Pakistan Montessori Council

Montessori Early childhood diploma (3-6 years)

Module 7 “Mathematical Exercises (Part 2)”

Name: Zahra Sultan

Roll number: DK 2266
Q1. Explain different groups of Montessori math exercises and how the directress should
efficiently present exercises through sequential and parallel work in various groups.
Ans. SENSORIAL MATERIAL:
The Sensorial Material is mathematical material. It is exact. It is presented with exactness and
will be used by the child with exactness. The activities call for precision so that the child can
come into contact with the isolated concepts and through repetition, draw from the essence of
each and have a clear abstraction. These concepts help the child to order his mind. He can
classify experience. Clear perception and the ability to classify lead to precise conclusions. The
Sensorial work is a preparation for the study of sequence and progression. It helps the child
build up spatial representations of quantities and to form images of their magnitudes such as the
Pink Tower. The Exercises in arithmetic are grouped. There is some sequential work and some
parallel work.
GROUP 1 (NUMBERS THROUGH TEN) The experiences in this group are sequential. When
the child has a full understanding of numbers through ten (numbers rods/sandpaper
numbers/spindle box/cards and counter/golden and colored beds bar). In this group, the child
builds the basic concept of numbers but also recognizes the relationships between quantity and
numerals.
GROUP 2 (DECIMAL SYSTEM) The decimal system can be introduced when the child has a
full understanding of numbers through 10. The focus here is on the hierarchy of the decimal
system and how the system functions. It also starts the child with the exercises of simple
computations, which are the operations of arithmetic. It has four operations of arithmetic.
Addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division. They can be learned through various activities
such as golden bead material as discussed in the previous module or through stamp game or
dot game as discussed in this module. They are introduced at this level
GROUP 3(COUNTING BEYOND TEN) The third group will be started when the decimal system
is well underway. From then on, these exercises will be given parallel to the continuing of the
decimal system. This third group, counting beyond Ten, includes the teens, the tens, and linear
and skip counting.
GROUP 4 (MEMORIZATION OF ARITHMETIC TABLES) The fourth group is the memorization
of the arithmetic tables which includes a snake game stripboard or charts for all four arithmetic
operations i.e. addition, multiplication, division, and subtraction. This work can begin while the
later work of the decimal system and the counting beyond ten exercises are continued.
GROUP 5(PASSAGE TO ABSTRACTION) The fifth group is the passage to abstraction. The
Exercises in this group require the child to understand the process of each form of arithmetic
and to know the tables of each operation. There is again an overlap. The child who knows the
process and tables for addition can begin to do the addition for this group. He may still be
working on learning the tables for the other operations and these will not be taken up until he
has the readiness. The exercises in the group for passing to abstraction, allow the child to drop
the use of the material as he is ready. He can then begin to work more and more with the
symbols on paper, without using the material to find the answers.
GROUP 6(FRACTIONS) The sixth group of materials, fractions, can work parallel to the group
of making abstractions and the early work with the fractions can begin with sensorial work.
Q2. Explain the exercises which enable the child to count till 1000?
Liner exercises help the child learn to count to 1000, along with getting familiar with the
decimal system relationships, including the concepts of squares and cubes of numbers. Linear
counting is presented in two stages. In the first stage, the child learns to count to 100, and in the
second stage, he masters to count to 1000. Purpose To consolidate the child’s knowledge of
counting. Up until now, he worked with tens and hundreds in the decimal system. With these
exercises, he becomes familiar with the sequence of numbers from 1 through 1,000. Counting is
a restful activity and tends to become mechanical. Through repetition, the child establishes the
mechanism of counting. When the two chains are placed parallel to each other, they show in a
striking and sensorial way the difference between the square and the cube of ten. In this way,
the decimal system relationships are further established by the child.
The hundred chain consists of 10 bars of 10. The hundred square containers have arrow
labels: -
Green labels marked 1 – 9
Blue labels marked 10 – 90
Red label marked 100 –
Material required: A large-sized mat or runner and The 100 Chain.
Bring the child to the chair cabinet. Show the child the bars on the shelves and discuss with the
child if he has seen bars like these before. Begin counting with the child starting from the unit to
the 10 bar. Have the child unroll the runner just a little way. Show the child how to hold the 100
chains by both ends and have him lay them vertically at the bottom of the mat. Have him place
the tray below the 100 chains. Slowly fold the chain together to create a hundred squares.
Notice that it looks like hundreds of squares. Place the hundreds square on top of the folded ten
chain to show that they are the same. Remove a hundred squares and have the child gently re-
straighten the ten chain. Take out the unit tickets (green) and tell the child what they are called.
Line them in a vertical line to the left of the ten chains. Show the child the ten tickets (blue) and
place them in a vertical line above the unit tickets. Label the first ten by using the unit tickets
and placing them on the left of the chain. Count with the child 11-20. At the 20 mark, place the
ticket that has 20 on it to the right, counting by units; continue placing the ten tickets until you
