The Abacus: formation of a number
How this activity is presented
The directress begins the activity by reminding the child of the different quantities of the beads on the abacus. The directress then tells the child that they will be forming numbers on the abacus. She asks the child to make a number, for example, 5 units. The child then pushes the beads back to the left-hand side once he has made the number.
The directress then asks the child to make another number, for example, 2 tens and 3 units. She gradually moves onto more difficult numbers for him to make, for example, 2 thousands, 3 hundreds, 4 tens, and 5 units. The directress gives the child a lot of practice in forming numbers with the abacus. She can also make numbers herself and ask the child to say what they are.
This is a wonderful testing game for the directress to see where the child is at.