Seguin Board B: learning symbols

The directress does a three-period lesson with the child to teach him the names of the symbols from10-90. She shows the child how to carry the box containing the boards carefully to the floor mat, and introduces Seguin Board B to the child.

She shows the child how to place a piece of felt above the board and to cover the bottom four numbers with another piece of felt. Only the top ten should be visible.

First period: the directress begins by pointing to the ten and asking the child what number it is, the child should say ‘ten’.

She then moves the top piece of felt down to cover ten and the bottom piece down to reveal twenty. She tells the child that when we have two tens we call it twenty. She points to twenty and tells the child that “this is twenty” and asks him to say twenty.

The directress repeats in the same manner for thirty.

Second period: the directress removes the top piece of felt to reveal 10, 20, and 30, she ensures that the bottom piece of felt is covering the unused numbers. The directress spends a great deal of time in this period asking the child to show her different numbers.

Third period: the directress uses the piece of felt to isolate each number. She points to each one and asks the child to name it.

The directress consolidates the lesson by reiterating what was learnt that day, only if he has grasped the concept. The directress uses the felt again here to reveal 10, 20, and 30.

What the child learns by doing this activity

This activity helps the child recognize symbols from 10-90, it helps him sequence tens correctly from 10-90, as well as this activity reinforces the concept of place value in 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.