Montessori Activity: Creating 3-Dimensional Pyramid with Colored Bead Stair

Objective:

To provide your child a sensorial experience of building squares and stacking them up into a pyramid with the colored bead stairs.

Materials:

10 each of the color bead stairs from Decanomial Bead Bars set

Additional Information:

C invented this activity by herself today while working on making combinations of 10 with colored bead stairs.

 

Montessori Maths Activity: Numbers & Counters

AGE: From 4 years old (after The Spindle Box has been introduced)

OBJECTIVE(S):

1. To reinforce the knowledge that each number is made up of separate quantities.

2. To reinforce the sequence 1 – 10 and how many separate units go to form each number.

3. To introduce the concept of odd and even numbers.

4. To provide indirect preparation for divisibility of numbers.

MATERIALS:

1. 10 numeral cards (1 – 10)

2. 55 counters of the same color.

3. A straight edge.

PRESENTATION:

Day 1: Cards

1. Name the Numbers and Counters and show where they are kept.

2. Ask the child to lay out a floor mat.

3. Lay out the number cards randomly on the mat and have the child say the numbers out loud.

4. Arrange the number cards in numerical order by saying: “Give me Card 1” and have the child put the Card 1 down. Repeat for the other cards until all the cards are laid out in numerical order.

5. Point to Card 1 and ask: “How many counters should you place under this card?”

6. The child should answer 1 and give you a counter.

7. Put the counter below Card 1 and ask the child to count the counter. Ask: “What comes next?”

8. Repeat for the other numbers placing even numbers in pairs and placing the odd numbers with the last counter under and to the middle of the pair until the child understands. (See diagram above)

9. Explain the concept of odd and even numbers: even numbers are those you can find a friend for each of them two-by-two; odd numbers are those with one left alone and has no friend :-(

Day 2: Odd and Even

1. The child constructs the Numbers and Counters from Day 1’s presentation.

2. Run the tip of your index finger down the middle of each column of pairs; for each row in which your finger strikes an unpaired counter at the end of the column, move the card a little above where it was.

3. Tell the child that the numbers which does not have a friend (i.e. an unpaired counter) are “odd” numbers, because you cannot divide it when you draw your finger down (你不能分割ge3), by saying: “This one does not have a friend, so it is an odd number.”

 

1. Repeat for counters 2 and after you have run your finger through the two counters, tell the child that the numbers with a friend standing two-by-two (i.e. pairs of counters) are “even” numbers, because you can divide it by saying: “This one has a friend, so it is an even number.”

2. Have the child repeat for the remaining counters.

3. Do a Three Period Lesson for odd and even.

4. Once the child is finished, look at all of the cards that are slightly higher than the others (cards 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) and tell the child that these are odd numbers (Stage 1)

5. Point to the other cards (cards 2, 4, 6, 8) and tell the child that these are even numbers (Period 1)

6. Repeatedly ask your child to find one that is odd or even or ask your child whether a particular number is odd or even (Period 2).

7. Point to a number and ask: “What is this?” (Period 3).

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TA5xdgzRUc

CONTROL OF ERROR:

1. The correct number of counters and numerals are provided.

2. The visual image of the pattern of the counters.

NOTE:

1. Introduce this activity in parallel with the spindle box.

2. On day 1, you put out the pattern until the child get it, and you may stay longer to see if the child need help.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

C tried this again on 1 May 2020 (3Y11M15D). She was able to place the glass stones until 5, however, not exactly in the formation of even and odd numbers. J (3Y7M10D) tried this on 15.10.2012 and 17.10.2012.

REFERENCES:

http://www.infomontessori.com/mathematics/numbers-through-ten-cards-and-counters.htm

http://faculty.fullerton.edu/syen/mts/math/_link.htm

http://www.moteaco.com/albums/casa/casamath.html

 1 May 2020 (3Y11M15D)

Montessori Maths Activity: Fishing 123s with Jar Lids

This was prepared for J on 16 August 2011, but I didn't manage to take more pictures.

 8 years later, this was prepared for C, and I managed to take pictures, which I documented :-)

Age: From 2 years old (Level 2)

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s hand-eye coordination skill

Materials:
1. 1 toy fishing rod
2. Jar lids written with 1, 2, 3...
3. 1 bowl to contain the fished jar lids and some toy fishes
4. 1 basin containing water
5. 1 tray

Directions:
1. Call out a number and demonstrate to your child by fishing the number on the lid with the fishing rod.

2. Ask  your child to use the fishing rod to fish out the same number of fishes based on the number called.

2. Call out another number and let your child try to fish for the number.

Cost:
Plastic fish rod: 20 DKK (4.80 SGD or 3.80 USD) at Chao Chao at Lyngby Station

Additional Information:
I got this idea from seeing a toddler playing with the toy sold in Amazon. Baby FECS tried this on 12 November 2019 (3Y5M26D). I taught her how to carry the Montessori tray containing this activity from the shelf upstairs to the bath room. She did it all on her own, making it all the way upstairs and into the bathroom without any accident :-)

She enjoyed the activity a lot. She couldn't really recognize the number yet, but it will take practice and repetition to learn the numbers. But she enjoyed fishing the fishes out of the basin of water and into a bowl. Towards the end, she poured back all the fishes she "caught" back into the "pond" - the basin of water.

