I have very odd feelings about this subject. I love the idea of Montessori math. I think the materials are beautiful. I think the method is brilliant at exposing kids to concrete ideas. I just have no idea how to actually teach it. I've got science down (just check out our science tab up top). I've got an ok handle on Language. History and Music seem doable if you just introduce them to it. But Math. Ugh. It's not like I was horrible at math in school. I was just the kid who loved getting a worksheet, filling it out, and calling it a day. Apparently I never really understood what I was doing.
I've started working through the Karen Tylers math manual this month and I'm so very glad that I have it. We're going to start from the beginning and move on up. Thankfully I have a toddler who has been sleeping (no really- sleeping) with her sandpaper numbers and a six year old that "sees the answers in his head." I know they have something to teach me along the way.
One to one correspondence is one of the easiest, cheapest and (go figure) important lessons in math. You can do it with any number of objects but I like this one with an egg carton and six eggs. I got our wooden eggs here and our egg carton from REI in the camping section. You can use rocks, cars, legos...
How to Introduce
-Show the kids a basket of eggs and the container
-Take one egg out at a time and place in the carton. Start from the top left and go left to right than the bottom row.
-Take out the eggs and place back in the basket
-Put the materials back on the shelf
-Alternatively (like in the picture) you can lay out the eggs on the mat and than place back in the egg carton.
Control of Error: Enough eggs. Leftover eggs. You can take out an egg (or add an egg) for a variation.
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