Mathematics Materials: A Photo Journey

I started two separate posts, but there is so much overlap here! The materials can be pricey or tricky to make at first, but, as noted, most of it goes for several years!


A photo journey of our primary mathematics materials:

Numbers 1-10 (the candle is for decoration, polishing,
and it makes a neat representative of the number 1 ;)
Basket underneath for golden bead collections.
Most of this material is JUST for primary.
(except the small bead frame!)

There is also a small bead frame- but if you know you are going to do elementary as well, get the large bead frame and use for both (that is what we did). The dot game is downloadable. Teens and tens boards can be made of paper and cardstock (that was ours!). The memorization charts can be downloaded.



A photo journey of both primary and elementary Montessori materials:

At-home multi-purpose use ;)
This material is used FOREVER in Montessori!
It is WORTH it to have every piece of it - do NOT skimp here. 

Mathematics mats - especially for primary

Circle fractions are for both primary AND elementary

Division with Racks and Tubes
Test Tube Division
Can be used in primary for short division
Elementary for short and long division
and the materials can be used SEVERAL other places as well

Golden bead material - 45 of each, 9 thousands
(only one non-AMI primary presentations needs
more than 9 thousands - and you can make those)

Decanomial bead bar box - we get away with one box
by adding a few bars of pony beads on colored pipe cleaners.
Primary and Elementary
AND you can use this material for SO MUCH - just pull from it what you need!

The stamp game, large bead frame - belong here. Also, get a negative snake game and you'll have all you need for all the snake games.




A photo journey of JUST elementary Montessori materials:

flat bead from for elementary only

Elementary: power of 2 cube
(power of 3 cube is NOT necessary)

Montessori Protractor - this one is 0 - 360
Another one goes 0 - 100
Both are necessary in some form. 

Fraction skittles for division.
Some albums have them in primary for another purpose.
They are intended for dividing fractions by fractions
at the elementary level. 

sample of squaring and cubing in elementary
all material comes from the bead cabinet

too pretty of a picture not to share!
all material comes from the bead cabinet

Decimal Checkerboard for multiplying decimal fractions (decimals)

There is more I have not yet pictured: the squaring and cubing material; the pegboards.

Mathematics is huge! The nice thing is that primary materials DO carry over; and there is a good deal of the elementary material that can be consolidated, or made of paper, cardstock, or other items around the house, along with a few basic purchases. Or is multi-purpose for both primary and elementary with slight modification.

While this area is the most intense, materials-wise, it is also the most efficacious of all the Montessori materials. It is worth every second and every penny! 

:) 

Multiplying Sum by a Sum

Legoboy loved this work intensely - for about 3 weeks. Then he's done. He found the shortcut of adding up the quantities within parentheses and then multiplying, so we had to move on to unknown quantities to keep him practicing the proper procedure!

The idea is to start with lower numbers, with bead bars within one set of parentheses and number cards in a second set of parentheses; then show proper procedure for multiplying each bead bar by each "command card", finding partial answers and later putting them all together into the final product. We turn over the multipliers (commands) not being used, so that we isolate just the one individual being used at the moment.

Talk about good habit-forming right from the beginning and before EVER doing the abstractly!

So. He LOVED the work. And he loves drawing. But for some reason, he always rushed through the few drawings he made of his work onto graph paper. Go figure! Here is a sample - he started off well except for parentheses ;) As Grandma says: Funny boy!
(ordinarily the partial answers are placed underneath their corresponding bead work - not to the right as he shows it here - but he likes to have all of his work of this sort fit onto one piece of paper when possible). He still had the final product on a different piece of paper which he then tucked away somewhere I can't find to show you all! He does that with his favorite work until he is ready to share. I can't complain! At least he wrote the numerical answer at the bottom :)

Sample of 2-sum by 3-sum

1 unit by a sum of 2 addends, then switch it around. 

sum by a sum - basic presentation :) 

Primary Language Materials: Photo Journey

In no particular order, language-related photos I have - some with materials we've made - some with materials we've purchased or borrowed or were gifted:

Zoology and Botany classification cards
with definitions
A few samples of these are nice to have in the classroom or homeschool
focus on keys, then add an interest or two
Thereafter, find outline pictures online and invite the child to
"do research" to find the names of the parts
(so books on the subject would be great!)

small movable alphabet -
punctuation marks are missing from these boxes
the backsides of each letter should have the capital as well
perhaps if I'd made them with the capitals,
Legoboy wouldn't have struggled with them as much ;)
****This material carries over into elementary -
have blue, red, and black on hand for sure*****

wooden grammar symbols - genius!
****Carries over to elementary!*****

Our original handmade metal insets
Not so metal - they are foamboard
do it again? I would either buy them or cut from wood
or from mat board (picture frame backing)
***ALTERNATIVE: just get the geometry cabinet and use
the shapes from those drawers!****

Now, we also had beautiful living books, focused on reality - with a variety of beautiful artwork (nothing cartoon-like).

