Number Rods

I neglected my number rods because i thought its purpose was only to teach the child numbers from one to ten. Until, i read Leptir's blog! I never knew the extra lessons such as additions, that came with this material! I was inspired!

First, we determine the number on each rods. I then began my additions activity.

10 + 4 =?

I started by asking N to pass me 14 rods. Of course, he looked confused. I instructed him to hand me rod number 10 and 4. I joined the two rods together and we counted the total number which was 14. I told N 10 and 4 makes 14! He was amused! He quickly returned the rods and waited anxiously for my next instructions.

I asked for 19, 11, 12 etc, he was quick to catch the concept and handed me the correct number of rods. :)

Next, i showed him other additions. I took number rod 2 and 3 and joined them together to make 5. I placed the number rod 5 above the 2 joint rods and showed him that they were the same (length). From here, he has learnt and remember that 2+3=5! We also dabbled with 5+4=9.

 As an impromptu, i showed N a 'trick'. First, i laid the rods according the height/numerals.

I took 10 and 1 to make one rod (which makes 11), 9 and 2 to make another rod (to make another 11), 8 and 3...so on. With this, we made a block! We did over and over and each time i would recite, 10 + 1 = 11, 9+2 also equals 11...etc.

I had much fun with this. THank you Leptir once again! Do hop over to her site, she has given a comprehensive tutorial on this activity!

I have to add this, you really don't need a montessori material to do this. Don't spend that unnecessary money ( i only realised this AFTER i bought my set). You can do this activity EASILY with Lego sets too- just make sure you build them in alternate colors (blue, red, blue, red etc). Otherwise, there are many free downloads you can print. Granted they might not be 3 dimensional, but i feel if its able to bring the message across accurately, that's fine!