montessori materials – Rowntree Montessori Schools

Not everyone will agree that math can be fun but the students at Rowntree Montessori Schools love math. As the great, William Paul Thurston stated, “mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms; it is about understanding”. The teachers at RMS are excellent at teaching one of our core subjects, math, and fostering a love of this subject.

Rowntree Montessori School students shopping during Math Day

Math is one of the core subjects taught in Prep-ONE (Senior Kindergarten) that we teach at Rowntree Montessori Schools (RMS). During our math circle time, we start the year with counting from 1 to 100, counting by 2s to 20, and 5s and 10s to 100. We often make this engaging for students by adding songs because studies how that children learn well when lessons are fun. We teach students greater than and less than, as well as before and after numbers (up to 100). Students really enjoy this because the lessons are conducted using Montessori manipulative materials. These materials include number cards and object counters.

We also teach our students addition and subtraction to 10 using the Montessori Addition and Subtraction Boards. When students are learning double-digit addition and subtraction, we use the Stamp Game. This provides children with a learning tool that they can touch and see. At an early age, we also introduce 2D and 3D shapes, sorting, time by the hour,m and by the half hour, graphing, fractions, and place value.

Recently, our students learned about Canadian money which they used it in a real-life setting, during our annual “Math Day.” On this day our whole school transformed into a shopping mall and all of our students became shoppers. They learned how to purchase items and budget their mock money to buy toys, books, clothing, etc. Another exciting activity was teaching our students about “place value” through the use of Montessori materials. In this activity, students were able to create numbers by using the Montessori Golden Beads.

As a Kindergarten teacher, I can truly say that our Math programme is well-organized, and well balanced to suit the needs and learning styles of our young children. Our programme is truly ahead of the Ministry set guidelines. I look forward to many more years of watching our young students build a love for math, as they become interested in it through well thought-out activities and an excellent planned curriculum.