Introducing Conjunctions

This was the lesson that made me fall in love with Montessori Grammar. It just stuck with me and it made me realise how powerful the Montessori approach can be.

Tying that pink ribbon around the flowers was such a strong image for me and it made me think back to my own schooling and how the things that stuck with me most were those that captured my imagination.

The lesson requires three flowers of different colours and begins with asking the child/ren to label the flowers, e.g. "the white flower". Once the flowers are labelled write the word "and" on two pieces of paper and place between the flower labels. Then take the flowers and tie them together with the pink ribbon and read all the labels aloud. Tell the children that the word "and" is a conjunction, placing the symbol above the "and" and then symbolising the other words.

Conjunction comes from the Latin word 'conjungere' which means to join together, which is why its symbol is the pink ribbon.

As a continuation of my word cards series for exploration, transposing and logical agreement games, you can find my conjunction word cards for free HERE.



Extensions:

After the initial lesson, children can practice with the miniature environment.

I have also created some extension cards, which are similar to the logical agreement games that the children can play with the word cards. There are four exercises for exploring how conjunctions function.



I would suggest introducing the child to the exercise by choosing two conjunctions for them and using one of the exercises with just two pictures and ask the child to choose one of the conjunctions and place it in the pink box. Then replace it with the second conjunction and ask them how it seems different to the first.

  

You can find these extension cards HERE at my store.