Recently one of my older students wanted to work with the detective adjective game [shown in the picture at the end of this post] which is a grammar activity but the child must know the names of all the triangles to work with it. Last term she tried to learn the triangles by doing a three-period-lesson with the geometric cabinet, but she couldn't get it and quickly lost interest. After reading the geometry manual at
Cultivated Drama I decided to teach this differently.
I began by asking the child to construct three triangles with the
geometric stick material. The first triangle was made from 3 pieces of the same size, we spoke about how all the sides are equal. Then I asked the child to construct a triangle with 2 sides the same and one side different. Thirdly she made a triangle with all the sides different. We then did a three-period -lesson and after the final period I questioned her 'Why is this an isosceles?', 'Why is this a scalene?', 'Why is this an equilateral?'. We then labelled them. To ensure that she fully understood, I got her to draw the three triangles in her book, write the names and a description for each.
The next day I checked if she could remember the names for each triangle. Next we did the same thing for the angles. We used the geometric sticks and placed a pencil in the end hole and drew three angles. We did a three-period-lesson, labelled them and recorded them in her book.
We then got out the geometric cabinet triangle tray. She sorted the triangles according to the names and then sorted those by the angles. She did it well!
You can't really see the labels in this picture but the top labels say, 'right angled', 'acute angled' and 'obtuse angled'. The labels on the right say 'isosceles triangle' and 'scalene triangle'.
The next day I asked her if she wanted to work with the triangle terminology cards. First she matched them with the control cards, then she matched them without.
Here is a link for these cards I made if you want to download them.
Next she made a triangle chart all by herself. She traced around all the triangles in the geometric cabinet and cut them out from blue paper. She stuck them on her chart in the correct places.
Finally she was ready to work with the 'Detective Adjective Game'. She was thrilled!
I love how children in a Montessori classroom can work day after day, hour after hour to achieve a certain goal they have without giving up. This story is just one example of the many that happen daily in a Montessori setting.
I began by asking the child to construct three triangles with the geometric stick material. The first triangle was made from 3 pieces of the same size, we spoke about how all the sides are equal. Then I asked the child to construct a triangle with 2 sides the same and one side different. Thirdly she made a triangle with all the sides different. We then did a three-period -lesson and after the final period I questioned her 'Why is this an isosceles?', 'Why is this a scalene?', 'Why is this an equilateral?'. We then labelled them. To ensure that she fully understood, I got her to draw the three triangles in her book, write the names and a description for each.
The next day I checked if she could remember the names for each triangle. Next we did the same thing for the angles. We used the geometric sticks and placed a pencil in the end hole and drew three angles. We did a three-period-lesson, labelled them and recorded them in her book.
You can't really see the labels in this picture but the top labels say, 'right angled', 'acute angled' and 'obtuse angled'. The labels on the right say 'isosceles triangle' and 'scalene triangle'.
The next day I asked her if she wanted to work with the triangle terminology cards. First she matched them with the control cards, then she matched them without. Here is a link for these cards I made if you want to download them.
Next she made a triangle chart all by herself. She traced around all the triangles in the geometric cabinet and cut them out from blue paper. She stuck them on her chart in the correct places.
Finally she was ready to work with the 'Detective Adjective Game'. She was thrilled! 
I have always been fascinated by the Montessori geometric stick material and it's many uses. We couldn't buy it because it's very expensive, so I decided to make my own set. It's very easy, I cut card to the correct sizes and used a hole puncher to make the holes. I then laminated everything. The only problem I am having is finding a suitable storage box, so for now they live on a tray.
In this picture one of the children was using the material to learn the names of the different triangles. I like the fact that the child can easily see which sides of each triangle are different and which are the same. And so making it easier for them to recognise and name each triangle.
Map work is still very popular with all the children in my class. Many have learnt all the countries in Europe and know their capital cities and flags. As an extension to the pin maps I made a little sheet for the children to record their knowledge on. It's very simple and the children are enjoying it, so I thought I'd upload it to box.net so that you can use it too. If you would like to download it click here.
