Math ~ The Unit Division Board

Our oldest students (those who will begin grade one in September) have been doing a lot of work with the Mathematics exercises which focus on the memorization of the four operations - Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.  They have a firm grasp of their addition and subtraction facts and are now focussing on the memorization of their multiplication and division facts.  One of the materials used for the introduction and eventual memorization of division facts is The Unit Division Board.

This is a picture of the Unit Division Board material.  It consists of a board with eighty-one little indentations, eighty-one green unit beads, nine green skittles and a green cup.

As with all Montessori lessons, the language used is very specific.  In the simpliest terms, division is sharing a quantity evenly.  Keeping this in mind, the green unit beads seen in the above photograph represent the dividend, the quantity we will attempt to share evenly.  The green skittles seen in the above photograph represent the divisor, the number of people we will share our dividend with.  Our answer is the quotient.  The quotient is what one person gets.  The remainder is any amount that cannot be shared equally.  Note that the remainder cannot be larger than the divisor.

To illustrate how the board is used, we have opened our Division booklet to a dividend of 49. 

  

 

With a dividend of 49, the child would place 49 green unit beads into the green cup.  The child would begin with a divisor of 9.  The child would place 9 green skittles across the top of the board. 

The child would begin sharing the dividend moving from left to right.  Each skittle (divisor) will receive the same amount of beads.

After the child has shared the beads 5 times, s/he realizes that there are only 4 remaning in the green cup.  This is not enough to share evenly with 9 skittles.  In his/her Division booklet the child writes a quotient of 5 with a remainder of 4.

The next question in the Division booklet is 49 divided by 8.  The child would remove one of the green skittles and share the 49 unit beads. 

When the child has shared the beads 6 times, s/he is unable to continue as only 1 bead remains in the green cup.  In his/her Division booklet, the child writes a quotient of 6 with a remainder of 1. 

When the child shares 49 beads with 7 skittles, the beads are shared evenly with no remainder. 

In his/her Division booklet the child writes a quotient of 7 with a remainder of 0.

The Division booklet enables the child to explore dividends from 1 to 81 and is done over a period of time.

Here are some photographs of a child working with this material.  He is working with a dividend of 4.

The purpose of this material is to make the child familiar with the ways in which numbers may be divided.  Not every number is evenly divisible and some are divisible by only a few numbers.  The exercise described above is the first exercise with this material.  In later exercises, the child uses this material to explore the relationship between multiplication and division.  It is quite a fascinating piece of material and one the children enjoy working with.



Pajama Day!

Today was Pajama Day at our little yellow school.  Everyone came to school in their pajamas.  We all felt so cozy and comfortable.  We had a fun day of Music class, baking cookies and enjoying one another's company. 

Here are two pictures of our whole group in their pajamas.

Happy Days at Our Little Yellow School ~ Our First Week Back

This is a picture of our little yellow school and some of the teachers and children.  It was drawn by E. who was four at the time.

This was our first week back at school after our two week holiday break.  The children were so happy to be back at school.  It was lovely to see their bright, smiling faces again and to be surrounded by their positive energy and their excitement for learning. 

This is a picture of M.'s friends here at school.  She was five when she drew the picture.

I asked many of the children why they were so eager to come back to school.  The most common answer was that they missed their friends and their teachers.  One little four year old girl told me that she couldn't wait to come back because she wanted to hug me.  That was so sweet, and yes, the teachers got lots of hugs this week.  I was pleasantly surprised by how many mentioned that they wanted to come back to finish their printing book or math book or to take their reading book bag home again.   The children have been working very productively this week. 

The answer given by one five year old, A., summed it up best.  A. is the one in the pink sweater in the picture below.

"I like coming to school because we're attached."

Yes, we definitely are.  All of us at our little yellow school are looking forward to many more happy days together in 2013.

