Montessori Decimal System

Teachers' hand -made golden bead materials - Presentation tray

Montessori Mathematics approach is unique for many reasons. The daily life provides the young children with mathematical awareness concept. Children normally hear words like - “you are 2 years old now” or its 7.00 o’clock” etc. Mathematics materials presentations begin with the quantity, then the symbol and finally the association between the quantities and symbols. Introducing the presentation tray In my Montessori training, Montessori math materials were my adorable activities.Therefore today I just wanted to share our recent work with the golden bead material. One incredible thing about the Montessori math materials is the sensorial exploring aspect on them. This material introduces the child to decimal system,quantity and place value through activities in the operations of addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. Many resident teachers at our converted classrooms have been considering for a long time on purchasing this piece of material which seemed rather expensive. In our recent in-house refresher training we reviewed on the presentation steps for this material and introduced the teachers on the ways of making less costly bead material. The teachers celebrated the idea since they were sure of teaching the material to children in the near future at their classrooms. Baan Pangkorn School resident teacher building the - Bird's eye view/45 layout bank materials in card layout order.

Mae sot and Chiang rai - In-House Refresher Courses

“The teacher’s task is no small or easy one! He has to prepare a huge amount of knowledge to satisfy the child’s mental hunger, and he is not, like the ordinary teacher, limited by a syllabus”. Dr. Maria Montessori

Like students, teachers also need to learn and refresh their knowledge to succeed in a world that is changing rapidly. They need to be prepared to educate the needs of the child in their development.

Early this month, 54 eager resident teachers from our previous Montessori converted classrooms attended our annual in-house refresher courses at Mae sot and Chiang rai respectively. Together they spend happy hours deeply engaged in the listening to lectures, watched materials presentations and learnt how to give the presentations as well.

This year our in-house refresher course was uniquely designed with variety of lessons to lift our spirits and our minds and to help participants fully understand how to recognize and examine the child’s preparation to writing, observation, the key role of the peace table (or corner) in the classroom, creating that dynamic and vibrant learning atmosphere, grace and courtesy among other interesting topics.

With all the materials readily in the room, the teachers had an opportunity to practice during the training sessions, review, discuss and share ideas together. The participants also gained challenging and interesting material variations and extensions activities that will fully involve the children in their learning abilities

The lifeprep foundation team was also featured during part our training sessions and they highlighted on the ways of improving the teachers' teaching skills through fun- play to children as part of their daily learning activities. The team also introduced the Dr. Richard Haugland materials and instruction which emphasizes on Thai and English Languages skills as well as mathematics. Please read more at http://www.schsf.org/

“The real preparation for education is the study of one's self. The training of the teacher is something far more than the learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit.” Dr. Montessori.