12 November 2019 (3Y5M26D): Carrying the Montessori tray from the playroom...

and up the stairs she went... :-)

We place the lids with Chinese numbers and the fishes into the basin and then poured in water... 

I asked her to fish for the number "1* in Chinese.

I asked her to fish for one fish, corresponding to the number "1" lid.

I called a number and asked her for fish for that number that appeared on the lid. She needed to bit of help to identify the correct lid and then fished it.

Then I asked her to fish the corresponding number of fishes again.

This was repeated until all the number lids and fishes were fished out :-) 

She then chose to pour back all the fishes and number lids back to the "pond" i.e. basin of water and start another round of the game :-)

Montessori Activity: Long Division with Racks & Test Tubes (Triple Digit Divisor)

Age: 7.5 years old

Objective: To teach  the concept and method of division in a concrete way

Materials:

The Montessori Long Division set consists of:
1. 7 test tube racks
2. 3 white racks for the groups of units.
3. 3 grey racks for the groups of hundreds.
4. 1 black rack for the thousands.
5. Each rack has 10 test tubes.
6. Each test tube holds 10 beads of the relevant hierarchical colors from units to millions.
7. 7 containers colored on the outside that correspond to the colors of the racks and on the inside that correspond to the colors of the bead.

Presentation:

1. Set up the materials that is shown above:
- Count the number of beads in a test tube with your child - there should be 10 each.
- Explain that each set of test tubes represent the different categories of numbers i.e. red for hundreds, blue for tens and green for ones.
- Similarly introduce the 4 boards to the child i.e. one of the green boards for thousands, red board for hundreds, blue board for tens and the other green board for ones.

2. Write down the division problem, e.g. 645 / 129 = ?. Explain that you have 645 cookies (the dividend) and they are to be shared equally among 15 kids (the single digit divisor). How many cookies will each kid get? Explain that the concept of division is about sharing equally.

3. The skittles are used to represent the divisor. Place 1 skittle on the red board, 2 skittles on the blue board and 9 skittles on the green board representing the divisor 129 in this example. I tell my child that each skittle is the figure of a kid.

4. Each test tube consists of 10 beads. Each red bead represents a hundred. For 645, place 6 red beads into the red container.

5. Each blue bead represent a ten. For 645, place 4 blue beads into the blue container.

6. Each green bead represents a unit. For 645, place 5 green beads into the green container. The beads above represent the dividend 645.

7. To share the cookies equally among 129 kids, distribute the red beads (from the red container), the blue beads (from the blue container) and the green beads (from the green container) at the same time.

8. You will need to exchange 1 red bead for 10 blue beads, 4 blue beads for 40 green beads in order to distribute them equally among the 129 kids on the red, blue and green boards.

9. Count the rows on the board, which is 5. This means that each kid will receive 5 cookies.

10. Then write down "5" on the unit place of your worksheet. Count all the beads on the board - they will add up to 645. Write down "645" in your working sheet.

11. Summarize by saying that each of the 129 kids will receive 5 cookies.

Video Demonstration:

https://youtu.be/Radr5vYSm1o

References:
https://www.montessoricommons.cc/long-division

Picture Illustration:

1. Set up the materials that is shown above:

- Count the number of beads in a test tube with your child - there should be 10 each.

- Explain that each set of test tubes represent the different categories of numbers i.e. red for hundreds, blue for tens and green for ones.

- Similarly introduce the 4 boards to the child i.e. one of the green boards for thousands, red board for hundreds, blue board for tens and the other green board for ones.

2. Write down the division problem, e.g. 645 / 129 = ?. Explain that you have 645 cookies (the dividend) and they are to be shared equally among 15 kids (the single digit divisor). How many cookies will each kid get? Explain that the concept of division is about sharing equally.

3. The skittles are used to represent the divisor. Place 1 skittle on the red board, 2 skittles on the blue board and 9 skittles on the green board representing the divisor 129 in this example. I tell my child that each skittle is the figure of a kid.

 4. Each test tube consists of 10 beads. Each red bead represents a hundred. For 645, place 6 red beads into the red container.

 5. Each blue bead represent a ten. For 645, place 4 blue beads into the blue container.

 6. Each green bead represents a unit. For 645, place 5 green beads into the green container.

The beads in the containers above represent the dividend 645 (or the "cookies").

7. To share the cookies equally among 129 kids, distribute the red beads (from the red container), the blue beads (from the blue container) and the green beads (from the green container) at the same time.

8. You will need to exchange 1 red bead for 10 blue beads, 4 blue beads for 40 green beads in order to distribute them equally among the 129 kids on the red, blue and green boards. 

9. Count the rows on the board, which is 5. This means that each kid will receive 5 cookies.


10. Then write down "5" on the unit place of your worksheet. Count all the beads on the board - they will add up to 645. Write down "645" in your working sheet.


