Montessori Inspired Skip Counting

I wonder how you teach kids to skip count?  When I was younger this was one of the thing that I despise the most. Why? Because basically they just want us to memorise it.  With the available resources now, I want my boys to love skip counting…. as I always tell Mavi, you will use this technique all the time for the rest of your life :)

We had a few practice on this but I never had a the chance to come up with a serious unit or lesson for this.  Now he’s a bit older to understand and appreciate, I decided to come up with sheets to get him into the skip counting thingy.

First I created the hundred sheets, and discuss the concept about skip counting (by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s).  I cross-out the count in our sheets and made him mark it using our Do-a-Dot markers.

“Look Mom! It has a pattern!”

Now using these visuals, we put it into action using our decanomial beads and hundred board number tiles (both Montessori Math materials from Absorbent Minds UK).

Here we have the counting by 5’s. 

 

And I compared it to the counting by 10’s. 

And his least favourite skip counting is by 2’s (because it takes a long time to read 10, he said LOL).

Now well be practicing this for the entire week.  I’m coming up with materials so we can use the concept using non-Montessori materials.  I’ll be sharing it with you so watch out for it.

 

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Static Addition

My son has been doing a lot of addition exercises (static) using both the stamp game and bead frames.  I created equation cards, place value mat and stamp game booklet for the exercises.  I’m sharing how we do static addition using both materials.

Static Addition using the Stamp Game. 

1.  Take out an equation card and copy the equation in the booklet.

2.  Using the equation, select the stamps for both numerals placing them on the place value mat.  

3.  Now say “Let’s add the amounts together.” Push the rows of stamps together (combine them), starting with the units.  Count and record the number.  Do the same thing for the tens, hundreds and thousands.

4.  The four rows of the bead frame represents the decimal.  The upper green beads is for the units, the blue for tens, red for hundreds and the lower green beads for thousands.  Now using the same concept as the stamp game, count and move the appropriate beads from the left to right side. Once you’re done counting, record the numbers.  In this case, Mavi used it to check his work.

Here’s Mavi working several times. Can’t believe he’s glued.

 

For a PRINTABLE STAMP GAME, visit MONTESSORI PRINT SHOP for the free download. Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Montessori on Pinterest.

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Mastering the Decimal System

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.

Our next step would be static and dynamic addition using the stamp game and bead frame.

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Integrating Workbooks and Hands-On Materials

With math, I use workbooks and Math Montessori Album which I purchased from KHT Montessori. In this post, I will show you how we integrate workbooks and Montessori Math.

So we start with     a workbook. As you can see we are currently reviewing the place value. Using the book, we discuss this a little bit, then close the book and prepare our Montessori materials for a hands-on activity.

In Montessori, there are a number of ways on how to present place value. I have talked about this before using the Golden Beads. This time, we used the Stamp Game tiles.  Here's my presentation of hundreds, tens and ones. Each digit can range from 0 to 9.

Then I set up an activity for Mavi to see if he was able to grasp the concept.  I don't want to overwhelm him so we only worked up to tens. The number tiles you see here is from our Hundred Boards.

After the hands-on activities and when he's ready we work on the workbooks. Adding hands-on activities to textbooks/workbooks/activity sheets makes the learning less tedious and more exciting for little fellows. So either way, workbooks or hands-on activities you'll be fine.

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How to Teach Static and Dynamic Addition to Kids

In this post I am going to present how to do static and dynamic addition using the Montessori Golden Bead Material.  I purchased our Golden Beads at Absorbent Minds UK and I am happy of the learning material despite of the high price.  These materials can also be purchased in any Montessori Shop or in Amazon.

PH Math for May

I've been assessing my Mavi's progress in mathematics for the past days.  Math is the least of his interest as of the moment.  So during our Math hiatus, I was checking my list and so far he knows and understands everything on it.  In fact he is way beyond his years according to his teacher.

Now as summer vacation is approaching I'm thinking that we should be a little bit more serious with Math this time by being religious to our schedule :)

So for May here's what we're going to have for Math:

Skip counting.  We started with 2's and next will be of 5's and 10's.

