Introduction to Decimal System
Naming the Golden Beads
A three period lesson isolating a unit, a ten, a hundred, a thousand, on a small tray, on a mat on the floor.
Material
- One golden bead unit,
- One bar of ten golden beads,
- One square of ten bars,
- One cube (composed of ten squares piled one on top of the other)
Direct aim
To familiarize the child with the different categories of numbers in the decimal system as well as to acquaint him with the actual difference in size between, quantities of units, quantities of 10s, quantities, of 100s, and quantities of thousands. So, for example, the difference between 6 units, 6 tens, 6 100s, and 6 1000s.
Age of great interest
4 years onwards.
First Period Lesson: This is ___
- “This is one, one unit. Would you like to take it and count it?”
- “Now how many units are there on this bar? Would you like to count?-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.-That is called a ten”.
- “Here we have a collection of tens. Count them, this also has a special name, a hundred.”
- “This big cube is a collection of hundreds. How many are there?”-“10 hundreds-yes -a thousand.”
If the child has difficulty in counting the hundreds, make up the thousand with 10 separate hundreds. It is important that the child grasps fully that 1,000 is 10 hundreds.
Second Period Lesson: Can you find _______?
- Mix the material.
- Ask if one of the children can find the 100, another the 10, another the 1,000 and so on. The material is mixed after each turn.
- Encourage the children to count the beads as much as possible.
Third Period: What is this?
- Pick up the thousand and ask a child “What is this?”
- Ask him to count it. He may count it first if he wishes.
- This is repeated with the other categories.
Decimal Count Up
Material
- 9 unit beads in a small dish
- 9 ten-bars
- 9 hundred squares
- 9 thousand cube
- a felt lined tray, one for units and tens, one for hundreds, and one for thousands
- a small felt table mat
Direct Aim
To learn the terms one hundred and one thousand in association with their quantities. The child understands the relative values of 1, 10, 100, and 1,000.
Age of Interest
4½ to 5½ years
Presentation
- Take the tray containing the material to the child’s table.
- Spread the mat on his table and sit next to him.
- Bring first the dish containing the unit beads, put them out one by one, letting the child count them as you go, put them one under the other as if to make a ten-bar.
- When 9 is reached explain to the child that if there was one more it would be ten.
- Bring the ten bar to the mat, replace the units.
- Count out the 9 ten-bars and then explain if there was one more it would be one hundred.
- Continue until 1,000 is reached.
- Place the 9 cubes in a line counting them.
Creating Decimal Numbers
Material
-
- 9 unit beads
- 9 ten-bars
- 9 hundred squares
- 9 thousand cubes
- 3 felt lined trays
- felt table mat
Direct Aim
To understand the decimal system.
Age of Interest
4½ to 5½ years
Exercises
This is a small group exercise for two or three children who have reached the same stage.
- Give each child a felt lined tray and ask him to give you e.g. 3 tens or 4 hundreds etc. Repeat this many times.
- Put a quantity of beads on the tray and ask the child to count them.
- Ask the child to put a mixed quantity on the tray building up to a four figure number.
- Put a mixed quantity on the child’s tray and ask him to count it. Repeat many times.