Blue Print Movable Alphabet - Maitri Learning

Blue Print Movable Alphabet

Name: Blue Print Movable Alphabet
Brand: Maitri Learning
SKU: mablup
Price: 49.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Item No: mablup

$49.95 USD

Alphabet:

Pocket Chart:

Variant

Rooted in Neurodevelopment
See the Guided Lesson Plan
High quality materials
Eco-Happy
Fun & Engaging Activities

Ages/Stages

PreK: Ages 3 to 4
K: Ages 5 to 6
1: Ages 6-7
2: Ages 7-8
Intervention
ESL

Common Core

Fine Motor Skills
Language: Conventions of English
Phonics/Word Recognition
Phonological Awareness
Print Concepts
Writing

The movable alphabet allows children to build words with letter cards, explore morphological concepts like prefixes and suffixes, and practice spelling all without using a pencil or eraser.

Why blue? Used alongside the red, black, or phonogram alphabets, blue letters isolate specific word components — phonograms, affixes, spelling patterns — so children can see the contrast visually.

Why encoding matters for reading

Spelling a word and reading a word draw on the same underlying knowledge. When a child pushes letter cards into place to spell word like frog , they are segmenting the sounds, matching each one to a spelling, and checking the result — the same grapheme-phoneme work that lets them later recognize frog instantly on a page. Ehri (2014) describes this process as orthographic mapping: spellings become bonded to pronunciations and meanings in memory, which is what turns effortful decoding into automatic word recognition.

This is why encoding practice is not a detour from reading instruction, it's part of it.

The movable alphabet does this work without a pencil. A child can revise a word as often as they need to without erasing, which lowers the cost of being wrong and keeps attention on the sounds rather than on letter formation. Adding a second color alphabet side-by-side makes the specific pattern under study visually separate from everything else in the word, so attention lands where the lesson intends.

What's included

The alphabet is designed for early literacy explorations:
• 10 of each consonant
• 20 of each vowel and high-frequency letter (r, s, t, n)
• 10 periods, 10 commas, and 10 apostrophes
• Cards are approx. 1.25" W x 2" H
• Printed on one-side only to isolate the lower-case letter
• Laminated (food grade) with rounded corners

Lesson plan/instructions for use included.

Available alone or bundled with our Black, Red, or Green Phonogram alphabet.

Add-on Pocket Chart

Add the pocket chart for an accessible storage/display solution that is sized perfectly to hold the alphabet letter cards. This folding design works like a box making it easy for students to carry and access/organize letter cards. Children unfold the pocket chart for use at their work area and fold it for compact, space-saving storage on the work shelf.
• Unfolded size is approx. 16" W x 32" H
• Folded size (on the shelf) is approx. 8" W x 16" H
• Pockets are approx. 2.5" W x 1.75" H

Sustainably-made in the USA by Maitri Learning. All cards are laminated with a food-grade laminate, have rounded corners, and are ready to use. CPSIA compliant.

What is the Science of Reading?

The Science of Reading is the body of research from cognitive science, linguistics, and education on how children learn to read. It shows that skilled reading depends on explicit, systematic work with sounds, letters, and the connections between them, alongside strong oral language and background knowledge development.

Why does spelling practice improve reading?

Spelling a word requires a child to separate its sounds and choose a spelling for each one. That is the same knowledge reading draws on, worked in the opposite direction. Ehri (2014) calls the result orthographic mapping: spellings become bonded to pronunciations in memory, which is how words come to be recognized instantly instead of sounded out.

What ages is this alphabet designed for?

Ages 3 through 8, roughly PreK through second grade. Younger children use a movable alphabet to write phonetically before handwriting is fluent. Older children use a second-color alphabet like this one for phonogram study, affix work, and spelling comparisons. It is also widely used in reading intervention and with English language learners, where the letter cards make sound-by-sound work concrete.

How is this alphabet Montessori-aligned?

The movable alphabet is a core Montessori language material, and this set follows the standard conventions: lowercase letters, printed on one side to isolate the difficulty, in a solid second color for use alongside another alphabet. Maitri Learning is founded and run by an AMI-credentialed Montessori teacher, and every material is designed to be used in a prepared environment with a lesson plan included.

Product Details

Includes 10 of each consonant, 20 of each vowel and high frequency letter (r, s, t, n), and 10 periods, 10 commas, and 10 apostrophe's (for contraction work)
Comes in cursive or print (AMI recommends print at this stage, even if you used cursive for the sandpaper letters and traditional alphabet; read our blog post on fonts for more info)
All letters are printed on only one side to isolate the lower-case letter
Eco-laminated and ready to use
Rounded corners to acknowledge the tactile sensitivities of those small hands
Comes with a fantastic lesson plan that will bring the alphabet work to life
Cards are approx. 1.25" wide x 2" high.
Display it in our alphabet pocket chart pouch (sold separately)

Made in the USA.

Rather craft these yourself? Just purchase a Digital File and you'll be ready to print and cut your own alphabet.

STORAGE OPTIONS

Cloth Pouches: Our favorite way to house and display our alphabets is in our Alphabet Pocket Chart Cloth Pouches. These are color-coded to match your alphabet.

Egg Cartons: These alphabets can be stored and displayed in egg cartons. We recommend placing two plastic cartons (one 18-egg carton and one 12-egg carton) side-by-side and hot gluing the bottoms to a piece of foam board or chipboard. Use the lids to help keep the dust off when the alphabets are not in use.

Craft Box: We like the 40-compartment box available from the Container Store because it has a transparent lid that helps keep the dust out without hiding the letters. Another alternative is a velvet 30 compartment jewelry box (like this one we found on Amazon). We tested it in a public school Montessori classroom it held up well...the children loved to touch its soft sides.

A Note to Montessorians

Use this alphabet along with a different solid-color alphabet for phonogram study and word study. Isolate the new concept in the second color (e.g., make all the "sh" in your phrase red and the rest of the phrase blue).

A Note to Teachers

Whenever you start work with any movable alphabet, remember that the first lesson is how to carry the container/pouch, take letters out, and put them back in. Don't be afraid to practice doing this many times before you write a single word. If you find that children are often dropping their alphabets, revisit this lesson as often as needed.

Blue Print Movable Alphabet

$49.95 USD

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