The Geometric Cabinat and Presentation Tray are very popular in a montessori Childrens House. There are many extenstions to this presentation you can learn and use to scaffold childrens learning.
PRESENTATION
Cabinet of Geometrical Plane Figures
Material 1 – The Presentation Tray.
• Place the tray in front of your child on the mat or table. Sit beside your child.
• Remove each of the insets and place them above or below the space you have taken them from. Wait a moment and observe the space left behind.
• Take one of the figures and holding it with the tips of the first two fingers of your dominant hand trace around the circumference of the figure, next trace around the space that is left in the tray.
• Replace the figure into it socket. Repeat this with each figure on the tray.
• Ask your child to have a turn, he may even want to join in while you are demonstrating. Feeling the contours of the shapes maybe difficult for your child, but don’t interrupt your child when he is working, it is better to wait for another day when they wish to do it again and demonstrate it the correct way.
• When your child has worked on this activity with confidence you can change the figures with three other contrasting figures from the cabinet.
• Over time the children will become familiar with all the figures in the cabinet.
• When your child is familiar with some of the figures you can teach them in a three period lesson the names of these figures.
o Period 1; introducing their names.
o Period 2; asking them to point to or pick up
o Period 3; asking your child the names of them.
Presentation – The Cabinet
• Take a draw from the cabinet and place it on the table in front of your child, take out all the figures and place them in a mixed order to one side of the tray.
• Pick up one figure and feel around it then feel the sockets in the tray to determine which one it fits.
• Your child can join in as soon as they understand the activity.
