Montessori Inspired Maths Resources.

Saturday 22nd February 2014

Well I went off hunting for my bits and pieces today.

I was a bit deflated when I went off to buy beads and found out how hard it is to get them in a certain size and colour.

In the past I have just bought them for my girls and size and colour really didn't matter as long as they were girly.

When I explained to Miss Personality what I was looking for, she made a suggestion, that I didn't think too much about, until I realised how hard it was to find a certain kind of bead.

We found strings of beads that are permanently attached to each other by string. Then you can cut them into the groups that you want to, perfect for skip counting/ multiplication. Got them in different colours and just cut to the size we needed. Doing it like this worked out very affordable from the budget variety stores, like the $2 shop.

Found this cute little container to put them in too. Miss Personality helped count and cut them into there groups that I needed them to be.

This is an addition finger board, with addition equations.

Once Miss Personality feels confident in her addition of single digits, she can revise by having the answers and matching it with the right equation.

This is a multiplication finger board, with the times tables written on strips that she has to find the answers too and write down. We will practice her times tables with this and a few other methods, including the coloured beads. When she feels that she has mastered this, then she can revise with the answers. I will make up another board like this, but blank, and she will have to place the answers on the board that match the right equation.

This is a hundreds chart. It is great for practicing double digit addition and subtraction. I am going to make a giant one of this for on the floor. Made with 100 sheets of computer paper. I thought it would be a great way to get Miss Personality physically into doing her maths, by standing on it and either counting forward for addition or backwards for subtraction. I guess doing it this way would be good for a child who can't sit still or gets bored easily with sitting still for too long.

This is the addition strip board. I haven't got the strips in this photo, so will take a photo when Miss Personality is using it. You can do both addition and subtraction with this.

This is the subtraction finger board. Again Miss Personality with have subtraction equation written on strips with no answers. She will then have to find the answer using this board and record the answer in her maths workbook.  I have another board exactly like this but with out the answers on it. When she has mastered her single digit subtraction, she can revise by using the answers and matching them with the right equation on the board.

We will practice subtraction using this and other math resources.

All these boards have been made with coloured card and paper. I would laminate them, but we are on a bit of a tight budget, so I am going to cover them in coverseal/ duraseal, to help them last longer.

These are montessori inspired stamps, that are used to help with addition, subtraction and division equations.

And this is what it is all set up on at the moment. So it is easily accessible to Miss Personality. Once she is shown how to use these new games. She can use them when ever she feels like using them.

This just what I have put together so far. I am going to take Miss Personality back to single digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. When she is ready we will move on to double, triple and quadruple digits.

I really like the fact that montessori resources are aimed at child lead interest. They get to correct their own work instead of having mum correct their work for them.

I have noticed Miss Personality really doesn't like being corrected and tends to not want to do her work if she feels like she has failed. I feel that her correcting her own work and seeing that she has got things right, by herself, will give her a great boost in her self confidence.

After I have created and got her using these resources, I will go and resource reading, writing and spelling resources. As I feel that Miss Personality needs help with these in a independent learning capacity.