Addition with the Short Bead Stair

Once the child has gone through the sequence we call the "first five" of the Montessori maths materials, we move onto other aspects of math. The first five helps the child understand the concepts of 1:1 correspondence, the idea of zero and matching the symbol to the quantity of 1-10. One of the directions to go is to introduce the Short Bead Stair. This helps to reinforce the quantities 1-9 and to prepare the child for the operations of addition and subtraction. Many works are completed to familiarize the child with the short bead stair and the children enjoy working with the beautiful colorful beads.

We place a set of beads and the child counts with their fingertip or the tip of a pencil. They then write the number in the first slot. For some, as they can be only three, they need help writing so we use a dotted stamp for them to trace. For most, they love to stamp the numeral too. We then place the second addend on the green felt. They count this as well and write the number. We then show them how to put the beads together and add up with the fingertip or a pencil and write the "sum" in the box.
This is an example of how the Montessori math materials progress from concrete to abstraction in a specific sequence. The children really enjoy this activity and ask for it when they come to school. Many tell us, "I want to do math!"

Titi the Gecko

We had a visit from a Gecko today as we are studying reptiles. He was very shy and wanted to hide but made an occasional appearance and quite an impression on the children. We were happy to be able to borrow him as we want to make sure the children have a concrete experience with what we are studying.

Some of the afternoon children decided to make a parts of the lizard book. They enjoy looking at their pictures and some are now writing the words themselves. Thank you to our friend who allowed us to bring his Gecko to our school today!!

More India!

Our special visitors came to tell us about India! They brought puppets, clothes, and food!
We made pani puri which had a filling of lightly seasoned potatoes. The children peeled the potatoes, mashed and added salt. They then filled the pani puri.

All of the children ate these treats and several asked for seconds.

After our snack, we looked at pictures of their recent trip to Jaipur to visit with friends and family. We saw photos of them riding camels and an elephant. They even got to see a snake which is a reptile (like we are studying right now)!

We learned how to say Hello which is Namaste! We folded our hands too.

Since big sister came, we also did some Bollywood style dancing! This was really fun!!!

Thank you!!! We learned so much and had a great visit!!

Baric Tablets - Feeling the difference in Weight

The Baric Tablets were developed by Dr. Montessori as a way to develop the sense of touch and more specifically to make fine discriminations in weight. The child wears a blindfold to focus his attention on the weight rather than the color of the tablets.
Although there are three different weights of tablets, the two most contrasting ones are used to begin. We teach specific vocabulary such as "heavy" and "light" to describe the different weights and carefully place them on the fingertips of the hand. Here a child has completed this exercise and another child wishes to help place the tablets in the hand.

After the child feels the difference (by gently moving the tablets up and down), they state which one is heavy and which one is light. We then place these in two separate piles. At the end, the child removes their blindfold and looks to see if the piles all have the same color. This is the control of error. At that point they may wish to complete the work again.

Montessori (Discovery of the Child, 1988, pg. 118) explains the material is made of wood because, "differences of temperature have to be avoided (and this is why materials are made of wood), if one is to obtain a true impression of an object's weight. Moving the hand up and down changes the weight because of the resistance of the atmosphere." As you can see, the Montessori materials are well thought out to provide a rich experience for the children.

Continuation of Asian Studies- India

We have had a great beginning to India week in our Asian studies! We are lucky enough to have a family from India in our class and they have brought in many items of clothing, scarves and bangles for the children to explore.

We have looked at beautiful objects from India (a gift from our family- thank you!), colored the map of India and the Indian flag.

We have also colored Rangoli which is a geometric design. We will be applying colored sand later in the week (using colored sand or rice is the typical way) but today we have been coloring these beautiful designs.

The children also walked on the line to special Indian sitar music by Ravi Shankar while holding special items from India.

We will have more fun tomorrow as we will have visitors teaching us more about India! Stay tuned!

The Music Box Game - Developing the Auditory Sense

Dr. Montessori strongly believed in training the senses which is why in a Montessori classroom, there is a section devoted to sensorial exercises. She developed many different materials for the enhancement of the senses, "The senses, being explorers of the world, open up the way to knowledge." (The Absorbent Mind, pg. 167)
We also present variations and extensions to the exercises Dr. Montessori developed. This one is called the Music Box game. A child sits in the middle of the group with her eyes closed. The music box is placed somewhere in the classroom. When she is told she may open her eyes, she uses her auditory sense to find the music box.

After she locates the box, she then closes the lid gently to stop the music from playing and brings it back. The children love this exercise.

If you have a music box at home, this is an easy game to play. To make it even more challenging try playing with some background noise such as people talking or even a different kind of music playing.

Dissection of the Owl Pellets

If you scroll down you will see we have been studying our third vertebrate, birds. We had an owl visit and the extended day children visited the Leslie Science and Nature Center. On our visit we were given some owl pellets to examine once back at school. Although we had read about owl pellets in a book, we always try to provide concrete, hands on experiences for the children.

We all put gloves on.

We then began taking apart the pellets. We found so many bones! Several teeny jaw bones with teeny teeth. We all discussed what animal this owl could have eaten.

Today we had the mouse bones on display in a glass case with a magnified clear top so the morning children could see the bones. This was a great experience!