description of montessori language materials list · web viewread aloud lessons have been developed...

MONTESSORI UPPER ELEMENTARYLANGUAGE ARTS CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

Based on the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum

Montessori Language ArtsGrades 4 to 6

June 2006

Prince George’s County Public Schools

PGIN

Montessori Curriculum Alignment-Reading/Language Arts- Grades 4, 5, 6Prince George’s County Public Schools 1

BOARD OF EDUCATIONOF

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MARYLAND

Beatrice P. Tignor, Ed.D., ChairHoward W Stone, Jr., Vice ChairJohn R. Bailer, MemberAbby L. W. Crowley, Ed.D., MemberCharlene M. Dukes, Ed.D., MemberRobert O. Duncan, MemberJose R. Morales, MemberJudy G. Mickens- Murray, MemberDean Sirjue, MemberLeslie Hall, Student Board MemberJohn E. Deasy, Ph. D., Chief Executive Officer

Shelley Jallow, Chief Academic OfficerPatricia Miller, Director of Curriculum and InstructionGladys Whitehead, Ph.D., Coordinating Supervisor, Academic ProgramsPamela Shetley, Ph.D., Director of the FOCUS Office


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to acknowledge the following educators who contributed to the 2006-07 to the Montessori Language Arts Curriculum;

John Feeley Susan HolmesLaure Fleming Marion Lebensbaum Janet Goodspeed Cindy PeilGwendolyn Harris Kimberly Strayhorn.

We would like to acknowledge the following educators who contributed to the 2005-06 Montessori Curriculum Supplement and whose work has also been included in this document: Juliana Collier, John Feeley, Corinne Massey, Linda Massey, Sally Chadbourn, Kathleen Schwab, and Marty Galvin

Table of Contents


Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5

Montessori Language Arts Materials List ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7

Voluntary State Curriculum Chart (VSC) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8

Quarterly Overview…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18

Montessori Alignment with VSC ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19

Montessori Great Lessons ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…83

Montessori Sample Lessons ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...91

Appendix …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….102Literary Genre Card SetGraphic Organizers


Introduction

The Montessori Method of teaching reading incorporates both comprehensive instruction in phonics skills and a thematic, integrated “whole language” approach to reading. Through language, the transmission of culture from one generation to the next takes place. Reading and writing are offered as “keys” to explore culture and knowledge. Books are offered as tools to “unlock” the living world around us.

The Montessori Language Arts curriculum is reflective of the three reading purposes outlined in the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum: reading for a literary experience, reading to be informed, and reading to perform a task. Authentic literature and real-world reading material form the foundation of a thematically organized curriculum. Numerous opportunities are available for students to expand, enrich, and explore their understanding. Students are provided opportunities to work with flexible instructional arrangements, such as guided independent study, research projects, technology programs, mentoring, and seminars.

Activities and experiences designed to address individual strengths, learning preferences, and interests are offered to strengthen student’s talents and abilities while they explore advanced content within respective themes.

The reading language arts program allows for the following:

• On-going flexible grouping based on student interests• Enrichment opportunities within and outside the curriculum• Research projects to investigate topics of students’ interests related to the various themes• Use of internet technology to expand subject areas• Alignment with science, geography and social studies units – emphasizing interdisciplinary instruction• On-going assessment to determine instructional focus• Emphasis on stimulating high levels of thinking skills and knowledge

The Montessori Upper Elementary Reading Curriculum contains alignment with the VSC for forth, fifth, and sixth grades. It is intended to serve as a guide to new teachers in helping students develop comprehension skills through read-aloud lessons, poetry lessons and literacy circles. Additionally, lesson plans are provided to supplement the Montessori Great Lesson, “The Story of Language.”

Read Aloud lessons have been developed using the Montessori lesson plan format to introduce the following reading comprehensions strategies:


making connections to texts questioning visualizing predicting clarifying determining importance generalizing inferring evaluating

The Read Aloud lessons also introduce vocabulary and the making of text-life connections through mini-dramas. Later Read Aloud lessons have been designed to incorporate tools for teaching setting, plot, character, theme and point of view. The lessons range from beginning to advanced readers.


Description of Montessori Language Materials List

Moveable Alphabet Box: a wooden compartmental box that houses a plastic alphabet. Moveable alphabet boxes usually have 20 sets of letters with vowels in red and constants in blue.

Phonogram Booklets: 50 booklets teacher made or purchased, that highlight vowel patterns, diphthongs, and phonograms

Grammar Boxes: eight wooden colored coded boxes that correspond to a part of speech. Each box has sentence cards that highlight the function of words in each part of speech: noun, adjective, article, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

Grammar Symbols: paper or wooden symbols are color coded geometric shapes used to represent a part of speech. The grammar symbols reinforce functions of words in a sentence. Large black triangle = noun, medium blue triangle= adjective, small light blue triangle= article, large red circle=verb, medium orange circle = adverb, green crescent= preposition, pink dash= conjunction, golden keyhole=interjection.

Grammar Charts: generally teacher made materials that highlight specific grammar concepts such as: types of nouns, transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, etc.

Logical Analysis: wooden symbols are colored coded geometric shapes used to diagram sentences.

Verb Material: teacher made cards that show different verb forms. Students match a pronoun to the proper conjugation (i.e. he eats, they eat). Teacher made material that shows past, present and future tenses of verbs.

Nomenclature Cards: teacher made or purchased, matching vocabulary and picture cards which are related to various themes in content areas such as geometry, science, and history.

Command Cards: teacher made or purchased activity cards that provide for additional exploration of specific content themes. They are completed individually on in small groups and are generally student selected following a lesson.

Word Family Cards: teacher made charts, booklets or cards that combine affixes with root words to create new words.

Word Study Cards: teacher made charts, booklets or cards that students match or combine in order to practice compound words, homonyms, antonyms, synonyms, rhyming words, alphabetical order, etc.


VSC and Montessori Upper Elementary Language Arts Curriculum Alignment

Table of Contents

VSC - Reading Standard 1.0 General Reading ProcessesGrade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

VSC1.0

General Reading Process

VSC1.0


VSC1.0


1.B.1.a Page 19

1.C.1.a Page 19 1.C.1.a Page 19 1.C.1.a Page 191.C.2.a Page 20 1.C.2.a Page 20 1.C.2.a Page 20 1.C.2.b Page 20 1.C.2.b Page 20 1.C.2.b Page 201.C.2.c Page 20 1.C.2.c Page 20 1.C.2.c Page 20

1.D.1.a Page 21 1.D.1.a Page 21 1.D.1.a Page 211.D.1.b Page 21 1.D.1.b Page 21 1.D.1.b Page 211.D.1.c Page 21 Page 21 Page 21

1.D.2.a Page 21 1.D.2.a Page 21 1.D.2.a Page 211.D.2.b Page 22 1.D.2.b Page 22 1.D.2.b Page 221.D.2.c Page 22 Page 22 Page 22

1.D.3.a Page 22 1.D.3.a Page 22 1.D.3.a Page 221.D.3.b Page 23 1.D.3.b Page 23 1.D.3.b Page 231.D.3.c Page 23 1.D.3.c Page 23 1.D.3.c Page 231.D.3.d Page 23 1.D.3.d Page 23 1.D.3.d Page 23


VSC - Reading Standard 1.0 General Reading Processes1.E.1.a Page 24 1.E.1.a Page 24 1.E.1.a Page 241.E.1.b Page 24 1.E.1.b Page 24 1.E.1.b Page 241.E.1.c Page 24 1.E.1.c Page 24 1.E.1.c Page 24

1.E.2.a Page 24 1.E.2.a Page 24 1.E.2.a Page 241.E.2.b Page 25 1.E.2.b Page 25 1.E.2.b Page 251.E.2.c Page 25 1.E.2.c Page 25 1.E.2.c Page 251.E.2.d Page 25 1.E.2.d Page 25 1.E.2.d Page 25

1.E.3.a Page 25 1.E.3.a Page 25 1.E.3.a Page 251.E.3.b Page 26 1.E.3.b Page 26 1.E.3.b Page 261.E.3.c Page 26 1.E.3.c Page 26 1.E.3.c Page 261.E.3.d Page 26 1.E.3.d Page 26 1.E.3.d Page 261.E.3.e Page 26 1.E.3.e Page 26 1.E.3.e Page 261.E.3.f Page 27 1.E.3.f Page 27 1.E.3.f Page 271.F.3.g Page 27 1.F.3.g Page 27 1.F.3.g Page 271.E.3.h Page 27 1.E.3.h Page 27 1.E.3.h Page 271.E.3.i Page 27 1.E.3.i Page 27 1.E.3.i Page 271.E.3.j Page 28 1.E.3.j Page 28 1.E.3.j Page 28

1.E.4.a Page 28 1.E.4.a Page 28 1.E.4.a Page 281.E.4.b Page 29 1.E.4.b Page 29 1.E.4.b Page 291.E.4.c Page 29 1.E.4.c Page 29 1.E.4.c Page 291.E.4.d Page 29 1.E.4.d Page 29 1.E.4.d Page 291.E.4.e Page 30 1.E.4.e Page 30 1.E.4.e Page 301.E.4.f Page 30 1.E.4.f Page 30 1.E.4.f Page 301.E.4.g Page 30 1.E.4.g Page 30 1.E.4.g Page 301.E.4.h Page 31 1.E.4.h Page 31 1.E.4.h Page 31


VSC - Reading Standard 2.0 Comprehension of Informational Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate informational text. Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

VSC2.0

Comprehension of Informational Text

VSC2.0


VSC2.0


2.A.1.a Page 32 2.A.1.a Page 32 2.A.1.a Page 322.A.1.b Page 33 2.A.1.b Page 33 2.A.1.b Page 332.A.1.c Page 33 2.A.1.c Page 33 2.A.1.c Page 33

2.A.2.a Page 34 2.A.2.a Page 34 2.A.2.a Page 342.A.2.b Page 34 2.A.2.b Page 34 2.A.2.b Page 342.A.2.c Page 35 2.A.2.c Page 35 2.A.2.c Page 352.A.2.d Page 36 2.A.2.d Page 36 2.A.2.d Page 362.A.2.e Page 36 2.A.2.e Page 36 2.A.2.e Page 362.A.2.f Page 37 2.A.2.f Page 37 2.A.2.f Page 37

2.A.3.a Page 37 2.A.3.a Page 37 2.A.3.a Page 372.A.3.b Page 38 2.A.3.b Page 38 Page 38



VSC - Reading Standard 2.0 Comprehension of Informational Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate informational text. 2.A.4.g Page 41 2.A.4.g Page 41 2.A.4.g Page 412.A.4.h Page 41 2.A.4.h Page 41 2.A.4.h Page 412.A.4.i Page 41 2.A.4.i Page 41 2.A.4.i Page 412.A.4.j Page 42 2.A.4.j Page 42 2.A.4.j Page 42



VSC - Reading Standard 3.0 Comprehension of Literary Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate literary texts. Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

VSC3.0

Comprehension of Literary Text

VSC3.0


VSC3.0


3.A.1.a Page 47 3.A.1.a Page 47 3.A.1.a Page 473.A.1.b Page 47 3.A.1.b Page 47 3.A.1.b Page 47



VSC - Reading Standard 3.0 Comprehension of Literary Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate literary texts. 3.A.3.a Page 48 3.A.3.a Page 48 3.A.3.a Page 483.A.3.b Page 49 3.A.3.b Page 49 3.A.3.b Page 493.A.3.c Page 49 3.A.3.c Page 49 3.A.3.c Page 493.A.3.d Page 50 3.A.3.d Page 50 3.A.3.d Page 503.A.3.e Page 50 3.A.3.e Page 50 3.A.3.e Page 503.A.3.f Page 51 3.A.3.f Page 51 3.A.3.f Page 513.A.3.g Page 51 3.A.3.g Page 51 3.A.3.g Page 51

3.A.3.h Page 513.A.3.i Page 52

3.A.4.a Page 52 3.A.4.a Page 52 3.A.4.a Page 523.A.4.b Page 52 3.A.4.b Page 52 3.A.4.b Page 523.A.4.c Page 53 3.A.4.c Page 53 3.A.4.c Page 533.A.4.d Page 53 3.A.4.d Page 53 3.A.4.d Page 53


3.A.6.a Page 56 3.A.6.a Page 56 3.A.6.a Page 563.A.6.b Page 56 3.A.6.b Page 56 3.A.6.b Page 563.A.6.c Page 56 3.A.6.c Page 56 3.A.6.c Page 563.A.6.d Page 57 3.A.6.d Page 57 3.A.6.d Page 573.A.6.e Page 57 3.A.6.e Page 57 3.A.6.e Page 57

3.A.6.f Page 57 3.A.6.f Page 57



VSC - Reading Standard 3.0 Comprehension of Literary Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate literary texts. 3.A.7.c Page 59 3.A.7.c Page 59 3.A.7.c Page 593.A.7.d Page 59 3.A.7.d Page 59 3.A.7.d Page 593.A.7.e Page 60 3.A.7.e Page 60 3.A.7.e Page 603.A.7.f Page 60 3.A.7.f Page 60


3.A.8.d Page 61 3.A.8.d Page 61

VSC - Reading Standard 4.0 Writing: Students will compose in a variety of modes by developing content, employing specific forms, and selecting language appropriate for a particular audience and purpose.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

VSC4.0

Writing VSC4.0

Writing VSC4.0

Writing









4.A.7.a Page 68 4.A.7.a Page 68 4.A.7.a Page 684.A.7.b Page 69 4.A.7.b Page 69 4.A.7.b Page 694.A.7.c Page 69 4.A.7.c Page 69 4.A.7.c Page 694.A.7.d Page 70 4.A.7.d Page 70 4.A.7.d Page 704.A.7.e Page 70 4.A.7.e Page 70 4.A.7.e Page 70


VSC - Reading Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing. Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

VSC5.0

Controlling Language VSC5.0

Controlling Language VSC5.0

Controlling Language

5.A.1 Page 71 5.A.1 Page 71 5.A.1 Page 71

5.A.2.a Page 71 5.A.2.a Page 71 5.A.2.a Page 715.A.2.b Page 71 5.A.2.b Page 71 5.A.2.b Page 715.A.2.c Page 71 5.A.2.c Page 71 5.A.2.c Page 715.A.2.d Page 72 5.A.2.d Page 72 5.A.2.d Page 725.A.2.e Page 72

5.B.1 Page 72 5.B.1 Page 72 5.B.1 Page 72

5.B.2.a Page 72 5.B.2.a Page 72 5.B.2.a Page 725.B.2.b Page 73 5.B.2.b Page 73 5.B.2.b Page 735.B.2.c Page 73 5.B.2.c Page 73 5.B.2.c Page 735.B.2.d Page 73 5.B.2.d Page 73 5.B.2.d Page 735.B.2.e Page 73 5.B.2.e Page 73 5.B.2.e Page 73

5.C.1 Page 74 5.C.1 Page 74 5.C.1 Page 74

5.C.2.a Page 74 5.C.2.a Page 74 5.C.2.a Page 745.C.2.b Page 74 5.C.2.b Page 74 5.C.2.b Page 745.C.2.c Page 74 5.C.2.c Page 74 5.C.2.c Page 745.C.2.d Page 74 5.C.2.d Page 74 5.C.2.d Page 745.C.2.e Page 75 5.C.2.e Page 755.C.2.f Page 755.C.2.g Page 75

VSC - Reading Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing. 5.C.3 Page 75 5.C.3 Page 75 5.C.3 Page 75


5.D.1 Page 75 5.D.1 Page 75 5.D.1 Page 75

5.D.2.a Page 75 5.D.2.a Page 75 5.D.2.a Page 755.D.2.b Page 76 5.D.2.b Page 76 5.D.2.b Page 765.D.2.c Page 76 5.D.2.c Page 76 5.D.2.c Page 765.D.2.d. Page 76 5.D.2.d Page 765.D.2.e Page 76

5.D.3 Page 76 5.D.3 Page 76 5.D.3 Page 76

5.E.1.a Page 77 5.E.1.a Page 77 5.E.1.a Page 775.E.1.b Page 77 5.E.1.b Page 77 5.E.1.b Page 77

VSC - Reading Standard 6.0 Listening: Students will demonstrate effective listening to learn, process, and analyze information. Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

