counting

There has been a great deal of counting in our house lately.



I had been having a hard time explaining to Tigs that he absolutely has the capacity to add and subtract beyond units, as he has been doing at school. As a Montessori teacher I knew that if I had a set of golden bead material  I would be able to demonstrate to him and reassure him that he can do SO much more than realises. Tiggy's wonderful auntie, and my treasure of a sis, Flossy, bought us a complete set and we have been having a ball with it.

He can easily read numerals up to and beyond 9000 now. In just a few three-period lessons. Yes, he's clever and I am so familiar with the material that it's now effortless for me to demonstrate it all to him but really, it's the miracle of Montessori equipment and his readiness.

Montessori learning is concrete and tangible before abstract so when a child is holding 400 beads in one hand and is able to compare it to only 6 little unit beads in his other, it suddenly makes sense to him. We're now working on addition and 'exchanging' and he picks it up so quickly. Again, it's because Tigs is clever, coupled with catching him at the perfect moment - a sensitive period. When both his interest and his developmental readiness were in the same place at the same time!

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And not to be outdone ... Woo wants to do her Montessori 'cativities' too! So it's sandpaper letters for her!

Happy days!
And very very freezy-pops day, as Tigs would say. It's been proverbially-rainy here. And some snow up higher too - eep!

Stay warm, or cool, wherever you are.

Thanks for popping (oops nearly said pooping) by!

E x