Montessori Mathematics: The Complete Bead Material - Part 5

Making the Bead Squares

The bead squares are not much more difficult to make than the bead bars, but there's no quick-and-sneaky way to make them. There's no easy way to make the bead squares either, so you might as well get used to it! Keep in mind that when it seems that it will never end, you get to the bead chains and speed will again be a factor.

Many of the steps for the bead squares are the same as for the bead bars, so I'm not going to elaborate on those steps, although I've included the photographs for your benefit. There are some differences, though, and that is what this post will focus on.

Step 1: Gather your materials

Step 2: Cut your plastic canvas. You will need to cut two sections that are (1 square) x (N x 2 - 1). For my example, using 5, I cut 1 x 9 squares. (1 square) x (5 x 2 - 1 = 9). There is one exception to this. When doing your 2 square, you only need one piece of canvas cut.

Step 3: Cut your wire.

Step 4: Make a wire curl.

Step 5: Straighten the wire.

Step 6: Thread your first bead. It's really easy to forget at first that you're making a bead square, not a bead bar, and I've mindlessly begun to make bead bars while the plastic canvas laid right in front of me!

Step 7: Add your first piece of plastic canvas. You will need to thread the wire through the first square.

Step 8: Thread the rest of your beads, minus one. So, if you're doing five, you've already got one bead on and you need to bring the number of beads to four.

Step 9: Add your second piece of plastic canvas. Again, you put the wire through the first square.

Step 10: Thread your final bead.

Step 11: Twist the loose end.

Step 12: Clip off the excess.

Step 13: Make a tight wire curl at the angled end of your row of beads.

One row done!

Step 14: Begin your next row. Basically you follow steps 1-6 and when the time comes to put the wire through the first piece of plastic canvas you skip one square and put it through the following one. In the five bead square each row of beads threads through the canvas at squares 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

TA-DA! You've made a bead square.

Montessori Mathematics: The Complete Bead Material - Part 4

Making the Basic Bead Bars

I know it's been a long time coming, but it's finally here! Details, with photos, of how to make the bead material. We'll start with the most basic: the bead bars. You will need to make 55 each of the bead bars 1-10. I'm using the "fives" as my examples because they're not too big and time-consuming to make, but they're are large enough to show some of the more complicated aspects of bead material making.

Step 1: Gather your materials. It's best to have your beads organised and your wire cutters, wire, round-nose pliers, and plastic canvas all in one place. That way, when you have a moment you can grab the supplies and work or you can pile them quickly in a bag to take with you. I found the car is a wonderful place to work on making bead material. Please keep in mind, though, if you decide to work in a vehicle, you should not be the person behind the wheel!

Step 2: Cut your wire. You'd think this would be the simplest part, but you'd be wrong. Not that the cutting is particularly difficult, but the judging of the right length is! There are two ways to go about this, the stupid way and the smart way. I did it the stupid way for most of my bead bars, but when making the bead chains I figured out the smart way and I've been using it ever since. The stupid way is quite simple. You unwind approximately as much wire as you think you'd need to make the bead bar, plus some length for the two loops, plus a little bit extra. To make things go faster, you'd cut a bunch of wires at once. The problem with this method is twofold: first, it's remarkable how badly one is able to judge the appropriate length, you always end up with several that are way to short or way too long; second, as a result of poor judgement, you find yourself wasting wire, it doesn't seem like much, but many little bits add up. The smart way to go about cutting the wire (and I highly recommend you do this, rather than my first method!) is to unroll yourself a long piece; how long depends on how much space you have and how high you are. Because you need the beads to go run down the wire as you string them lengths of wire that spool on the floor become awkward. So, while in the photos you will see me making a single bead bar on a short length of wire, it is best if you start out with something like this:

Step 3: Make a wire curl. The small metal loop at the end of each bead bar is what keeps the beads from sliding off and it keep little fingers from being pierced by sharp, metal points. The size of the curl results according to how high in your round-nose pliers you grip the end of the wire. It will take quite a few tries to get used to getting the size loop you desire. If you're a perfectionist you might want to practice first. I just hopped in and figured that it was good enough. If they were really way too big or small, I'd do my best to fix it and in a few very funny-looking cases I tossed the wire and began again.

