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Jordan
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 3:56pm | IP Logged
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Does anyone know of any reason for not using base ten blocks for the golden bead materials? It seems like this would be less expensive.
Have you all thought about how you will acquire the math materials over time? I've been reading about how the Montessori math materials work and I am SO impressed. Buying everything all at once is prohibitively expensive so I'm just wondering how far in advance you guys shop for?
Thanks! 
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Jordan
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 4:18pm | IP Logged
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Jordan -
It took awhile to convince me on the golden beads - mostly because I really wasn't understanding how key they were.
After a good bit of reading on them (primarily in Hainstock's Montessori in the Home - Elementary Years) I finally got it.
Not sure how old your kids are, so I'm not sure how much to advise you to get. But, the primary thing is to "think outside the label." By that I mean that the kit sold as Introduction to Decimals can be used for much more than that one presentation.
You don't have to buy the gigantic $400 kit to get started. You might consider the Introduction to Decimal System(scroll down a bit) as a starter. You can accomplish A LOT of the presentations done with golden beads with this one kit alone. Then, maybe you'd get the wooden 1000 cubes, some colored bead stairs, and the Addition Snake Game and you'd be pretty much set for not a whole lot of $$.
This is what I did anyway, and I'm very pleased with the beads, their construction, their attractiveness, etc.
Hope this answers some of your questions.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 4:18pm | IP Logged
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Jordan, I have been using Base Ten Blocks and Cuisenaire Rods with my dc for math for many years and they work GREAT!! My decision to invest on the Golden Bead & Colored Bead Material was based on the fact that all four of my dc will be using them over time and that they tend to be easier for the littler ones in a relational sense, meaning they can see each individual gold bead on a ten bar and know that the loose bead units make up the ten bar when you get to ten. I know there are notched rods as well, and snap cube bars (as we have them all  ) so it's really just a personal preference for you. You can always consider them down the road as your dc learn and you decide how much Montessori you wish to incorporate! You can also make them as so many have here, I just didn't have the notion this summer!
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Meredith
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saintanneshs
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 4:34pm | IP Logged
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Jordan wrote:
| Does anyone know of any reason for not using base ten blocks for the golden bead materials? |
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Jordan, I'm having trouble finding base ten blocks sold cheaply in a large enough set to accommodate the Montessori presentations. (ie, one presentation requires 9- thousand cubes) Most of the resources I've checked only sell (1) thousand cube with their base ten block sets and I can't find a place that sells the hundred or thousand base ten blocks separately. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places, but the wooden Montessori blocks are actually cheaper, if I'm right. 
I'm thinking of investing in some of the bead materials (like the 100 and 1000 chains and the wooden hundred and thousand cubes) and then making some of my own stuff (modeled after the ones on Theresa's blog  ). I haven't spent any money yet...I'm kind of scared to! I'm trying to remember what Meredith said about using the materials with more than one child.
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Kristine
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Jordan
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 4:44pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Jennifer and Meredith. So you think the beads are a better visual for a unit than the base ten blocks? That's interesting to know.
I was wondering, like Jennifer mentioned, how much of the bead material I would actually need. The stores sell it in so many different combinations. It's hard to know in advance how much I'll be using at a given time and will need to keep separate on my shelves.
You know, Meredith, I ordered a whole slew of math manipulatives a few months ago (base ten blocks, cuisenaire rods, pattern blocks, snap cubes, etc.) along with the guides, and we haven't used them yet. Now I'm really wanting to use the Montessori math stuff instead. I've thought about trying to do the Montessori bead works with the blue base ten blocks and Cuisenaire rods I have but I would worry about it flopping and then having to switch to beads anyhow.
Where did you guys purchase your bead material?
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Jordan
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Jordan
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 4:53pm | IP Logged
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Kristine,
We were posting at the same time.
Maybe there's not a big price difference. I only have one set of base tens with 1 cube, 10 squares, and a bunch (??) of tens and units.
This is interesting... this classroom set is huge for $190. It's not exactly lovely but it's something to consider.
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Jordan
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 4:54pm | IP Logged
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Jordan -
I ordered from Montessori Concepts because they had the best prices.