VSC6.0

Listening VSC6.0

Listening VSC6.0

Listening


6.A.1.e Page 786.A.1.f Page 796.A.1.g Page 79


VSC - Reading Standard 6.0 Listening: Students will demonstrate effective listening to learn, process, and analyze information. 6.A.2.a Page 79 6.A.2.a Page 79 6.A.2.a Page 796.A.2.b Page 79 6.A.2.b Page 79 6.A.2.b Page 796.A.2.c Page 79 6.A.2.c Page 79 6.A.2.c Page 796.A.2.d Page 79 6.A.2.d Page 79 6.A.2.d Page 796.A.2.e Page 80 6.A.2.e Page 80 6.A.2.e Page 806.A.2.f Page 80

VSC - Reading Standard 7.0 Speaking: Student will communicate effectively in a variety of situations with different audiences, purposes, and formats. Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

VSC7.0

Speaking VSC7.0

Speaking VSC7.0

Speaking


7.A.1.d Page 817.A.1.e Page 817.A.1.f Page 82

7.A.2.a Page 82 7.A.2.a Page 827.A.2.b Page 82 7.A.2.b Page 827.A.2.c Page 82 7.A.2.c Page 827.A.2.d Page 82 7.A.2.d Page 827.A.2.e Page 82 7.A.2.e Page 82


Montessori Upper Elementary Language ArtsQuarterly Overview for 4th, 5th, and 6th Grade Students

First Quarter Second Quarter Third Quarter Fourth QuarterLiterary TextCreation Stories FolkloreFolktales Fantasy FairytalesInformational TextMaps and AtlasesKey, Scale, LegendHeadings, Captions, IllustrationsPhotographs, Graphic AidsMagazine and Newspaper ArticlesSet of DirectionsTextbookSidebars

Literary TextPoetryPlaysShort Stories

Informational TextMaps and AtlasesKey, Scale, LegendHeadings, Captions, IllustrationsPhotographs, Graphic AidsMagazine and Newspaper ArticlesSet of DirectionsTextbookSidebars

Literary TextBiographyHistorical FictionDiaryJournal


Literary TextRealistic FictionScience Fiction


Ongoing Reading/Language Arts IndicatorsPhonics Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, Spelling, HandwritingVocabulary Fluency

Listening and SpeakingWriting General Comprehension

Montessori Language Arts and the Maryland Voluntary State CurriculumThis sequence has been kept as closely aligned to the Montessori language curriculum as possible, but adjustments have been made based on the indicators tested quarterly in Prince George’s County Public Schools. If teachers systematically incorporate these indicators into their presentations and discussions, students will be comfortable with quarterly benchmark tests and the Maryland School Assessment (MSA). The Montessori Language Lessons are designed to be presented individually or in small groups. Each presentation isolates one learning objective. Where student begins in the sequence, and how quickly they progress, depends on the developmental needs of each individual student. The teacher observes and responds to each individual child’s learning needs. Grade level expectations are intended to be used only as an aid to planning. Teachers will use their Montessori curriculum albums as their primary guides, and each student will progress at his or her own unique and appropriate pace.


VSC - Reading Standard 1.0 General Reading Processes: Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

Topic 1.B. Phonics Topic 1.B. Phonics Topic 1.B. Phonics

1.B.1. Use a variety of phonetic skills to read unfamiliar words

a. Apply phonics skillsAssessment limits:

Initial and final consonant blends (3 letters)

Vowel patterns Long and short vowels Irregular/silent

consonant sounds R-controlled vowels Digraphs

Diphthongs

Montessori Lessons:Phonogram Booklets and Cards (include blends, diagraphs, diphthongs, silent elements, ending elements); Dictionary lessons( syllabication, pronunciation key)

Standard 1.0 General Reading Processes: Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

Topic 1.C. Fluency * Topic 1.C. Fluency * Topic 1.C. Fluency *

1.C.1. Read orally at an appropriate rate 1.C.1. Read orally at an appropriate rate 1.C.1. Read orally at an appropriate rate

a. Read familiar text at a rate that is conversational and consistent

Montessori Lessons:Teacher read-aloud / modeling; Literacy Circles (Student re-reads a favorite portion of the text.); Partner Reading; Student reading individually with teacher






http://www.mdk12.org/instruction/curriculum/reading/standard1/grade_4_6_info.html#1%231




1.C.2. Read grade-level text with both high accuracy and appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression



a. Apply knowledge of word structures and patterns to read with automaticity

Montessori Lessons:Word Family Cards with Affixes; Dictionary Lessons (etymology)





b. Demonstrate appropriate use of phrasing:

Attend to sentence patterns and structures that signal meaning in text

Use punctuation cues to guide meaning and expression

Use pacing and intonation (emphasis on certain words) to convey meaning and expression

Adjust intonation and pitch (rise and fall of spoken voice) appropriately

Montessori Lessons:Modeling through Teacher Read-Aloud; Logical Analysis; Grammar Symbols;Literacy Circles (Student re-reads a favorite portion of the text.); Partner Reading; Individual Students read with teacher













c. Increase sight words read fluently

Montessori Lessons:Cross-Curricular vocabulary; Reading for meaning in context; Dictionary Lessons







Topic 1.D. Vocabulary Topic 1.D. Vocabulary Topic 1.D. Vocabulary

1.D.1. Develop and apply vocabulary through exposure to a variety of texts



a. Acquire new vocabulary through listening to, independently reading, and discussing a variety of literary and informational texts

Montessori Lessons:Cross-Curricular vocabulary enrichment; Reading for meaning in context; Reading Journals; Nomenclature Cards





b. Discuss words and word meanings daily as they are encountered in text, instruction, and conversation

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read Aloud; Cross-Curricular vocabulary enrichment; Reading for meaning in context; Reading Journals





c. Collect 12-20 new words for deeper study each week

Montessori Lessons:Reading Journals; Literacy Circle Meetings; Nomenclature Cards

1.D.2. Develop a conceptual understanding of new words

1.D.2. Develop and apply a conceptual understanding of new words

1.D.2. Apply a conceptual understanding of new words

a. Classify and categorize increasingly complex words into sets and groups

Montessori Lessons:Nomenclature Cards across the curriculum







b. Identify and explain word relationships, to determine the meanings of wordsAssessment limit: Antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and homographs

Montessori Lessons:Word Study Cabinet; Multiple Meaning Words

MSA Finish Line:Unit 1, Lesson 1

b. Identify and explain relationships between and among wordsAssessment limits: Antonyms and synonyms; Concept hierarchies; Multiple meaning words; Specialized use of vocabulary in specific content areas



b. Explain relationships between and among words Assessment limits: Antonyms and synonyms; Concept hierarchies; Multiple meaning words; Specialized use of vocabulary in specific content areas



c. Identify and use correctly new words acquired through study of their relationships to other words

Montessori Lessons:Dictionary Lessons (etymology); Word Family Cards

1.D.3. Understand, acquire, and use new vocabulary 1.D.3. Understand, acquire, and use new vocabulary 1.D.3. Understand, acquire, and use new vocabulary

a. Use context to determine the meanings of wordsAssessment limits: Above grade-level words used in context; Words with multiple meanings; Connotations versus denotations; Grade-appropriate idioms and figurative expressions

Montessori Lessons:Reading across the Curriculum; Literacy Circle Discussions; Parts of Speech (Grammar Symbols); Illustrations of figurative language

MSA Finish Line:Unit 1, Lesson 1Unit 1, Lesson 3

a. Use context to determine the meanings of wordsAssessment limits: Above grade-level words used in context; Words with multiple meanings; Connotations versus denotations; Grade-appropriate idioms and figurative expressions



a. Use context to determine the meanings of wordsAssessment limits: Above grade-level words used in context; Words with multiple meanings; Connotations versus denotations; Grade-appropriate idioms, colloquialisms, and figurative expressions





b. Use word structure to determine the meaning of wordsAssessment limits: Prefixes and suffixes; Grade-appropriate roots and base words; Grade-appropriate compound words; Grade-appropriate inflectional endings

Montessori Lessons: Dictionary Lessons (etymology, syllabication); Word Family Cards (affixes, compound words, etc.)








c. Use resources to determine the meanings of wordsAssessment limits: Dictionaries; Glossaries; Thesauruses; Other grade-appropriate resources

Montessori Lessons: Dictionary Lessons (etymology, syllabication); Thesaurus Lessons; Student Created Booklets

c. Use resources to confirm definitions and gather further information about wordsAssessment limits: Electronic and/or print dictionaries; Thesauruses; Other grade-appropriate resources


c. Use resources to confirm definitions and gather further information about wordsAssessment limits: Electronic and/or print dictionaries; Thesauruses; Other grade-appropriate resources


d. Use new vocabulary in speaking and writing to gain and extend content knowledge and clarify expression

Montessori Lessons:Social Studies and Science nomenclature followed by independent research projects, reports, and presentations







Topic 1.E. General Reading Comprehension Topic 1.E. General Reading Comprehension Topic 1.E. General Reading Comprehension

1.E.1. Develop comprehension skills through exposure to a variety of texts

1.E.1. Develop and apply comprehension skills through exposure to a variety of texts, including traditional print and electronic texts

1.E.1. Develop and apply comprehension skills through exposure to a variety of texts, including traditional print and electronic texts

a. Listen to critically, read, and discuss texts representing diversity in content, culture, authorship, and perspective, including areas, such as race, gender, disability, religion, and socio-economic background

Montessori Lessons:Reading across the curriculum





b. Read a minimum of 25 self-selected and/or assigned books or book equivalents representing various genres

Montessori Lessons:Library Lessons, Book reports; Reading across the curriculum





c. Discuss reactions to and ideas/information gained from reading experiences with adults and peers in both formal and informal situations

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Book Clubs; Oral Presentations





1.E.2. Use strategies to prepare for reading (before reading)



a. Survey and preview the text by examining features, such as the title, illustrations, photographs, charts, and graphs

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Preview and Predict; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor ChartsMSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 1

a. Survey and preview the text by examining features, such as the title, illustrations, photographs, charts, and graphs


a. Survey and preview the text


VSC - Reading Standard 1.0 General Reading Processes:


Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Set a purpose for reading the text

Montessori Lessons:Pre-reading “Book Walk”

b. Set a purpose for reading the text


b. Set a purpose for reading the text


c. Make predictions and ask questions about the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Preview and Predict; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts








d. Make connections to the text from prior knowledge and experiences

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Text to Self, Text to World, and Text to Text Connections; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts








1.E.3. Use strategies to make meaning from text (during reading)



a. Reread the difficult parts slowly and carefully

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Clarifying to Understand; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts







b. Use own words to restate the difficult part

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Clarifying to Understand and Summarizing; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts





c. Read on and revisit the difficult part






d. Skim the text to search for connections between and among ideas

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Text to Self, Text to World, and Text to Text Connections; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs





e. Make, confirm, or adjust predictions

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Making Predictions and Clarifying; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs







f. Periodically summarize while reading

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining Importance; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Literacy Circles





g. Periodically paraphrase important ideas or information






h. Visualize what was read for deeper understanding

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Visualizing; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts





i. Use a graphic organizer or another note-taking technique to record important ideas or information

Montessori Lessons:Brainstorming / Anchor Charts, Concept Webs, Word Lists, Venn Diagrams, Index Cards with research questions, outlines







j. Explain personal connections to the ideas or information in the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Text to Self, Text to World, and Text to Text Connections; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Comprehension Questions, Literacy Circles





1.E.4. Use strategies to demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading)

1.E.4. Use strategies to demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading)

1.E.4 Use strategies to demonstrate understanding of the text (after reading)

a. Identify and explain the main ideaAssessment limit: In the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining Importance; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs; Comprehension Questions


a. Identify and explain the main idea

Assessment limit: In the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining Importance; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Comprehension Questions


a. Identify and explain the main ideaAssessment limit: In the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining Importance; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Comprehension Questions




b. Identify and explain what is directly stated in the textAssessment limit: Main ideas, supporting details and other information stated in the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining Importance; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs; Comprehension QuestionsMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1Unit 2, Lesson 2





c. Identify and explain what is not directly stated in the text by drawing inferencesAssessment limit: Implied information from the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Inferring; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs; Comprehension QuestionsMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 3





d. Draw conclusions or make generalizations about the textAssessment limit: Stated or implied information from the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs; Comprehension QuestionsMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 3







e. Confirm, refute, or make predictions and form new ideasAssessment limit: Stated and/or implied information from the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Making Predictions and Clarifying; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Comprehension QuestionsMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 4





f. Paraphrase the main ideaAssessment limit: Complete text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Determining Importance; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Comprehension QuestionsMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1Unit 2, Lesson 7

f. Paraphrase the main idea of the textAssessment limit: Complete text or a portion of the text


f. Paraphrase the main ideaAssessment limit: Complete text or a portion of the text


g. SummarizeAssessment limit: The text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Summarizing; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Comprehension QuestionsMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1,2,5,7







h. Connect the text to prior knowledge or personal experienceAssessment limit: Prior knowledge or experience that clarifies, extends, or challenges the ideas and/or information in the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Text to Self Connections; Teacher Modeling; Brainstorming / Anchor Charts and Concepts Webs, Comprehension Questions









VSC - Reading Standard 2.0 Comprehension of Informational Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate informational text.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 2.A. Comprehension of Informational Text Topic 2.A. Comprehension of Informational Text Topic 2.A. Comprehension of Informational Text

2.A.1. Develop comprehension skills by reading a variety of self-selected and assigned print and electronic informational texts

2.A.1. Develop and apply comprehension skills by reading a variety of self-selected and assigned print and electronic informational texts

2.A.1. Develop and apply comprehension skills by reading a variety of self-selected and assigned print and electronic informational texts

a. Read, use, and identify the characteristics of nonfiction materials to gain information and content knowledge

Assessment limits: Textbooks Appropriate

reference materials Personal

narratives Diaries and

journals Biographies Newspapers Letters Articles Web sites and

other online materials

Other appropriate content-specific texts

Montessori Lessons:Cross-Curricular Lessons in Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, etc. using a variety of informational texts such as: Montessori Timelines with Cards; Nomenclature Card Sets, Trade Books, Encyclopedias, Historical Diaries and Journals, Classroom Periodicals, Science and Social Studies Text Books, Biographies, Atlases, Web-sites, etc.

MSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 1Unit 3, Lesson 2Unit 3, Lesson 3Unit 3, Lesson 4Unit 3, Lesson 5Unit 3, Lesson 6Unit 3, Lesson 7



reference materials Research and

historical documents Personal


journals Biographies Newspapers Letters Articles Web sites other

online materials

Other appropriate content-specific texts materials





reference materials Research and

historical documents Personal


journals Biographies Newspapers Letters Articles Web sites other

online materials

Other appropriate content-specific texts





Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Read, use, and identify the characteristics of functional documentsAssessment limits:

Sets of directions Science

investigations Atlases Posters Flyers Forms Instructional

manuals Menus Pamphlets Rules Invitations Recipes Advertisements

Other functional documents

Montessori Materials:Science Experiment Procedures; Practical Life, Art Lessons using directions; Geography Scavenger Hunts; Student created functional documents to be shared in small groups


b. Read, use, and identify the characteristics of functional documentsAssessment limits:







b. Read, use, and identify the characteristics of functional documentsAssessment limits:







c. Select and read to gain information from personal interest materials, such as brochures, books, magazines, cookbooks, catalogs, and web sites

Montessori Lessons:Reading Journals







Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 62.A.2. Identify and use text features to facilitate understanding of informational texts

2.A.2. Identify and use text features to facilitate understanding of informational texts

2.A.2. Identify and use text features to facilitate understanding of informational texts

a. Use print featuresAssessment limits:

Large bold print Font size/type ItalicsColored print Quotation marks UnderliningOther print features encountered in informational texts

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions



Large bold print Font size/type Italics Colored print Quotation marks UnderliningOther print features encountered in informational texts




Large bold print Font size/type Italics Colored print Quotation marks Underlining Other print features encountered in informational texts



b. Use graphic aidsAssessment limits:

Illustrations Photographs Drawings Sketches Cartoons Maps (key, scale,

legend) Graphs Charts/tables Diagrams

Other graphic aids encountered in informational texts

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Cross-Curricular lessons in Geography, Science, Statistics





Other graphic aids encountered in informational texts






Other graphic aids encountered in informational text





Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6c. Use informational aidsAssessment limits:

Introductions and overviews

Materials lists Timelines Captions Glossed words Labels Numbered steps Bulleted lists Footnoted words Pronunciation key Transition words

Boxed text

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Cross-Curricular lessons in Geography, Science, Statistics, History, Current Events; Practical Life and Art Activities

MSA Finish LineUnit 2, Lesson 7Unit 3, Lesson 1

c. Use informational aidsAssessment limits:


Materials lists Timelines Captions Glossed words Labels Numbered steps Bulleted lists Footnoted words Pronunciation key Transition words

Other informational aids encountered in informational texts



c. Use informational aidsAssessment limits:


Materials lists Timelines Captions Glossed words Labels Numbered steps Bulleted lists Footnoted words Pronunciation key Transition words End notes Works cited

Other informational aids encountered in informational texts




VSC - Reading Standard 2.0 Comprehension of Informational Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate informational text. Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

d. Use organizational aidsAssessment limits:

Titles, chapter titles, and subtitles

Headings, subheadings

Tables of content Numbered steps Glossaries Indices

Transition words

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Cross-Curricular lessons in Geography, Science, Statistics, History, Current Events





Tables of content Numbered steps Glossaries Indices Transition words

Other organizational aids encountered in informational texts






Tables of content Numbered steps Glossaries Indices Transition words

Other organizational aids encountered in informational texts



e. Use online featuresAssessment limits:

URLs Hypertext links Sidebars Drop down menus Home pages

Site maps

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Cross-Curricular lessons in Geography, Math, Science, Statistics, History, Current Events using classroom computers and/or the school computer lab


URLs Hypertext links Sidebars Drop down menus Home pages Site maps

Other features characteristic of online text



URLs Hypertext links Sidebars Drop down menus Home pages Site maps

Other features characteristic of online text




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6f. Identify and explain the contributions of text features to meaningAssessment limit: Connections between text features and the main idea and/or the reader's understanding

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Weekly Lessons using classroom periodicals such as newspapers, Scholastic News. Time for Kids, etc.; Reading content specific textbooks for informationMSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 1

f. Identify and explain the contributions of text features to meaningAssessment limit: Connections between text features and meaning


f. Identify and explain the contributions of text features to supporting the main idea of the textAssessment limit: Connections between text features and meaning


2.A.3. Develop knowledge of organizational structure of informational text to understand what is read

2.A.3. Develop and apply knowledge of organizational structure of informational text to understand what is read

2.A.3. Develop and apply knowledge of organizational structure of informational text to facilitate understanding

a. Identify and analyze the organizational patterns of textsAssessment limits:

Sequential and chronological order

Cause/effect Problem/solution Similarities/

differences Description

Main idea and supporting details

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Weekly Lessons using classroom periodicals such as newspapers, Scholastic News. Time for Kids, etc.; Reading content specific textbooks for information; Informational text organizational patterns cards sets and/or chart (see appendix)MSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1, 2, 5Unit 3, Lesson 2, 3


Sequential and chronological order

Cause/effect Problem/solution Similarities/

differences Description

Main idea and supporting details

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Weekly Lessons using classroom periodicals such as newspapers, Scholastic News. Time for Kids, etc.; Reading content specific textbooks for information; Informational text organizational patterns cards sets and/or chart (see appendix)MSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1, 2, 5Unit 3, Lesson 2, 3


Sequential and chronological order Cause/effect Problem/solution Similarities/differences Description Main idea and supporting details Transition or signal words and phrases

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Weekly Lessons using classroom periodicals such as newspapers, Scholastic News. Time for Kids, etc.; Reading content specific textbooks for information; Informational text organizational patterns cards sets and/or chart (see appendix)MSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1, 2, 5Unit 3, Lesson 2, 3, 4



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Identify and use words and phrases associated with common organizational patterns

Assessment limits: Words that show

chronology (first, second, third)

Words that show description (above, beneath, next to, beside)

Words that show cause and effect (because, as a result)

Words that show sequence (next, then, finally)

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Weekly Lessons using classroom periodicals such as newspapers, Scholastic News. Time for Kids, etc.; Reading content specific textbooks for information; Informational text organizational patterns cards sets and/or chart (see appendix); Writers’ Workshop: Writing paragraphs using a specific organizational pattern


b. Identify and use words and phrases associated with common organizational patterns

Assessment limits: Words that show

chronology (first, second, third)

Words that show description (above, beneath, next to, beside)

Words that show cause and effect (because, as a result)

Words that show sequence (next, then, finally)



b. Explain the contribution of the organizational pattern

Assessment limits:

Connections between the organizational pattern and meaning

Connections between the organizational pattern and the author's/text's purpose





Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 62.A.4. Determine important ideas and messages in informational texts

2.A.4. Determine and analyze important ideas and messages in informational texts

2.A.4. Determine and analyze important ideas and messages in informational texts

a. Identify and explain the author's/text's purpose and intended audienceAssessment limits: Purpose of the author or the text or a portion of the text; Connections between the text and the intended audience

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Making Connections (Text to World)MSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 5





b. Identify and explain the author's opinionAssessment limit: Texts or portions of texts in which the author's opinion is evident

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizer: T-Chart; Anchor charts for opinion words; Writers’ Workshop: Letter to the author agreeing or disagreeing.MSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 5, 6


Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizer: T-Chart; Anchor charts for opinion words; Writers’ Workshop: Write a letter to the author agreeing or disagreeing.MSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 5, 6


Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizer: T-Chart; Anchor charts for opinion words; Writers’ Workshop: Write a letter to the author agreeing or disagreeing.MSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 5, 6

c. State and support main ideas and messagesAssessment limit: The whole text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizer: Main Idea and Details ChartMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1







Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6d. Summarize or paraphraseAssessment limit: The text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining ImportanceMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1, 2Unit 2, Lesson 7

d. Summarize or paraphraseAssessment limit: The text or a portion of the text


d. Summarize or paraphraseAssessment limit: The text or a portion of the text


e. Identify and explain information not related to the main ideaAssessment limit: Information in the text that is peripheral to the main idea

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining ImportanceMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 1





f. Identify and explain relationships between and among ideasAssessment limits:Comparison/contrast Cause/effect Sequence/chronology Relationships between and among ideas in one or more textsRelationships between and among ideas and prior knowledge in one or more texts

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Making Connections (Text to Text and Text to World); Graphic Organizers: T-charts, Venn Diagrams, Flow Charts, Timeline of EventsMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 5, 6Unit 3, Lesson 2, 4

f. Identify and explain relationships between and among ideasAssessment limits:Comparison/contrast Cause/effect Sequence/chronology Relationships between and among ideas in one or more texts Relationships between and among ideas and prior knowledge in one or more texts


f. Explain relationships between and among ideasAssessment limits:Comparison/contrast Cause/effect Sequence/chronology Relationships between and among ideas in one or more texts Relationships between and among ideas and prior knowledge in one or more texts




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6g. Draw conclusions and inferences and make generalizations and predictions from textAssessment limits: From one text or across multiple texts; Connections between and among ideas that lead a new understanding

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Predicting, Making Inferences, Making Generalizations; Graphic Organizers: Text + Prior Knowledge = Inference

MSA Finish LineUnit 2, Lesson 2

g. Draw conclusions and inferences and make generalizations and predictions from textAssessment limits: From one text or across multiple texts; Connections between and among ideas that lead a new understanding

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Predicting, Making Inferences, Making Generalizations; Graphic Organizers: Text + Prior Knowledge = Inference


g. Synthesize ideas from textAssessment limit: From one text or across multiple texts

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Predicting, Making Inferences, Making Generalizations, Making Connections; Graphic Organizers: Text + Prior Knowledge = Inference


h. Distinguish between a fact and an opinionAssessment limit: In one or more texts

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizer: T-Chart for fact and opinion; Anchor charts for opinion words








i. Identify and explain how someone might use the textAssessment limit: Application of the text for personal use or content-specific use

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reference Book Treasure Hunts; Research plan for independent or group projects







Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6j. Connect the text to prior knowledge or experienceAssessment limit: Prior knowledge that clarifies, extends, or challenges the ideas or information in the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Making Connections (Text to Self); Graphic Organizers: T-charts; K-W-L chartsMSA Finish LineUnit 2, Lesson 6

j. Connect the text to prior knowledge or experienceAssessment limit: Prior knowledge that clarifies, extends, or challenges the ideas or information in the text or a portion of the text


j. Connect the text to prior knowledge or experienceAssessment limit: Prior knowledge that clarifies, extends, or challenges the ideas or information in the text or a portion of the text


2.A.5. Identify and explain the author's use of language 2.A.5. Identify and explain the author's use of language 2.A.5. Analyze purposeful use of language

a. Identify and explain specific words or phrases that contribute to the meaning of a textAssessment limits:

Significant words and phrases with a specific effect on meaning

Similes, metaphors, personification

Connotations of grade-appropriate words

Content vocab.

Denotations of above-grade-level words in context

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Drawing similes, metaphors, personification; Dictionary Work; Reading using context clues; Content area nomenclature cards


a. Identify and explain specific words or phrases that contribute to the meaning of a textAssessment limits:


Figurative lang. Idioms Connotations of

grade-appropriate words

Technical or content vocabulary


Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Drawing similes, metaphors, personification, idioms; Dictionary Work; Reading using context clues; Content area nomenclature cards


a. Analyze specific words or phrases that contribute to the meaning of a textAssessment limits:


Figurative lang. Idioms Connotations of

grade-appropriate words

Technical or content vocabulary


Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Drawing similes, metaphors, personification, idioms; Dictionary Work; Reading using context clues; Content area nomenclature cards




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Identify and explain specific words and punctuation that create toneAssessment limits: Grade-appropriate words that create tone; Tone in the text or a portion of the text; Specific punctuation that contributes to the tone of a text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Comp. Questions; Art Projects: drawings and paintings to reflect the mood and tone of a portion of the text; Grammar Symbols: Functions of Exclamatory Words; Types of SentencesMSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 7

b. Identify and explain specific words and punctuation that create toneAssessment limits: Specific words or phrases that create tone; Tone in the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Comp. Questions; Art Projects: drawings and paintings to reflect the mood and tone of a portion of the text; Grammar Symbols: Functions of Exclamatory Words; Types of SentencesMSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 7

b. Analyze specific language choices that create toneAssessment limits: Specific words or phrases that create tone; Tone in the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Comp. Questions; Art Projects: drawings and paintings to reflect the mood and tone of a portion of the text; Grammar Symbols: Functions of Exclamatory Words; Types of Sentences MSA Finish Line:Unit 3, Lesson 7

c. Identify and explain the effect of repetition of words and phrasesAssessment limit: Repetition for emphasis of ideas or information

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Determining Importance; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions

c. Identify and explain the effect of repetition of words and phrasesAssessment limit: Repetition used to emphasize important ideas or information in the text


c. Analyze the effect of repetition of words and phrases on meaning.Assessment limits: Repetition used to emphasize important ideas or information in the text; Connections between repetition and meaning


2.A.6. Read critically to evaluate informational text 2.A.6. Read critically to evaluate informational text 2.A.6. Read critically to evaluate informational text

a. Explain whether the text fulfills the reading purposeAssessment limit: Connections between the content of the text and the purpose for reading

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Clarifying Meaning, Determining Importance, Making Connections (Text to Self); Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; References Treasure Hunt







Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Identify and explain additions or changes to format or features that would make the text easier to understandAssessment limit: Connections between effectiveness of format and text features in clarifying the main idea of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Clarifying Meaning, Making Connections (Text to World), and Evaluating; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions

b. Identify and explain additions or changes to format or features that would make the text easier to understandAssessment limit: Connections between effectiveness of format and text features in clarifying the main idea of the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Clarifying Meaning, Making Connections (Text to World), and Evaluating; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions

b. Analyze changes or additions to the structure and features of the text that would make the text easier to understand

Assessment limits: Connections between effectiveness of format and text features in clarifying the main idea of the text; Connections between effectiveness of organizational pattern and clarity of the main idea

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Clarifying Meaning, Making Connections (Text to World), and Evaluating; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Organizational Pattern card set and/or chart

c. Identify and explain what makes the text a reliable source of informationAssessment limit: Fiction versus nonfiction text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Making Connections (Text to World), and Evaluating; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Characteristics of Fiction and Non-Fiction

c. Identify and explain what makes the text a reliable source of information

Assessment limits:

Connections between the credentials of the author and the information in the text

Factual basis of the information in the text

Currency of the information in the text

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Making Connections (Text to World), and Evaluating; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Characteristics of Fiction and Non-Fiction


c. Analyze the text and its information for reliability

Assessment limits:

Connections between the credentials of the author and the information in the text

Factual basis of the information in the text

Currency of the information in the text

Montessori Lessons:

Reading Strategy: Making Connections (Text to World), and Evaluating; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Characteristics of Fiction and Non-Fiction

MSA Finish Line:

Unit 2, Lesson 7



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6d. Explain whether or not the author’s opinion is presented fairlyAssessment limit: Evidence that the author has presented all sides of the issue or topic

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizers: T-Charts, Fact vs. Opinion; Writers’ Workshop: Write a letter to the author to show one’s agreement or disagreement


d. Determine and explain whether or not the author’s opinion is presented fairlyAssessment limits: Clarity of the connections between the main idea and the reader’s understanding; Evidence of equal treatment of opposing points of view



d. Determine and explain whether or not the author’s opinion is presented fairlyAssessment limits: Clarity of the connections between the main idea and the reader’s understanding; Evidence of equal treatment of opposing points of view



e. Identify and explain information not included in the textAssessment limits:

Information that would enhance or clarify the reader’s understanding of the main idea of the text or a portion of the text

Connections between the main idea and information not included in the text

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Re-reading the difficult parts, Clarifying Meaning, Making Connections (Text to Text), Questioning; Graphic Organizers: K-W-L Chart














Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6f. Identify and explain words and other techniques that affect the reader’s feelingsAssessment limit: Significant words that have an emotional appeal

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizer: T-charts


f. Identify and explain words and other techniques the author uses to appeal to emotionAssessment limits: Significant words and phrases that have an emotional appeal; Effectiveness of words and phrases used to persuade the reader



f. Identify and explain language and other techniques intended to persuade the readerAssessment limits: Significant words and phrases that have an emotional appeal; Effectiveness of words and phrases used to persuade the reader




VSC – Reading Standard 3.0 Comprehension of Literary Text: Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate literary texts.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 3.A. Comprehension of Literary Text Topic 3.A. Comprehension of Literary Text Topic 3.A. Comprehension of Literary Text

3.A.1. Develop comprehension skills by reading a variety of self-selected and assigned literary texts

3.A.1. Develop and apply comprehension skills by reading a variety of self-selected and assigned literary texts

3.A.1. Develop and apply comprehension skills by reading and analyzing a variety of self-selected and assigned literary texts

a. Listen to critically, read, and discuss a variety of literary texts representing diverse cultures, perspectives, ethnicities, and time periods

Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher selected texts to complement cross-curricular lessons in science and social studies (See Genre Framework PGIN 7690-2988); Teacher Read-Aloud, Literacy Circles


Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher selected texts to complement cross-curricular lessons in science and social studies (See Genre Framework PGIN 7690-2988) Teacher Read-Aloud, Literacy Circles


Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher selected texts to complement cross-curricular lessons in science and social studies (See Genre Framework PGIN 7690-2988) Teacher Read-Aloud, Literacy Circles

b. Listen to critically, read, and discuss a variety of literary forms and genres

Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher selected texts, Teacher Read-Aloud, Literacy Circles





3.A.2. Use text features to facilitate understanding of literary texts

3.A.2. Analyze text features to facilitate understanding of literary texts

3.A.2. Analyze text features to facilitate understanding of literary texts

a. Identify and explain how organizational aids contribute to meaningAssessment limit: title of the book, story, poem, or play

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategies: Previewing the Text, Making Predictions before and during reading

a. Identify and explain how organizational aids contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Title of the book, story, poem, or play; Titles of chapters; Subtitles, subheadings


a. Identify and explain how organizational aids contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Title of the book, story, poem, or play; Titles of chapters; Subtitles, subheadings




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Identify and explain how graphic aids contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Illustrations; Punctuation; Print features

Montessori Lessons: Pre-reading “Book-Walk;” Logical Analysis of difficult portions of the text; Reading Strategies: Previewing the Text, Making Predictions, Clarifying, Re-Reading the difficult parts

b. Identify and explain how graphic aids contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Illustrations; Punctuation; Print features


b. Identify and explain how graphic aids contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Illustrations; Punctuation; Print features


c. Identify and explain how informational aids contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Footnoted words and phrases; Captions

Montessori Lessons:Pre-Reading “Book-Walk;” Teacher Read-Aloud and Teacher Think-Aloud; Comprehension Questions

c. Identify and explain how informational aids contribute to meaning

Assessment limits: Footnoted words and phrases; Captions


c. Identify and explain how informational aids contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Footnoted words and phrases; Biographical information about the author; Introductions, photographs, etc.


