The most important skill your students will ever learn

A scientifically proven method for teaching every student in your Montessori class how to read.

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Does any of this sound familiar?

You need a reading program for your class, like, yesterday…

You know that everyday a child in your class can’t read is a missed opportunity for them to build confidence and become independent.

You need a program that is comprehensive and ready to use on day one for every student in your class.

You have no idea where to start…

Phonemic Awareness? Linguistic Phonics? Orthographic Mapping? Speech to Print?

There are so many opinions on how to teach reading, and most programs aren’t even made for the Montessori classroom.

And now you need a new program based on “the science of reading,” and you have no time to do all that research yourself.

And you don’t want to fail your students with programs that don’t work.

You have a franken-program that has bits and pieces of various programs that “kind of” work together.

You need a program that will support both your emergent readers and your remedial readers.

INTRODUCING

The Rhyme & Reason Reading Program

Evidence-Based Reading Instruction for the Montessori Classroom

Rhyme and Reason Reading Program book cover

Here is what you get:

  • Self-correcting materials that encourage independent practice.
  • Multi-sensory activities that integrate visual, audible, and kinesthetic learning.
  • Fun historical lessons that give an explanation for some of English’s crazy spelling patterns. This appeals to the elementary child’s reasoning mind.
  • The materials are a convenient digital download. You’ll get free updates for life and you can easily replace lost or damaged materials.
  • Sound games to help develop phonemic awareness (the sounds in words). This skill is the number one predictor of reading ability!
  • Diagnostic tests are included so that you can start your students at just the right level of difficulty. Help both your emergent readers and struggling readers.
  • Evidence-based practices with plain-English explanations. I’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to. Teach with confidence knowing the methods in the program have been developed and tested by top researchers in the field. Ample citations provided.
This is exactly what i need

The Rhyme and Reason Reading Program is for you if:

  • You’re a Montessori elementary guide. You’re looking for a complete reading program to add to your classroom that is based on Montessori principles.
  • You’ve never taught reading before, and you’re nervous. The guidebook includes everything you need to teach a child to read: lesson scripts, a scope and sequence, and explanations so know why you’re doing things.
  • You care about the science of reading. Every aspect of this program is evidence-backed, drawing on decades of research. Sources are cited, and there is a suggested reading list to learn more.

The program might not be a good fit if:

  • You teach in a conventional classroom. This program was designed for students to work at their own pace independently. The lessons are very short, 5-15 minutes, and they would not work well for whole-group instruction.
  • You teach virtually. The program has a lot of card materials that students may have difficulty preparing and keeping track of at home.

Big maybe:

  • You teach in a Primary classroom. The core methodology is appropriate for primary-age students. However, the lessons scripts were written with the elementary student in mind; there are explanations, etymologies, and history lessons that may not be appropriate. You will need to simplify or omit these.
  • Every single student in your class is reading at or above grade level. Keep doing what you’re doing! (Though you might still get value out of the guidebook ☺︎.)

What does evidence-based reading instruction look like?

Teaching children to read doesn’t have to be complicated or take years. The Rhyme and Reason Reading Program is efficient, stripping away activities that don’t directly help with decoding skills. These are the four basic steps:

1

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds in words. The word ‘dog’ is made of the three sounds /d – o – g/. Reading instruction starts with sound games that help the students learn the sounds of English.

2

Sound to Symbol

Once the sounds of English can be isolated, the student connects each sound to a letter. In Montessori classrooms this usually done with the Sandpaper Letters.

3

Write a Word

Break the sounds of a word apart and write the symbols for those sounds.

4

Read a Word

Spelling and reading are transferrable skills. In fact, learning to spell decreases the time required to learn reading by half, and the reading skill is more stable than reading instruction alone.

The Scope and Sequence

The Rhyme and Reason Reading Program is developmentally-appropriate and self-paced, so that you can help all bring all readers up to grade level. Let’s dive into the program more fully.

Rhyme and Reason Reading Program sound cards
Forty-two hand drawn cards to help students identify the sounds of English.
You’ll Learn

Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in words. This skill is foundational to learning to read English.

The key skills to develop are:

  • Phoneme identification. Can the child identify phonemes– instead of whole words and syllables?
  • Phoneme blending. This is the core skill of reading: taking individual sounds and blending them together.
  • Phoneme segmenting. This is the core skill of spelling: taking a word and breaking the sounds apart.
  • Phoneme manipulation. This is what you are doing when you are sounding out a new word and you are “trying out” different sounds.
Rhyme and Reason Reading Program flip booklets
Flip booklets for every drawer, so the student can practice reading isolated words.
You’ll Learn

Red introduces one symbol/one sound correspondences, connecting 23 of the alphabet letters to 23 sounds. This is the simplest level.

