Mastering the Decimal System

Monday, November 3, 2014

I decided to shift back our Montessori materials to review our decimal system, skip counting, addition and subtraction using Montessori Materials. We’re almost done with our Singapore Workbooks so we’re taking a break from all the paper works and shift back to tactile activities :)

THE DECIMAL SYSTEM

We used the Montessori golden beads for presentation and the stamp game and bead frame for the activities. My main goal here is for Mavi to really understand how the system works, to refine his knowledge of reading and number formation.

QUANTITY AND SYMBOLS

The beginning of the lesson I presented to Mavi how to write the 4 digit numbers. This has always been a difficult subject for him, for he cannot understand why some units must take the place of 0's in tens, hundreds and thousands. We practiced forming the numbers using number cards and in writing as well.

He compared the digits to the body parts LOL.

For the exercises, I created a number checklist table. Given the number, Mavi will give me the correct number tiles and bead frame counts . This activity is similar to Bank Game, but we’re not using the number cards and golden beads. As you can see in the pictures below, he has to show me the correct quantity using the stamp tiles and bead frame.

FORMATION OF NUMBERS

This exercises is for Mavi to master how to write the correct number forms. Given the quantity in number tiles, Mavi has to write the correct amount in our activity sheet. I liked this activity, as he was able to understand the relationship of decimals. This also enhances his skills in reading and writing large number units.