Beginner Bead Cabinet Presentations

(I was confused for a while, but the above is the correct picture. Disregard the other images that I've posted previously. Sorry!)

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Yes, I am trying to figure out this bead cabinet. I'm basing this on my Montessori directress friend's explanation. I am one of those people who need to see it first and then write about it to understand a concept. If I am wrong in any form, please let me know!



Introduction: Sensorially
1. Bring the square chains one at a time with great reverence to a rug starting from the shortest to longest. It will be similar to the bead stair. Take it back, from longest to shortest. When you introduce the chain to the child, you can say, "This is the square chain of..."

(On another day)
2. Bring one square chain to the rug. Count and put appropriate arrows. I was so confused about the arrows. But apparently, the thin arrows show the child that she is counting bead by bead, but she doesn't need to label each bead throughout the whole chain. The thickest arrow tells you that the square of four is 16. For example, for the square chain of 2, use the following: Thin 1, thick 2, thicker 4. That's all you should use for the square chain of 2. Do one or two chains in one sitting following the child's lead. It can get very overwhelming for the child, though I was surprised that Cheeky enjoyed the hundreds chain the most because through the tens board, she can easily count in tens. Once the child understands why the thin are used she might not want to use the thin ones.

I would also take a bead bar to show how many bead bars are in a chain. For example, for the square chain of two, I would take a bead bar of 2 and place it above each bar in the chain and say, "Let's see how many bead bars are in the square chain of 2 (This means how many 2's are in its square)." Then count the # of 2 bead bars in the chain.

(After doing the second activity for a while, proceed to the third activity.)

3. Take a square chain with the corresponding square to the rug. Count as usual placing the arrows in the appropriate places. After you establish the value of the square ie: "the square of 4 is 16," show how the chain makes the square. Some chains are harder than others to make a square so practice in advance! I noticed that bead chains with smaller connectors do not make great squares. (Something to think about when making or buying bead material!) You could also put the square on top of the square made from the chain to show how they are identical.

Again, start with only a few chains and follow the child's lead as to not overwhelm the child.
This is all I'm planning to do for a while. I am not putting out the cubing material any time soon! But when I do, I'll be sure to post about it.