Here we are using the beads in our Decanomial Bead Bars with Box and the number tiles from our Hundred Boards for the label.  He pointed out "Mom, it's just a pattern!".  Of course, he's referring to the 0,2,4,6,8 :) And that's what I wanted to instill in him... that in Math some concepts is all about patterns!

   

After the beads and label activity, I made him skip count all the way through 100 and counting it backwards as well.

 

Number Symbol and Quantity (Tens)

Here we're using the same materials.  My objective here is for Mavi to master the identification of number symbols and its equivalence in quantity. 

Activity 1:  Place the correct number of beads, given the number symbols.

Activity 2:  Identify the number symbols,  given the quantity.

 

Activity 3.  Writing the number symbols.  Mavi has no problem writing the numbers from 1 to 100.  But it's a different story when it comes to hundreds and thousands :)

Number Symbol and Quantity (Hundreds)

The same activities with the tens but here we are using our Bead Material and Wooden Small Place Value Cards 1-9999 .

Activity 1:

Activity 2:

Activity 3.  Mavi is still confused writing the hundreds and thousands.  When he wants to write 321, he writes it like 300 21, similar with 1100... he writes it 1000 100.  Now this is pretty normal but I just think that we needed to practice more on this during our spare time.

Hundred Board with Control Chart. I am still on the process of exploring hundred board games.  I have collected a few ideas from fellow homeschool Moms and I can't wait to try it with Mavi.

PS. This post includes affiliated links

Golden Beads Addition

On days that we're not doing any "themed" activities, we work on our bead materials and lately the golden beads has been a favorite in the house.  Technically, this activity is good for 2 or more participants but since we have no other kid at home that can participate I volunteered for that position :)

So this is a simple addition "game" as I always tell my son.  Using our small number cards, I would create a random 4 digit number for both of us and we're going to fetch the equivalent of that number using the golden beads. 

           

Then someone has to add or combine them all together to determine the total.  But since we don't have a third person to do that, my son and I did this together.  We combined our beads and counted them.  I made him identify the number of thousand cubes, hundreds, tens and ones. 

 

Using the small number and large number cards, I made him add the numbers to check whether our counting with the golden beads is correct.  Here I showed him that we can add quantities by combining or manually counting, but it always easier to do the addition using the technique below.

  Here's the layout of our work.And we did a few more.  I also made him use the activity sheet (Stamp Game sheet) from Montessori Printshop so he can practice writing 4 digit numbers.

            

          

Though it's a good activity for addition, it is quite overwhelming for one child to do.  After a few work on numbers he complained that its tiring.

Next, we'll attempt to have a Stamp Game.  We'll see how he'll react to it :)

The Golden Beads Layout

 

Just wanted to share our recent work with the golden beads material.  I've been contemplating on purchasing these for a long time and I was convinced by fellow Mommy Montessori bloggers that these materials are worth a try.  Actually, I was convinced because now I have two kids to home school. So definitely these are worth-it!

I am using KHT Montessori Math Album in our schooling.

In a nutshell, I introduced the beads (unit, tens, hundreds and thousands) with their corresponding number symbol.  My son loved this.  He was able to tell the difference between the quantities of each number symbol.  He's like "The thousand is soooo heavy!"

  

We also learned how to compose and read bigger numbers! I made a printable of this but my son showed no interest. However when he saw this large number cards, he can't stop using it!  He loves creating his own number.... but somehow still confused on how to read it :) 

 

Well there are a lot of ways to practice composing bigger numbers and one of which is simply writing it down on a paper and have your child recreate the it using the number cards. 

  

Because the beads arrived in the time that my son has a better understanding of quantities (we previously practice making ones and tens), he was able to create this massive layout on his own.  I swear, I just left him and he did all the work in one sitting!

Completing the units...

 

Working on the tens...

 

Then the hundreds...

 

And thousands. Unfortunately, I only have 9 wooden thousand beads so he finished it till 4000 :)

 

It was impressive indeed! How I wish I purchased this early on.  But anyway, there are still a lot of work to be done with the golden beads. We'll be exploring those in the days to come.

This is so exciting!

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