What is the Montessori Checkerboard?

One of the major differences between traditional and Montessori schooling is the use of materials to help children in the learning process. A Montessori Checkerboard is one such material that helps students to connect with the numbers they are working rather than just seeing numbers on paper.

Montessori Checkerboard is an early elementary math material that is utilized to teach a variety of fundamental math concepts. The most popular use of this material is to teach multiplication. It makes  learning multiplication fun by giving a strong visual of how the process works.

Register for the Entri Elevate Montessori Teacher Training Program! Click here to join!

How to Use a Montessori Checkerboard?

The Montessori Checkerboard consists of the Checkerboard mat, the colour-coded bead bars 1 to 9, white and grey number tiles 1 to 9 and some command cards or prepared equations.

1. Let us consider a multiplication problem 234 x 45.
2. Split the multiplicand and the multiplier into their place values. For example, 234 = 2 hundreds, 3 tens and 4 ones.
3. Place the beads on the board to represent the multiplicand. Place 4 in the units column on the bottom right, 3 in the tens column and 2 in the hundreds column.
4. Now we have to multiply each of these digits with the digit at the unit place of the multiplier. Multiply 5 by 4 and place 20 beads in the units column. Similarly multiply 3 by 4 and place 12 beads in the tens column. Multiply 5 by 2 and place 10 beads in the hundreds column.
5. We then multiply the digits with the tens digit of the multiplier. Move to the net row, multiply 4 by 4 and place 16 beads in the tens column. Multiply 4 by 3 and place 12 beads in the hundreds place. Multiply 4 by 2 and place 8 squares in the thousands column.
6. Now we need to add up the number of beads in each row and column to get the partial products.
7. Once all the partial products are calculated, add them up to get the final result.

How to Make a Montessori Checkerboard?

A Montessori checkerboard has four rows and nine columns of squares alternating in green, blue, and red colour. Traditionally, the checkerboard was made of wood, but now they are sewn using fabric, or one can also find printable checkerboards.

To make a checkerboard, you will need the following:

• Cardboard or wooden board for the base (10 inches wide and 18 inches long)
• Ruler and pencil
• Red, green and blue coloured paper or paint
• Multiplication beads or counters

Steps to Make the Checkerboard

1. Take the cardboard or wooden board and draw squares of 1 inch each. There must be four rows of nine squares.
2. The Montessori checkerboard follows a colour pattern that represents the place value. Use coloured paper or paint to fill each square. To know more about the colour pattern, read the details given below.
3. Label the rows to indicate place values like ones, tens, hundreds etc.
4. Prepare beads or counters in different colours.

Colour Patterns on a Montessori Checkerboard

The colours on a Montessori Checkerboard are green, blue and red. These colours alternate and repeat after every three squares. In a column,

• green represents units
• blue represents tens
• red represents hundreds

The alternating colour patter is repeated across the rows with the right bottom square being green. This is the starting point for numbers on this board. The individual horizontal rows not only represent place value but also represent the partial products of multiplication.

Using the bead bars helps children to practice skip counting and they are able to absorb things and put into their memory, rather than memorizing the multiplication facts. Montessori methods are useful as they help children to think organically and understand the underlying concept. Entri Elevate Montessori Teachers Training course is designed to train teachers in the Montessori method of education. This course helps you attain the required qualification and achieve you dream job.

Register for the Entri Elevate Montessori Teacher Training Program! Click here to join!