Numeration of the Decimal System

Exercise 4

Group Game Matching Numbers and Quantities

MATERIAL:

PURPOSE:

To combine the written symbols with the quantities.

AGE:

4 and 1/2 to 5 1/2 years

EXERCISE:

A group exercise for a few children.
 
The large number cards are laid out on one table in four columns with units on the right and thousands on the left. The golden beads are set out in sequence on a green felt mat on another table. Only one hierarchy at a time is used at first. The teacher puts a quantity, two hundred squares, for example, on the tray. She shows it to the children and asks how much it is. When the children say, "200", she asks who would like to take the tray and put the numeral "200" by the quantity. A child takes the tray, finds the "200" card, and puts it beside the squares on the tray. The beads and card are replaced. The teacher makes another quantity and the children tell her the amount she has made. A child finds the corresponding numeral and so on.
 
The exercise can be reversed another time. The teacher can put a card on the tray, for example "3000." The children read it and a child fetches three thousand cubes.
 
When the children are doing the work easily, the teacher can compose quantities using more than one hierarchy. The children tell her what she has made and someone fetches the corresponding numeral or the teacher makes a numeral and a child fetches the corresponding quantity.
 
The children will need to practice until they finally reach the point where they can make any quantity or read any numeral up to 9999 without hesitation.