The Bead Cabinet is definitely one of the most beautiful visuals in the Montessori Classroom! The colors, how the hanging chains stop just before their shorter, laying down partner begins right at the edge of the shelf, the perfectly color coordinated ticket boxes, the squares, the cubes, the shimmer, the shine! Not only are we as adults entranced by this cabinet, but children are as well.
Don't be fooled, this is certainly part of the charm of a Montessori Classroom - and its done on purpose. We want to be a part of things that are beautiful, thought out, intentional and orderly. This perfectly describes our environments at school. So many parents enter our classrooms for the first time and talk bout how their child "doesn't like math." I've heard this SO many times, only to have that exact child come into school and devour math lessons.
Children don't decide they "don't like math" or "aren't good at math" - the way they are learning it, or attempting to learn it - tells them these negative ideas. I've never had a child tell me they don't understand a number skill I am teaching them. Sure, they may not master it on the first try, or the fifth, but they understand the lesson because they can touch it, see it and feel it. They don't have to trust me that 1 is smaller than 1000 because they SEE it. They see that tiny golden unit bead and then they see the big 1000 cube that houses that many unit beads. The math materials just.make.sense! Like I always say, I can go on and on about how wonderful the Montessori Math Curriculum is, but let's just focus on one component: The Bead Cabinet.
The Bead Cabinet allows a child to exercise linear counting, number recognition, skip counting, pencil and paper recording, squaring and cubing and of course - grace and courtesy and care of the environment.
Linear Counting:A child touches each bead while they count aloud in numerical order.
Number Recognition:A child must stop at the end of each segment to look for and identify the coordinating number ticket in order to label where they are in the chain.
Skip Counting and Multiplication:After a child has counted all the way through a chain, they see the numbers printed on the tickets they have placed and notice that they are all "x" numbers apart (5, 10, 15, 20, etc.). When a child begins formal multiplication lessons, they will see that all the numbers they learned to skip count are their multiplication answers!
Pencil and Paper Recording:This is not always done, but if a child wishes or if a teacher feels they are ready for this next step - a child will record the numbers from their tickets. This practices number formation and reinforces the skip counted numbers.
Squaring: Yes! A child sees that when a short chain is zig-zagged up, it creates a square: hence the square number.
Cubing:Same goes for cubed numbers, the child knows that a certain number of squares (depending on which number chain they are doing) add up to make a cube. This is all VISUAL, they don't just have to take our word for it.
Grace & Courtesy and Care of the Environment:These are two fundamental areas in the Montessori Curriculum. The Bead Chains can be big activities that take space and time. Children must be aware of their classroom and where they can lay such a big work out. Sometimes carrying a long cubing chain is too much for one person and will ask a friend for help tidying up.
We all want this future generation to be good at math - that is a given. But what does that mean? We all (mostly!) agree that we never used that Algebra from 7th grade in the real world (or have we??), but - its important to have good number SENSE. So how can we promote this at home for our children? Here are some easy tips and tricks to empower your child with number knowledge in their day to day lives:
Tips and Tricks for Fostering A Strong Number Sense At Home:
Count Everything!
Count socks, cereal, chairs at the dinner table. When they're old enough ask them to count how many seltzer cans you're putting into the fridge or how many toothbrushes you need to buy at the store. Don't make it a THING, just make it part of life. This is one of the first and easiest activities to do at home with your child from birth. Make numbers accessible and easy and part of your day.
Teach Them About Money and Spending
I understand the idea of protecting your child against consumerism and money worries, of course. But, life is life and sometimes we need to purchase things. Teaching your child the value of a dollar (literally - show them 100 pennies, 10 dimes, 4 quarters, etc.) at a young age sets the stage for a responsible financial future. Tell them how much a gallon of milk costs and before you run to the store, teach them how to count out the money. Keep it simple - for one thing, not the whole grocery budget! Children are people and people should know how much things cost and how people get to buy such things. And kids love money!!
Use Rich Language
In Montessori School, we use words like ellipse and rectangular prism - when you are at home, say things like "add a chair to the table" or "subtract a cookie from your plate", "we need to divide these cupcakes into two boxes" so that they understand the idea of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division before they even see a math equation.
I hope you can look at our famous Bead Cabinet in a new light now - not JUST one of beauty, but one of information, logic and enriching information!