The Moveable Alphabet

Story by June 09, 2017
What is the Moveable Alphabet? It is a collection of wooden letters, about 2 inches tall, arranged into two categories. The vowels are blue and the consonants are pink.

These colors, blue and pink, also correspond directly to the sandpaper letters, as displayed in our apps for children, Intro to Letters and Intro to Cursive.

Once a child has a firm understanding of the sandpaper letters, they will move on to the moveable alphabet. How do we know when a child is ready to advance?

Well, in the classroom, we’d first take a look at the letters together, prompting the student about the sounds of the letters and the shape that they correspond to.

Here’s an example:

“Can you find mmm?”
“Where is b?”
“What sound does this letter make?”

This method is called the Montessori three period lesson.

How can you know if your child is ready to use our writing app, Intro to Words? A good estimation is if they have a good familiarity with their letter sounds.

When a child feels comfortable, we’ll start to brainstorm items which fit a category, like colors or animals, or something that the child might find of interest or has been talking about lately.

Let’s take color for example:

The teacher might suggest “red,” a simple phonetic color. “What’s the first sound in ‘red’?” “R.” They’ll find it in the box together. “What’s the next sound you hear in red?” “E.” “Do you hear any other sounds in ‘red’?” “D”

With Intro to Words, this process is very similar, with the exception that the child can engage with the work on their own accord. Swiping through a number of illustrations, they can find an object that they find of interest and then practice sounding out and ultimately spelling, by dragging a letter down from the scroll bar.

Receive our Newsletter


Become a Contributor


Contact Support
