How To
To Use Montessori Picture Cards
The Montessori picture cards are a great way to teach children about the basics of reading, through the use of selfcorrecting cards that match particular words with particular images.
Basics. First of all, you need to give the children information on when to use the Montessori picture cards, and
where these cards can be found. If you are a teacher who handles a group of children, place the cards in an
accessible place such as the library, or in the classroom.
Teaching
Teaching the children the mechanics. Now, tell the children about how they can use the cards. Basically,
there are two sets of cards in the Montessori system. One set of cards has pictures, while the other set of cards has
words. Each word corresponds to one picture.
Pronunciation. Give emphasis on not just recognizing the words, but knowing how to pronounce the letters in the
words. Make sure that you instruct the children to read out loud each word. Reading out loud reinforces the words
that the children are learning, and helps them make reading a more concrete activity.
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Show examples. During the first time that the children will use the Montessori picture cards, it is best that you
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demonstrate first with a couple of the cards. Take the word card, and then pronounce the words. Afterwards, find the
corresponding picture card and hook it to the word card, to show the children how to check whether they were
correct or not.
Step back. After you have demonstrated, let the children do the rest of the exercises. Remember, supervision is at
a bare minimum when the children are using Montessori picture cards. The whole philosophy behind Montessori
teaching is that the children should have the initiative and opportunity to learn by themselves, after all.
Other ways you can use them.
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Print two copies of the control cards (the ones without a separating line between the picture and the name) and
play concentration and/or go fish. (they last longer when laminated; otherwise try printing onto cardstock)
Print multiple copies and cut off the top half of the cards with only the pictures and lay them out on the floor
like a board game. Roll a dice and move that number of “spaces.” If you know the name of that picture you can
stay, if not…back you go! First player that gets to the end of the game board is the winner.
Put the cards in chronological order, or categorize them in another way.
Your ideas!
The Child’s Bath
The Boating Party
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Children Playing at the
Beach
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Breakfast in Bed
Little Girl in a Blue
Armchair
Lydia in Loge
Young Mother Sewing
Young Mother in the
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Summer Time
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Woman with a red
Zinnia
Reading
Reading to the
Children
Child in a Straw Hat
The Child’s Bath
Breakfast in Bed
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The Boating fParty
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Little Girl in a Blue
Armchair
Children Playing at the
Beach
Lydia in Loge
Young Mother Sewing
Young Mother in the
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Summer Time
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Woman with a red
Zinnia
Reading to the
Children
Child in a Straw Hat
Mary Cassatt
Birth Year: 1844
Death Year: 1926
Country: America
Mary Cassatt was not the typical woman of her time. She came from a wealthy family
in Pennsylvania. She was well-educated and studied art in Philadelphia. But after a
few years she took a radical turn. She left to study art at the major museums in
Europe. As her style matured, she made her way to Paris.
In Paris, Mary embraced a new style of painting called Impressionism. It uses strong
bright colors. Light seems to be striking the surface and reflecting off it. It's as if the
sun is hitting a shiny object and bouncing off it. The image on the canvas is more like
a blur than a photo.
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Mary embraced the Impressionists' technique. Like them,
m painting is of a mother bathing her child. Mary set
on the closeness of mothers and children. Oneafamous
S often posed as her models. Mary never married or had
these paintings in the home. Her family members
children of her own. Yet her works capture the tender moments shared by mother and child.
Mary was one of the few women artists to succeed professionally. At the time, art was largely the domain
of men only. But Edgar Degas, a leader in the Impressionist movement, saw Mary's work. He said: "Voila!
There is someone who feels as I do." She was the only woman invited to exhibit her work with the other
Impressionists.
Though she lived in Europe, Mary returned to the United States often. She exhibited her work in the U.S.
and advised American art collectors. When a writer began to write her biography, she told him: "I am an
American, simply and frankly an American."