Math is an essential building block to your child’s future success—both in school and in life. It starts with counting and adding, but ultimately an understanding of math is the foundation for skills such as abstract thinking, reasoning, calculating, planning, and measurement. And children typically become interested in the rudiments of working with numbers as early as age four.
Montessori takes a unique, practical approach to teaching children the essential basics of math so they learn it effectively. Here’s what sets our teaching apart from the rote approach of traditional schools.
Montessori Gives Serious Attention to Academics
One of the assumptions about early education classrooms is that the focus is on play and socialization, not academic skills. But in a Montessori setting, learning doesn’t take a backseat. In fact, creative fun and collaboration form the basis of understanding formal concepts that mathematics is built upon.
You can expect your son or daughter to enjoy their Montessori class, while also gaining strong abilities in real math that will serve them well in life. They will discover vital skills including:
- An understanding of place value (aka, decimals)
- Counting, including the idea that once you pass 9, a new round of “numbers” begins
- Quantity, including the idea that “larger” numbers can represent longer lengths, heavier weights, and bigger sizes
- Mathematical operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squaring, and cubing
- The concept of zero, developed through manipulation of empty materials
As students gain greater knowledge of math, their ability to reason and form logical conclusions also grows. They come to understand both concepts as well as the rules behind the concepts—which gives your son or daughter a firm foundation for future science and math studies.
What Math Concepts Are Taught in Our Classrooms?
Discovery of Patterns Rather Than Rote Memorization
Unlike traditional classrooms, the Montessori style of teaching math doesn’t revolve around memorization of facts. Why? Because memorizing something doesn’t mean you understand it. Our educators want your son or daughter to grasp the concepts that underlie mathematics.
Instead of rote recitation of facts, our classrooms take students through different materials and activities, such as the Collective Exercises, the Stamp Game, the Dot Game, and the Snake Game. All of these fun, interactive exercises give children many opportunities to play with math and gain understanding of it in a way that keeps them engaged in learning.
Appealing Materials to Aid in Learning Basic Mathematical Concepts
To ground the abstract concepts of math, our students work with appealing physical materials that are designed to make numerical discoveries a delight. These tactile materials include pleasing natural wood blocks and rods in attractive colors and styles, as well as shiny glass beads that are easy for little fingers to grasp and count.
As your child sees and holds the glass beads, they learn through experimentation that the beads can be linked to form bars and cubes. Every time ten beads are linked, the shape changes in front of your child’s eyes, and so does its weight. This allows students to discover through tactile experiences the ideas of decimals, base 10 mathematics, and concepts such as “more” and “less.”
These beads, blocks, and rods are also used for math lessons throughout a child’s time in Montessori. Younger students use these attractive materials to practice simple counting, while older students use them for lessons on addition, subtraction, squaring and cubing numbers, and more.
Students Move from Concrete to Abstract Concepts
Rather than starting students on memorizing abstract facts that they haven’t understood yet, Montessori introduces your son or daughter to mathematical ideas in concrete ways first. This is because young children learn best through physical interaction with their world and taking in discoveries through sensory learning. As they experiment, they come to understand how our world works.
This approach is essential to helping children learn math in a way that makes it intuitive and approachable, rather than mysterious and confusing. Your child will use Montessori materials to physically count, add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Only after they have learned these skills do they move into memorizing facts—so that those facts have a basis in physical reality that your child can relate to and understand. This sense of competence equips them to tackle higher-level math with a sense of confidence.
Practical Uses of Math Skills
As we’ve pointed out, mathematics can feel mysterious and theoretical unless it is taught in a way that makes it understandable. Yet math is also something that helps us measure our lives and our environment in practical, everyday ways—so it’s vital for students to grasp it. In keeping with Montessori’s commitment to teaching children relatable life skills, our teachers guide students into understanding essential real-world numerical concepts such as:
- Time – Your child is introduced to the clock and telling time to the hour and half-hour.
- Money – Different coins and bills are used so students can learn their value and practice counting money.
- Measurement – Children experiment with rulers and tape measures, learning how to measure inches and feet, as well as understanding how sizes can vary.
- Temperature – A thermometer is part of the classroom, connecting numbers to different levels of warmth and cold, as well as weather patterns.
- Calendar – Students learn the days of the week, months of the year, and seasons in order.
Discover the Power of a Montessori Education for Your Child
Primary Montessori’s early education classrooms will give your child a strong understanding of essential math concepts such as numeration, quantity, place value (decimals), and mathematical operations. On that foundation, they’ll be able to build higher-level math skills for elementary school and beyond.
Parents appreciate the Montessori approach to mastering math! See for yourself what our students’ families are saying about the powerful difference our classes make for their sons and daughters.