Montessori Decimal System (Base 10) with Golden Beads

It's the time of our 12 Month of Montessori Series, and today I'm sharing with you how Mavi learned the concept of the decimal system and base 10 using the Montessori golden beads materials.  We worked on this when he was about 4yrs old and at times he still wanted to do the complete layout (see the bottom of the post for this).   The aim of studying the decimal system is for the child to understand, organize and  classify the numerical quantities into different hierarchies of units, tens, hundreds and thousands.

One of the best thing about these golden beads material is that it provides a sensorial approach in learning mathematics.  In using the golden beads, a child can easily differentiate a unit from tens, from hundreds and thousands through its depth, weight and quantity.  In effect, there is retention to the concepts because the child can easily visualize the quantity of numbers. 

So without further ado, here’s Mavi’s presentation of how we use the golden beads in learning the decimal system.
Units, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands

Here’s a short presentation which  Mavi and I created on how to use the materials in introducing units, tens, hundreds and thousands.

The Layout

Now for the overall view of the decimal system, combining the number symbols and the quantity, here’s Mavi working on the decimal system layout.  Sorry if he only worked till 4000, as we do not have enough thousand cubes   Enjoy!

This post is part of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

Amazing blogs involved in the 12 Months of Montessori Learning

Natural Beach Living ~ The Natural Homeschool ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Planting Peas

The Kavanaugh Report ~ Mama’s Happy Hive ~ Study at Home Mama ~ Child Led Life

The Pinay Homeschooler ~ Every Star Is Different ~ Grace and Green Pastures

Collection of Hands-on Preschool Math

Over the years, we’ve done a lot of preschool math, may it be Montessori, Montessori-inspired or just any spontaneous activity I could think of.   And just like most of you, this is one of the subject that young Mavi was not giddy about.  This can be overwhelming to little children, thus finding it hard to enjoy math activities.    But through the philosophies of Maria Montessori (which I implemented at home), and with the inspiration that I get from homeschooling Mommies, we were able to surpass that stage with flying colours.

So I compiled the math activities that Mavi loved and enjoyed. These activities are suitable for children from 3yrs old and above.  We use  A LOT of manipulative, both purchased and homemade. They were all worth-it, the time I’ve spent creating materials and the amount of money I invested. 

 

Learning How to Measure.

Learning how to Tell Time

Learning how about Money (Euro Coins)

Learning how to Count 0  to 9

Popsicle Stick Shapes

Cards and Counters using Cut-out Leaves (Fall activity)

Tally Fingers and Cards

Cards and Counters with Number Ordering

Basic Addition for Preschoolers

Grid Games and Do a Dot Markers

Skip Counting and Patterning

Dinosaur Grid Game

Counting by Tens

Toddler Counting Activities

Antarctic Themed Math

Learning about Sets

Intro to Ordinal Numbers

Counting to 100 Using DIY Hundred Board

More math activities in Pinterest board

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MEGA Collection of BOTANY Unit Studies

Finally, I compiled all our botany lessons in one post. It’s easier to make it as a reference in the future and to you dear readers as well! These are the activities we have done for the past years, when Mavi was still in preschool.  I hope you find all of these helpful in your own homeschool journey.  Just click any of the links below, to direct you to the specific post.

(In no specific order)

• Learning about flowers. This is THE FIRST TIME we dissected a flower and Mavi had a fabulous time learning about the parts!
• The Tree. Our FIRST LESSON ON TREES and comes with a DIY tree felt puzzle
• Parts of a plant. Mavi was only 2 years old here when we study the different parts of a plant using nomenclature cards.  Was he bored? No!! He had fun looking for the different parts in grandma’s garden.
• Fruits and Vegetables Unit
• The Bean Seed. Identify the parts of a bean seed and observed how they sprout.
• The Plant. Mavi was attending Montessori preschool and brought home his plants.  We review the parts of a plant using a real  one at home. 
• Looking into Trees and Leaves.  We matched leaf shapes, create trees in different seasons and identify the parts of the leaf/tree.
• The Plant Life Cycle (Photosynthesis).  We did a little experiment on how water travels through the plants.
• Tree Shapes. Yes! Trees have different form and shapes.  We worked on this outdoors and identified the shapes of the trees in our yard. How fun!
• The Poinsettia.  Seasonal lesson, especially during Christmas.
• Leaf Shapes.  Montessori-inspired activities. We collected leaves in the park and matched our collection to the leaf shapes nomenclature card.
• Inside of a fruit.  Making fruit prints!
• Life Cycle of an Apple.  Lots of crafting!
• All about flowers [1] and [2].  We usually study flowers in springtime.  Here we looked into the different parts by dissecting a flower, collected flowers in the yard and used it as a paint brush.. and more outdoor flower observation.
• Flower DIY foam puzzle.
• Parts of an apple and tomato.  Yes, we dissected these!

 

You can also visit my Pinterest board for more ideas!

Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Botany Unit on Pinterest.

