Fractions (presentation two)

How is a three-period lesson done with the Montessori Fractions?

The directress does a three-period lesson with the child to teach him the names of the different fractions.

First period: the directress places the ‘whole’ on the mat and tells him what it is called. She traces the outline of the ‘whole’ by holding it with her left hand and tracing around the back edge of it in an anticlockwise direction with her right hand.

She places it on the mat and asks the child to feel it, she then asks him to say a ‘whole’ and replaces it back in the frame. She repeats in the same manner with a ‘half’ and a ‘third’.

Second period: the directress places all three insets on the mat. She spends a great deal of time in this period asking the child to feel and point out the different insets. The directress then replaces them back in their frames.

Third period: the directress isolates each inset one at a time, asking the child to name them.

The directress consolidates the lesson by placing all three fraction insets on the mat, reiterating what was learnt that day.