Seguin Board A: learning symbols

The directress does a three-period lesson with the child to teach him the names of the symbols from Seguin Board A.

The directress asks the child to bring Seguin Board A to the floor mat, reminding him how to hold it carefully with two hands. She places the number boards facing down on the right-hand side of the mat for isolation.

She places the first board of Seguin Board A on the floor mat and introduces it to the child, she then places one piece of felt above the board and she covers the bottom four number 10’s with another piece of felt. The top number 10 should be the only one that is visible.

First period: the directress begins by reminding the child that if you have a ten-bead bar and you add one unit you will get 11. She slides the number one board from the right-hand side onto the first ten so it covers the zero. She tells the child that if you have ten and you add one, you get 11. The directress tells the child “this is 11” and asks him to say 11.

The directress moves the top piece of felt to cover 11, and the bottom piece down to reveal another ten. She slides the number two board on to the next ten on the board from the right-hand side and says to the child that if you have ten and you add two, you will get 12. She tells the child “this is 12” and asks him to say 12.

She moves the top piece of felt down to cover 11 and 12, and the bottom piece down to reveal another ten. The directress then slides the number three board on to the last ten on the board. She tells the child that if you have ten and you add three, you will get 13. She tells him “this is 13”, and asks him to say 13.

Second period: the directress removes the top piece of felt so that 11, 12, and 13 are revealed. She makes sure that the bottom two hands are covered properly with another piece of felt. She spends a great deal of time in this period, asking the child to show her the different numbers she calls out for. The directress cannot remove the boards for this activity, so she should ensure that she spends a good amount of time just asking the child to show her numbers.

Third period: the directress uses the piece of felt to isolate each number again, she points at each number and asks the child to name it.

What does the child learn by doing a three-period lesson with Seguin Board A: symbols?

This activity helps the child with the correct sequence of ten numbers, it reinforces place values of tens and ones as well as helps the child grasp the concept of two-digit numbers.

Looking for more Montessori activities?

Here is a list of all the Montessori Maths activities including Early Maths, Introduction to the Decimal System, Seguin Boards, The Hundred Board, The Short Bead Stair, Bead Chains, The Snake Game, Group Operations, The Large Number Rods, Recording with the Small Number Rods, The Short Bead Stair, The Strip Boards, The Boards, The Stamp Game, The Abacus, The Dot Game, and Fractions. Just click on the page you want to learn about to go there.