Addition Snake Game



 

Bubs has been settling in well with the addition snake game these days.  I think he will be ready for the subtraction (negative) snake game soon.  He just figured out how to check his work with the control of error built into the materials.  He loves to make extremely long chains, but then quickly gets overwhelmed in the middle of it.  Then he goes to the opposite extreme and makes a snake with three bead bars.  What are ya gonna do?!

The snake game is quite an interesting material and is a fun way to learn the different ways that you can make the number 10.  The child lays out a combination of bead bars in any order in the shape of a snake (or zig zag).

 

 

Here is a sample snake that Bubs worked on today.  You can see the three sections of the material.  The left box has the 10 bars which will be used for exchanging.  The middle box has colored beads for making the snake.  The right box is for the beads for the black stair.  The black stair is used as a place holder when counting.

 

He starts counting each bead bar until he reaches 10.  In the picture above, there is a 3 bar, a 5 bar, and a 4 bar.  The red pick thing (Ok, I don't know what it is called, but it looks like a guitar pick!) holds the place for the child while he gets the 10 bead for exchanging.  So, 3+5+2 is 10, but you still have 2 more beads which are part of the 4 bar. That is why the red pick is in between the beads on the 4 bar.

 

Here, Bubs has gotten a 10 bar (which takes the place of the 3 bar, 5,bar and 2 of the beads from the 4 bar).  He took the 2 bar from the black stairs to represent the last two beads from the 4 bar.  Now he will put the 3, 5, and 4 bar in the cup on the right to show that he has counted them.  He then starts to count again up to 10, starting with the black 2 bead bar.

 

He continues through the snake, exchanging for 10 bars along the way.

 

When he is finished, and has worked with it for some time, he does the extension of checking his work.  He places the 10 bars that he exchanged at the top of the mat.  Then he lays out all of the bead bars that he counted from the cup underneath the 10 bars.  He lays them out from smallest to largest, notice the 1 bar on the far left side.

 

To start checking his work, he places the largest bead bar (9 in this problem) next to the 10 bar.  Then he looks to see how many more beads he needs to equal 10.  He needs a 1 bar.  He takes it from below.  Then he takes the next largest bead bar (8) and moves to the next 10 bar.  He sees that he needs a 2 bar, but only has a 3 bar.  He then exchanges his 3 bar for a 2 bar and a 1 bar from the middle box above. Then he adds the 2 bar to the 8 bar to make 10.

 

He continues with the 7 bar and using the 4 bar below to exchange for the 3 bar needed.

 

He keeps exchanging,

 

Yay!!!  He ended up with no beads left over.  So how many beads did he count?  50  (There are 5 10 bars.)  He was very excited to get his answer right because this meant that he could go upstairs for snack!  Stay tuned for the negative snake game hopefully soon.

Spring break field trips!

I just thought I would share a few pictures from the various places we visited while the kids auntie was here visiting.  Enjoy!

Shark at the aquarium

Rock fish anyone?

Cool boat kids saw

Waterfall inside the aquarium

Trail to the river

Racing to catch up to auntie

Exploring in the sand

Weaving a huge basket

Skateboarding perhaps

She is trying to balance on a kayak.

They failed miserably trying to build an igloo with foam pieces!

Good ole White House

Brotherly love.  Nito was trying to put T-Man to sleep.

Lincoln Memorial

First plane by the Wright Brothers

 

The kiddos had a great time while auntie was here.  There wasn't much schooling, but we can count these field trips right?!

Clock

 

Happy Easter Everyone!  We took this week and part of Holy Week off last week, but I wanted to share something Bubs has been interested in lately. 

 

 I had made this clock for Kui a few years ago and it seemed to work perfectly.  I was never a fan of the Judy Clock that most primary classrooms use.  I am not sure why, but I think they just don't look very user friendly. However, I love the idea from this site.  The child is able to manipulate the clock and move around the pieces.  There is also the work of putting the numbers in the correct order which is definitely something that needs to be learned by the child.  I found this out with Bubs.  When I started working with Kui, she already had the basic idea of a clock and the numbers that were on it.  It is not understood that the child will pick up on this automatically, especially if they are only exposed to digital clocks.  I have gotten a digital clock for their rooms just so they can learn to tell time the "old-fashioned" way.  I also purchased these stamps for Bubs to peruse once he has all of the parts of the clock mastered.  These just allow an extension to the clock work and.... who doesn't like stamps, right?!

