For the mechanics, click here.
Enjoy!
Objects
|
Prediction
|
Actual
|
Rugby ball | 17 pebbles | 35 pebbles |
Book | 20 pebbles | 33 pebbles |
Box | 10 pebbles | 11 pebbles |
Obviously, I love math materials. Through the years, I’ve been collecting a few, just to give my boys’ learning a boost because hands-on math is totally rocks! Now, I don’t usually give reviews because I have high standards LOL. I’m frugal that’s why every cent I spend means a lot to me. The cost must justify the quality of products.
Anyway, I have two sets of fractions pies. The first one is the soft foam fraction pies from Singapore’s Learning Store which my cousin gave to me a few years ago. I totally LOVE this. The pies are huge, it’s the size of my hand, magnetic, sturdy, has a label, with bright colours and it comes with tub (with handle!).
Now, this year, I ordered another set from Learning Resources via Amazon. I love Learning Resources! Most of my materials are from them, so I was expecting this fraction pies to be of equal with the ones I got from Singapore. BUT, I was tremendously disappointed. When I opened it, I wanted to throw it right away into the bin LOL. They are tiny plastic tiles and comes with a case that is sooo hard to open. When I checked the pies, they don’t have labels either so it is very difficult to identify each of them (unless you are so good in visual that you know that it’s 1/10 right away!). Because the are so tiny, slippery and sharp on the edges, I couldn’t fit them back in the tiny case. So I just packed them immediately, covered in newspaper (so no one will get hurt due to sharp edges) and kept them in the storage. I wonder when will it see the light of day.
See the size difference? And just look at the containers. I swear, the ones from Singapore are much more cheaper!
And here’s the side. The pieces are so thin! So hard to put back together
I couldn’t find the EXACT product our foam pies in Amazon but here are the ones I saw closest to it:
And that’s about it! Watch out for my fraction activity… will try to create learning materials and share it with you.
Have a good day everyone
Spring break has given us enough time to work on our multiplication. The next thing we did after introducing multiplication using counters was doing the arithmetic using multiplication bead board.
To know more about these materials and how to use it, here are some resources I collected for you:
I made multiplication strips for Mavi to work on. This is similar to the one mentioned in my resources except that I edited the fonts to fit my paper size.
I followed the presentation based on the Info Montessori and demonstrated it on Mavi. When it’s his time to do the work, Mavi chose the table of 6 (his age!). He loved putting the beads in the hole, though at times, it slips through his fingers as they seem to be tiny. How I wish the beads were a bit bigger! As he worked on the table, I told him to mark the last count of the beads so he wouldn’t need to count from 1 again. Say, he’s currently at 6 x 4 = 24. So that’s 24 beads already. Moving to 6 x 5, he doesn’t have to count all over again from the first bead. All he has to do is add 6 to the last count or mark, that is 24. Bless his heart, he was counting from 1 everytime he moves on to the next multiplier LOL.
Again, I pointed out that multiplication is adding similar numbers. So adding a multiplicand to the last count is a much faster way of doing it.
Now, for the work strips, I printed them out and glue them on a yellow cardstock. Mavi loved how beautiful they turned out. As an extension, I also showed Mavi how the table of 6 works when laid out using the decanomial beads. The laying out of beads was a hit! Mavi was hooked. Too bad though, we didn’t get to finish the work because Vito was already awake and wants attention. (PS. We don’t do bead works whenever Vito’s around. He still mouths objects)
Don’t forget to pin this for later! You don’t want to miss this!
And that’s about it! How wonderful this method of learning is! So hands-on and visual! We will work on the rest of the multiplication table both in bead board and decanomial beads one at a time. Anyway, this is just to expose Mavi to multiplication. Once we’re done with all the tables, we’ll start division and it’s going to be even more exciting!
Want to see what other’s are doing? Check out my Pinterest board for other Math ideas!