Recommended Age: 4 years and onwards
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, the initial presentation requires the adult to facilitate the exercise, once the child has been shown the child may revisit the activity independently
Prerequisites
- The child must be able to count accurately to ten (one to one correspondence)
- The child must be able to identify the numerical symbol of numbers 1-10
- The child must be able to connect quantity and symbol of numbers 1-10
Materials
- Number rods printout (see file)
- Scissors
- Laminating pouch
- Writing pencil
- Paper (A4 cut in half)
- An eraser
- Small basket or tray to keep the materials
Preparation
- Cut out the number rods and the numerals from the print out
- Laminate the number rods (if possible) and cut them out, ensuring the edges are rounded as laminating sheet plastic can be sharp
- Laminate and cut out the numerals (ensuring the edges are rounded off)
- Place the cut and laminated materials in the basket or on the tray with the writing pencil and blank paper
Steps
- Invite the child to the exercise, showing them the prepared number rod activity, the child may bring the basket or tray to the table
- Sit to the right of the child and begin by taking out the number rods, laying them on the table in front of the child randomly
- Ask the child if they recognise them, the child should make the link between the number rods in their Montessori 3-6 environment and the paper number rods
- Invite the child to place the number rods in order from longest to shortest, leaving a gap between each rod
- Invite the child to place the numeral cards with their corresponding rods
- Ask the child, “how can we make the rod of 9 as long as the rod of 10?”
- Take the rod of 1 and the card of 1 and place it next to the rod of 9, noticing with the child it is now the same size as the rod of 10
- Tell the child “when we have 9 and 1 more it makes 10”, slide the card of 10 so that it is now level with the rods
- Now say to the child “how can we make the rod of 8 as long as the rod of 10?’
- Take the rod of 2 and the card of 2 and place it next to the rod of 8, noticing with the child it is now the same size as the rod of 10
- Tell the child “when we have 8 and 2 more it makes 10’
- Now say to the child “how can we make the rod of 7 as long as the rod of 10?”
- Take the rod of 3 and the card of 3 and place it next to the rod of 7, noticing with the child it is now the same size as the rod of 10
- Tell the child “when we have 7 and 3 more it makes 10’
- Repeat as above for the rod of 6, using the rod of 4
- When you get to the rod of 5, notice that there are no more rods
- Flip the rod of 5 to the right so the child may see that 5 and 5 makes 10, you may also say “5 taken 2 times is 10”
- Invite the child to place the rods back in order and see how many ways they can make 10
- Leave the child to work independently
- Come back when the child has finished
- Introduce the paper, showing the child how to write the addition equations on the paper demonstrating 9+1=10, 8+2=10 etc
- Give the child the language of the symbols when introducing the addition sign by saying “this is the symbol that tells us we are doing addition”, and for the equals symbol “this is the symbol we use to show us where to write the answer”
- When the child has finished writing the addition equations they may pack up, when the child returns the activity to its place, let them know they may now return to the activity whenever they please
Variations
- Different ways of counting the rods, show the child how to count the rods diagonally, vertically and along the rod
