Montessori methods of encouraging reading and writing are especially valuable because they encourage children to learn and grow on their own by using a variety of activities, starting from the concrete and moving towards the abstract, from less to more difficult and from simpler to more complex by using special Montessori tools and materials and a prepared environment. The basic idea and aim of this diploma paper is to establish how familiar primary education teachers are with Montessori methods of teaching initial reading and writing. Also, the aim is to determine how often these methods are used in traditional schools, which methods (besides Montessori ones) the teachers are familiar with and if they think it would be useful to know these methods better. In order to determine how familiar the teachers are with methods of teaching, a theoretical framework was set up with special emphasis on Montessori methods of initial reading and writing (Metal insets, Writing letters in a sand tray, Sound games, Sandpaper letters and the Movable alphabet) which are described in a separate paragraph. They are also compared with methods used in regular classes on the Croatian language. The participants included primary education teachers (N=100) currently teaching at primary schools in central Croatia. The data was collected by using a questionnaire made specifically for this research. The data shows that the largest number of teachers, 22%, is familiar with the method Sound games, and this method is also the most commonly used one (by 63% of teachers). The smallest number of teachers (17%) is familiar with the method Metal insets, and this is also the least used method (it is only used by 11% of teachers). 82% of primary education teachers stated that they were not familiar with any other method of initial reading and writing. 4% of teachers said they were familair with the Global reading method and 3% of teachers stated they were familiar with the Analytical-synthetic method. Furthermore, 99% of teachers stated they thought it would be useful to know more about Montessori methods of teaching initial reading and writing.