Classroom Kits

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Montessori classroom kits are bundled, self-correcting literacy materials that group related hands-on activities — vocabulary cards, phonics cards, decoding materials, spelling work, etc. — into a single purchase. Each kit follows the Montessori concrete-to-abstract sequence and is designed for independent or small-group work, for students ages 3 to 9 or older students needing extra support.

Why Classroom Kits Matter for Reading

These kits are organized around the two strands identified in the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) and Scarborough's Reading Rope (Scarborough, 2001): language comprehension and word recognition. Vocabulary, background knowledge, and comprehension kits build the language comprehension strand, while phonics, decoding, and spelling kits build word recognition through systematic, self-correcting practice — an approach consistent with research on effective decoding instruction (Ehri, 2014) and structured spelling practice (Graham & Santangelo, 2014).

What's Included

• Literacy Foundations Kit — bundles the Vocabulary Building, Letters & Sounds Phonics, and Phonetic Decoding kits into one foundational set.
• Vocabulary Building Kit — vocabulary cards, matching cards, and sorting cards that help students build a robust internal dictionary.
• Background Knowledge Kit — geography and fine art materials that build background knowledge, a strand of language comprehension linked to reading comprehension.
• Letters & Sounds Phonics Kit — phonemic awareness and letter-sound correspondence, the foundations of word recognition.
• Phonetic Decoding Kit — self-correcting practice decoding CVC words and consonant blends, for students who've mastered letter-sounds.
• Digraph Decoding Kit — basic decoding practice with digraphs and silent e; digraphs isolated in red.
• Spelling & Decoding Kit — activity-based practice with common spelling patterns and morphology.
• Reading Fluency: Common Nouns Kit — self-correcting 3-part cards that build fluency and comprehension with non-phonetic vocabulary.
• Reading Fluency: Zoology Kit — self-correcting 3-part cards for animal/nature lovers that build fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
• Reading Fluency: Parts of Kit — self-correcting 3-part cards covering the external parts of animals, plants, and more.
• Reading Fluency: Fine Art Kit — self-correcting 3-part cards of famous art and artists from America and Europe.
• Grammar Kit — color-coded, play-based activities isolating core parts of speech: noun, article, adjective, verb, adverb, conjunction, and preposition.
• Word Study Kit — color-coded activities exploring morphology and etymology, including antonyms, synonyms, compound words, homophones, contractions, and collective nouns.
• Reading Comprehension Kit — self-correcting 3-part cards paired with self-correcting build-a-book activities where students recreate books using photos and definitions (in whole and in parts).
• Home School Starter Set 1: Foundations — combines a subset of Vocabulary, Background Knowledge, Letters & Sounds, Phonetic Decoding, and Digraph Decoding materials for beginning the Montessori language program at home.
• Complete EC Classroom Collection — every English language material we make, supplying a Montessori 3-to-6+ classroom with a full sequence of materials that will last for decades.

All kits are made in-house in our straw-bale facility in Western Massachusetts and meet or exceed CPSIA requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions