. She said "c"! and then looked at me for approval. I had my poker face on.

The teacher was sitting at a rug across from me working with my own child, so I asked, "Do you correct them? Or do you let them do their own work and leave it even if it's not correct?" She gave me this crazy look and said, "Oh, no...I ALWAYS correct them! They know that in these lessons anything ending with a "kuh" sound will always be a k. Of course there are exceptions, like 'ck', but we have it laid out like this on purpose."

Ok, so that was a good explanation and I guess it's fine to set up word building like this ("kuh" sounds will always end in "k" in this level). However, everything I have read always says to NOT CORRECT the child as not to make them feel like they are making mistakes thus squashing their love of learning.

What's the deal?

[Rose-Roget]

I'm interested in the answer too. I would think that there should be a key somewhere for the child to be able to correct herself. That way, she tries, investigates, and self-corrects. To me, it would seem more meaningful than just relying on adults to do it for her.

[BCFD]

Exactly! And I wanted to tell the teacher, "She's not going to spell it "hooc" forever! Eventually, she will discover herself that it's "hook"!" On one hand I can understand a gentle correction. On the other hand, this just seems very un-montessori to tell a child she's wrong.

I think if the word was written on the back of the card, it would be too easy for the child to cheat! LOL!! I know my kids would do that. But maybe this is where a homemade dictionary would be beneficial! I recently read something that said a teacher will give each child an address book. When they want to know how to spell a word, she will - in her best handwriting- write the word down for the child in their "dictionary". That way if they ever need to look it up again, it will be in their very own personalized dictionary! I think she may even ask them to re-write it next to hers to give them handwriting practice, as well! *LOVE* this idea!

[sapphire_chan]

Since the moveable alphabet and picture card combos are for working on actual spelling, I'm inclined to think that it'd be reasonable to "correct" by sharing that the words are a family.

Or maybe that's something that'd be saved for the word family houses?

If she were making words freely with the moveable alphabet, I wouldn't correct "hooc", but if she's making "book" "cook" "took" I would want to help her make "hook" part of the group.

[Lillianna]

Alot of the spelling lessons actually occur w/ the phonogram m. alphabet and also with the puzzle words. These two groups of lessons occur after the child is reading phonetically, which itself occurs after the child has had lots of experience writing w/ the moveable alphabet w/out an emphasis on spelling (we do not need to correct misspellings at this time). We don't use picture cards w/ the m. alphabet either b/c this material is for expression/writing...not reading. Once the child is spontaneously reading, we dive into the reading lessons beginning w/ the phonetic lessons and then puzzle words (sight words) and phonograms. There are many lessons and extensions with these two materials. Picture cards are used for combining all of these abilities (reading sight words, phonetic words and words w/ phonograms) combined in a whole other group of lessons called classified cards. These cards progress from simple to complex, beginning w/ one word and moving gradually to reading full sentences and paragraphs.

However...whenever a child asks for the correct spelling, I tell them rather than making them guess. If they are asking, obviously they don't know so why set them up for possibly being wrong? Just give the information, one day, they will make it their own.

[MattBronsil]

The idea of not correcting has a lot to do with understanding where the child is developmentally. I mostly remember Montessori writing about it while giving a 3 period lesson as the examples that stand out in my mind. Sometimes the child isn't ready for what they are being taught.

If the child is learning "oo" and they ask that specific question, I would help by explaining the rule that if we are using that sound and it is followed by the /k/ sound, it's going to be a "k." If the child is asking the question, they're often developmentally ready for the answer and have tried to think about it. They're therefore ready for the answer.

Where I wouldn't step in is if a child spelled out:
took
book
hooc

And didn't ask. I wouldn't step back and correct what they did at that point. Later on, it might be a good time to present that idea to the student. My favorite is when another students notices and teaches it...

As a side note, I agree with 99% of what Lillianna said. (As I usually do). Just that I also use picture cards or objects with the movable alphabet.