3.A.3. Use elements of narrative texts to facilitate understanding

3.A.3. Analyze elements of narrative texts to facilitate understanding and interpretation

3.A.3. Analyze elements of narrative texts to facilitate understanding and interpretation

a. Identify and distinguish among types of narrative textsAssessment limits: Stories; Folk tales; Realistic fiction; Historical fiction; Fables; Fairy tales; Fantasy; Biographies

Montessori Lessons:Literary Genre Card Sets (See Appendix); Student and Teacher selected texts, Teacher Read-Aloud, Literacy Circles; Venn Diagrams to Compare and Contrast a variety of genres and texts


a. Identify and distinguish among types of narrative textsAssessment limits: Short stories, folklore, legends, myths, realistic fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, biographies, autobiographies, personal narratives; Plays; Poetry



a. Identify and distinguish among types of narrative textsAssessment limits: Short stories, folklore, realistic fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, essays, biographies, autobiographies, personal narratives; Plays; Poetry





Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Identify and explain the elements of a storyAssessment limit: Narrative text with a main problem, sequence of chronology of events, and solution to the problem

Montessori Lessons:Story Maps and Graphic Organizers to illustrate the elements of a story including conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution


b. Identify and explain the conflict and the events of the plotAssessment limits: Narrative text with exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution; Internal and/or external conflicts

Montessori Lessons:Story Maps and Graphic Organizers to illustrate the elements of a story including conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution; Analysis of Types of Conflict (Man vs. Man, Man vs. Himself, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. the Supernatural)


b. Analyze the conflict and the events of the plotAssessment limits: Narrative text with exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution; Internal and/or external conflicts or conflicts between characters and external forces

Montessori Lessons:Story Maps and Graphic Organizers to illustrate the elements of a story including conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution; Analysis of Types of Conflict (Man vs. Man, Man vs. Himself, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. the Supernatural)


c. Identify and describe the setting and the moodAssessment limit: Stories that have settings with a distinct time and place

Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher selected texts to complement cross-curricular lessons in history and geography; Teacher Read-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Student Created Dioramas; Writers’ Workshop: Re-writing the story in a different setting


c. Identify and describe the setting and the mood and explain how the setting affects the characters and the moodAssessment limits: Immediate time and place of the action as well as its larger context; Connections between the characters and the setting; Connections between the setting and the mood



c. Analyze details that provide information about the setting, the mood created by the setting, and ways in which the setting affects charactersAssessment limits: Immediate time and place of the action as well as its larger context; Connections among the characters, the setting, and the mood





Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6d. Identify and analyze the characters

Assessment limits: What characters say; What characters do; Conclusions about the characters' traits based on what the character says and does; Conclusions about the characters' motivations based on the characters' actions and interactions with other characters

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Book Reports; Graphic Organizers such as Character Trait Webs and Charts; Projects such as Life-size character map, Character Mobile, Paper Dolls, Packing the Character’s Suitcase


d. Analyze characterizationAssessment limits: What characters say, do, and think; Characters' motivations; What other characters say about them; How other characters react to them



d. Analyze characterizationAssessment limits: What characters say, do, and think; Characters' motivations; What other characters say about them; How other characters react to them



e. Identify and explain relationships between and among characters, setting, and eventsAssessment limits: Connections between and among characters; Connections between and among situations; Cause/effect relationships between characters' actions and the results of those actions; Cause/effect relationships between and among situations and events

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizers for Cause and Effect


e. Identify and explain relationships between and among characters, setting, and events

Assessment limits: Connections between and among characters; Connections between and among situations; Cause/effect relationships between characters' actions and the results of those actions; Cause/effect relationships between and among situations and events



e. Analyze relationships between and among characters, setting, and eventsAssessment limits: Connections between and among characters; Connections between and among situations; Cause/effect relationships between characters' actions and the results of those actions; Cause/effect relationships between and among situations and events





Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6f. Identify and explain how the actions of the character(s) affect the plotAssessment limit: Connections between the actions of the characters and the outcome of the story

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizers for Cause and Effect; Writers’ Workshop: Re-write the story with a different ending


f. Identify and explain how the actions of the character(s) affect the plotAssessment limit: Connections between the actions of the characters and the outcome of the story



f. Identify and explain how the actions of the character(s) affect the plotAssessment limit: Connections between the actions of the characters and the outcome of the story



g. Identify and describe the narratorAssessment limits: Narrator of the story; speaker of the poem; First versus third person point of view

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Writers’ Workshop: Re-write the story from a different perspective


g. Identify and describe the narratorAssessment limits: Narrator of the story; speaker of the poem; First versus third person point of view

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Writers’ Workshop: Re-write the story from a different perspective


g. Analyze conflicts that motivate characters and those that advance the plotAssessment limits: Conflicts that affect characters' actions; Conflicts that advance the action of the plot

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizers on Cause and Effect


h. Identify and explain the author's approach to issues of time in a narrative

Assessment limit: Flashback

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Creating Story Timelines



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6


i. Identify and explain the point of viewAssessment limits: Narrator of the story; speaker of the poem; Connections between point of view and meaning

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Writers’ Workshop: Re-write the story from a different perspectiveMSA Finish Line:Unit 4, Lesson 1

3.A.4. Use elements of poetry to facilitate understanding 3.A.4. Analyze elements of poetry to facilitate understanding and interpretation

3.A.4. Analyze elements of poetry to facilitate understanding and interpretation

a. Use structural features to identify poetry as a literary form and distinguish among types of poemsAssessment limits: Structure, including lines and stanzas; Shape; Form, including lines and stanzas; Refrain, chorus; Types of poems, such as haiku, diamonte, etc.; Rhyme scheme

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Poetry Card Sets; Writers’ Workshop: Writng Different Forms of Poetry


a. Use structural features to identify poetry as a literary form and distinguish among types of poemsAssessment limit: Types of poems, such as haiku, form/shape poetry, etc.



a. Use structural features to distinguish among types of poemsAssessment limit: Types of poems, such as haiku, form/shape poetry, cinquain, etc.



b. Identify and explain the meaning of words, lines, and stanzasAssessment limit: Specific meaning of words, lines and/or stanzas

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension QuestionsMSA Finish Line:Unit 4, Lesson 2

b. Identify and explain the meaning of words, lines, and stanzasAssessment limit: Specific meaning of words, lines and/or stanzas


b. Identify and explain the meaning of words, lines, and stanzasAssessment limits: Specific meaning of words, lines and/or stanzas; Speaker versus the poet




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6c. Identify and explain sound elements of poetryAssessment limits: Rhyme, rhyme scheme; Rhythm; Alliteration and other repetition

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Read-Aloud; Teacher Think-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Poetry Card Sets; Writers’ Workshop: Writing Different Forms of Poetry, Writing with Rhyme; Rhyming Dictionary Work; Students recite and analyze a favorite poem


c. Identify and explain sound elements of poetryAssessment limits: Rhyme, rhyme scheme; Rhythm; Alliteration and Onomatopoeia



c. Identify and explain how sound elements of poetry contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Rhyme, rhyme scheme; Rhythm; Alliteration, assonance, consonance; Onomatopoeia; Connections between sound elements and meaning



d. Identify and explain other poetic elements, such as setting, mood, tone, etc. that contribute to meaning

Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher selected poetry to complement cross-curricular lessons in history and geography; Teacher Read-Aloud; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Art Projects: drawings and paintings to reflect the mood and tone of a poem










Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 63.A.5. Use elements of drama to facilitate understanding 3.A.5. Analyze elements of drama to facilitate

understanding3.A.5. Analyze elements of drama to facilitate understanding

a. Use structural features to identify a play as a literary formAssessment limits: List of characters (cast), including narrator; Introductory information about the setting; Stage directions; Dialogue; Props, scenery, sound effects, staging, lighting; Acts and scenes

Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher selected plays to complement cross-curricular lessons in science and social studies; Students practice and perform plays in small and large groups; Writers’ Workshop: Students write original plays using structural features


a. Use structural features to identify a play as a literary form and distinguish among types of playsAssessment limits: List of characters (cast), including narrator; Introductory information about the setting; Stage directions; Dialogue, monologue; Props, scenery, sound effects, staging, lighting; Acts and scenes



a. Use structural features to distinguish among types of playsAssessment limits: Cast, stage directions; Acts, scenes, prologues; Production notes



b. Identify and explain the action of a sceneAssessment limit: Specific actions and events that occur in a scene

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Summarizing; Graphic Organizer: Map of Rising Action


b. Identify and explain the action of a sceneAssessment limit: Specific actions and events that occur in a scene



b. Identify and explain the action of scenes and actsAssessment limits: Specific actions and events that occur in one or more scenes; Interrelationships of scenes and acts to advance the action





Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6c. Identify and explain stage directions that help to create character and movementAssessment limit: Connections between the stage directions and the physical movement of the characters

Montessori Lessons:Students practice and perform plays in small and large groups; Writers’ Workshop: Students write original plays using structural features


c. Identify and explain how stage directions create character and movementAssessment limit: Connections between the stage directions and the physical movement of the characters



c. Identify and explain how stage directions create character and movementAssessment limit: Connections between the stage directions and the physical movement of the characters



d. Identify and explain stage directions and dialogue that help to create characterAssessment limit: Connections among the stage directions, the character's lines, and how the character delivers those lines











Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 63.A.6. Determine important ideas and messages in literary texts

3.A.6. Determine important ideas and messages in literary texts

3.A.6. Determine important ideas and messages in literary texts

a. Identify and explain main ideas and universal themesAssessment limits: In the text or a portion of the text; Literal versus interpretive meanings of a text or a portion of text; Message, moral, or lesson learned from the text

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Determining Importance and Clarifying Meaning; Graphic Organizer: “T-Chart” on What the Text Says vs. What the Text Means


a. Identify and explain main ideas and universal themesAssessment limits: In the text or a portion of the text; Literal versus interpretive meanings of a text or a portion of text; Experiences, emotions, issues, and ideas in a text that give rise to universal themes; Message, moral, or lesson learned from text



a. Analyze main ideas and universal themesAssessment limits: In the text or a portion of the text; Literal versus interpretive meanings of a text or a portion of text; Experiences, emotions, issues, and ideas in a text that give rise to universal themes; Message, moral, or lesson learned from text



b. Identify and explain a similar theme in more than one textAssessment limits: Main ideas across texts; Messages, morals, or lessons learned across texts; Different versions of the same story across eras or cultures

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Determining Importance and Clarifying Meaning; Graphic Organizer: Venn Diagram

b. Identify and explain similar themes across multiple textsAssessment limit: Messages, morals, or lessons learned across texts


b. Analyze similar themes across multiple textsAssessment limit: Messages, morals, or lessons learned across texts


c. Paraphrase the textAssessment limit: Restatement of the text or a portion of the text in student's own words

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Summarizing


Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Summarizing


Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: SummarizingMSA Finish Line:Unit 2, Lesson 7



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6d. SummarizeAssessment limit: The text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Summarizing and Determining Importance


d. SummarizeAssessment limit: The text or a portion of the text



d. SummarizeAssessment limit: The text or a portion of the text



e. Identify and explain personal connections to the textAssessment limit: Connections between personal experiences and the theme or main ideas

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Making Connections (Text to Self); Graphic Organizers: T-Charts








f. Explain the implications of the text for the reader and/or societyAssessment limit: Ideas and issues of a text that may have implications for the reader

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Making Connections (Text to Self and Text to World); Graphic Organizers: T-Charts


f. Explain the implications of the text for the reader and/or societyAssessment limit: Ideas and issues of a text that may have implications for the reader

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Making Connections (Text to Self and Text to World); Graphic Organizers: T-Charts




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 63.A.7. Identify and describe the author's use of language 3.A.7. Identify and describe the author's use of language 3.A.7. Analyze the author's purposeful use of language

a. Identify and explain how the use of dialogue contributes to a storyAssessment limit: Character and plot development advanced through dialogue

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizers: Character Trait Chart focused on dialogue; Story Map focused on dialogue

a. Identify and explain how the use of dialogue contributes to a storyAssessment limit: Character and plot development advanced through dialogue

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizers: Character Trait Chart focused on dialogue; Story Map focused on dialogue

a. Analyze specific words and phrases that contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Significant words and phrases with a specific effect on meaning; Denotations of above grade-level words used in context; Connotations of grade-appropriate words and phrases in context; Multiple meaning words; Idioms and colloquialisms

Montessori Lessons:Logical Analysis of certain portions of the texts, Grammar symbols to determine the functions of specific words in a sentence; Dictionary Lessons to determine connotations vs. denotations; Art Projects: Drawing a Picture of Idioms and Colloquialisms


b. Identify and explain specific words and phrases that contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Significant words and phrases with a specific effect on meaning; Denotations of above-grade-level words used in context; Connotations of grade-appropriate words and phrases in context; Multiple meaning words



b. Identify and explain specific words and phrases that contribute to meaningAssessment limits: Significant words and phrases with a specific effect on meaning; Denotations of above-grade-level words used in context; Connotations of grade-appropriate words and phrases in context; Multiple meaning words



b. Analyze words and phrases that create toneAssessment limits: Specific words and phrases that create tone; Tone in the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Art Projects: drawings and paintings to reflect the mood and tone of a portion of the text




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6c. Identify and explain words and punctuation that create toneAssessment limits: Grade-appropriate words that describe the tone of a text or a portion of text; Tone in the text or portion of the text; Specific punctuation that contributes to the tone of a text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Art Projects: drawings and paintings to reflect the mood and tone of a portion of the text; Grammar Symbols: Functions of Exclamatory Words; Types of Sentences (Expository, Interrogative, Exclamatory)

c. Identify and explain words and phrases that create tone

Assessment limits: Specific words and phrases that create tone; Tone in the text or a portion of the text


Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Art Projects: drawings and paintings to reflect the mood and tone of a portion of the text


c. Identify and explain figurative language that contributes to meaningAssessment limits: Figurative language in increasingly complex text; Connections between figurative language and meaning

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Clarifying Meaning; Graphic Organizer: “T-Chart” on What the Text Says vs. What the Text Means


d. Identify and explain figurative languageAssessment limits: Similes; Metaphors; Personification; Onomatopoeia

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Clarifying Meaning; Graphic Organizer: “T-Chart” on What the Text Says vs. What the Text Means; Figurative Language Card Sets; Art Projects: drawing metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, and personification; Reading aloud in pairs


d. Identify and explain figurative language that contributes to meaningAssessment limits: Similes; Metaphors; Personification; Onomatopoeia; Connections between figurative language and meaning

Montessori Lessons: Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Clarifying Meaning; Graphic Organizer: “T-Chart” on What the Text Says vs. What the Text Means; Figurative Language Card Sets; Art Projects: drawing metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, and personification; Reading aloud in pairs


d. Analyze how sensory language contributes to meaningAssessment limits: Specific words and phrases that create sensory images; Connections among sensory language, images, and meaning

Montessori Lessons: Reading Strategy: Visualizing; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Graphic Organizer: “T-Chart” on What the Text Says and What the Reader Experiences; Writers’ Workshops: Writing sensory descriptions




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6e. Identify and explain language that appeals to the senses and feelingsAssessment limit: Specific words and phrases that appeal to the senses


e. Identify and explain language that appeals to the senses and feelingsAssessment limit: Specific words and phrases that appeal to the senses


e. Analyze how repetition and exaggeration contribute to meaningAssessment limit: Connections between repetition and/or exaggeration and meaning

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Visualizing; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Art Work: drawing and painting portions of the textMSA Finish Line:Unit 4, Lesson 4

f. Identify and explain repetition and exaggerationAssessment limits: Specific examples of repetition that affect meaning; Examples of exaggeration; Alliteration

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Visualizing; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Art Work: drawing and painting portions of the text

f. Identify and explain how repetition and exaggeration contribute to meaningAssessment limit: Connections between repetition and/or exaggeration and meaning

Montessori Lessons:Reading Strategy: Visualizing; Literacy Circles; Comprehension Questions; Art Work: drawing and painting portions of the text

3.A.8. Read critically to evaluate literary texts 3.A.8. Read critically to evaluate literary texts 3.A.8. Read critically to evaluate literary texts

a. Identify and explain the believability of the characters' actions and the story's eventsAssessment limits: Realism versus fantasy; Characters and events that parallel everyday life

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles, Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategy: Connections (Text to World);

a. Determine and explain the plausibility of the characters' actions and the plotAssessment limits: Connections between how characters are portrayed and the plausibility of their actions; Connections among the plot, the characters, and the plausibility of the outcome