We read from the Bible - not from Bible storybooks.

We did a lot of artwork, which helps with handwriting and strengthening those muscles, thus the fraction insets (circles, squares and triangles) were utilized in various setting (we did not have these at home at the time, but I wish we had!). The circle fractions begin in primary and continue into elementary mathematics, with the squares and triangles presented in elementary geography.

We spoke whole-language - real words, full sentences. Yes, we played silly word games at times, but our usual conversations were imbued with respect for the child's intelligence - something hard to fight against in our culture that uses the wrong verb tense and pronouns for the youngest children. Mother-ese is WONDERFUL - but it shouldn't be used on a 2 year old except briefly in silly-snuggle time for just a moment. ;) "Him so beautifuls" being not quite right for a child over a few months old who is absorbing the rules of language. hehe.


These things (pretend stories, awful artwork, poor language) won't destroy a child, but they sure won't build him up and they could certainly slow him down. Everyone who asks my advice because they have been doing these things and have older children - just adjust now. Slowly purge the old books by adding in or emphasizing the good ones; remove the least loved of the others first, and faze out the usual favorites. But save the good literature for elementary! (Beatrix Potter, Wind in the Willows, Fairy Tales --- these are all moral tales and have a profound place in elementary!) Speak in whole, rich language, with a large vocabulary - provide very simple and short explanations only when obviously needed (child asks). If the child says the wrong thing, such as "pretty kitty" instead of cat or kitten, you say, "Yes, this is a lovely cat (or kitten depending on the age of the cat!). So you are giving another name for pretty, teaching its meaning in context without needing a definition, AND providing the accurate word for the age of the creature. No correction necessary :)

Practical Life in Elementary - Primary works?

There are some primary practical life skills that can still be worked on in elementary - whether because the child needs extra practice or because there was no primary level experience - or because of a significant emotional event that causes a child to backslide a bit. In these cases, a specific tray for a specific skill could be set up. But clear it away as soon as it is no longer a work of meditation, development of concentration and skill practice. Once one of those three components falls away, remove the material and offer alternatives that use that skill and continue to develop concentration. We do NOT want the children "hiding" behind work or choosing work simply to be "busy". We do want them fulfilling their inner needs - and YES sometimes that means a simpler activity already mastered. We just need to have the proper balance of work options --- an older child wanting to do some simple pouring, could pour drinks for snack/meals, prepare various works for other children that require pouring, etc. At home, go play in the bathtub with some pouring items - and get clean in the meantime ;)

1st grader practicing pouring between two pitchers
Skill needed: not touching the pitchers to each other

For the most part in elementary, practical life just looks more practical. There are not a gazillion individual trays, one for each skill. BUT in addition to having perhaps 1 or 2 trays to work on a particular primary level skill, you might put together a basket or box of items that go with a research project or a chosen area of study - just to keep the materials together. One example might be a basket that has mapping skills pulled together as an activity box for the children. This would be more appropriate for at home rather than at school, where those same materials will be displayed differently (according to each school). At home: a nice activity basket :) 

World Puzzle Map at Home

Montessori teachers generally highly recommend not to have duplicate materials at home and at school.

For the most part, I agree.

But there are always moments that make you say, "hmm."

And this was one :)


Junior Legoboy (he had not yet discovered legos at this time of his life!) was in an AMI primary Montessori school for his 3 year old year. First thing of interest is that he started to write at home - writing out the letters to spell "thank you" on his after-Christmas cards - but he wouldn't write at home - OOPS! Meant to say *school* - he would NOT write at school - and it's not like we spent that much time at home that year for him to be distracted by duplicate materials at home. I had tucked away all of our Montessori materials so he would focus on them at school. But he just wouldn't write at school!


One day, at home, he pulled out a world puzzle map we had there (yes out of storage, without my permission), and proceeded to do work he'd seen the older children doing at school.

This photo became the cover of my sensorial album!
Please ignore his clothes hanging in the closet behind him ;) 

Assembling the puzzle outside of the frame,
with no outer border reference. 

So in this case, we certainly had moments where he went deeper with the work at home than he did at school. I'm not drawing any significant conclusions from these observations - just something to say, "hmmm."


Yes, this material was in my sensorial album - not a separate geography area. I had sensorial aspects of the world in sensorial, with the appropriate language activities in the language album. I personally found this layout to be SUCH a relief after having spent several years finagling with multiple subject albums - 4 was such a blessed relief! It certainly helped me to organize the patterns and connections in a way I just didn't "see" before despite the number of years in Montessori environments!