Bottle-Cap Abacus and Number Line Rope
Two zero-cost learning materials made from bottle caps, wire and a rope that let children physically add, subtract and understand place value.
Rajesh SolankiMathematics Teacher · Government Primary School, DholkaTeaching Learning Material does not need a budget. Two tools that have changed my Class 1 and 2 maths:
The Bottle-Cap Abacus: three wires on a cardboard frame, each with ten bottle caps in a different colour for ones, tens and hundreds. Children build numbers and watch 'carry over' actually happen when ten caps move to the next wire.
The Number Line Rope: a 5-metre rope with pegs numbered 0 to 50 strung across the classroom. Children jump along it for addition and walk back for subtraction. Negative numbers, when we get there, simply mean walking past the door.
Both tools took one afternoon and cost nothing. I have run a workshop for 22 teachers in my cluster to make their own.
More like this
Fraction Rotis: Teaching Fractions with the Kitchen
Children fold, cut and share paper rotis to discover halves, quarters and eighths, and then move to equivalent fractions through 'who ate more?' debates.
Peer Tutoring Ladders in a Multi-grade Classroom
A structured peer-tutoring system where every child teaches someone one rung below and learns from someone one rung above, with a weekly rotation.
Conversation(1)
Log in to ask a question or share how you adapted this idea.
Log in to commentRunning a cluster workshop is the real multiplier here. Wonderful, Rajesh.