reach 100. Have the child place the red 100 tickets next to the 100. Tell the child: “You have just
counted to 100.” Ask, “How many beads are in this chain?” (100) Point to the hundred square,
“And how many are in this?” (100) Count with the child all of the tickets: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100. Then count backwards: 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40,
30, 20, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Have the child put the tickets into their correct envelope and
then place the rest of the material of the 20 beads.
Presentation 2: The thousand chain consisting of 100 bars of 10, Ten squares of a hundred,
The thousand cube containers having arrow labels:
Green labels marked 1 – 9.
Blue labels arrowed 10 – 990
Red labels from 100 – 900
A large green label marked 1,000
A large sized mat or runner
Method: Tell the child that today we are going to look at an even longer chain than the 100
chain. Have the child unroll the runner all the way. Show the child how to hold the 1000 chain.
The directress carries the chain to the runner, with all of the strands laid out straight. Have the
child bring over the cube and the large box on a tray over to the runner. Also bring over the
hundred squares. Tell the child that you are going to try to fold the chain just like you did with
the 100 chain. Make a hundreds and ask the child what you made. Place a hundred square next
to the one you just made. Repeat until the whole chain has been folded in hundred squares.
(The child can begin to make them after a while) Place each of the hundred squares next to the
hundred square you have made with the child. Then place the hundred squares on top of the
hundred squares you and the child have made. Count with the child to see how many hundred
squares there are. Have the child place each hundred square on top of each other. Notice that it
looks just like the cube. When we have 10 hundred squares, we know that we have 1000
beads. Place the cube next to the ten hundred squares (placed on top of one another) to show
this to the child. Have the child gently pull the 1,000 chain straight. (Have him keep the chain
near the left side of the runner). Have the child layout all of the tickets. Count each bead and
place the correct ticket when needed as in Presentation 1. When you get to 100, place the ticket
as well as a hundred square next to the 100th bead. Repeat this for every hundred. (Even at the
1,000th bead) At the 1,000th bead, also place the cube. Stand at the beginning of the runner
and walk all the way to the end. Stand at the end and look at the work of the child. Go back to
the beginning and count: 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900. Ask the child how many
he had at the end: 1000. Go back to the beginning and count the tens. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, …
100, 110, 120, … 400, 410, 420, … 980, 990, 1000.Then have the child count by tens
backward.
Q3. Print *Dot Game paper (from the link given below) and send three solved problems,
each carrying four addends.
Q4 Explain the presentations of the Multiplication board and Division board in your own
words. Also make illustrations.
The multiplication bead board is used for practice with the multiplication tables 1x1 though
10x10. The box consists of a perforated multiplication working with 100 holes in rows of ten
arranged in a square, a box with small plastic cards numbering 1-10 which represent the
multiplicand, a red disc which marks the multiplier and a box of 100 red beads. On the left side
of the board is a window with a slot for the insertion of the cards.
Its purpose to give practice in multiplication leading to the memorization of the essential
multiplication tables.
Materials A perforated board with 100 holes in rows of 10 arranged in a square. A red, wooden
disc. Tables of multiplication A set of cards from 1 to 10 . Multiplication chat for control of error.
Presentation: Show the child the material and have him bring it to the table. Show the child the
numbers along the top of the board. Tell the child, “These numbers tell us how many times to
take a number.” Show the child how to slide the card (4) into the slot on the side of the board.
Tell the child, “This tells us we will be doing the table of 4.” Place the little red disc above the 1
at the top of the board. Say, “This tells us we need to take 4 one times. Using the red beads,
place 4 one times in a vertical line. Have the child count how many beads there are on the
board. Tell the child, “4 x 1 is 4” Have the child write the answer on the paper next to the
equation. Move the disc over above the 2. Tell the child, “We now need 4 two times. But we
already have 4 one time.” Have the child place the red beads in a vertical line next to the first
four. Have the child count the total number of beads on the board. Say, “4 x 2 is 8”. Repeat in
this manner. When the child reaches 4 x 4, have him say the equation with you. If the child is
making the table with ease, when he reaches 4 x 8 show him that 4 x 7 was 28. Count from 28
up four more. Repeat in this way until he has finished the board. Have the child read all of the
equations and answers are written on the piece of paper. The child can check his work on
Multiplication Chart 1.
 Divison Board:
A Divison board is the primary apparatus to practice division and give the children a concrete
idea of dividing things. It has the limitation that children can practice dividends from 1-81 and
divisors can be 1-9. It consists of a wooden board with one colored row on the top with 9 holes
in it to hold 9 skittles below them, it is a divisor row. Below the colored row is 9 rows of wooden
color, each row has 9 holes in them, these are holes for dividends, they are 81 in number. On
the left of the division board, are numbers from 1-9, these are quotients.
Presentation:
Introduce the board to the child. Select a division table and write or print it on paper. a
Division Table