 

The picture above shows Bubs working with the clock with a bit of an extension.  He already knows how to label the hours (red circles) correctly starting with 12 at the top.  He then added the minutes (green circles).  He wanted to add the hours around it "just because".  It is helpful for him though when he is making the time that I have asked him to make. 

 

 

Further extension of this work are the seconds (blue circles -not pictured).  This allows the child to understand the concept that one hour has 60 seconds.  Bubs is not quite there yet, but hopefully soon we will get there along with writing out the times and using the stamp pad.  Shhhhh.....he doesn't know about that yet.  I wouldn't want to rush him through the critical manipulative stage!

 

Fraction Match-up Game

First off, I apologize for not posting lately.  We have had (and still have) a long term visitor from overseas.  My husband's sister is visiting for a month or so and we are all transitioning with the new body in the classroom!  It is like VIP day everyday for "Auntie".  (VIP day stands for Very Important Person).  The Montessori school that the children attended did this once a year and the child was able to invite anyone that fit into that category, so it wasn't just limited to parents.  It could be grandparents, aunts, cousins, etc.  We have implemented that in our classroom a few times a year so that "daddy" can be a VIP.  It is hard for him to understand all the lingo I use until he sees it in action.  I think it also helps him to see where all of that money is going for materials!  The budget is always being pushed to the edge with materials.  There is always something to make or buy to enhance the children's experience in the classroom.

 

Ok now for the Fraction Match-up Game:

 



 

 

I have really been slacking with the idea of making so many fraction materials.  I started making an extra set of fractions up through tenths about a year and a half ago and have still not finished.  My hubby was cutting them out two Christmas breaks ago and then life happened and we moved and I couldn't tell you where they are.  So...needless to say I broke down and spent the money on these.  This sparked me to then get some fraction presentations together.  I took the information that My Boys Teacher had on her blog about her fraction cabinet.  She has the dream fraction cabinet that I think I will never have.  I can't find a storage cabinet like hers.  I am using envelopes right now for my presentations and that seems to work fine for Kui.  Maybe by the time T-Man is ready for them, the fraction section will look like hers.  Ok, enough jealousy for the moment. 

 

I started Kui off with this fun match-up game to just get her excited about fractions again.  It was very simple to print off, color-code, and put together.  She now has a new excitement for fractions and has been willingly (as in choosing them herself) doing presentations for adding fractions.  We are definitely behind since she is still doing same denominators, but at least that part of her planner is not growing dust anymore like her geometry! (That is another story altogether!)

 

The game has four columns: Word Form, Number Form, Fraction of a Group, and Fraction of a Whole.  She then matches each picture up under the corresponding column. 

 

Here is what they look like all matched up.

Then she can turn them over to see if the color codes are the same for each set. 

 

This game has really proven to be something that has worked for her.  I am pretty hard core when it comes to her math and I tend to be a little rigid.  I was hesitant to introduce this to her because I thought it was too easy and she would just keep choosing it.  However, the fact that is was a bit of a challenge, but not too much actually encouraged her and now she does not find fractions so overwhelming.  That teaches me!  Duh....Montessori IS all about following the child right?!

School days

We have been fairly busy the last few weeks, but my dear Nito continues to struggle with the pull of working nicely and being a 3 year old.  He loves to flip, jump, hurl himself, you name it, he does it, all over the classroom with T-man following not too far behind!  It makes for quite the interesting morning.

Bubs doing handwriting.

Well....at least he is working.  Now if he would just take it to the table.

Kui practicing her typing skills.

Nito working with clay.  One of the rare moments of him working nicely.

 

T-man painting.

 

So for the fun of it, the pictures below are what the classroom looks like on a typical day when I don't pick up after T-man every second.  I established a rule in the classroom that if someone sees a material on the floor, they need to pick it up and put it back on the shelf.  There were two reasons behind this.  First, Bubs likes to use the materials as his stepping stones to get to the other side of the classroom.  Secondly, the sense of order for everyone in the classroom is totally off when it looks like it does in the pictures below.

Sorry for the glare.  The boot is there because Isaiah was doing shoe polishing.

The poor pink tower is always destroyed!

Oh and the bead cabinet.....T-man's ultimate play toy.

 

 

Hopefully the children are still getting some authentic Montessori education even though the classroom is destroyed most days or materials are up high out of T-man's reach.  I would love to know your thoughts if you are in a similar situation.