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The Bead Cabinet

Maria Montessori couldn't believe the little children in San Lorenzo were stealing her rosary beads. She tried hard to imagine how they could be so disrespectful. Then one day Maria observed as 2 children took her rosary and began to count the beads, then broke the rosary apart and re strung it in sets of ten! She decided to create the bead cabinet.

The bead cabinet is made of these 4 parts:

1. Short bead chains 1-10.
The beads are strung in 1 set of 1, 2 sets of 2, 3 sets of 3...etc. mathematically they represent numbers- squared and shapes triangle through decagon

2. Numbers-squared 1-10.
If a child accordion folds a short bead chain, the result matches with a bead square. This activity can be done with children as young as 3. When bead squares are stacked 10-1, children have a concrete representation of the sum of squares (s.o.s.)

3. Long bead chains 1-10.
  These chains represent numbers cubed. 

4. Numbers-cubed 1-10.
If a child accordion folds a long bead chain, there is a concrete representation of multiple numbers-squared, all adding to numbers-cubed.

We have been working with bead chains all week. Follow up at home by making sets of numbers. start with making sets of 5  and sets of 10 using small objects such as cheerios, pennies, paperclips or marshmallows.

Happy Counting!!!

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