Counting with Decanomial Beads

ONE of OUR FAVORITE ACTIVITIES WITH MONTESSORI MATERIAL

Math is so much fun with: small wooden number cards & Decanomial beads.

Types of Triangles

SORTING TRIANGLES IN TRIANGLE BOXES

Here is an extension activity we did with the Traingles from the Geometric Cabinet and Triangle Boxes. :)

How to be a Math genius

ARE YOU A MATH GENIUS ?

Click to look inside

I found this really cool book at the library the other day. I just left it in the kids room without saying anything about it. AFTER a couple of days, I was very pleased to find Lil Muallim # 1 going through it. Of course I was even more pleased when after going through it for quite a while with deep thought...... "This is a VERY interesting book !" (I am so glad I didn't ask him to read it cause if I had he might not have made that discovery, nor had been as keen about it. Funny creatures these kids are... :)

Alhumdolillah! ... So this is a sure thumbs up in our home these days. So much so that I am really thinking if buying it for our personal library.

If your library has this book, I HIGHLY recommend you to get it to expose your older ones to the wonders of Math, mathematical thought and everything else math.... :):)

I am looking forward to using what I learn from this in our Math on the Level lessons. After all that's what it is all about.... Thinking out of the box and seeing the Math in everything ... yaayyy!!!

Ofcourse while looking this up on Amazon I also found this....

click on the image to look inside

Does anyone have any experienc with this? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Polygon Nomenclature Cards Extension

Polygon 3 part cards 

Umamah Learning Academy Style

I printed out these cards from Free Montessori, titled Polygons. You will find the control chart in the first list and the nomenclature cards in the second list. The pictures are quite self explanatory. 

I ended up improvising an extension as Lil Muallimah counted the sides and wanted to place her beads.

She really enjoyed counting the sides and making the shape with the beads. All set for next time :)

I have linked up to :

Continent Dot to Dot

GUESS THE CONTINENT

I found these really neat printable at 100 day Activities. Lil Muallimah got the easier ones Lil Muallim # 2 got the harder ones. They both like there continent dot to dot sheets. 

I put Lil Muallimah ones in protective sheets and in a file to keep them safe and reusable.

Today I took Lil Muallimah's out of the file to see if she could recognize her continents without tracing them first. Mashallah she got them all right, as she named them ans explained her observation, why she thought it was that continent. She described how she knew, giving details of the shape and surrounding. I was very impressed. The nomenclature cards and her big map really helped Alhumdolillah

Here's what I mean

You've got to like the subtle element of Math (counting beyoind ten) while tracing the continents. Just the perfect out of the box Math activity Math on the Level style.

Before she can be done, she has to clean her tracings so there are no marks left on the protective sheet and pick up her cards.

:):):):):)

These were done very enthusiastically and with concentration with me beside her :)

Other related activities:

Coloring the large scale World Map

Flagging the continents

Shaping Continents

Continent Game

Continent Nomenclature Cards

Push Pinning Continents

Straight and Curved Lines

SORTING STRAIGHT AND CURVED LINES

When I downloaded these sorting cards from Montessori for Everyone , I really liked but thought that it was a limited activity in itself, as a child will soon master it in a few times. Which it did. 2 days back we revisited this activity adding more to....

For Straight lines....

I showed Lil Muallimah how to make sure to keep the string straight by holding and pulling it tight by both ends.

For Curved lines....

I showed Lil Muallimah to lay down the string and shape it by moving the finger alongside it to match the card 

All packed in a try for next time :)

I've linked this activity up on Living Montessori Now's

Fractions # 4 Measuring Water

MEASURING WATER 

WITH MEASURING CUPS

Honestly! This post has been in drafts for the longest time. My apologies. This was a very simple and effective way to reinforce our previous fraction lessons. I got 4 small, 1 cup measuring cups and 1 big, 4 cup measuring cup from the $ store.

