To help our parents gain a better understanding of the Montessori curriculum, we will be highlighting some of the most iconic Montessori lessons and materials in a series of blog posts beginning with the red rods. Use these posts to initiate a conversation with your child about the work he/she is doing in school.
RED RODS: Sensorial
The Montessori Red Rods are used to teach Length. There is a definite relation between the ten pieces of each series. In the material for length the shortest piece is a unit of measurement for all the rest; the second piece is double the first, the third is three times the first, etc., and, whilst the scale of length increases by ten centimeters for each piece, the other dimensions remain constant.
The Materials:
10 Red Wooden Rods all the same thickness but varying in length with each rod increases in length by the length of the smallest rod. The pieces then stand in the same relation to one another as the natural series of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
The Objective:
To develop the child’s visual and muscular perception of length
To develop the child’s co-ordination of movement
To provide controlled experiences of seriation (the ability to arrange objects in order by size)
To give the child basic language important in Math
Co-ordination, Balance, Concentration