Quantities in the Decimal System
Contents |
Age
3-6
Materials
- Loose gold beads (representing units)
- Gold bead bars of ten beads each
- 10 gold bead squares of ten bars (representing 100)
- One gold bead cube of hundred squares (representing 1,000)
- Large tray with a dish or smaller tray, used for transferring the quantities
Preparation
This is an individual presentation.
Presentation
- A unit bead, and then a ten bar is placed on the table, the child is asked to identify the quantities.
- One hundred and one thousand are presented in the same manner.
- The directress gives a three period lesson naming the quantities: unit, ten, hundred, and thousand.
- The child is then invited to examine the materials and their composition.
- The child may count the ten beads on the ten bar again.
- "The hundred is made up of ten ten bars".
- The ten-bar is placed on top of the square as the child counts.
- "The thousand is made up of 10 hundreds".
- The hundred-square is placed next to each section of the cube as the child counts.
- The directress gives the three period lesson defining the composition of the quantities.
Control Of Error
Points Of Interest
Purpose
- To develop the concept of the hierarchical orders of the decimal system: units, tens, hundreds, thousands.
- To give the child the relative measurement of the quantities: bead, bar, square, cube.
- To prepare the child for geometry concepts: point, line, surface and solid.
Variation
- This can be a small group exercise. The golden bead materials, now including the wooden hundred-squares and thousand-cubes are arranged at random on a rug.
- Each child takes a tray.
- The directress asks the child to bring a quantity. 'Bring me 4 hundreds' As each child returns with the quantity, the child identifies it, and the directress and child count it together.
- At first the child is asked to bring only one hierarchy at a time. Later he will bring all four at once.
Links
Handouts/Attachments