This is how we did this activity

1. Fill 2 cups of water in the big measuring cup
2. Pour water in one of the small measuring cups upto the 1 cup mark
3. Look into the big cup and see how much water is left. Make the child observe. (Answer =1 cup, 2-1=1)
4. Now pour water in the 2nd small measuring cup upto the 1/2 cup mark
5. Again, look into the big cup and see how much water is left. Make the child observe. (Answer =1/2 cup, 1-1/2=1/2)
6. Next pour water in the 3rd small measuring cup upto the 1/4 cup mark
7.  Once again look into the big cup and see how much water is left now. Make the child observe. (Answer =1/4 cup, 1/2-1/4=1/4)
8. Lastly let the child pour water back and fourth to all measuring marks and discuss what they observe

 I let Lil Muallim # 2 then play around with the cups pouring back and forth. I let him do it just visually till he really got it ! 

Now playing with water is fun any time.... and then when Ummi not only let's you play with it in the study room, but actually set's up a tray for you to do it. rest assured they will come back to it again and again Alhumdolillah

Finally once I felt he saw the relation in his measuring and fractions, I made him write do it and then write in it his Math Notebook.

His observations......

A lesson well learnt Alhumdolillah !

Odd and Even Numbers

UNDERSTANDING 

ODD AND EVEN NUMBERS

I have found different approaches in teaching Odd and Even numbers in different text books, curriculum and teaching methods. I did worksheets I found online with Lil Muallim # 2 and found him getting the pattern but not too clear on the actual concept.

Here is his worksheet from his Math Mammoth Grade 1 B book 

I could see he was getting it right here following the instructions and following the pattern. I wanted to elaborate the idea of sharing (didving) cookies on the worksheet. So I thought............. how could I make it CLEARER using the math creativity I have surprised myself with since starting Math on the Level in our home..........

I had a brain wave. Alhumdolillah! 

STEP # 1

 I asked to make groups of cars for numbers 10 and under. Then I asked him to write the corresponding numbers on small pieces of paper. He made groups for all numbers except one.

Next I asked him to find out which groups of the cars were odd or even.  


He a label each for Odd and Even and placed them on the floor. 


Finally, I asked him to place each group of cars under the odd or even label, by placing the cars on each side of the number to see if they balanced or not.

EVEN

ODD

He really had fun doing this and loved predicting as the result was pretty obvious for him as he knows basic math facats :) 

Infact, he cried out how many would go each side for each group before he placed them. :):):)

RESULT

STEP # 2

Once he felt comfortable with the basic number. I moved on to bigger ones to take this activity to the next level. 

Now I asked him to make bigger groups of cars and write the numbers on a paper, and then find which label they should go under.

It was interesting to note that even though he made no mistakes in coloring the correct numbers in the worksheet,  his guess for odd or even for above groups, wasn't always right. Telling me all the more, how this activity was needed how much it proved to useful in the end. Alhumdolillah 

He clearly saw that when there equal number of cars on each side. the number was even, and when there was an extra one on one side, the number was  ODD. 

NOW HE REALLY GOT IT!!!! 

:):):)ALHUMDOLILLAH:):):)

Fractions # 3 Toys full of Fractions

FRACTIONS IN TOYS

As much as the concept of fractions became clearer and solid for Lil Muallim # 2 in our past Fraction activities, ( See post Fraction #1  and Fraction # 2) the following really sealed it in his mind. Not only did he "Get it" but thoroughly enjoyed it Alhumdolillah.

I asked Lil Muallim # 2 to take out any of his favorite toys. Well what do you expect with boys.........he got his soldiers. :) Then asked him to separate those that are the same size and color and count them all.

We got 15.

Next I asked him to separate these out according to their different positions..........

Finally I made him trace out the shape of the soldier to show which fraction belonged to which position.....He loved tracing the soldiers so much and kept saying " This is so FUN!" woohooooo!!!!!

Now who would want to stop after so much fun! (wink!) So then he got the following out:

and    did.......

Infact..... Next morning I found him doing fractions with his toy planes on his own without my even telling him to! What else does an MOTL mom want?

Alhumdolillah!