Remainder
36 / 9 =
36 / 8 =
36 / 7 =
36 / 6 =
36 / 5 =
36 / 4 =

Place 9 skittles in the divisor row. Then arrange 36 beads in the below rows by completely filling
each row one by one. 36 beads will fill four rows completely. Tell the child that the quotient is 9
with 0 remainders. Now remove one skittle from the divisor’s top row informing the child that
now divisor is 8. Now remove the single bead from each row as well and place it in 5th row. By
the end, there will be 4 beads in 5th row. Tell the child this incomplete row of beads is remainder.
Same way, continue it for the remaining numbers in the table. When done upto 4 divisor, explain
the child that below these beads cannot be arranged as the board has a limitation to place
beads only upto 9 rows.

Q5. How is the stamp game introduced to the child? Also, explain how subtraction
problems can be solved with the stamp game.
StampGame

Materials: Large quantities of wooden squares of equal size about 1 inch square like stamps:
Each stamp of 1 is green marked with ‘1’. Each stamp of 10 is blue marked with ‘10’. Each
stamp of 100 is red marked with ‘100’. Each stamp of 1000 is green marked with ‘1000’. A
pencil and ruler. Special grid paper.
Introduction Invite the child to come and work with you. Show the child the material and have
him first bring over the paper needed. Then show the child the material and have him bring over
the box of wooden tiles as well as the tray from Introduction to Quantity. Show the child the 1
green tile and show the 1 unit to the child. Tell the child that it is the same as the unit bead.
Show the child the blue tile and have him read the ‘10’ written on it. Tell the child that this is just
like the ten-bar. Repeat for the tiles of 100 and 1000. Do a Three Period Lesson with the 1, 10,
100, and 1000 tiles. Show the child that when we take out the 1 tiles, we place them directly in
front of the compartment where the other 1’s are. Tell the child that you are going to take out 5.
Take out 5 of the 1 tiles and place them all in front of the 1 compartment. Put them back and
give the child a few numbers to take out. Such as make 3 tens, or 5 hundreds, or 2 thousands.
Then give the child a larger number. Say, “Now we are going to make a larger number. This
number will have 3 units, 5 tens, 2 hundred, 1 thousand. As you give the child each number,
have him take out the appropriate tiles. Count to check the final product and then have the child
put the tiles back into their compartments.
Presentation 2: Subtraction Invite the child to come and work with you. Write a first number
and a second number. Introduce the new subtraction sign. Have the child construct the first
number. Let’s say the numbers are
4354
- 2423
Tell the child that we are going to take 3 units from the four units constructed. Have the child
move 3 units off to the left side of the table. Count how many units you have left and write the
answer. Have the child take 2 tens away from the 5 and move them off to the side of the table.
Count and then write how many tens are left. Repeat for the hundreds and thousands. Read the
answer with the child.
Dynamic Subtraction Write a first large number and a second number under it. Make sure that
this will lead to dynamic subtraction. Let’s say the numbers are
3532
- 1423

Have the child create the first number. Ask the child how many units we are going to take away:
3 units. But as the child becomes stuck, say that we are going to have to change one of the tens
for units. Take out ten units and replace it with one of the ten tiles. Then have the child take 3
units away from the now 12 units. Place the unneeded tiles off to the side of the table. Have the
child write how many units he has left. Repeat for the tens, hundreds, and thousands. Change
when needed. Read the final problem with the answer with the child. Repeat until the child feels
comfortable to work alone.