Language is a means of communicating ideas or feelings using conventionalized sounds and signs, thus being the spoken and written language. A child is born programmed to learn to communicate. Dr. Maria Montessori discovered that during the first six years of life, children are particularly sensitive to learning a language. Language can be learned after age six, whereas the child absorbs it if presented before the age of six.

               A child in a Montessori classroom comes in having absorbed the language spoken at home. With his entry into the classroom, he will begin to consolidate the spoken language and also explore the written forms of language. With the child’s absorbent mind, by age six, the child will have reached the third point of consciousness in the language where he understands that sound and words have meaning and that these symbols can be used in writing.

              In a Montessori environment, Practical Life and Sensorial activities prepare the child indirectly for writing and reading. From birth to age six, Montessori materials provide experiences to develop the use of a writing instrument and the basic skills of reading the written language.

             Metal insets provide essential exercises for developing writing skills with a pencil by guiding the child’s hand in following different outline shapes. For reading, a set of individual letters, commonly known as sandpaper letters, provide the basic means for associating the individual letter symbols with their corresponding phonetic sounds.

             Touching the letters and looking at them simultaneously fixes their image more quickly because of the cooperation of the senses.