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles, Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategy: Connections (Text to World)

a. Determine and explain the plausibility of the characters' actions and the plotAssessment limits: Connections between how characters are portrayed and the plausibility of their actions; Connections among the plot, the characters, and the plausibility of the outcome

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles, Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategy: Connections (Text to World)



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Identify and explain questions left unanswered by the textAssessment limit: Questions and predictions about events, situations, and conflicts that might occur if the text were continued

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles, Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Predicting, Questioning, Clarifying Meaning, and Connections (Text to World); Writers’ Workshop: Writing a Sequel to the Text


b. Identify and explain questions left unanswered by the textAssessment limit: Questions and predictions about events, situations, and conflicts that might occur if the text were continued



b. Identify and explain questions left unanswered by the textAssessment limit: Questions and predictions about events, situations, and conflicts that might occur if the text were continued



c. Identify and explain the relationship between a literary text and its historical contextAssessment limit: Connections between the text and its historical setting

Montessori Lessons:Student and Teacher Selected texts for Cross-Curricular studies in history; Literacy Circles, Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Connections (Text to Text and Text to World); Writers’ Workshop: Re-writing the text in a different historical era

c. Identify and explain the relationship between a literary text and its historical contextAssessment limit: Connections between the text and its historical setting


c. Identify and explain the relationship between a literary text and its historical and/or social contextAssessment limits: Connections between the text and its historical setting; Connections between the text and its social context


d. Identify and explain the relationship between the structure and purpose of the text

Assessment Limit:In the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles, Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Connections (Text to World);

d. Identify and explain the relationship between the structure and purpose of the text

Assessment Limit:In the text or a portion of the text

Montessori Lessons:Literacy Circles, Comprehension Questions; Reading Strategies: Connections (Text to World);



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 4.A. Writing Topic 4.A. Writing Topic 4.A. Writing

4.A.1 Compose texts using the prewriting and drafting strategies of effective writers and speakers

4.A.1. Compose texts using the prewriting and drafting strategies of effective writers and speakers

4.A.1. Compose texts using the prewriting and drafting strategies of effective writers and speakers

a. Generate and select topics using techniques, such as graphic organizers, journal writing, free writing, listing, webbing, and discussion of prior experiences

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop; Graphic organizers, journal writing, free writing, listing, webbing, and discussion of prior experiences; Research Question Lists

a. Generate, select, and narrow topics, collectively and independently, using graphic organizers, prior writing, and/or prior experiences


a. Use a variety of self-selected prewriting strategies to generate, select, narrow, and develop ideasEvaluate topics for personal relevance, scope, and feasibility; Begin a coherent plan for developing ideas; Explore and evaluate relevant sources of information


b. Plan and organize ideas for writing by using an appropriate organizational structure, such as chronological or sequential order, comparison and contrast, cause and effectComplete an idea by providing topic, support and concluding sentences

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop; Making outlines or webs for main idea and supporting details; creating research question lists; T-Charts for Comparison and Contrast, Cause and Effect; Anchor charts for words showing sequential order; Peer Editing

b. Select and use appropriate organizational structures, such as narrative, chronological or sequential order, description, main idea and detail, problem/solution, question/answer, comparison and contrast, cause and effectComplete an idea by providing topic, support, and concluding sentences


b. Select, organize, and develop ideas appropriate to topic, audience, and purposeOrganize information logically; Use effective organizational structures; Select or eliminate information as appropriate; Verify the effectiveness of paragraph development by modifying topic, support, and concluding sentences as necessary




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 64.A.2. Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and persuade

4.A.2. Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and persuade

4.A.2. Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and persuade

a. Compose to express personal ideas to develop fluency using a variety of forms suited to topic, audience, and purpose

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Writing Friendly and Business Letters, Essays, Journal Entries; Literary Response; Poetry

a. Compose to express personal ideas by experimenting with a variety of forms and techniques suited to topic, audience, and purpose


a. Compose to express personal ideas by experimenting with a variety of forms and techniques suited to topic, audience, and purpose to develop an awareness of voice and tone


b. Describe in prose and poetry by using purposeful imagery and sensory details with active verbs and colorful adjectives

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Essays, Journal Entries; Literary Response; Poetry

b. Describe in prose and/or poetic forms to clarify, extend, or elaborate on ideas by using vivid language, such as imagery and figurative language


b. Describe in prose and/or poetic forms to clarify, extend, or elaborate on ideas by using vivid language, such as imagery, figurative language, and sound elements


c. Compose to inform using a structure with a clear beginning, middle, and end and a selection of major points, examples, and facts to support a main idea

Montessori Lessons:Making Outlines and Webs; Writers’ Workshop: Friendly and Business Letters, Essays, Research Reports

c. Compose to inform using relevant support and a variety of appropriate organizational structures and signal words within a paragraph


c. Compose to inform using relevant support and a variety of appropriate organizational structures and signal words within a paragraph




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6d. Compose to persuade using significant reasons and relevant supportAgree or disagree with an idea and generate convincing reasons with relevant support; Consider effective forms and word choice

Montessori Lessons:Writer’s Workshop: Essays to Persuade and Letter to Persuade; Making outlines and webs; Peer Editing; Cross-curricular lessons on the First Amendment Right to Petition the Government ; Classroom Debates; Mock Trials; Class Officer Elections

d. Compose to persuade using significant reasons and relevant support to agree or disagree with an ideaTake a position and generate convincing reasons to support it; Consider the effectiveness of form, diction, audience appeal, and organization


d. Compose to persuade by supporting, modifying, or disagreeing with a position, using effective rhetorical strategiesSupport, modify, or disagree with a position; generate convincing evidence to support it; Consider the effectiveness of diction, audience appeal, and organization; Use connotation, repetition, and figurative language to control audience emotion and reaction; Use authoritative citations


e. Use writing-to-learn strategies, such as diagrams, flow charts, freewriting, learning logs, and "think-aloud's on paper" to connect ideas and thinking about lesson content

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling of Graphic Organizers for brainstorming, note-taking and outlining

e. Use writing-to-learn strategies, such as learning logs, dialogue journals, and quickwrites to connect ideas and thinking about lesson content


e. Use writing-to-learn strategies, such as dialect journals, quickwrites, and mindmaps to make connections between learning and prior knowledge


f. Manage time and process when writing for a given purpose

Montessori Lessons:Given a due date for a writing assignment, students manage time using a work plan







Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 64.A.3. Compose texts using the revising and editing strategies of effective writers and speakers

4.A.3. Compose texts using the revising and editing strategies of effective writers and speakers

4.A.3. Compose texts using the revising and editing strategies of effective writers and speakers

a. Revise texts for clarity, completeness, and effectiveness

Eliminate words and ideas that do not support the main idea

Clarify meaning by adding modifiers and sensory words within a sentence

Clarify meaning by rearranging sentences within a text for a clear beginning, middle, and end

Provide sentence variety and length by combining sentences and correcting rambling sentences

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop with Peer Editing; Individual student and teacher meetings to analyze student’s written work; Punctuation Private Eye; Use of Proofreading Rubric; Logical Analysis of student’s own writing samples


Eliminate words and ideas that do not support the main idea

Clarify meaning by adding modifiers and sensory words within a sentence

Clarify meaning by rearranging sentences within a text

Provide sentence variety and length by combining sentences and correcting rambling sentences



Eliminate redundant and irrelevant words and ideas

Clarify meaning through the placement of antecedents, modifiers, and transitional devices

Coordinate equal ideas within a sentence

Subordinate less important ideas within a sentence using phrases and clauses

Maintain consistent person, number and tense

Modify sentences from passive to active voice

Vary sentence types and lengths to clarify and extend meaning and to develop style




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Use suitable traditional and electronic resources to edit final copies of text for correctness in language usage and conventions, such as capitalization, punctuation, and spellingSelf edit; Peer edit; Dictionary; Thesaurus; Spell checker; Language handbook

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop with Peer Editing; Self edit; Peer edit; Dictionary; Thesaurus; Spell checker; Language handbook

b. Use suitable traditional and electronic resources to refine presentations and edit texts for effective and appropriate use of language and conventions, such as capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and pronunciationSelf edit; Peer edit; Dictionary; Thesaurus; Spell checker; Language handbook; Grammar Checker


b. Use suitable traditional and electronic resources to refine presentations and edit texts for effective and appropriate use of language and conventions, such as capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and pronunciationSelf edit; Peer edit; Dictionary; Thesaurus; Spell checker; Language handbook; Grammar Checker


c. Prepare the final product for presentation to an audience

Montessori Lessons:Use the editing to make a final copy or prepare for the following presentations: Oral Presentations; Display of Student Work on bulletin boards; Power Point presentations





4.A.4. Identify how language choices in writing and speaking affect thoughts and feelings



a. Select words appropriate for audience, situation or purpose

Montessori Lessons:Brainstorming; Thesaurus and Dictionary work, using genre-specific vocabulary; Role-playing presentations

a. Select words appropriate for audience, situation or purpose


a. Use precise word choice, formal to informal, based on audience, situation, or purpose




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Describe how listeners might respond differently to similar words, such as nightmare/dream, loud/deafening, cute/gorgeous

Montessori Lessons:Synonyms; Writers’ Workshop: Lessons on Word Choice

b. Describe how listeners might respond differently to similar words, such as nightmare/dream, loud/deafening, cute/gorgeous


b. Consider the connotative and/or denotative meanings of words when selecting vocabulary


c. Consider the effect of word choices on the audience

Montessori Lessons:Synonyms; Writers’ Workshop: Word Choice

c. Consider how word choices affect the audience


c. Consider how word choices affect the audience


4.A.5. Assess the effectiveness of choice of details, organizational pattern, word choice, and use of figurative language in the student's own composing

4.A.5. Assess the effectiveness of choice of details, organizational pattern, word choice, syntax, use of figurative language, and rhetorical devices in the student's own composing

4.A.5. Assess the effectiveness of choice of details, organizational pattern, word choice, syntax, use of figurative language, and rhetorical devices in the student's own composing.

a. Assess the effectiveness of word choice in student's own composingLanguage suitable for a given purpose; Words/phrases that extend meaning

Montessori Lessons: Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing for best choice of words

a. Assess the effectiveness of word choice that reveals a student's purpose for writingLanguage appropriate for a particular audience; Language suitable for a given purpose; Words/phrases/sentences that extend meaning in a given context


a. Assess the effectiveness of diction that reveals his or her purposeLanguage appropriate for a particular audience; Language suitable for a given purpose; Words/phrases/sentences that extend meaning in a given context


b. Explain how specific words/phrases used by the writer affects reader response


b. Explain how specific words/phrases/sentences affect reader/listener response


b. Explain how the specific language and expression used by the writer or speaker affects reader/listener response




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6c. Examine and use spatial transitions, such as "near," "far," "on the left," and "in the distance"


c. Examine and use transitions showing importance and relation, such as "because," "additionally," "unless," "although," and "so"


c. Evaluate the use of transitions in a text


4.A.6. Explain how textual changes in a work clarify meaning, address a particular audience, or fulfill a purpose

4.A.6. Explain how textual changes in a work enhance tone, clarify meaning, address a particular audience, or fulfill a purpose

4.A.6. Explain how textual changes alter tone, clarify meaning, address a particular audience, or fulfill a purpose

a. Revise own text for word choice


a. Identify the tone of one's own writing, and revise word choice to modify tone in order to address a given purpose and/or audience


a. Identify the tone of one's own writing, and revise word choice to modify tone in order to address a given purpose and/or audience


b. Explain how revisions in word choice affect meaning


b. Explain how revisions in word choice and syntax affect meaning


b. Justify revisions in syntax and diction from a previous draft of his or her same text by explaining how the change affects meaning


4.A.7. Locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose

4.A.7. Locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose

4.A.7. Locate, retrieve and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose

a. Identify and use sources of information on a topic

Montessori Lessons: Creating a Research Plan;Writers’ Workshop: Creating a Bibliography with a variety of resources

a. Identify, evaluate, and use sources of information on a self-selected and/or given topic


a. Identify, evaluate, and use sources of information on a self-selected and/or given topic




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Use various information retrieval sources (traditional and/or electronic) to obtain information on a topic

Montessori Lessons: Creating a Research Plan;Writers’ Workshop: Bibliographies; Dewey Decimal System; Navigating websites

b. Use various information retrieval sources (traditional and/or electronic) to obtain information on a self-selected and/or given topic


b. Use various information retrieval sources (traditional and/or electronic) to obtain information on a self-selected and/or given topic


c. Use note taking, organizational strategies, and simple documentation of information to record and organize informationParticipate in teacher-directed note-taking and organization of information

Montessori Lessons: Teacher Modeling of Graphic Organizers for brainstorming, note-taking and outlining

c. Select appropriate information for note taking and organizing informationPractice appropriate strategies for organizing information and/or taking notes

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling of Graphic Organizers for brainstorming, note-taking and outlining; Student use of Graphic Organizers

c. Use appropriate note taking procedures, organizational strategies, and proper documentation of sources of information

Strategies for taking notes and organizing source information or notes

Information to include or exclude when note taking

Advantages, disadvantages, of a given strategy for recording or organizing information

Advantages, disadvantages, of sources of information, such as bias, accuracy, availability, variety, currency

Use a format such as MLA

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling of Graphic Organizers for brainstorming, note-taking and outlining; Student use of Graphic Organizers for note-taking; Creating Bibliographies; Reading Strategies: Determining Importance; Analyzing an author’s perspective and bias



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6d. Use information to fulfill a given purpose

Montessori Lessons:Summarizing and paraphrasing information to answer student’s own research questions or teacher assigned comprehension questions; Cross-curricular study in science or social studies

d. Use information from two or more sources to fulfill a given purpose


d. Synthesize information from two or more sources to fulfill a self-selected or given purpose


e. Credit sources when paraphrasing and quoting to avoid plagiarism

Montessori Lessons:Using quotation marks or putting information in your own words; giving credit to sources of information

e. Credit sources when paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting to avoid plagiarism


e. Use a recognized format to credit sources when paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting to avoid plagiarism



VSC - Reading Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing. Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6

Topic 5.A. Grammar Topic 5.A. Grammar Topic 5.A. Grammar

5.A.1. Recognize elements of grammar in personal and academic reading

Montessori Lessons:Logical Analysis, Grammar Symbols and Charts





5.A.2. Recognize, recall, and use basic elements of grammar to express ideas clearly

5.A.2. Recognize, recall, and use basic elements of grammar to express ideas clearly

5.A.2. Recognize, recall, and use grammar concepts and skills to strengthen control of oral and written language

a. Identify and use parts of speech, such as prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections

Montessori Lessons:Grammar Symbols and Charts

a. Recognize the meaning, position, form, and function of words when identifying grammatical concepts, such as concrete, collective, and abstract nouns; demonstrative and relative pronouns; subordinating conjunctions


a. Recognize the meaning, position, form, and function of words when identifying grammatical concepts, such as indefinite pronouns, perfect verb tenses, conjunctive adverbs, and correlative conjunctions


b. Combine short, related sentences using a series, compound words, and key words

Montessori Lessons:Types of Sentences; Conjunctions; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing

b. Combine sentences using appositives, participial phrases, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases

Montessori Lessons:Types of Sentences; Conjunctions; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Logical Analysis

b. Combine sentences using knowledge of subjects and predicates, logical placement of modifiers, and logical coordination, subordination, and sequencing of ideas

Montessori Lessons:Types of Sentences; Conjunctions; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Logical Analysis

c. Compose simple and compound sentences using coordinating conjunctions

Montessori Lessons:Types of Sentences; Conjunctions; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing

c. Differentiate between a phrase and a clause and between grammatically complete sentences and non-sentences, such as fragments and ramblers

Montessori Lessons:Types of Sentences; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Logical Analysis

c. Differentiate grammatically complete sentences from non-sentences, including fused sentences



VSC - Reading Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6d. Identify and use verb forms, such as singular/plural, regular/irregular

Montessori Materials:Verb Materials for conjugation

d. Compose simple, compound, and complex sentences using independent and dependent clauses, transitions, and conjunctions to connect ideas


d. Compose simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences using independent and dependent clauses, transitions, conjunctions, and appropriate punctuation to connect ideas

Montessori Lessons:Types of Sentences; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Logical Analysis; Grammar Symbols

e. Identify and use verb tenses, such as present, past, and future

Montessori Materials:Verb Materials for tense

Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing. **

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 5.B. Usage Topic 5.B. Usage Topic 5.B. Usage

