We at Montessori R&D have some exciting news: we recently developed a material that addresses kindergarten language arts Common Core State Standards (CCSS). It is the first in a series of CCSS based materials.

Our goal was simple: to provide a material for Montessori schools that covers the specific objectives of CCSS and meets Montessori pedagogical standards.

The guidelines were many. The material must have control of error. The material needs to isolate the concept. The material must consider the reading level of kindergarten children and the vocabulary they have likely mastered. The material must allow the children to work independently and keep them engaged until they master both the material and the concept. The material needs to be an excellent resource for the teacher, and it needed to be clear and precise.

The solution is the Strip Card. Like our classic three-part cards, children manipulate the cards in order to internalize information. The Strip Cards use vocabulary from our pink and blue reading series and integrate subjects found in other curricula (such as botany).

Singular – Plural

The “Singular – Plural” set includes activities for making singular nouns into plural nouns.

Pink and Blue Series nouns that become plural by adding an “s” or “es” ending

Green Series nouns ending in “y” or “o” that become plural by deleting the last letter and adding “ies” or “es”

Nouns that remain the same between singular and plural form

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1.c

Interrogatives

The “Interrogatives” set includes examples of the most frequently used interrogative words:

• what
• where
• who
• when

• why
• how
• which

These cards have one of three themes to correspond to the Cultural curriculum: Land and Water Forms, The Planets, Time.

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1.d

Prepositions

The “Prepositions” set includes examples of the most frequently used interrogative words:

• to
• from
• in
• on

• at
• off
• for
• of

• by
• with

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1.e

Capitalization

The “Capitalization” set includes activities that allow children to “Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I.”

8 Strip Card pairs (16) that place a noun
  at the front and inside of a sentence

8 Strip Card pairs (16) that place “I”
  at the front and inside of a sentence

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2.a  

End Marks

The “End Marks” set includes activities that allow children to give a sentence the correct end punctuation (“.”, “!”, “?”)

based on our Blue Series words

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2.b

Homonyms

The “Homonyms” set includes activities that allow children to identify new meanings for familiar words and accurately apply them.

36 Noun to Noun homonym cards
36 Noun to Verb homonym cards

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.4.

Spend three-minutes to watch the below video demonstration about how the Strip Card material addresses the CCSS the Montessori way.