“…man’s mind was mathematical by nature and that knowledge and progress came from accurate observation.”



DR. MARIA MONTESSORI

"What are the Golden Beads? " - This is a question we hear a lot from parents.  The Golden Beads are a staple Montessori material.  The materials are used for learning and understanding the decimal system and mathematical operations.  The children love this material and you will commonly see this being used in the classroom throughout most days.  In true Montessori fashion, the steps towards the operations are broken down into individual works, each mastering its own concept. Just as with the materials in Group One of math, the concrete is presented first and then followed by the abstract symbol.  The children eventually reach the point with the materials whereby they are able to do concrete math operations into the thousands place value! The children will explore with this material doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (even long division).  Through repetition and in the simplest of terms they will have a good understanding of what happens when doing mathematical operations.  They also understand the concept of carrying/regrouping or as we call it, exchanging.  They will practice this work concretely.  Working with the Golden Bead material will strengthen their understanding of the math operations, place value and exchanging.  When the child is ready for more abstract work, the transition is seamless and s(he) begins to write and solve equations on paper.  So, who's ready for a lesson?!