Montessori Science of Reading Yellow Early Heart Words

❤️ Heart Words Activity Instructions ❤️

Learning high-frequency words that aren’t spelled “phonetically correct” is an essential step toward reading and writing fluency. These 36 Heart Word cards provide hands-on, multi-sensory practice to help students remember tricky parts of words “by heart.”

✅ Preparation

• Print all pages.
  
• Cut the individual cards along the lines.
  
• Laminate or place in plastic sleeves for repeated use.
  
• Provide whiteboard/dry-erase markers.
  

Before You Begin

• This pack includes two sets: Yellow 1 and Yellow 2. Begin with Yellow 1, then move on to Yellow 2.
  
• Introduce only a few words at a time, then add more as the child gains fluency. Continue revising previously taught words.
  
• Point out the “heart part” the child needs to remember because it doesn’t follow standard phonics rules.
  
  • Example: In the word “be”, the e is marked with a heart because students have learned only the short /e/ sound at this stage, even though it makes the long /e/ sound here.
    

• Wherever you see a heart above a sound, it means the child needs to remember it by heart because it is irregular or they haven’t yet learned the phonics rule.
  

Activities

Try a variety of hands-on activities to reinforce learning:

• Trace and write over the word, adding a heart above the “heart part.”
  
• Build the words with a moveable alphabet, using the included page of hearts for marking tricky sounds.
  
• Hide the cards around the classroom for a “Word Hunt” game, then have students write the words.
  
• Write the words with colorful paints for a multi-sensory experience.
  
• Place the words into Elkonin boxes (included if you own the full Modern Montessori Reading Bundle).
  
• Use the enclosed handwriting sheets for extra practice.