Pink tower and broad stair

Here are some ways that Little-M built the pink tower with the broad stair.

Geometirc Stick Material

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.

Montessori Spanish has a few good post about this material.

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.

Polydron an extension to the geometric solids

Recently I introduced a polydron activity as an extension to the geometric solids. Polydron is a manipulative construction material that can be used to explore 2 and 3 dimensional geometry and mathematical concept. 

I played with polydron as a child and spent hours constructing complex geometric shapes and till now I still enjoy playing with it. Little-N has been constructing with it since he was just a year old.

I decided to leave this activity until after the children have learnt all the geometric solids so that they will be familiar with mathematical language that is valuable when working with this.

For the first presentation I simply showed the children how the pieces can click together, I then showed them how to construct a cube. Once the children were able to make cubes, I ask a child to get the geometric solids and waited to see what other shapes they could make. They were able to make most of the straight sided shapes with ease. 

While constructing a cube, one child said 'You need six squares for a cube' and another child said 'You need a square and four triangles to make a square based pyramid'.  This is precisely the understanding I wanted to see and develop through this material.

You can buy polydron sets from this website.

DIY Decanomial Squares

I posted a few weeks ago about the decanomial squares activity. I explained that I made one from foam, here are the pictures. In the top picture i have all the true squares stacked in order. Each square is the same measurement as one side of the pink tower. The colours are that of the short bead stair. This activity is an example of how mathematical ideas are absorbed by the children from very early on. Having already been familiar with the pink tower and short bead stair, the child who works will this will already have a sense of the size and order of these squares. From this activity the children will absorb the squareness of numbers from 1 -10, and if you have a very mathematical child they will be able to tell you that the squares are as follow 1x1 2x2 3x3 .....8x8 9x9 which is 1,4,9... 64,81.  
Here I have the squares stacked by matching one corner. A montessori child will automatically be able to tell you that that looks just like the Ariel view of pink tower when it is built by matching one corner. Maria Montessori speaks about the direct and indirect aims of the sensorial material used in the early childhood classroom. Many of the indirect aims are absorption of mathematical concepts through concrete materials. I can fully see and understand the later benefit of these sensorial materials because as a child i worked with them and they gave me a different insight into the world of numeracy. 
Here is a picture of the decanomial squares when layout in the sequence. Each piece represents a specific equation or area. There are several different ways of showing a child this layout, each presentation will provide the child with a specific understanding of the squareness of numbers. I see it beneficial to show the children all the different ways of laying out this activity. 

Believe it or not but this activity as simple and colourful as it may look, can be used to find out the square root of large numbers such as 3136. If you have mathematical children who have worked through the montessori materials well, they should be able to work out the square root of 3136 simply by using this materials [Something even PHD students may not be able to do!].

Making 3D geometric shapes

At school today some of the children constructed 3D geometric shapes from print outs that I got from here. This is an extension that I do with the children when they are working with the geometric solids. These pictures are of Little-Ns work and I am happy that his addiction to cutting made it possible for him to be very accurate with his cutting, I'm surprised he didn't accidentally snip off a corner.

All the children only made the cube and pyramid, Little-N decided to make more. After making the cone he begged to make another shape, but I told him we'd have to leave it to another day.

Amazing.....

Earlier I posted about pattern blocks. The other day a child made this pattern with the them, I cant say anything except for its amazing!

Pattern Blocks

Pattern Blocks are one of my favourite additions to a Montessori class. So much learning can take part when playing and making patterns with them. In my 6-9 class I have a tub of pattern blocks that the children can get out and make patterns with. Usually a child would be introduced to this activity when they have completed the early sensorial materials. With the older children we use the shapes to see how each shape fits together. First we start off with seeing how 1 shape can fit together and what patterns can be made using one shape. Next we see what shapes we can make from putting other shapes together. As the child progresses through the Montessori materials he will learn to measure the angles and calculate how many shapes are needed to complete a particular angle or fill an area. I also love the workbooks with designs that the children can copy with the pattern blocks, Little-N used to spend lots of time making patterns but is no longer interested in making any patterns.

Tangramino: Architect blocks

I picked up this activity the other day from a toy store. I thought it was a tangram, when I got home I discovered it was a set or architect blocks [It didn't say that on the box!!]. Little-N played with it for hours today. The blocks come with a book that has 60 [or more] different models to build. He copied some models from the book but then decided to use his own imagination and came up with a rocket. This is a perfect activity to add in your Montessori homeschooling area or classroom.

Here is the rocket he made.

Grading colours

Little-N has been working with colours box 3.

First he scatters the colour tablets.

Then he finds the darkest and lightest. Next he grades the other tablets in the middle.

He attempts a few more with great success.