Step 4: Straighten the wire. Once you've got the wire curl finished you will need to grasp the wire in one hand and use your round-nose pliers to put a twist in the wire where it meets the loop. Essentially, you are trying to make the loop meet the straight section like a lollipop (O---) rather than like a number 9 (O___), as is seen below:

Step 5: Thread the beads. If you are doing individual bead bars, then you would add the number of beads needed, in my example, five light blue beads. If you are making many bead bars and are using the long-wire method, then you keep adding beads until your wire is about 3/4 filled and then make another wire curl at the other end. If you get too many or too few beads it is quickly and easily fixed, so don't put too much thought into getting it just right. You will then need to slide the correct number of beads to this end.

Step 6: Twist the loose end. Putting the tip of your round-nose pliers as close as possible to the last bead, you will then twist the wire to at least a right angle relational to the bead bar. This will keep your beads in place.

Step 7: Clip off the excess. This is the next-hardest part of making a bead bar because it involves another bit of visual judgement. You have to use your wire-cutters to make a length of wire from that last bead which can be turned into a nicely-sized curl: too big and it will not look right, too little and your beads might come off. Doing this correctly takes some practice. It is difficult to tell in the photograph exactly how much wire I'm leaving. If you are doing individual bead bars, if you had cut the perfect length of wire at the outset (and it does sometimes happen) you may not need to trim the wire at all! If you are doing a length of wired beads, however, you will not be able to skip this step, indeed, you will have to add a little bit to it. After cutting the wire make sure you put another wire curl on the end of your long bead string or else you may find yourself picking up dozens of beads that slid off the wire when you were distracted by making the wire curl at the end of your new bead bar!

Step 8: Make a tight wire curl at the angled end of the bead bar. When I say "tight" I don't mean "small." The loop cannot be too small because if it gets at all squished the beads can come off right over it. However, the loop must pull tightly enough so that the beads are not loose. Loose beads on a bead bar means the bead bar can bend more easily and you'll find yourself spending a lot of time straightening them!

And VOILA! You've got a bead bar! Next up: How to make a bead square!

Extra Resources: Magazines

The best classrooms I've been in have always had one thing in common: lots of age-appropriate educational reading material. Books are an obvious source of material, but magazines can be equally enjoyable and they provide something new on a regular basis. You can focus on a subject or topic based on the theme of your magazine and if the publication is well-designed you usually have a variety of activities and stories that can add a lot of interest to your everyday curriculum.

Here are some of our favourites:

top left: National Geographic Little Kids - A pretty good magazine for preschoolers, with collectible animal cards, super-simple science experiments, activities, and factual articles about animals and culture. It's not my number one choice, but I can definitely see the appeal and I occasionally buy a copy. That said, I have and will continue to, steer clear of National Geographic Kids (meant for elementary-aged children) as I've found it to be ridiculously heavy on the ads. There are much better science/culture/animal magazines for school children.

top right: Your Big Backyard - This is a marvelous contrast to National Geographic Kids. Put out by the National Wildlife Federation (American), this was a favourite of my brother and mine when we were growing up. It is ad-free, has been awarded with Association of Educational Publishers awards, and has an editorial advisory board comprised of 4 to 7 year-olds! There is often an emphasis on animals from North America, which is nice for those of us who live there, but it does not exclude exotic animals. There are both fiction and non-fiction articles, activities, simple science experiments, recipes, songs, posters, and reader response. This magazine is followed by Ranger Rick, for ages 7 and up, which I also enjoyed as a child. I just discovered tonight that they also put out a magazine for infants and toddlers now: Wild Animal Baby Magazine! I'm going to look into that one for the boys.

