Multisensory Learning in Grade 1: Welcome to the Magic Forest
The small multicolored caterpillar Myrtel, the magic bird Bo, the clever owl Mira, and many other animals from the Magic Forest invite children to playfully learn how to read and write.
The aim of the program "Myrtel & Bo" in grade 1 is to facilitate the learning process of reading and writing, and to further improve the childrens’ overall capabilities. The students are introduced to the material using their senses: hearing, seeing, moving and touching. Particularly sustainable learning is achieved through the appeal of as many senses as possible. At the onset of the first school year printing is introduced.
Right from the beginning, the "Myrtel & Bo" program offers children various approaches in the development of their reading and writing skills to solve problems on their own: analysis and synthesis, reading with illustrations depicting speech movements, a syllable analysing method, phonetic gestures, as well as spelling strategies. Parallel to this, physical exercises using swinging movements accompanied by music are performed to train subtle motor activity. Subsequently, it is possible to introduce cursive writing so that by the end of the school year the printing and cursive writing course is completed. Assignments with different levels of difficulty to meet the individual needs of the children and occasions for creative writing assignments are abundantly integrated into the program. With the help of meaningful childlike parables the children are challenged to ask questions and reflect so that they learn, not only the letters of the alphabet, but also to understand more about themselves, their feelings and inner conflicts. Through the framework of the Magic Forest the spark of magical thinking is kindled within the children, which then, in accordance to their development, enters into a different phase in grade 2.