5.B.1. Recognize examples of conventional usage in personal and academic reading

Montessori Lessons:Logical Analysis; Grammar Symbols





5.B.2. Comprehend and apply standard English usage in oral and written language



a. Use singular subjects with singular verbs and plural subjects with plural verbs

Montessori Materials:Verb Materials for conjugation; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Individual Student meeting with teacher

a. Apply appropriate subject/verb agreement, such as in compound subjects and with phrases that interrupt the subject and the verb

Montessori Materials:Verb Materials for conjugation; Logical Analysis

a. Apply appropriate subject/verb agreement, such as with collective nouns, indefinite pronouns, and inverted word order

Montessori Materials:Verb Materials for conjugation; Logical Analysis




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Apply consistent and appropriate use of verb tenses, such as past, present, and future; pronouns, such as personal, possessive, and pronoun/antecedent agreement; and modifiers

Montessori Materials:Verb Materials for tense; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Individual Student meeting with teacher

b. Apply consistent and appropriate use of the principal parts of regular and irregular verbs; person, number, and case of pronouns; pronoun/antecedent agreement; and degrees of comparison of modifiers

Montessori Materials: Logical Analysis; Grammar Symbols; Verb Materials for tense; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Individual Student meeting with teacher

b. Apply consistent and appropriate use of the principal parts of regular and irregular verbs; person, number, and case of pronouns; pronoun/antecedent agreement; and degrees of comparison of modifiers

Montessori Materials: Logical Analysis; Grammar Symbols; Verb Materials for tense; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Individual Student meeting with teacher

c. Recognize and correct common usage errors, such as homophones, contractions, and commonly confused words

Montessori Materials: Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Individual Student meeting with teacher; Word Study (homophones, contractions); Punctuation Private Eye

c. Recognize and correct common usage errors, such as misplaced modifiers and incorrect use of verbs, such as lie - lay, rise - raise, sit – set


c. Recognize and correct common usage errors, such as misplaced modifiers; incorrect use of verbs; double negatives; and commonly confused words, such as accept – except


d. Use available resources to correct or confirm editorial choices

Montessori Materials:Proofreading Rubrics; Books such as Write Source and Writer’s Express; MS Word





e. Explain editorial choices Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing




VSC Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 5.C. Mechanics Topic 5.C. Mechanics Topic 5.C. Mechanics

5.C.1. Explain the purpose of mechanics to make and clarify meaning in academic and personal reading and writing

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing

5.C.1. Explain and justify the purpose of mechanics to make and clarify meaning in academic and personal reading and writing


5.C.1. Explain and justify the purpose of mechanics to make and clarify meaning in academic and personal reading and writing


5.C.2. Apply standard English punctuation and capitalization in written language



a. Use correct and varied end punctuation

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Types of Sentences (Expository; Interrogative; Exclamatory)

a. Use commas correctly in direct address and to separate adjectives and parenthetical expressions, such as on the other hand, for example, by the way

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Types of Sentences; Logical Analysis; Commas Lessons

a. Use commas and semicolons correctly, such as in a compound sentence

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Types of Sentences; Logical Analysis; Commas Lessons; Semicolon Lessons

b. Use commas correctly in appositives, items in a series, and before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Types of Sentences; Logical Analysis; Commas Lessons

b. Use apostrophes in plural possessives and nouns that end in –s

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Possessives

b. Use parentheses and dashes correctly

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Parentheses, Dashes

c. Use underlining, quotation marks, or italics to identify titles of documents

Montessori Lessons:Creating Bibliographies, Citing sources when writing

c. Use quotation marks and commas in dialogue

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Writing Dialogue

c. Use appropriate punctuation for special formats, such as e-mails, bulleted lists, letters, memos, citations, and outlines

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Writing letters and outlines; Creating Bibliographies, Citing sources when writing

d. Use apostrophes in contractions and possessives

Montessori Lessons:Word Study (possessives and contractions)

d. Use a colon to introduce a list

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Making Lists, Peer Editing; Colons

d. Use a colon to introduce a list

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Making Lists, Peer Editing; Colons



Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6e. Use quotation marks and commas in simple dialogue and for direct quotations

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Writing Dialogue; Citing sources when writing

e. Use quotation marks and commas in simple dialogue and for direct quotations

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Writing Dialogue; Citing sources when writing

f. Use capital letters correctly in titles and the first word in a direct quotation

Montessori Lessons:Proofreading Rubrics; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Creating Bibliographies, Citing sources when writing

g. Indent for paragraphs Montessori Lessons:Proofreading Rubrics; Writers’ Workshop

5.C.3. Explain editorial choices involving mechanics






Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 5.D. Spelling Topic 5.D. Spelling Topic 5.D. Spelling

5.D.1. Recognize conventional spelling in and through personal and academic reading

Montessori Lessons:Spelling Private Eye





5.D.2. Apply conventional spelling in written language 5.D.2. Apply conventional spelling in written language 5.D.2. Apply conventional spelling in written language

a. Spell grade-appropriate high frequency and content words

Montessori Lessons:Spelling Private Eye; Spelling tests; Nomenclature and reports; Proofreading Rubrics; Writers’ Workshop

a. Spell grade- appropriate high-frequency and content words


a. Use conventional spelling in personal writing




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6b. Modify spellings when adding inflectional endings and suffixes

Montessori Lessons:Word Family cards and charts, Word Study (affixes); Etymology of words

b. Spell multi-syllabic words with complex spelling patterns

Montessori Lessons:Spelling Private Eye; Spelling tests; Content area nomenclature and reports; Proofreading Rubrics; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Etymology of words

b. Develop self-monitoring strategies for frequently misspelled words

Montessori Lessons:Spelling Private Eye; Spelling tests; Etymology of words

c. Spell one-syllable and multi-syllabic words with complex spelling patterns, such as -tion, -ous, ph-, kn-, etc.

Montessori Lessons:Spelling Private Eye; Spelling tests; Content area nomenclature and reports; Proofreading Rubrics; Writers’ Workshop: Peer Editing; Etymology of words

c. Use suitable traditional and electronic resources as a spelling aid

Montessori Lessons:Spelling journals; dictionary, MS Word; Handheld electronic spellers

c. Use suitable traditional and electronic resources as a spelling aid


d. Access resources as a spelling aid, such as word wall, technology, dictionary


d. Use mnemonic devices to recall frequently misspelled words

Montessori Lessons:Spelling Private Eye; Spelling tests

e. Use mnemonic devices to recall frequently misspelled words

Montessori Lessons:Spelling Private Eye; Spelling tests

5.D.3. Maintain a personal list of words to use in editing original writing

Montessori Lessons:Spelling journals, Content area nomenclature booklets






VSC -Standard 5.0 Controlling Language: Students will control language by applying the conventions of Standard English in speaking and writing.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 5.E. Handwriting Topic 5.E. Handwriting Topic 5.E. Handwriting

5.E.1. Produce writing that is legible to the audience 5.E.1. Produce writing that is legible to the audience 5.E.1. Produce writing that is legible to the audience

a. Maintain accuracy and automaticity in manuscript and cursive writing

Montessori Lessons: Teacher Modeling; Handwriting journals

a. Write fluidly and legibly in manuscript and cursive


a. Write fluidly and legibly in manuscript and cursive


b. Use word processing technology when appropriate

Montessori Lessons:Reports and essays published in MS Word; Power Point presentations






VSC - Reading Standard 6.0 Listening: Students will demonstrate effective listening to learn, process, and analyze information.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 6.A. Listening Topic 6.A. Listening Topic 6.A. Listening

6.A.1. Demonstrate active listening strategies 6.A.1. Demonstrate active listening strategies 6.A.1. Apply and demonstrate listening skills appropriately in a variety of settings and for a variety of purposes

a. Attend to the speaker Montessori Lessons:Practical Life: Receptive body language, eye contact



b. Ask appropriate questions

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Student Oral Presentations; Field Trips; Guest Speakers





c. Contribute relevant comments

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Student Oral Presentations; Field Trips; Guest Speakers; Literacy Circles; Class Meetings





d. Relate prior knowledge Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Student Oral Presentations; Field Trips; Guest Speakers; Literacy Circles; Class Meetings



e. Use note-taking to assist listening when appropriate




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 f. Maintain visual contact

with the speakerMontessori Lessons:Practical Life: Receptive body language, eye contact

g. Maintain focus by identifying and managing barriers to listening

Montessori Lessons:Practical Life: Receptive body language, eye contact

6.A.2. Comprehend and analyze what is heard 6.A.2. Comprehend and analyze what is heard 6.A.2. Apply comprehension and literary analysis strategies and skills for a variety of listening purposes and settings

a. Determine speaker’s purpose

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions

a. Determine speaker’s purpose


a. Elaborate on the information and ideas presented


b. Identify how the language of the presentation contributes to effect and meaning

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions; Writers’ Workshop: Word Choice

b. Identify how the language of the presentation contributes to effect and meaning


b. Make inferences or draw conclusions based on the presentation

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions; Reading Strategies: Inferences, Drawing Conclusions

c. Demonstrate an understanding of what is heard by retelling, asking questions, relating prior knowledge, and summarizing


c. Elaborate on the information and ideas presented


c. Determine a speaker’s attitude through verbal and non-verbal cues, such as tone of voice, inflections, body language, facial expressions

Montessori Lessons:Practical Life Lessons: Body Language and Tone of Voice; Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions; Reading Strategies: Inferences, Drawing Conclusions

d. Follow a set of multi-step directions

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions; Practical Life Activities, Games

d. Draw conclusions based on the information presented

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions; Reading Strategies: Inferences, Drawing Conclusions

d. Explain how the effects of language contribute to meaning




Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6e. Listen carefully to expand and enrich vocabulary

Montessori Lessons:Practical Life: Receptive body language, eye contact; Note-taking

e. Determine speaker's attitude through verbal and non-verbal cues, such as tone of voice, inflections, and facial expressions

Montessori Lessons:Practical Life Lessons: Body Language and Tone of Voice; Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions; Reading Strategies: Inferences, Drawing Conclusions

e. Provide constructive feedback to speakers concerning the delivery as well as its overall impact upon the listeners


f. Make judgments based on information from the speaker

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Class Discussions; Practical Life Activities, Games; Follow-up Action Plans or research topics related to class speakers and field trips


VSC - Reading Standard 7.0 Speaking: Student will communicate effectively in a variety of situations with different audiences, purposes, and formats.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Topic 7.A. Speaking Topic 7.A. Speaking Topic 7.A. Speaking

7.A.1. Use organization and delivery strategies at an appropriate level

7.A.1. Use organization and delivery strategies at an appropriate level

7.A.1. Demonstrate appropriate organizational strategies and delivery techniques to plan for a variety of oral presentation purposes

a. Demonstrate appropriate volume, articulation, enunciation, intonation, pacing, timing, and stress

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Practical Life; Role Playing; Oral Presentations; Drama Productions

a. Demonstrate appropriate volume, articulation, enunciation, intonation, pacing, timing, and stress


a. Identify the purpose, audience, and setting for a presentation


b. Demonstrate appropriate timing: Fluency, Pacing, Rate

Montessori Lessons:Teacher Modeling; Practical Life; Role Playing; Oral Presentations; Drama Productions; Reciting Poetry

b. Demonstrate appropriate timing: Fluency, Pacing, Rate


b. Identify the needs and perspectives of the audience


c. Use appropriate non-verbal techniques to enhance communications: Posture, Eye contact, Facial expressions, Gestures


c. Use appropriate non-verbal techniques to enhance communications: Posture, Eye contact, Facial expressions, Gestures


c. Select and plan for appropriate use of visual aids

Montessori Lessons:Oral Presentations; Power Point; Making posters, timelines, dioramas, mobiles, 3-D models, costumes, etc.

d. Select the topic of an oral presentation

Montessori Lessons:Cross-curricular lessons in literature, science, history, geography, math, geometry, art, music, etc.

e. Gather/construct adequate support

Montessori Lessons:Cross-curricular lessons in literature, science, history, geography, math, etc.


VSC - Reading Standard 7.0 Speaking: Student will communicate effectively in a variety of situations with different audiences, purposes, and formats.

Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 f. Identify and use a variety

of organization structures: narrative, cause and effect, chronological order, description, main idea and detail, problem/solution, question/answer, compare and contrast

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Preparing speeches for a variety of purposes (To inform, To persuade, To express personal ideas)

7.A.2. Make oral presentations 7.A.2. Make oral presentations

a. Speak in a variety of situations to inform and/or relate experiences, including retelling stories

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Preparing speeches for a variety of purposes (To inform, persuade, express personal ideas)

a. Speak in a variety of situations to inform and/or relate experiences, including retelling stories

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Preparing speeches for a variety of purposes (To inform, persuade, express personal ideas)

b. State a position and support it with reasons

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Preparing speeches for a variety of purposes; Class Debates; Mock Trials

b. State a position and support it with reasons

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Preparing speeches for a variety of purposes; Class Debates; Mock Trials

c. Participate in dramatic presentations

Montessori Lessons:Class Plays

c. Participate in dramatic presentations

Montessori Lessons:Class Plays

d. Plan and deliver effective oral presentations

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Preparing speeches for a variety of purposes

d. Plan and deliver effective oral presentations

Montessori Lessons:Writers’ Workshop: Preparing speeches for a variety of purposes

e. Use props when appropriate

Montessori Lessons:Oral Presentations; Power Point; Posters, timelines, dioramas, mobiles, 3-D models, costumes, etc.

e. Use props when appropriate

Montessori Lessons:Oral Presentations; Power Point; Posters, timelines, dioramas, mobiles, 3-D models, costumes, etc.

THE SUN STORY: The Origin of Spoken Language(For command cards and activities refer to Montessori Reading and Language Arts Curriculum-Grades 1 to 3, PGIN # 7690-2980)


When humans first appeared on the earth, they were small, the size of little children, and they were without great power. The first men and women had no clothes; they could not cook and they lived outside in the open without houses. The first people had no idea of how to use fire, and they had only two or three simple tools.

It must have been terrifying for them in the night, in constant fear of wild animals. Yes, they could make sounds--they could grunt, moan, shriek, cry and wildly wave their hands. But they could not speak words. They had no names, no way to explain how they felt, why they were sad or what was hurting them. The discoveries and secrets of their lives were bottled up because they had no way of expressing them. Their intellects were developing, but they had not yet discovered their great gift.

Gradually, after many ages, and before the coming of the glaciers, a new race of women and men appeared. They were taller, stronger, smarter. Their minds were more powerful. They are the people who spoke the first words. They were the first to use fire. At first, they communicated only as their ancestors did, but as they got wiser, they came to a greater love of sounds and they began to imitate the sounds of nature. They learned to speak with their hands and their bodies. They refined the art of gesture.

One day a person of great sensitivity arrived. This child was in love with the music of life--the hoot of the owl, the coo of the dove, the howl of the wolf. The young girl imitated these sounds and stored them in her memory. Then, one day, a wondrous event happened. The little girl saw the first gleam of the sun and felt its warmth splash over her. ÒS-u-. S-u-u. S-u-n.Ó

And there it was! The word formed spontaneously on her tongue and then entered her head. ÒSUN!Ó It sounded right. It expressed the essence of the huge circle of light that she saw. She whispered it; she yelled it; she sang it; she spoke it gently; she waved at it; she pointed at it; she saluted it; and then, she raced off to share her word with others.

The word excited her family and friends. It released a hidden force. It was dynamic and opened a part of their minds from which more words came tumbling out. Many more words were invented, words that matched special things and actions, ÒDad, Mom, tree, sky, fireÓ -- just a few words at first. The people built on them, adding many others to make the first language. The humans who discovered words so long ago have died, but they have been followed by other humans who learned to speak words.

These were people very much like us. The task that they accomplished was extraordinary—they gave names to almost everything in their world. They named actions. They were the first to describe things and they invented relation words. But even more, they wove the words into phrases and sentences. Conversation and discussion were born.


Modern men and women, the storytellers, appeared only 300 centuries ago during the last great glacial period. The art of storytelling unleashed two hidden powers of the mind: The first is memory and the second is the extraordinary power of imagination. Storytelling advanced to become poetry and history, religion and science, and politics. Humans could say anything to each other and be understood by their own group. Perhaps there will come a time when all people will understand one language.

