At the same time the child learns pencil control by working with the Metal Insets , tracing a shape and then colouring it in is the equivalent of writing pages of words. When a child can recognise all of the Sandpaper Letters then the movable alphabet is introduced, allowing the child to think of the sounds in a word and then make that word. Once the child is very comfortable with phonetic words phonograms are presented, e.g. sh, oo, th, etc. The tools for reading and writing are given to the child and his own interest and progress determines the next stage. The child's first introduction to numbers is made with a set of red and blue rods representing the quantities one through ten, the Number Rods , at the same time the Sandpaper Numbers are presented and when both are known well the association between the two is made.
Various materials help the child to internalise the concept of one to ten.
Mathematical facts are learned by the children actually performing the operations with concrete materials. The Montessori classroom offers many opportunities for young children to expand their knowledge during the years when they are motivated by spontaneous interest. The Large Wooden Puzzle Maps are most popular with the children, the introductory map of the world has a separate puzzle piece for each continent. The remaining maps have pieces representing countries, provinces or states. Names of countries are learned along with climate, size, customs, languages, etc.