Montessori Decimal System Lesson : Presentation with Beads - Association Montessori Internationale

Presentation with Beads
Direct Purpose:
To make the child familiar with the names of different categories and the difference in weight and size among them
Prerequisite:
The child has to really understand the number 1 to 10
Age: 4
Material:
First Presentation
A tray
One cube of 1000 beads, one square of 100 beads, one bar of 10 beads and one unit bead.
A felt protector
First Presentation:
Invite a child
Introduce the activity
Show the child how to carry the material
Have the child bring the material to the table and sit down
Open the felt protector/mat on the table
Pick the unit on your hand tell the child: this is unit and invite the child to hold it, say: “You can feel the unit”.
Leave the unit on the right side of the protector
Take the ten bar, tell the child: “This is ten”. Ask: let see how many unit to make ten. Show and tell that one unit make ten
Start placing the unit on the bottom of the ten and count up: one, two, three, four, …, ten.
Put the ten on the side, next to the unit
Presenting the hundred as the same manner
Show the child how many ten make the hundred. Say: “There is ten of ten bar makes hundred.”
Place the hundred next to the ten bar
Do the same with the thousands
Continue with the second and the third stage on three period lesson
If the child is successful, then go to the following exercise
Second Presentation:
Supply of Beads (The Bank of Beads)
Invite a child
Introduce the activity and the supply of beads in the shelf (note: have a special place for the beads in the classroom)
Let the child know how to prepare a tray for the material and a small cup/bowl
The guide sits far from the shelf of supply of beads
Have the child carry a tray and the small bowl on it and come to the guide
Start asking different categories at the time to bring to you
The guide ask the child: “I need you to go to the supply of beads and take 7 units”
The child back and you ask: What do you bring? The child will answer: 7 units
You count them with the child. Ex: 1 unit, 2 unit, 3 unit or 1 tenth, 2 tenth or 1 hundred, 2 hundred ….(say the category on each counting)
If the child say only the number, for ex he says: 8, then we ask: 8 what?
Ask the child to put them back and come back to you with an empty tray
The child back empty handed and ask for another categories: ten, hundred
Repeat this process as long as the child shows interest
When finish, have the child put the material away
Note:
Always make sure that the child has empty tray when asking for another category
At this stage always ask one category at the time
Two or three children can be doing this activity at the same time
A child can play the role of the guide
Control of Error:
The child ability to count
Direct Purpose:
To make the child familiar with the names of different categories and the difference in weight and size among them
Age:
4