THE BELL-BEAKER and BATTLE-AX FOLK: The Roots of the English Language(For command cards and activities refer to Montessori Reading and Language Arts Curriculum-Grades 1 to 3, PGIN # 7690-2980)

Our English Language started around 4,000 years ago. Villages were built near rivers, lakes, and seashores because the people could depend on fish, waterfowl, and sea-mammals for food. Large carp, clubbed with stones or trapped in nets, provided a major part of their diet. Some people farmed. They used stone axes and adzes to clear their gardens in which they planted wheat, barley, millet and other crops. They kept cattle and dogs nearby their houses. Some were hunters. These early villagers lived in houses made from wood and sod and they used pottery.

Around this time, 4,000 years ago, when the farming villages were settled and prospering, a particular group of traders from southern Russia began traveling through the Iberian Peninsula toward Spain and France. These traders are known as the Bell-Beaker Folk, named after their bell-shaped drinking cups. They always welcomed those who could afford to buy their bronze daggers and spearheads. For the poor, who had only fox fur to exchange, the Beaker Traders had other things, for example, mead. Whenever they had to bury one of their men in a strange land, they would place a beautiful beaker full of mead in the dead man’s hand in the grave. The remains of these gravesites allow us today to follow the trading routes of the Bell-Beaker Folk.

Picture caravans of precious trade goods being carried by pack mules and ox-pulled carts. When they met with the people from the permanent settlements, the Bell-Beaker Folk appeared strikingly different. They wore splendid clothing and equipment. They dressed in woven clothes and their flowing cloaks, dyed in reds and blues, were clasped at the neck by real bronze buttons. These items were fancy in comparison with the buckskin cloaks of the villagers, fastened by amber buttons. The Bell-Beaker traders spoke a language that few villages could understand, but their desire to trade helped all people find the way to share words needed to communicate. For example, a young woman seeing the flowing cloak dyed in red might say to the Bell-Beaker Trader, "What is that?" pointing to the cloak. The Trader might say, "CAPE." The young woman says, "I want CAPE." The trader asks, "WANT cape?" The young woman nods and holds up a beautiful carved wooden bowl for trade. So the language is exchanged as the desired products change hands.

During the time that the Bell-Beaker Folk traded with the settled villages along the Rhine, news came of approaching horsemen from the East. The horsemen used oxen to pull fairly heavy wagons at a walking pace. Two horses harnessed to a chariot could bear two men, traveling at speeds never before achieved in the history of man. Driving their herds of cattle and seeking out the best land these intruders poured onto the Rhine,


each tribe carving out an area for itself and settling down. The intruders were groups of nomads known as the BATTLE-AX PEOPLE. Their axes, which were their characteristic weapon, were made of stone. The stone from which the axes were made had carefully been selected then cut and polished. Those battle axes had a long slender form resembling a model of a canoe or kayak.

The Battle-Ax Folk buried their people in an oblong pit, dug a foot or so into the ground. A single body would be placed on its side with knees drawn up and always with its face toward the south. Women lay on their right sides with heads to the east. They bore rich amber jewelry and were accompanied by one or more earthenware pitchers. Men lay on their right sides with heads to the west. They too had pitchers or beakers with them in the grave. The men wore no ornaments, except occasionally a pair of large amber buttons. The two large amber buttons lying close to the throat of the men suggest that they wore a loosely secured cloak around their shoulders. In front of the men’s face, a stone battle-ax was laid, level with their eyes. Ancient people worshipped the gods of the sky and the horizon. Archaeologists have studied the ancient graves of the Battle-Ax People and believe that their religion was some form of sun-worship. This belief is reinforced by the presence of golden discs representing the sun. Also, the horse-drawn chariot which allowed them to travel at high speeds covering great distances had an important role in their religion. The horse is worshipped as the servant of the gods. Clearly, the sun-god himself, the chief of all gods, who can cross the heavens from horizon to horizon in a single day, must use the horse-drawn chariot to cover that distance.

The Battle-Ax People were a nomadic Caucasian race, and it is believed that their language was Indo-European. They most probably came from the great grassy steppe in the region east and northeast of the Caspian Sea. As the Bell-Beaker Folk met those battle-ax wielding horsemen, mixed communities of the Battle-Ax Folk and the original settlers soon arose and not only overran the farmland of half of Europe; they also spread up to the north and into the pine forest of the sub-arctic. The Indo-Europeans were the ancestors of the language which we speak today. It seems as if the peoples speaking this Proto-Indo-European language were the Great, great, great, great, great, great , great, great, great, great Grandfathers of the English Language. They were living on the planes of Central or Eastern Europe and around 2,500 B.C.

Some moved south to Armenia and N. Mesopotamia. Some moved to the Iranian Plateau and later to NW India. Some moved southward to the Balkans and Crete. Some moved to the Alps, and then spread into Italy, France and Spain.


History of Writing

Pre- Alphabet Signs

Communication in signs was a big step forward for humanity. Throughout most of human history, language was not used in written form; that development came rather late. (Refer to the Hand Time-Line, where the small red strip indicates all of written history.)

But people must have communicated!

There was verbal communication, i.e. agreement on the meaning of sounds.

Much earlier than writing as we know it, signs and symbols were used to pass information to someone not present to talk to.

The Incas used the quipu (meaning “knot” in Quechua), a series of colored strings with knots at particular intervals, encoding information used primarily for accounting purposes.

Notched sticks were used as memory aids.

North American natives used wampum, beads made from shells and used as currency, for ceremonial exchanges, for treaties or to record important events.

Very early examples of human communication are the cave or rock paintings, the oldest ones found in the caves of France and Spain and done by Cro-Magnon Man. The pictures represented animals they hunted and humans with spears or with masks. They are believed to be religious communication for protections and success in the hunt and deal with the physical and spiritual needs of those people.

In most early cultures pictographs were used for communication, each picture representing a word or idea (see the chart with the Mexican signs, or the one with the story rendered in pictures)

Children my draw their own pictures.

An early precursor to Sumerian writing, discovered in recent years in Mesopotamia, were tokens used for messages in business trade. For example, a shipload of grain would be accompanied by small clay tokens which told the recipient what amount he was supposed to receive. Such tokens, used as early as 8000 B.C., were found in large quantities, each with a symbol carved into the clay, carrying the message the token was to transmit.

Writing Symbols for Words


The earliest true writing of which we are aware was that used by the Sumerians in South Mesopotamia, the land between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, circa 4000 B.C. They used simplified and heavily stylized pictures to represent words. The material used to record the symbols was clay tablets, and the symbols were impressed into the clay with a stylus cut from a reed. The resulting pictures were comprised of wedge-shaped strokes and termed cuniform, , which means “wedge-shaped.” For millennia this was the universal script in the Near East, used with little variation in Acadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Syrian writing.

The Egyptian writing may have been influenced by the Sumerian idea of using a picture for a word, but developed separately with its own set of symbols. The original Egyptian script circa 3000 B.C. was picture writing. Later the Greeks saw the symbols carved in stone and termed them hieroglyphics (from hieros: “sacred, holy” and glyphein: “to carve or hollow out”.

For everyday use a faster form of writing was developed, called hieratic (“priestly writing”) since it was used by the priest, the only group knowledgeable in using script. About 700 B.C. an even more simplified set of symbols was developed; termed demotic, for “popular writing”. By then scribes were using brush pens with black ink on papyrus. Papyrus was produced by arranging the fibers of the papyrus sedge in crosswise layers and drying them. This material is similar to (and gave the name to) our paper.

The Idea of the Alphabet

A breakthrough was made with the idea of taking symbols which previously had the meaning of the entire word, and using them instead to represent a single sound. If symbols are to represent words, then there must be as many symbols as there are words in a language. (This is one reason why the art of writing was restricted to the caste of priests, who had time to devote their lives to learning such an enormous written vocabulary.) But if each symbol is to represent a sound, then only a limited number of symbols are needed: in principle as many as there are distinct sounds, but in practice many fewer, since similar sounds can be identified from their context.

Around 1500 B.C. early Phoenicians (the Canaanites, a Semitic-speaking people living in present day Syria, Lebanon and Palestine on the Mediterranean coast) began to use the cuneiform sign to stand for individual speech sounds, writing them from right to left. Phoenicians were navigators and traders. (One of their products was purple dye, made from a shellfish called porphure in Greek. This dye was so precious that only royalty could afford it, and to this day the color purple is associated with royalty.) For their record-keeping the Phoenicians needed a practical way of recording so they created an alphabet of a few simple symbols which could be memorized easily and recorded quickly. (Refer to diagrams in your Montessori Albums).

Long after the transformation was made to symbols expressing a single sound, the symbols were still given the name of the word they had represented, e.g. aleph for “A” and beth “B”. Thus the collection of all letters, beginning with these two, called the alephbeth, the origin of our word “alphabet”. The early Phoenician alphabet had 22 symbols.


By 1250 B.C. the Phoenicians had established colonies and trading posts all over the Mediterranean, as far as Carthage in northern Africa. They traveled to the edges of the known world and introduced their alphabet to the Greeks and to other people. By 1000 B.C. the Aramaic alphabet had developed, from which grew the Hebrew alphabet and the alphabets of the Persian Empire and of the Arabic Koran.

Further Development of Our Alphabet

The Phoenicians had no vowels in their alphabet. The Greeks, as Maria Montessori put it added music to the alphabet when they reassigned some of the Semitic consonant symbols to vowel sounds circa 1000 B.C. They also split the Semitic symbol for waw into two letters, one developing into our modern “F” and one into “u” (upsilon or simple U”), the predecessor of our modern “U”, “V”, “W” and “Y”.

About 850 A.D. the Greek monk Cyril went to Moravia to preach the gospel in the Slavonic language, and he revised the Greek alphabet into what today is called Cyrillic. That in turn evolved into the modern Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian alphabets.

The Greek alphabet eventually was adopted by the Etruscans (800-300 B.C. in what is today Italy) and then by their successors the Romans. Romans who were successful politicians wanted to inscribe their names and deeds in stone. For that reason the characters were revised to be clearer and to be composed of only straight lines and circular arcs. The mark of the chisel when a stroke was begun became that part of the character known as the serif, the tiny perpendicular line at the beginning and end of each stroke. The alphabet developed by the Romans is today called Roman Monumental, essentially the shapes of modern printed capital letters. The Romans also created the new letter “G” by adding a stroke to “C”, and later standardized the direction of writing as left to right.

During the centuries after the Roman Empire declined in Western Europe, not much writing was done. Learning was entrusted to the monks, and writing was done primarily in monasteries. The monks used quill pens on parchment, so the Roman letters recorded between 300 and 7000 A.D. evolved into shapes similar to modern cursive capital letters, called uncials.

The Germanic tribe of the Franks unified much of what today is France and Germany, and their king Charlemagne (French) or Karl der Grosse (German) in 800 A.D. claimed the imperial crown of the Roman Empire. In order to revive education he hired Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon monk(later a bishop) , who set up schools and revised the characters further to what then became known as Carolingian Minuscules. Alciun and his scribes designed letters which consisted primarily of vertical strokes and small arcs, for convenience in writing. These eventually became our lower case letters, and the old letters were then used only in place of what today are called capital letters.

As Charles’s empire split up, national hands developed, such as Gothic in Germany and Italic cursive in Italy, the progenitor of our modern cursive.

Punctuation:


The history of punctuation is a side topic to that of writing. Originally, words were all run together. In early religious texts, small pictures of leaves were used to indicate where the priests should raise or lower their voices. Perhaps these were the precursors to punctuation. Eventually, when works written by the scribes were not legible, marks of punctuation were added.

Printing:

Just as was the invention of the alphabet, printing was another leap forward for human communication. Before printing was available, books were handwritten. Only the rich, or monks in the monasteries where large libraries had been collected over the centuries, could use them. Very few people could write, and only they had the task of recording. (Fortunately, the wonderful adventures of Marco Polo were recorded because in prison he came in contact with one of the few who could write and who wrote down the stories Marco Polo told him of his travels. The book The Million Tales was read aloud to people by “readers”, since ordinary folk couldn’t read.)

The earliest known examples of printing are Japanese pictorial prints, printed from carved wooden blocks circa 780 A.D. The earliest books were printed in China by 868 by carving characters into a wooden block, one block for each page. The block was inked and paper pressed on it. The use of wooden moveable type was invented in China by 1041, but the great number of characters in Chinese proved an obstacle to the success of this method there.

Not much information from China arrived in Europe, and block printing was independently reinvented there in the early 15 th century. This revolution in printing happened in 1450, when Johann Gutenberg invented metal cast moveable type in Mainz, Germany and used a printing press developed from the wine press. His Mazarin Bible (1455) is believed to be the first book printed with such type.

Major steps in the progress of printing were:

The casting of a metal plate from the type set for one page, thus freeing the individual letters for further use.

The invention by Ottmar Mergenthaler in the USA (1884) of the Linotype machine, which used a keyboard for typesetting and casting an entire line of type in one unit.

The offset printing process invented in 1905 by Rubel, which adapted the techniques of lithography for rapid printing.

Printing by rotating cylinders on continuous paper, such as used in printing newspaper, to further speed up the process.

Computerized typesetting, which eliminated completely the need for hot metal and casting; the plates could be prepared by photographic means.

Desktop publishing and the copying machine, which made economical the printing of small numbers of copies.


Montessori Sample Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Word Families- Compound Words – VSC Indicators 4.1.D.3.b, 5.1.D.3.b, and 6.1.D.3.bAge: 6-12Montessori Materials: Teacher made compound word cards or chart

ßStatement of Objective: What should students know and do as a result of the lesson?

ßKey Vocabulary: What critical

vocabulary will be part of this lesson?

ßWarm-Up: How will you engage students in learning? How will you connect the lesson to their prior knowledge?

Access Prior Knowledge

(Engagement)

Students will use word cards/ word charts in order to identify compound words

Compound wordsTeacher will take a collection of brushes to the lesson area (hairbrush, nailbrush, toothbrush). Teacher will ask the child which part of the word is the same in all of the items.

Teacher Directed Activities: How will you aid students in constructing meaning of new

concepts? How will you introduce/model new skills or

procedures?

Teacher-Monitored Activities: What will students do together to use new

concepts or skills? How will you assist students in this process?

First Period

(Explanation)

Introductory and/or

Developmental

Activities

Teacher will discuss with the students the different uses of the brushes and bring to the child’s awareness that the word in front of brush tells us the type of brush it is. Teacher will explain that the two words together are called compound words. Teacher will state other examples of compound words i.e. rainbow, earring, shoelaces stressing that compound words are two words put together to make a new word. Eventually, teacher will note that compound words come in three varieties- two words together, two separate words with a space between, or words with hyphen separating them.

Second Period(Exploration)

Guided Practice

Teacher will ask students to state some compound words they know. Students will create the words using moveable alphabet or word cards.


Extension, Refinement, and Practice Activities: What opportunities will students have to use the new skills and concepts in a meaningful way? How will students expand and solidify their understanding of the concept and apply it to a real-world situation?

How will students demonstrate their mastery of the essential learning outcomes?

ThirdPeriod

(Elaboration)

Independent Activities

and/or Meaningful-Use Tasks

Students can look up compound words using a dictionary. Students may choose to make a chart of compound words and find pictures in books/magazines to match.

ßOngoing Assessment: How will you monitor student progress throughout the lesson?

Check for Mastery (Teacher

Evaluation) Assessment

Teacher will provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge during the second period of the lesson, and provide additional support for below level students prior to them engaging in the Third Period work.ßCulminating Assessment: How will you ensure that all students have mastered the identified learning indicators? How will you assess their learning? Teacher will ask the child to demonstrate knowledge of compound words through questioning and practice during reading and writing activities.ßFollow-Up Activities: Through this teacher-guided activity, how will you assist students in reflecting upon what they learned today and preparing for the next lesson? What other work will be assigned to help students practice, prepare, or elaborate on a concept or skill taught?

Follow-Up Work(Student Evaluation)

During the un-interrupted work period, individuals and small groups of students will select passages from their reading materials in order to find compound words

ßExtension Activities: How will you differentiate follow-up lessons for students who do not master the initial concept? What follow up lessons will you offer to students once they have mastered the concepts taught?

Extending the LessonTeacher will observe and re-teach students who have not mastered the concepts and draw attention to points of interest which address an individual’s weakness in understanding. Once students have mastered the concept, the teacher may extend the lesson by having the children construct sentences using compound words.



Lesson Title: Common and Proper Nouns – VSC Indicator 3.5.C.2.fAge: 6-9 Montessori Materials: Grammar symbols, teacher made common and proper noun word cards

ßStatement of Objective: What

should students know and do

as a result of the lesson?

ßKey Vocabulary: What critical

vocabulary will be part of this lesson?



