One child brings down the units from the top of the mat, places them all together, and counts them.
The child collects and places the corresponding large number cards below the beads.
The second child brings down the tens, counts them and places the corresponding number cards below them.
The hundreds and thousands are brought down and counted and labelled as before.
When all the beads are counted and all the corresponding quantities in number cards have been places below them, the cards are then overlapped.
The large overlapped cards are then placed below the small number cards, which have remained on the right hand side of the mat.
The Montessori Directress then recaps, saying “We started with 1431 beads and added 1232 and now we have a larger number, 2663.”
Always restate the sum, pointing out to the children that two numbers were added together to make one large number. This is reflected in the size of the cards.
