I've been thinking of the small bead bars recently. I'm not sure that we generally do enough with them. This post is partially generated by a dream, but I wanted to write down the thoughts.
When the children are still learning to count objects below 10, they really, really need to learn to order those objects. With the bead bars (bead stair) these objects are naturally formed into a line. Yet they are still distinct objects that can in fact be counted. In a traditional Montessori classroom you move from the bead stair to the teens. (There is the snake game, but...)
It seems to me that a child would benefit so much from having a classroom with several sets of the bead bars. They can use them for addition and extended counting activities. Better than dinosaurs! This material can stay small and manageable.
1 comment:
We use these a lot in my classroom. We have a 1-9 hanger and an 11-19 hanger. Once the child can hang them up in order, which looks very pleasing, the numerical order can be mixed up. We also use them for addition and multiplication. I particularly like them for multiplying as the child cannot fail to understand that multiplication is repeated addition.
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