The Checkerboard Lesson

 

The Checkerboard is a Montessori math material specifically designed to assist children in practicing multiplication with numbers up to 100,000,000. It is color-coded in the familiar green (units), blue (tens), and red (hundreds) colors, helping the students stay organized and compute the numbers in their equations.

This material is specifically designed to aid in complex operations with large numbers. Watch Ms. Kayla from our Lower Elementary (Classroom 206) program explain the work in detail.

 

“This system in which a child is constantly moving objects with his hands and actively exercising his senses, also takes into account a child’s special aptitude for mathematics. When they leave the material, the children very easily reach the point where they wish to write out the operation. They can thus carry out an abstract mental operation and acquire a kind of natural and spontaneous inclination for mental calculations.”  -Dr. Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child