The Mathematics Materials

          

The Mathematics materials again place emphasis on enabling the child to gain an understanding of each concept by receiving a concrete impression of it. 

The children are first introduced to numbers as a whole and then progress towards an introduction to the number symbols via the Sandpaper Numbers. 

These enable the child to receive the correct muscular impression of the correct shape and encourage the children to practise writing them whilst they are feeling the shape. The children are encouraged towards a complete understanding of numbers and their meaning, gaining a good one to one correspondence, really understanding numbers and quantities, rather than just counting by rote. 

Once children are securely counting using one to one correspondence and recognising the number symbols the Montessori curriculum begins to introduce addition, subtraction as well as tens/ hundreds and thousands if individual children are ready for this.