(Engagement)

Students will use classification of nouns word cards in order to determine proper and common nouns.

Common nounsProper nouns

Teacher will remind students of their previous work with nouns. Teacher will ask students a variety of questions to gage their understanding of nouns and review with students that nouns are people, places, things, and animals.

Teacher Directed Activities: How will you aid students in constructing meaning of new concepts? How will you introduce/model new skills or procedures?

Teacher-Monitored Activities: What will students do together to use new concepts or skills? How will you assist students in this process?

First Period

(Explanation)

Introductory and/or

Developmental

Activities

Teacher will give students gender specific directions i.e. girls touch your ears, boys touch your nose. Teacher will direct a specific student by name to perform a specific action and discuss why only the one child performed the task requested. Teacher will solicit ideas from students in order to bring to the child’s awareness that some nouns are specific nouns i.e. naming nouns, and we call them proper nouns and some nouns are not specific and we call the common nouns. Teacher will state a variety of specific nouns and common nouns and ask the students to determine if the noun is common or proper.


Guided Practice

Teacher will present the common and proper noun word cards to students. Students will be directed to read each card and classify the noun into categories of common nouns or proper nouns. Students will copy the lists into their language journal.




ThirdPeriod

(Elaboration)



Students may choose to find pictures of nouns in magazines and create a posters of common and proper nouns.




Teacher will provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge during the second period of the lesson, and provide additional support for below level students prior to them engaging in the Third Period workßCulminating Assessment: How will you ensure that all students have mastered the identified learning indicators? How will you assess their learning? Teacher will ask the child to demonstrate knowledge of common and proper nouns through questioning and practice during reading and writing activities.ßFollow-Up Activities: Through this teacher-guided activity, how will you assist students in reflecting upon what they learned today and preparing for the next lesson? What other work will be assigned to help students practice, prepare, or elaborate on a concept or skill taught?


During the un-interrupted work period, individuals and small groups of students will select passages from their reading materials in order to find nouns and categorize them as common or proper.


Extending the LessonTeacher will observe and re-teach students who have not mastered the concepts and draw attention to points of interest which address an individual’s weakness in understanding. Once students have mastered the concept, the teacher may extend the lesson by showing the grammar symbols for common and proper nouns. The children may then symbolize common and proper nouns in sentences of their own.



Lesson Title: Adverbial Modifiers – VSC Indicators 5.5.A.2.d and 6.5.A.2.dAge: 9-12Montessori Materials: Logical Analysis Material


ßKey Vocabulary: What critical vocabulary will be part of this lesson?



(Engagement)

Students will use Montessori logical analysis material in order to analyze sentences

Adverbial modifiersSubjectPredicateDirect objectIndirect object

Teacher will review with students previous lessons using logical analysis materials. Students will be instructed to collect and set out the logical analysis wooden materials (black and orange question arrows, circles, and triangles) onto the work area. Teacher will explain the appropriate set up of manipulative materials and guide students in reading the questions written on each arrow. Once students reach the questions using the orange arrow, teacher will explain that the orange arrows are adverbial modifiers questions. Teacher may make connections with previous work with the adverb grammar boxes.

Teacher Directed Activities: How will you aid students in constructing meaning of new

concepts? How will you introduce/model new skills or

procedures?

Teacher-Monitored Activities: What will students do together to use new

concepts or skills? How will you assist students in this process?

First Period

(Explanation)

Introductory and/or

Developmental

Activities

Student will review by using the black and orange wooden logical analysis questions - arrow material to analyze a teacher prepared sentence. Teacher may prompt students by reading the questions that are written on the arrows aloud and guide the student in separating the sentence and placing the separated words in the appropriate place in the diagram. Once students reach the adverbial modifier question arrows, teacher will model. Teacher will explain that the orange material are adverbial modifiers questions. They will help us to identify information about the adverb. Teacher will model how to separate the sentence strip by cutting/ tearing at the appropriate place and putting the word onto the appropriate section (refer to diagrams in your


Guided Practice

Students will be given a variety of teacher prepared sentences to analyze and copy into their language journals. Sentences should be selected from current reading selections i.e. Literature text, group book studies, social studies, science selections. Teacher may also discuss the authors’ writing styles and their use of language.


Montessori album). Students will draw the sentence diagrams into their language arts journal.



ThirdPeriod

(Elaboration)



Students may choose to select passages from their own writing to analyze. Students may select a passage from their selected reading material.




Teacher will provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge during the second period of the lesson, and provide additional support for below level students prior to them engaging in Third Period Work ßCulminating Assessment: How will you ensure that all students have mastered the identified learning indicators? How will you assess their learning?

Teacher will ask the child to demonstrate analyzing a sentence with adverbial modifiers.

ßFollow-Up Activities: Through this teacher-guided activity, how will you assist students in reflecting upon what they learned today and preparing for the next lesson? What other work will be assigned to help students practice, prepare, or elaborate on a concept or skill taught?


During the Montessori un-interrupted work period, individuals and small groups of students will select passages from their reading material to diagram sentences. Students will write in their language journals.


Extending the LessonTeacher will observe and re-teach students who have not mastered the concepts and draw attention to points of interest which address an individual’s weakness in understanding. Once students have mastered the concept, the teacher may extend the lesson by showing the relationship between functions of words and the logical analysis material.



Lesson Title: Elements of a Story: Rising Action, Climax, and Resolution – VSC Indicators 5.3.A.3.b and 6.3.A.3.bAge: 9-12Montessori Materials: Story Structure Chart, Blank labels and markers




Access Prior Knowledge(Engagement)

Students will analyze a short story and identify the main story elements.

SettingCharacterProblemPlotRising ActionClimaxResolution

The teacher will gather a group of students and explain that sometimes reading a story is like taking a journey. Use questioning to review with the students previous vocabulary such as setting, character, and problem. Explain to the students that you are going to read them a story. Ask them to pay attention for details on the setting, characters, and problem. Tell them that after the story you will also learn abut some additional story elements.

Teacher Directed Activities: How will you aid students in constructing meaning of new concepts?

How will you introduce/model new skills or procedures?

Teacher-Monitored Activities: What will students do together to use new concepts or

skills? How will you assist students in this process?

First Period

(Explanation)

Introductory and/or

Developmental Activities

Read a picture book with a clear plot development and climax such as Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. After reading, show the story structure chart in the shape of the mountain. Show where there are places to label the different story elements. Ask the students to identify the main characters and their traits, describe the setting, and explain the problem. Write out labels based on the children’s responses and have them place them on the chart. Draw attention to the mountainous shape of the chart and explain that we will use the chart to show how the action of the plot rises.

Second Period

(Exploration)

Guided Practice

Go back through the text with the students recalling plot events and create a label for each one. Draw attention to the way the tension increases and the characters’ emotions develop over the course of the story. Place the labels for the plot events up the side of the mountain. Draw attention to the fact that the action is rising! When you reach the climax, explain that the emotions are at their highest point. Place a label for that event on the precipice of the mountain. As you continue recording plot elements down the other side of the mountain, draw attention to the fact that the tension of the characters is now decreasing. At the end of the story, revisit the problem that was originally named by


the students and ask them to explain how it was finally solved. Explain that this is called the resolution. Make a label for the resolution and place it on the story elements chart.

Extension, Refinement, and Practice Activities: What opportunities will students have to use the new skills and concepts in a meaningful way? How will students expand and solidify their understanding of the concept and apply it to a real-world situation? How will students

demonstrate their mastery of the essential learning outcomes?

ThirdPeriod

(Elaboration)



In pairs, have students choose another picture book to read and analyze. The students will create labels for the story elements including the rising action, climax, and resolution and place them on the story element chart. Have students write definitions for the new story elements in their reading journals. Students will draw the story elements chart in their reading journals.


Check for Mastery

(Teacher Evaluation)

Assessment

The teacher will provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge during the second period of the lesson, and will provide additional support for below level students prior to them engaging in the Third Period work. ßCulminating Assessment: How will you ensure that all students have mastered the identified learning indicators? How will you assess their learning? Students will identify story elements in novels and include the information in formal book report assignments. The teacher may model an appropriate BCR or SR using the vocabulary plot, rising action, climax, and/or resolution. The teacher may then assign students to complete another BCR in order to demonstrate their mastery.



During the three-hour uninterrupted work period, students in small groups will select short stories to analyze and will identify story elements. Students will also complete comprehension questions about story elements based on teacher selected and assigned readings.


Extending the LessonStudents may make their own story element chart as a poster and may paste the labels they created for the story onto it. Students may come up with a new graphic organizer or symbolic representation of rising action (such as a rocket launch, a wave, or a sliding board) and use it to analyze other stories.



Lesson Title: Making Connections – VSC Indicators - 4.1.E.4.h, 5.1.E.4.h, and 6.1.E.4.hAge: 6-12Montessori Materials: Picture book, chart paper and markers, paper for students to make bookmarks




Access Prior Knowledge(Engagement)

Students will make connections between a text and their own experiences.

QuestioningPredictingConnectionsText to Self (T-S)Text to World (T-W)Text to Text (T-T)

Teacher will invite a group of students to come to a reading lesson. Remind the students that we have been practicing the reading strategies of questioning and predicting. Elicit from students how to use these two strategies and how they can help us be stronger readers. Show a picture book that will enable the teacher to model several connections. Go through the pre-reading book walk and have students share their predictions.

Teacher Directed Activities: How will you aid students in constructing meaning of new concepts?

How will you introduce/model new skills or procedures?

Teacher-Monitored Activities: What will students do together to use new concepts or skills? How will you assist students in this process?

First Period

(Explanation)

Introductory and/or

Developmental Activities

Explain that today when we read, we are going to be doing something a little different. We are going to be practicing a new reading strategy called “Making Connections.” Elicit from the students what the word connection means. Explain that while we are reading, we are going to be stopping from time to time to recognize when the text reminds us of something we have seen, heard, or experienced before. Each time we feel a connection, we can stop and record it on a chart. Select a student to be the recorder and have him or her prepare a T-chart which reads: “Text” in one column and “Connection” in the other column.

Second Period

(Exploration)

Guided Practice

The teacher will begin reading and will very quickly interrupt the flow in order to model making a connection from the text. Have the student recorder write down what the text says and how you feel connected to it. Continue reading, stopping frequently to make lots of connections of all three types (T-S, T-T, and T-W). At this point, we do not classify the connections by type. Encourage the students to also raise their hands to share connections. Pause many times and have the recorder include students’ connections on the large chart.

When students are ready, either right away or on the next day, help them to


understand that we can classify our connections into three types: Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World. Teach the notation: T-S, T-T, and T-W. Go down the large class chart of connections to the read-aloud story and discuss and classify each connection made. Choose a second student recorder to label the connection chart using the notation taught.

Extension, Refinement, and Practice Activities: What opportunities will students have to use the new skills and concepts in a meaningful way? How will students expand and solidify their understanding of the concept and apply it to a real-world situation? How will students demonstrate their mastery of the essential learning outcomes?

ThirdPeriod

(Elaboration)



Students will make a T-chart graphic organizer in their reading journals and write down any personal connections they have felt to the text we have just finished reading. Students will also make a Connections Bookmark to keep inside of their independent reading selections. They will record their connections on the bookmark during their nightly 20 minute reading homework assignment by noting the page number of the text and how they felt connected to that part. As students are ready, have them begin to classify and label their connections with T-S, T-T, and T-W.


Check for Mastery

(Teacher Evaluation)

Assessment

The teacher will provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge during the second period of the lesson, and will provide additional support for below level students prior to them engaging in the Third Period work.ßCulminating Assessment: How will you ensure that all students have mastered the identified learning indicators? How will you assess their learning?Students will write a personal essay reflecting on a self-selected text to which they feel connected. The teacher may model an appropriate BCR or SR relating a text to prior knowledge, prior reading, or personal experiences. The teacher may then assign students to complete another BCR in order to demonstrate their mastery.




During the three-hour uninterrupted work period, students individually and in small groups will select stories to read and analyze and will discuss, record, and classify connections to the text. Students will also complete comprehension questions about story

elements based on teacher selected and assigned readings. ßExtension Activities: How will you differentiate follow-up lessons for students who do not master the initial concept? What follow up lessons will you offer to students once they have mastered the concepts taught?

Extending the LessonStudents who have not mastered the initial concept will be grouped together for re-teaching at which time, the teacher will select an appropriate text and help the students to make personal connections. (For example, students who play extra curricular sports will be engaged in a text that relates closely to their experiences.)


Appendix


Literary Genres Card Set

Fiction NonfictionRealistic Fiction

Tall Tale

Science Fiction FolktalesHistorical

FictionFolklore

Legend MythFairy Tale FablesBiography Fantasy


Memoir AutobiographyPersonal Narrative Journal

Essay Short StoryPlay

_________ is prose writing that tells an imaginary story.

_________ is prose writing that tells about real people, places, and events.

___________ is prose writing set in the modern world.


_________ is prose writing that explores unexpected possibilities of the past or future by using scientific theories or data and imagination.


_________ is fiction set in the past which may reference actual people or events.

_________ is a humorously exaggerated story about impossible events in which the main characters have extraordinary abilities.

_________ is a story passed by word of mouth from generation to generation.


_______ is traditions, customs, and stories passed down within a culture.

___________ is a traditional story, usually by an unknown author, that answers a basic question about the world.

___________ is a story handed down from the past about a specific person who usually demonstrates heroic accomplishments.

__________ are brief tales that teach lessons about human nature.

_________ is a story about imaginary beings possessing magical powers.


_________ is literature that contains fantastic or unreal elements.

_________ is the story of a person's life written by someone else.

______ is a type of nonfiction in which a person tells about his or her own life.

______ is a personal story and a shorter form of autobiographical writing.

_________ is a type of autobiography, usually about a significant experience in the author's life.


_______ is a personal record of experiences or reflections written at the time the event occurs.


_________ is a brief work of fiction, usually readable in one session.

__________ is a short, cohesive work of nonfiction dealing with a single subject and presenting the writer's viewpoint.

__________ is literature intended to be performed by actors in front of an audience which includes a script with dialogue, a cast of characters, and stage directions.

Fiction is prose writing that tells an imaginary story.

Nonfiction is prose writing that tells about real people, places, and events.


Realistic Fiction is prose writing set in the modern world.

Science Fiction is prose writing that explores unexpected possibilities of the past or future by using scientific theories or data and imagination.

Historical Fiction is fiction set in the past which may reference actual people or events.

A Tall Tale is a humorously exaggerated story about impossible events in which the main characters have extraordinary abilities.

Folktales are stories passed by word of mouth from generation to generation.


Folklore is traditions, customs, and stories passed down within a culture.


A Myth is a traditional story, usually by an unknown author, that answers a basic question about the world.

A Legend is a story handed down from the past about a specific person who usually demonstrates heroic accomplishments.

Fables are brief tales that teach lessons about human nature.

A Fairy Tale is a story about imaginary beings possessing magical powers.

Fantasy is literature that contains fantastic or unreal elements.


A Biography is the story of a person's life written by someone else.

Autobiography is a type of nonfiction in which a person tells about his or her own life.

A Personal Narrative is a personal story and a shorter form of autobiographical writing.

A Memoir is a type of autobiography, usually about a significant experience in the author's life.

A Journal is a personal record of experiences or reflections written at the time the event occurs.


A Short Story is a brief work of fiction, usually readable in one session.

An Essay is a short, cohesive work of nonfiction dealing with a single subject and presenting the writer's viewpoint.

A Play is literature intended to be performed by actors in front of an audience which includes a script with dialogue, a cast of characters, and stage directions.


K-W-L Chart

Topic: ________________________________

KWhat I already know about the topic:

WWhat I want to know about the topic:

LWhat I learned about the topic by reading:


Fact and Opinion

Title of the Text: ______________________Topic of the Text: _______________________

Facts Opinions


Inferences

Title of the Text: ______________________________

What the text says + What I already know = My Inference

+ =

+ =

+ =

+ =


Making ConnectionsTitle of the Text: _______________________________

Page What the text says: What it reminds me of: Type of Connection:

(T-S, T-T, or T-W)


Topic, Main Idea, and Supporting DetailsTitle of Text: ______________________________________

Topic: ___________________________

Main Idea:

Supporting Detail:

Supporting Detail:

Supporting Detail:

Supporting Detail:


Character Traits

Title of the Text: __________________________Name of the Character: ____________________

Character Trait Supporting evidence from the text


description of montessori language materials list · web viewread aloud lessons have been developed...

Documents