There’s a Montessori notion out there that we shouldn’t teach letter names along with letter sounds to our young learners. We’ve often heard that children don’t need to know the names of letters to read a word. And while that’s technically true, the Science of Reading suggests we should reframe our thinking around letter names.

In today’s episode, I’m talking to Zil Jaeger, an experienced Montessori teacher, consultant and coach with a passion for literacy and steadfast commitment to anti-biased and anti-racist education. Zil shares what we can learn from the growing body of science about how children learn to read, how we can support learners who don’t have foundational literacy skills, and what Zil thinks educators should stop doing when it comes to literacy for young learners.

Zil also emphasizes how important repetition is to children learning to read. The more exposure they have to letter names and sounds, the better for their reading journey.

What’s in this episode:

What Montessorians can learn from the growing body of science about how we learn to read

Why Zil recommends teaching letter names as well as sounds for young Montessori learners

How we can empower learners to understand how human brains learn how to read

How educators can best support learners who enter a younger elementary classroom without foundational literacy skills

Zil’s recommended resources for teachers who want to learn more about the Science of Reading

What Zil thinks educators should NOT be doing in terms of literacy

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit:

https://www.trilliummontessori.org/podcast/

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI)

Visit Zil’s Website

Follow Zil on Instagram

Book: Powerful Literacy in the Montessori Classroom by Susan Zoll, Natasha Feinberg, and Laura Saylor

Book: Speech to Print by Louisa Cook Moats

Lexia LETRS Professional Learning

The Literacy Nest

Book: Uncovering the Logic of English by Denise Eide

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