second row: Chirp - From the publishers of Owl and Chickadee came this little magazine on science and health for those under 6, and it's a favourite of my daughter. It is virtually ad-free (in one edition, for example, there is a contest sponsored by Mastermind Toys and Leapfrog, a one-page advertisement for a parenting magazine, an inside-back-cover ad for a reading and writing program, and a one-page promotion of "Chirp's Picks:" recommended books, toys, and DVDs). It includes comics, activities and crafts, science experiments, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, jokes, and reader response. I usually find myself reading and re-reading chunks of it to her.

third row: Zootles - Focusing on animals and having a theme which includes an animal, a letter, and a concept (example: high/low) in each edition, this magazine is full-to-brimming with activities and adventures. There is a pull-out section in the centre, one page each for parent and child, consisting of writing and drawing activities for the little one and resources and ideas for the adults. A word of caution, though. It claims to be for children aged 3-6, but when Ella was 3 it was still above her. It certainly wasn't wasted, though, because we kept them until now and they are just right!

fourth row: Ladybug - Our favourite! Ladybug is the best literary magazine for children aged 3-6 available outside the United States. (I've heard good things about Highlights High Five, but they don't ship to Canada.) It has a variety of stories, songs, poems, and comics, all with fantastic illustrations! There are a few activities, but mostly this is simply an excellent read.

fifth row: Babybug - Before we got Ladybug, there was Babybug! It was the only magazine for babies when Ella was born, and it is excellent. I cannot recommend it enough. The illustrations are amazing, the pages are durable, the stories, poems, and songs, extremely enjoyable, and the suggestions to parents for accompanying activities are inspired. We saved all our copies and now Eli and Henry are enjoying them too!

Magazine subscriptions can be very costly, I know, so when you're thinking about what will be best for your child and for your classroom, do your research. I'd recommending buying a copy before committing to a subscription, but sometimes that's simply not possible. In our family (both immediately and extended) we've found that magazine subscriptions make excellent birthday and Christmas gifts. They're appreciated when received and they continue to be enjoyed for a year, or more!

If anyone else has a magazine that they subscribe to for their children that they just can't imagine doing without, please add a comment and tell us the magazine title, what it's about, what age it is for, and why you love it so much! Obviously the periodicals I've mentioned are written in English and are published in North America, but don't feel limited by that. I look forward to hearing about your favourites, and I'm sure others will too.

My NEW Montessori Classroom

it's finally here:

Montessori at Home

THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL EDITION

Ella on her first day of "official" homeschooling: Grade Kindergarten

Since February my life has been absolutely, positively crazy, but if I hear someone, anyone, tell me yet again, "You must be so busy!" or the other constantly-heard phrase, "You've got your hands full!" I think I'll sweetly inform whomever it is that in point of fact I spend most of my time most of my days sitting or laying around and reading. It wouldn't be far from the truth. I'm the nursing mother of two growing boys who refuse to take a bottle. Although I often try to do something else while nursing I've discovered that either my activities distract them from nursing or whatever I'm doing is so shoddy I have to redo it later.

And yet, in the midst of this I've been spending much of my non-nursing time getting ready for school. I've done a lot of paperwork, organising month-by-month and then week-by-week what I want to cover. I've also had to move our classroom from the church across the street into our home. This was not a small matter as our home is rather small, our family has just become much larger, and the "spare" room had to become a nursery. But with a wonder of a friend (Thanks, Sherri! You were a whirlwind of activity. I don't know where you get the energy!) and the sacrifice of a dining room (as our kitchen is galley-style the dining room table is our only table) we have created a new classroom.

The shelves (as seen above) lack something in aesthetic value, but are extremely practical. The main portion of shelves was my own bookshelf from my childhood. All the added bits and pieces are from a decrepit, dismantled desk transformed by Sherri. So, with no cost to me, I ended up with extensive shelving!