If you're still not sure, maybe it's best to wait. Go through a few presentation albums online and ask yourself which presentations would benefit your kids at their ages. How much use would you get out of a set of beads - are your kids of an age that you'd get plenty of use? Looking at th presentations make a list of the golden bead material you'd need to accomplish the presentations you feel are suited to your kids. Then take a look online to see how much expense you'd incur to get them. It's a long approach, but it does keep you from spontaneous purchases that you might regret in the end. If you have a clear idea of how you'd use the beads if you purchased them, you will avoid any second thoughts or regrets you might have had if you just purchased on a whim. These are just my thoughts though.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Jordan
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 5:03pm | IP Logged
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Jennifer,
Thanks for recommending Montessori Concepts.
That's a really good idea to make a list of exactly what's required for the presentations I'm interested in. I've already gone through an album, like you suggested, and noted which ones sounded good to me (almost ALL of them). I did not make any notes of what materials I'd use. The part that boggles my brain is the overlap. If you want to have two separate materials out at once, you have to have enough beads for both, and it seems hard to know in advance which you'll have out simultaneously. Maybe I just need to spend some more time planning and it's not really as complicated as I'm making it.
BTW, my kids are 2 and 4.
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Jordan
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 5:15pm | IP Logged
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I also ordered all of my bead material at Montessori Concepts and am very pleased. You could very easily sell all of your Base Ten and other Math Manipulatives on ebay or here at the Trading Post, someone will surely want them. I am considering this myself, as we have acquired more than we need , especially with our transition to Montessori!
I agree, with the others as well, that perhaps trying a few of the presentations and see how they stick!!
Blessings!
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Meredith
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 5:17pm | IP Logged
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I know what you mean about overlap. I plan on having all of my golden bead materials out with a few trays next to them. Then for a particular activity the child (or me) will add to the tray what is needed for that activity - then return to its place when finished.
I see you have precious littles - perhaps you could just add the needed items to a tray as you present showing them where you got the different beads, that's part of the presentation too, and then finishing the activity with putting items away.
Some activities naturally lend themselves to leaving pieces together, like the addition snake game.
If you haven't taken a look at the Comprehensive List for 3-6 you might find it very helpful for giving you an idea of how much and what you might have out at a time. The presentations are listed in order. It is a download that costs around $9, sorry, but I found it quite helpful so thought I'd mention that in case you hadn't seen the other thread we were discussing that on.
I was going to mention as well that if you are a part of a homeschool group, you might consider selling your base tens if you really wanted to transition to golden beads - that might help offset the purchase for you and there is always a willing buyer for those materials!!
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Jen Mackintosh
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AndreaG
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| Posted: June 19 2007 at 6:21pm | IP Logged
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My take on this is that you need at least 10 of each of units, ten and hundreds and 9 1000's, and as many more as you can afford! Base 10 blocks are cheaper than beads, you can get 1000 cubes for $3.25 each (I think) from Rainbow Resource, but not cheaper than the wooden cubes and flats with beads printed on them that Montessori Concepts sells. I think beads for units and tens and then maybe one bead flat (100) and one bead cube (1000) and the rest the wood with beads printed on to save $$$.
For the colored bead bars it is nice to have 55 of each color.
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Angel
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| Posted: June 20 2007 at 8:17am | IP Logged
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We've been making due with a set of base 10 blocks, 9 wooden 1000 blocks, and the set of beads from the Addition Snake Game. A few things I've noticed with this approach:
My kids are much more drawn to the beads than to the foam base 10 blocks. I think it's the attractiveness thing again. *I'm* drawn to those beads. 
When my oldest started kindergarten, I bought a ton of math manipulatives, but of everything we bought, we've primarily used base 10 blocks, pattern blocks, and unit cubes. For some reason the Cuisenaire rods haven't been wildly popular. The snap cubes have always been too hard to snap together, particularly for the fine-motor challenged among us.
If I do decide that we need more beads (to replace the base 10 blocks, for multiplication, etc.), I'll probably buy them, just because they look pretty labor intensive to make and I don't really have the time to do it. Since my dd is starting with multiplication and division, and my I'd like to do more of a Montessori progression with my 4 yo, I probably will end up getting more beads... but haven't thought about it too much yet, as I've been more worried about how to get things out and set up in the first place.
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Questions About Math Materials