Weather and Clouds (FREE Cloud Cards)

We have a brief afterschool activity on clouds and weather.   

We use the same Cloud Cards I have last year and discuss it once again.  It was quite cloudy so we just view the clouds from his room and try to identify the cloud based on his cards. We discuss each type of clouds, whether it tells us if its going to rain or to be sunny. 

For the free cards, click the picture below for the link.

So now to recreate the clouds, we used a blue cardstock paper and some paints. We previously had this activity but used cottons for the cloud formation, this time he wanted to paint.

          

 

That's his handwriting on the label. 

And he wanted to add more details (black ink in the outline). 

            

To recreate contrails, he made an airplane, named it BOEING 767, cut it and stick it on a paper.  He added the contrails using the white paint.

            

For the weather, we watched some videos on Youtube based on the Weather Cards that we have.  We talked about the cause and effect of these weathers and if possible how to avoid calamities.

Then we tried recreating some of them.... first one is the earthquake.  The best that we do was to use his Lego.  He made a city and then he started shaking the plate pretending to have an earthquake.

          

 

And lastly, he wanted drought.  He crumpled some brown art paper, strip them into smaller pieces and stick them individually on a piece of paper.  He made some animals dying due to water loss and made his sun reddish to indicate a very very hot day.

          

We didn't get to recreate some of the weather conditions as we were also doing some school related stuff. 

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
I Can Teach My Child

Water Cycle

Last week we had our Water Cycle activities.  My son has been watching some Make Me Genius videos and he specifically requested for this topic. 

Here are our activities and the materials we used.

Below is a printed material I got from the internet.  Since I didn't have a book to showcase the water cycle to my little I randomly search for an image that can present in detail the water cycle. The image comes from here.

Below is a water cycle puzzle which I downloaded for free from this beautiful blog.  We worked on this last, when my son has absorbed the idea of the cycle.

   

For coloring and reading practice, I got these activities sheets from Kidzone. After we read the paragraphs and color the images, he ordered the stages of the cycle.

For a little craft and scissor practice I made him do a little project demonstrating the water cycle given the prepared materials (he prepared it with my assistance).  So with a mountain, land, sun, ocean and raindrops he arranged it in a way that it will explain how cycle works.  We used cottons for the clouds by the way.

              

He asked to use water colors to make the clouds gray :)

 

And this is what he came up with.  I asked him to indicate the stages so I can put a label.

Next post is on our experiment on the water cycle and later on we'll also talk about the weather and the clouds.  Weather cards which I prepared for our weather unit is now available. Click on the picture below for the link.

For more FREEbies and downloads, visit The Pinay Homeschooler Shop and Downloads.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child

Updates on Math and Language

And so we've been doing language and math seriously this summer.  So here's what we have accomplished so far:

Language.  Initially we were working with kindergarten workbook, but he finished it in no time and seems bored so I upgraded him to a first grader workbook (bought it in a local bookstore) and so far he is liking it.  He loves the challenge and the work book got lots of reading comprehension exercises which I really really like. 

And we are also working on digraphs using my Consonant Blends Worksheets. He has no problem identifying the consonant blends (beginning and ending) but when it comes to filling up the missing digraph, he's still a little bit confused in some areas.

Math.  We are still on Booklet 2 and Addition Chart 3 of Montessori Addition.  We will proceed with Charts 4 and 5 once we're done with Booklet 2.  You can read about Montessori Addition here and download my addition booklets from Pinay Homeschooler Shop and Downloads.

Lastly, I we're using Singapore Math workbook (K1).  Compared to the workbooks here, I love the scope of Singapore Math.  It covers graphing, logic and more.  I ordered this book from my friend lives in Singapore and they can usually be bought here: Popular Bookstore.  They're very affordable, the only problem here is shipping cost.

             

 

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child

Artist & Art Study ~ Piet Mondrian

Today we learned how to make art, the Mondrian style.  He is a Dutch artist who loves to use lines, and his famous work involves the primary colors (a good way to teach primary and secondary colors!)  My son described his work as Church windows :)

First, we read stories and facts about Mondrian and pointed Netherlands in our Europe map and identified its flag.  (This is a good way to review our Geography/Continent Study)  We used this resource from Making Art Fun.

I cut out strips of black cardstock and had my son decorate his own "doors and windows".  First he I made him use primary colors using crayons.

                

And the next one, I made him use paints in secondary colors.

              

And this is what he came up with. 

 

I love how it turned it!  I'm keeping all our works from our Artist Study so I can frame them when I have the time :) 

By the way, here's a Mondrian Song I came across the web (Forgot the link, but if you know it or own please let me know for the credits).   We sang it together while admiring his work.

Mondrian Song (London Bridge Tune)

Mondrian use lots of lines, lots of lines, lots of lines

Mondrian use lots of lines, in his paintings.

Black and white, red, yellow and blue, black, white, red, yellow, blue

Mondrian is famous for, Abstract Paintings.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child