Introducing math master. The nursery child must understand the base ten number system in order to write numerals correctly. It is known that the first operation learned in early mathematics is counting but it is not well understood that there are more primary concepts upon which counting is based. They are sets, mapping, cardinal number and order. The notion of set to young children, is the collection of objects in a group considered as a whole. For example, a young child can differentiate thus, “These are mine and those are yours.” Mapping involves one to one. For example, the child may distribute objects to a certain number of people and based on whether there is just enough, less or more, the child learns the quantities required. Math Master is designed to help the pre-nursery child grasp basic mathematics concepts. The child learns by absorbing items in a way that reveals their functions and essential idea rather than through memorization. The activities are introductory concepts and the child should not be expected to know them or work alone. An adult must guide the child’s learning. The concepts here may be presented to very young children as familiarization exercises through discussion and object exploration rather than abstract completion of exercises. Montessori urges teachers to observe the child’s errors and think of them as an indication of the child's level of understanding rather than something that must be corrected. According to her, “contradicting the child makes him unsure of himself, because without the necessary cognitive structure, the child has no way of understanding why his way is not right.” Teachers should therefore focus on helping children understand concepts rather than correcting. The Math Master serves as a companion for the activities the teacher presents in class. The book should be used as a representation of the teachers concrete presentation of concepts. In this book, children are exposed to a variety of math concepts of: seriating, transitivity, conservation, reversibility, corollary, ordinal and cardinal numbers; through a variety of activities on: Rote counting and the sequence of numbers 1 to 10. Counting forward to 5 and backwards from 5. Identification and counting of numbers, colours, shapes, animals, objects, parts of the body, Drawing objects and number outlines. Matching and sorting by concepts. Picture story relating to numbers. Comparison, finding similarities and differences, size discrimination, more or less. Completing patterns and numbers. One to one correspondence. Missing and positioning of numbers. Addition and subtraction games.
Table of contents
Forming the shapes of numbers - “1”
1
Number outline of “1” and picture
2
Identification of single shapes
3
Link items that match by object similarity
4
Picture story by grouping - relating to “1”
5
Forming the shapes of numbers - “2”
6
Number outline of “2” and pictures
7
Identification of double shapes
8
Link items that match by function
9
Picture story by grouping - relating to “2”
10
Forming the shapes of numbers - “3”
11
Number outline of “3” and pictures
12
Identification of tripple shapes
13
Link items that match by size and object similarity
14
Picture story by grouping - relating to “3”
15
Forming the shapes of numbers - “1, 2, 3.”
16
Comparison - one more or less to 3
17
Comparison - similarities and differences to 3
18
Number and pattern completion
19
Identification of quantities to 3
20
Identification of symbols of numbers to 5
21
Addition games to 3
22
Subtraction games to 3
23
Pattern completion
24
One to one correspondence to 5
25
Forming the shapes of numbers - “4”
26
Number outline of “4” and pictures
27
Identification of quadruple shapes
28
Link items that match by quantity
29
Picture story by grouping - finding “4”
30
Table of contents
Forming the shapes of numbers - “5”
31
Number outline of “5” and pictures
32
Identification of single shapes - 5
33
Link items that match by animal similarity
34
Picture story by grouping - relating to “5”
35
Forming the shapes of numbers - “4 & 5”
36
Comparison - one more or less to 5
37
Counting animals to 5
38
Sorting by multiple concepts
39
Position numbers
40
Forming the shapes of numbers - “1 to 5”
41
Hidden partners of 4
42
Sorting objects by multiple concepts
43
Writing numbers to 5
44
Hidden partners of 5
45
Link items that match by quantity
46
Addition games to 5
47
Subtraction games to 5
48
Drawing shapes
49
Link quantities to symbols of numbers
50
Fill in the missing numbers
51
Comparing hieghts
52
Link items that match by shape
53
Picture story by shapes
54
Comparison - more or less
55
Counting how many of each
56
Number, pattern completion - hat
57
Number, pattern completion - butterfly
58
Counting backwards with songs
59
Hop-scotch number game
60