Classified cards (also known as three-part cards) are a simple Montessori language material that provide many hours of concentration and learning for the child. Children from age two and a half to six and beyond will love this material. Learn how to introduce classified cards to your students in two simple lessons, and print your own cards today!
There’s a lot to love about Montessori materials. Here’s just two:
- They are beautiful
- They are multi-purpose
Classified cards, a simple Language material, hit both of those for sure.
They’re beautiful! –>Check these out. (They’re printable!)
And there’s a lot you can do with them. Here are six purposes of the classified cards:
- Enrich the child’s vocabulary (this is more important than it may sound)
- Help the child classify her environment (outer order -> inner order)
- Help the child grow in independence
- Help the child build confidence (as she works independently, corrects her own work, etc.)
- Give the child more opportunities for reading
- Provide a starting point for further exploration and discovery.
Not to mention the many hours of enjoyment children can get out of matching pictures…
A simple set of classified cards packs a good punch. Here’s how to use them!
Lesson 1: Vocabulary with Montessori Classified Cards
This lesson is perfect for children 2.5-3.5 years old, who are in the sensitive period for language and looove to know the exact names for things.
You’ll need:
- the picture cards from one set of classified cards (no words)
- a work space, which should be a clean surface free from distractions, such as a work mat, a table, etc.
Invite your student to wash her hands, then take the picture cards to her work space.
Tell her the name of the group, e.g. “stringed instruments,” while showing her the corresponding picture card.
Set this card in the upper left corner of the work space.
Go through the picture cards one by one, asking the child if she knows the name of each object pictured.
When she answers with the correct name, place the corresponding card in the upper left corner of the work space, forming columns.
If she answers incorrectly or doesn’t know the name, don’t comment, correct her, or tell her the name. Simply place the card facedown in a pile to the right.
Once you’ve gone through all the cards, stack the face up cards in a pile to the upper left.
Take three cards from the facedown pile. (If there are less than three cards in this pile, take enough from the face up pile to make three total.)
Give a three-period-lesson to teach the names of the objects pictured on the three cards you’ve chosen.
Three Period Lesson
- Period 1: Give the Names
- Place one card in front of your student and introduce the name, e.g. “This is a double bass,” or simply, “double bass.”
- Set that card aside and repeat with each of the three cards. You can invite your student to repeat the names after you.
- Period 2: Recognizing the Object that Corresponds with the Name
- Place all three cards in front of your student and give her commands such as, “Point to the double bass,” “Hand me the tanpura,” “Place the lute here.”
- Be playful, mixing around the cards and speeding up as the child plays along.
- Eventually just give the name, indicating with your hand what she should do with the card. For example, say, “lute” and hold out your hand or point to where she should put that card.
- When your student is consistently successful with this period, move on to Period 3.
- Period 3: Expressing the Name that Corresponds with the Object
- Place one card at a time in front of your student and ask, “What is this?”
- If she answers incorrectly, simply set that card to one side and give the lesson again later.
Invite your student to continue working with the picture cards, naming the ones she knows, and asking for lessons for the ones she doesn’t know. She can work with other sets as well, one at a time.
Matching Game
This isn’t an official lesson, but can be fun for young children!
Invite your student to set out all the picture cards from one set of classified cards. Then invite her to take the control cards (the cards with both pictures and labels) and match them to the picture cards. To make it more challenging, invite her to put all the picture cards face down and play a game of memory.
Lesson 2: Reading with Montessori Classified Cards
This lesson if for children who are learning to read, or those who can read well. Ages 4 and up is usually a good fit.
You’ll need:
- a full set of classified cards (picture cards, labels, and control cards)
- a work space, which should be a clean surface free from distractions, such as a work mat, a table, etc.
Invite your student to wash her hands, then take the set of classified cards to her work space. (Start with a familiar set.)
Show her the three different types of cards. Set aside the control cards, face down, explaining that these will be used at the very end of the activity so she can check her work.
Invite her to set out the picture cards in columns, leaving a space beneath each card for the label, and a space to the right of each card for the control card.
Give her the labels one at a time, and invite her to read them and place them beneath the corresponding picture cards.
When she has placed all the labels, invite her to use the control cards to check her work. Have her set each control card to the right of the matching picture card, then check to see if she placed the correct label card for that picture.
Allow her to notice her own mistakes and correct them herself.
When she has placed all the control cards and made any corrections, show her how to put the cards away by stacking each type of card, picture cards, labels, and control cards, then putting them away in their place.
Invite her to work with any set of Montessori classified cards in the same way!
Print your own Classified Cards today
Now that you know how to give the lessons, head on over to shop the collection of beautiful, hand illustrated classified cards in my print shop.
Questions about how to use the cards?
Suggestions for cards you’d like to see in the shop?
Let me know in the comments!
~ Jean Marie