Children will begin reading and writing simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words in as little as three lessons. We want the children to immediately start using the few letter-sounds they know and see the value and application of their work.

Rhyme and Reason Reading Program card materials
Minimalist images so that the student can easily determine what the picture represents.
You’ll Learn

Orange focuses on blending consonant clusters. These are where two or three consonants are in a row and must be blended together to be read, such as: skate, brisk, blue, milk

Rhyme and Reason Reading Program picture cards
On the back of title cards, the required lesson is written so you can present lessons on the fly, without referring back to the guidebook every time.
You’ll Learn

The Yellow Series teaches digraphs, two letters that represent one sound, as in SH, TH, and EA.

Vowels are where most of the difficulty lies because there are only five vowel letters and 19 vowel sounds. Through controlled exposure, children will understand when letters combinations are digraphs and represent a single sound, and when adjacent letters are blends representing two sounds.

Moveable alphabet
You’ll Learn

Once Green is completed the children will have mastered the Basic Code, where each sound is associated with its most probable, or simplest, spelling. Children can now phonetically write any word they can think of (though they will have imperfect spelling). They should have a solid understanding of the logic of our writing system, that English is made of 40 sounds and letters are symbols for those sounds. From here, complexity is added.

The back of every picture card features the word written correctly in cursive and in print. The print letters have the sounds separated by a dot.
You’ll Learn

This series begins major spelling alternatives now that every sound has been mapped to its basic spelling. In Blue, we focus on E and Y at the end of words.

page full of p's
You’ll Learn

The Purple Series teaches the important /j/ spelled G, and /s/ spelled C, and additional vowel spellings..

Montessori Compound words
Compound word objects from the Compound Word Lesson: toothbrush, hairbrush, paintbrush.
You’ll Learn

Syllable work is the capstone of this program and allows for reading more complex text. This final series of words is brief, but helps the child explicitly develop a strategy for reading real, uncontrolled, text. Children are taught compound words, closed-syllable, and open-syllable words.

Excellent Reading Program for Montessorians.

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“This reading program is a wonderful synthesis of the most up-to-date research on the science of reading with the principles of Montessori. It corrects many of the issues I have with current reading programs commonly used in Montessori classrooms. Emily clearly has a deep grasp of both the intricacies of the English language, and the difficulties of teaching it to emergent readers and writers.”
Dominic B.
Trained Montessori elementary teacher

I highly recommend this program!

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“The materials that accompany the book are attractive and easy to understand. As well as being well researched, the book is well organized, with every attempt to make the program easy to understand and easy to implement. As an AMI-trained, Elementary guide with over twenty years of experience, I highly recommend this new, evidence-based addition to reading programs for Montessori classrooms.”
David M.
AMI trained Montessori guide with M.A. in English

I’m so excited!

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I finished reading your book and I just want to say it is phenomenal. I truly wish everyone can have a chance to learn about your approach and study.
Joy
Homeschool Mother

Purchase Options

Two formats, three options. Pick what works best for you.

Perfect for: Teachers who prefer to read on a screen and who will be using the materials for years to come.

eBook + Printable Materials

Digital Downloads: Get instant access, free lifetime updates, and easily replace lost or damaged card materials.

*Recommend Option: Perfect for Montessori teachers who will be using the materials for years to come.

Physical Book

The physical book will be easy to reference in class as you flip between sections. Order your copy on Amazon and it will ship directly to you.

Rhyme and Reason Reading Program Book
Buy it on Amazon

Printable Materials

Digital Downloads: Get instant access, free lifetime updates, and easily replace lost or damaged materials.

Perfect for: Homeschoolers who only need to teach one or two children.

Physical Book

The physical book will be easy to reference in class. Order your copy on Amazon and it will be shipped directly to you.

Rhyme and Reason Reading Program Book
Buy it on Amazon

Pre-Printed Materials

Don’t want to print? Buy the separate materials book on Amazon and cut the pages apart. This book contains all of the same materials as the printable.

Rhyme and Reason Reading Program Card Materials Book
Buy it on Amazon

Note: The bonuses are not in this book, they are in the Freebie Library.

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