A glance ahead, three of the shelves up close:

Math Materials

Language Arts Materials

Sensorial Materials

Some of the materials and their uses I have written about in previous blogs. Items which are new I will be covering in the near future. Plus, I will very soon have completed part two of the Montessori Mathematic Bead Material. It has been some time in the making... In more ways than one! For some reason I got a bit off track around February. Can't figure out why...

Also in the works: Montessori and Montessori-type activities for infants. This post could also be termed "Keeping two boys occupied while trying to educate their sister." It's just going to get more exciting from here on in!

Are my hands full? Am I busy? Maybe just a wee bit, but my quiver is full of blessings, so I don't mind!

"The Absorbent Mind" Book Club

For those who have expressed interest in The Absorbent Mind Book Club, it has begun! We will be reading the first chapter for Thursday, May 7th, 2009. If you have recieved an invitation and still want to be involved, please accept. If you have a look at the blog and decide that you are interested, please see the previous two posts on this blog to find out how to join.

"Absorbent Mind" Organisation - Plus Easter Photos

Eli and Henry at Two Months Old

Eli (left) and Henry (right) on April 2, 2009

[If you just want to skip to information on the "Absorbent Mind" challenge, just scroll down to where I've written that in bold.]

It has been a few weeks of sickness, quarantine, and busyness but I have not forgotten about the "Absorbent Mind" challenge. I must apologize for allowing all the other interesting challenges to get in my way. Ella had a terrible 'flu, which meant separating her from the boys and Derek and me from each other. Derek and Ella got the living room. It's a good thing our couch is very wide so they could both sleep on it. Henry, Eli, and I got the master bedroom. Sometimes Ella would stand at the door to our room and ask, with the saddest, most pitiful voice, "Mummy, will you hold up Henry/Eli so I can see him and say "hello" to him?" Derek and I would occasionally meet up in the bathroom, him on a quest to empty and clean the (so-called) "barf bucket," and me to get damp facecloths, a glass of water, or more wet wipes. But if we were able to, and took the time to get in a hug or kiss, then I had to change my clothes and "scrub in" again before rejoining the boys. We went through a lot of instant hand sanitizer!

Then Derek caught the 'flu just as Ella was getting better. This resulted in my first-ever foray into the outside world with three children in tow. The normally simple trip to the bank and run for a few errands was greatly complicated by this, and took much longer than usual. But, we all survived. Everything took a lot longer with two babies and a preschooler, resulting in a late arrival home after a 9:00 pm supper at Subway. Since Derek had ensconced himself in the master bedroom, with frequent runs to the bathroom, Ella and I made up a "bed" for her on the floor. It turned out to be rather a nest of blankets and pillows, but it served the purpose. I took the couch and put the boys in their bouncy seats. Ella really enjoyed "camping out" in the living room. The couch did become rather squishy, though, when at some point in the wee hours of the morning I tried to move only to discover that there was no where to which I could move as all three children had somehow ended up on the couch with me. Ella I could understand. She at least has great powers of mobility. I'm guessing the Eli and Henry had contrived to get me to fall asleep while nursing them.

The next day the children and I evacuated the premises, putting Derek in solitary quarantine, and we retreated to my mother's house. Derek had no sooner recovered than he was thrust into Easter weekend. All's well that ends well, but it's a week past Easter and we're still recovering! Mum says that we're living in perpetual "survival mode." She's not entirely wrong.

In the midst of all this insanity, Eli and Henry turned two months. During Ella's first year we did a "photo shoot" every month, so how could I do less for my boys? We did simplify, but I got their pictures nonetheless.

Eli Derek, two months old

Henry Harold, two months old

It's not hard to tell that they've been gaining quickly since getting home. They are quite aware that they have unlimited access to food twenty-four hours a day, and they take advantage of the fact! How wonderful to see their bodies filling in all that excess skin. They really look like babies now, not just minuscule old men.