What's In the Bag? ~ The Making of A Present for Our Families

At this time of the year, the children at our little yellow school make a holiday present for their parents.  This year we decided to try something a little different that also incorporated some learning.  The parents at our school were all wondering about the contents of the bag with many waiting until Christmas morning to open it.  I promised I would write about the making of the present after Christmas so as not to spoil the surprise.  So, what's in the bag?

We started with a few basic ingredients ~  flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and a trusty recipe.  Measuring spoons and cups were set out for the children.

Each child measured their own ingredients and placed them in a bowl.

They then mixed all of their ingredients together.

The teachers placed the mixture into individual bags along with a copy of the recipe.

Can you guess what we made?

It is a pancake mix!  At home, the children can help add the wet ingredients.  The children had so much fun making this mix.  We hope that our students and their families enjoy this very tasty treat! 

Holiday Happenings

The holidays are always an enjoyable time at our little yellow school.

This year the holidays began with the celebration of Hanukkah.  Each classroom had their own menorah.

We learned some Hanukkah songs and played spin the dreidel with Mrs. L., our Music teacher.

E.'s mom (he is the little boy in the middle of the picture above) brought in potato latkes for the whole school.  They were delicious!

Each classroom also had their own Christmas tree which the children decorated.

 

Here are pictures of the decorated trees.

 

The highlight of the holiday season is the visit from Santa!  Mrs. P. is in communication with Santa and he always makes sure he pays a visit to the children at our school.  We are thrilled to have him as we know how busy he is at this time of the year.

Wishing you a very happy holiday and a 2013 filled with good things!

Laughing on the Inside ~ Things the Children Say

Children really do say some of the funniest things and the children at our school are no exception.  The things they say are so genuine and reflect how they interpret the world around them.  Often, it is difficult for the teachers to keep a straight face.

Here are snippets of conversations with children at our little yellow school that kept us laughing on the inside.


Spiderman

In the full day classroom, we have a 3 1/2 year old who is quite possibly Spiderman's biggest fan.  Can you see the Spiderman watch that he is wearing?

One day, I was doing the Sandpaper Letters with L.  On that particular day I was wearing a necklace that I don't usually wear.  L. kept staring at my necklace and couldn't seem to focus on the Sandpaper Letters. 

Here is what he said:

L.:   Mrs. P. I really like your necklace.

Mrs. P.:  Thank you.

L.:  It looks just like Spiderman's web!

Although I never looked at my necklace in quite that way, coming from L., this is truly the highest compliment I could receive.


Another Planet

On Halloween, we had a party at school.  Everyone wore a costume, including the teachers.  One of the teachers in the half-day classroom, Miss N., wore a sari with a little jewel in the middle of her eyebrows.  3 1/2 year old E. was very curious about Miss N.'s 'costume'.

Miss N. took out the map of the continents and explained to E. that she was born in another country, India.  It is a country in the continent of Asia and is very far away from North America.  In India, many women wear saris.  E. seemed very satisfied with this explanation.

When E. and her mom arrived at school the next day, E.'s mom told them what E. had said about Miss N.

"Mom, did you know that Miss N. is from another planet!  It is very far away."


Brothers

Four year old E. and her friend were having a discussion about their families.  They were talking about how many brothers and sisters they had and how old they were.  E. recently became a big sister for the second time.  E. then asked me about my siblings.

E.:  Do you have any sisters?

Mrs. P.:  No, I don't.

E.:  Do you have any brothers?

Mrs. P.:  Yes.  I have one.

E.:  How old is he?

Mrs. P.:  He is 41.

E. pauses for a moment to take this in and then responds.


E.:  41!  That's a grown-up!  That's not a brother!


E. later told me that my brother should be around 4, not 41.

  

Our Annual Food Drive

Last week we held our annual Food Drive for our local food bank.  As always, our school community has been very generous with their donations.  Our goal was to collect enough food to go around the line we sit on during our circle time.   On our last day, we were able to go around our circle line two times! 

Here are a few pictures of the children with some of the food we collected.