11. Summarize by saying that each of the 129 kids will receive 5 cookies.

Montessori Activity: Long Division with Racks & Test Tubes (Double Digit Divisor)

Age: 7.5 years old

Objective: To teach  the concept and method of division in a concrete way

Materials:

The Montessori Long Division set consists of:
1. 7 test tube racks
2. 3 white racks for the groups of units.
3. 3 grey racks for the groups of hundreds.
4. 1 black rack for the thousands.
5. Each rack has 10 test tubes.
6. Each test tube holds 10 beads of the relevant hierarchical colors from units to millions.
7. 7 containers colored on the outside that correspond to the colors of the racks and on the inside that correspond to the colors of the bead.

Presentation:

1. Set up the materials that is shown above:

- Count the number of beads in a test tube with your child - there should be 10 each.

- Explain that each set of test tubes represent the different categories of numbers i.e. red for hundreds, blue for tens and green for ones.

- Similarly introduce the 4 boards to the child i.e. one of the green boards for thousands, red board for hundreds, blue board for tens and the other green board for ones.

2. Write down the division problem, e.g. 645 / 15 = ?. Explain that you have 645 cookies (the dividend) and they are to be shared equally among 15 kids (the single digit divisor). How many cookies will each kid get? Explain that the concept of division is about sharing equally.

3. The skittles are used to represent the divisor. Place 1 skittle on the blue board and 5 skittles on the green board representing the divisor 15 in this example. I tell my child that each skittle is the figure of a kid.

4. Each test tube consists of 10 beads. Each red bead represents a hundred. For 645, place 6 red beads into the red container.

5. Each blue bead represent a ten. For 645, place 4 blue beads into the blue container.

6. Each green bead represents a unit. For 645, place 5 green beads into the green container. The beads above represent the dividend 645.

7. To share the cookies equally among the 15 kids, distribute the red beads from the red container and the blue beads from the blue containers at the same time.

8. You will need to exchange 2 red beads for 20 blue beads in order to distribute them equally among the 15 kids on the blue and green boards, until you cannot do so anymore without some kids receiving more than the others. Count only the red beads. You will notice this means each kid will get 4 red beads.

9. Then write down "4" on the tenth place of your worksheet. Count all the beads on the board - they will add up to 45. Write down "60" in your working sheet.

10. Clear the boards of the beads back into the respective test tubes.

11. Distribute the remaining blue beads and the green beads in the containers equally to the skittles.  You will need to exchange 1 blue beads for 10 green beads in order to do so. Count only the blue beads on the board. You will notice this means each kid will get 3 blue beads.

12. Then write down "3" on the unit place of your worksheet. Count all the beads on the board - they will add up to 45. Write down "45" in your working sheet. You will notice that there is no remainder and the containers are now completely empty.

13. Summarize by saying that each of the 15 kids will receive 43 cookies.

Video Demonstration:

https://youtu.be/Radr5vYSm1o

References:
https://www.montessoricommons.cc/long-division

Picture Illustration:

1. Set up the materials that is shown above:

- Count the number of beads in a test tube with your child - there should be 10 each.

- Explain that each set of test tubes represent the different categories of numbers i.e. red for hundreds, blue for tens and green for ones.

- Similarly introduce the 4 boards to the child i.e. one of the green boards for thousands, red board for hundreds, blue board for tens and the other green board for ones.

2. Write down the division problem, e.g. 645 / 15 = ?. Explain that you have 645 cookies (the dividend) and they are to be shared equally among 15 kids (the single digit divisor). How many cookies will each kid get? Explain that the concept of division is about sharing equally.

3. The skittles are used to represent the divisor. Place 1 skittle on the blue board and 5 skittles on the green board representing the divisor 15 in this example. I tell my child that each skittle is the figure of a kid.

 4. Each test tube consists of 10 beads. Each red bead represents a hundred. For 645, place 6 red beads into the red container.

 5. Each blue bead represent a ten. For 645, place 4 blue beads into the blue container.

 6. Each green bead represents a unit. For 645, place 5 green beads into the green container.

The beads in the containers above represent the dividend 645 (or the "cookies").

7. To share the cookies equally among the kids, distribute the red beads from the red container and the blue beads from the blue container at the same time.


8. You will need to exchange 2 red beads for 20 blue beads in order to distribute them equally among the 15 kids on the blue and green boards, until you cannot do so anymore without some kids receiving more than the others. Count only the red beads. You will notice this means each kid will get 4 red beads.

9. Then write down "4" on the tenth place of your worksheet. Count all the beads on the board - they will add up to 45. Write down "60" in your working sheet.

 10. Clear the boards of the beads back into the respective test tubes.

 11. Distribute the remaining blue beads and the green beads in the containers equally to the skittles.  You will need to exchange 1 blue beads for 10 green beads in order to do so. Count only the blue beads on the board. You will notice this means each kid will get 3 blue beads.

 12. Then write down "3" on the unit place of your worksheet. Count all the beads on the board - they will add up to 45. Write down "45" in your working sheet. You will notice that there is no remainder and the containers are now completely empty.

13. Summarize by saying that each of the 15 kids will receive 43 cookies.