ABSORBENT MIND CHALLENGE INFORMATION:

Well, we've got ten people who want to read The Absorbent Mind together, and a couple who want to "audit" the discussions, so it's time to get started. There are two different options for our group. Please think about each option and vote for the option you like the best.

1. Have an Absorbent Mind Yahoo! group. That would mean that we'd communicate primarily through e-mails and/or at the Yahoo! group site. We could post files for others to download, and we wouldn't have to constantly be checking a specific website. It is easy, using this method, to make quick comments on something someone else has said. This format lends itself to briefer posts and would have more of a feel of an actual, spoken discussion. That said, it's less "tidy" in the sense that it would be easy to get multiple threads going on the same topic, which can be confusing, and there wouldn't be any quick-and-easy way to read through the discussion notes in order and properly organized.
2. Have an Absorbent Mind blog. I would create the blog and then invite each of you to join as authors. We could chose to make it an open or closed blog. Each blog entry could be on one chapter (or a specific portion of one chapter) and the discussion would continue in the comments. This format would work well if we want to have longer comments, lending itself to an essay-like first post with more complete responses, dealing with the chapter/book portion in a methodical way. Of course, this would mean having to check a website on a frequent basis, and more carefully considering such things as formatting and grammar.

One way sounds like it would be perfect for the free-thinking, artistic type and the other for the analytical, mathematical type. I'd say, "let's do both!" but it would be impractical.

The other think I need to know in order to get us started is your e-mail addresses. If we do a blog I'll have to send out a specific invitation to each of you, and if we do a Yahoo! group I'll want to know that those applying to become members are actually the folks who want to participate or listen in. (Oh, those who want to "audit" this group, so to speak, are always welcome to add their thoughts and opinions as well.)

So, I'll ask those who responded indicating that they wanted to be involved in The Absorbent Mind challenge to respond to this post, letting me know which way you'd prefer the group to "meet" and what your e-mail address is.

PLEASE NOTE: The comments you submit that contain personal information - in this case, your e-mail address - will be REJECTED and will never show up on this website. The only person who will see that information is me... or possibly my husband if he happens to download the e-mail before I get to it. The information will only be used by me and I will not be sending unsolicited mail to you.

Just wanted to make that clear! Now, for a few pictures from Easter!

Ella and Her Bunnies: Sarah and Myis


The Proud Big Sister and Her Easter Treat: Eli!
(Eli's not sure that he wants to be in the basket.)


Ella Enjoys Henry.
He is the spitting image of Ella as a baby.

"The Absorbent Mind" Challenge

Eli (in blue) and Henry (in green)

It's almost 2 am here, and I'm up nursing Eli and am again thinking about something I've been wanting to do ever since the boys were born. I remember reading Maria Montessori's The Absorbent Mind and thinking that it really applied well to infancy. Many of the things I learned in that book I had already, instinctively, done with Ella. But it's time to brush up!

Books are always more enjoyable when you have someone to discuss them with, and so I'm throwing out a challenge (an easy one): who would like to read The Absorbant Mind with me? We'll be doing it at a leisurely pace, perhaps over 2-3 months, giving ourselves lots of time to absorb and discuss it.

There are a few different ways we can do this and I haven't decided which way we'd go yet. It would be nice to have the imput of others who want to be involved first. So grab your copy, or buy or borrow, and sign up! The more opinions the more interesting our reading will be. I have yet to get my own copy of the book, so you have time to get one too. Perhaps we can begin mid-April?

If you are interested, please respond to this post. In a few days (around April 1st) I will post again to co-ordinate those who wish to be involved. If you don't want to join in the reading and discussions but you do want to see our discussions, please let me know that too, just so I know whether our posts/messages should be public or not. Understand, though, that the final decision of whether our discussion is public or private will be up to the entire group, not just me.

Hope to hear from you soon!

My Boys

Photos by me. Beautiful afgan background by Zirbert's wife, she of the magic sticks and string!