In the Primary Montessori classroom, children learn the sounds of the alphabet using the sandpaper letters. Beginning around age 3 each child is introduced to a few letters sounds at a time until they have mastered a good portion of the alphabet. Using the sandpaper letters, they trace the letter as it would be written while making the sound of the letter. They see, feel, and hear the sound as it is being pronounced. The shape of the letter becomes part of their muscle memory. The Primary children learn through touch and not memorization.
Dr. Montessori found that children were capable of encoding words months before they developed the hand-eye coordination needed to control a pencil. Words are built using the movable alphabet using objects or pictures representing a cat, bug, mat, etc. The child will sound out the letters and begin to build the words. They will naturally write larger words until their fine motor skills strengthen.
During the time children compose words with the moveable alphabet, they are practicing concentration and body control with the Practical Life and Sensorial materials. Letters are being written in sand, with chalk, and even water against chalkboards. These materials allow for practice without the frustration of writing on paper with an eraser. They are then introduced to the metal insets, which offers practice in pencil control, lightness of touch, as well as design qualities. It is the three materials; sandpaper letters, moveable alphabet, and the metal insets, which are the core of the handwriting and word building curriculum for the three and four-year-old.
The Kindergarten students begin using specially lined writing paper during their Kindergarten year. This helps with establishing where each letter sits on the line. Their writing naturally becomes smaller and formation improves. The Kindergarten students practice handwriting daily.
The handwriting sequence in the Primary classroom prepares a child’s mind and hand to be able to write. After a child has learned to write letters and words, practice and development exercises will help them improve their handwriting as they progress into their elementary years. Their writing will become legible, beautiful, and unique. Each child will learn to write but each does so in their own way. Uniqueness is fixed when the mechanism of writing is well established. Once a handwriting style is set, it tends to remain fairly well intact throughout adulthood thus highlighting how important the handwriting process and preparations are so this childhood acquisition will be correctly set.
Congratulations to the students from FOA’s Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School classrooms who participated in the SCISA Regional Spelling Bee on January 24, 2018. They all did an outstanding job!!
Five Oaks Academy’s Middle School and Upper Elementary Battle of the Books teams represented our school well at the South Carolina Independent School Association’s (SCISA’s) Regional Battle of the Books competition on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at Newberry College. Middle School placed 5th out of 27 teams and will be advancing to the State competition held later this month. The Upper Elementary Team placed 12th out of 30 teams. We are so proud of the hard work shown by both of our teams in reading up to 20 books over the summer and practicing weekly in preparation for this competition. Congratulations to both of our teams!
Many of the parents of the team members have commented on how the Battle of the Books experience has encouraged their child to read books they might not necessarily have chosen on their own and how it has inspired a love of reading in their child.
We are excited to announce that Caroline Sellars, former assistant in the Lower Elementary 2 classroom, has followed through on her dream of becoming a published author! Her first book has been published and is for sale on Amazon! Middle School will be hosting our former Five Oaks faculty member on 
In this book, Jessica Lahey delves into modern parenting and the tendencies towards overprotectiveness: parents who run home to retrieve forgotten homework assignments, deliver forgotten lunches to school, mastermind children’s friendships and interfere on the playing field. Children are robbed of the opportunity to experience failure and in turn the opportunity to learn from failure and learn to solve their own problems.
Please join the Primary teachers for a Parent Workshop exploring the Montessori math curriculum this Thursday, November 9 from 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. This workshop will help parents understand the sequence of the Primary math curriculum as well as become familiar with many of the math manipulatives.
We are honored that Ted has accepted our invitation to come to the Upstate and speak to the Greenville community. For more information on Ted and how he helps boys reach their full potential as men, visit his website at 
Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who worked so hard on Community Day to help make our campus look so beautiful! We truly appreciate the parents, students, and faculty coming together to accomplish so many much-needed jobs around the campus and in the classrooms.
You can see many more pictures from this fun day on our private website on the school homepage. A special thank you to FOA’s official photographer, Guy Adamson of Guy Adamson Photography, for getting some great shots of all the hard workers.
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