This is Rheya, one of the children in my wife’s and my little Montessori schoolhouse. She is learning numbers, BIG numbers.
Before this photo was taken I had said to Rheya: “Bring me nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine.” Her response: “That is going to be heavy. But I’m strong.” Then she went to it.
In Montessori, children learn math hands-on — literally. In this case Rheya was carrying a tray with printout cards of the numbers 9000, 900, 90, and 9, along with specific materials she collected that correspond to each number: so nine wooden thousand cubes for 9,000; nine wooden hundred squares for 900; nine bead bars of ten for 90; and nine glass unit beads for 9.
Added up that’s 9,999.
Although Rheya is only five years old she is counting into the thousands. (For reference, Common Core Standards have children doing this in 3rd grade, i.e. as eight-year-olds.)
And Rheya is clearly loving the learning, as all children can if offered a prepared environment with the right approach to math.
If you’re curious to dive a little deeper into what makes all this work so well, listen to the podcast episode Montessori Math; or for a more general overview of Montessori education, see the video below.
All the best!
-Jesse | La Casa, Montessori Schoolhouse