Montessori why cursive

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When Maria Montessori developed the Montessori educational philosophy in the early s, she lived in a very different world. The norm of the day for adults was to write in cursive and read in print. Additionally, her philosophy insists that teaching writing before reading is essential and more efficient.

There was no reason to teach students anything about print until they were ready to begin reading. So from a practical standpoint, teaching cursive was completely logical during the early s. There are several advantages to learning to write cursive before print that Montessori educators have observed:. Every student is different, and they all progress through the different stages of learning to write in their own time, but the progression will be similar for most students.

A lot of these steps can be introduced with significant overlap, but here is the general progression of learning to write:. Cursive is the first form of writing that is introduced in Montessori education. As with other activities in the primary classroom, we present materials in the most natural and efficient manner.

Cursive letters, with their rounded edges, are actually much easier for children to form. If you have ever seen a very young child with pencil and paper, her first drawings are of circles and squiggles. Manuscript or block print requires greater motor coordination and causes difficulty determining "Where do I start the letter? In addition, when compared with manuscript, cursive letters are shaped differently, and so are easier to differentiate.

In cursive, there is no confusion between a b,p,q,or d. Children often do not see letters in the linear manner that we do as adults. A b is a b, whether it is on it's side, backwards, or upside down.

The hardest movements for the hand to make are a perfect circle and a perfectly vertically line. These are the components that make up printed script. If he is to begin with the stroke, it should be the easiest thing to execute. But, if we note carefully, a straight stroke is the most difficult to make.