Lesson 3: How to show 1, 2, 3 and 4 on an abacus
Level 1, Bead Village. Count them up to the bar: 1, 2, 3, 4.
What your child does, card by card
Bottom beads: 1 to 4. Four bottom beads. Four fingers. PlayType opens the lesson: “There are four bottom beads. Let's count them up together.”
1, 2, 3, 4. A yellow line goes round the bottom beads as the kids name them. Here the hands lead: they show 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 and zero, and a moment later the beads copy each one. Each label lights in turn: “1”, “2”, “3” and “4”. After the show, the child can touch: “Each bead that touches the bar adds 1.”
Push one, the others come too: beads on a rod push each other. Yellow marks the ones rod while the kids talk about it. The card ends on a touch: “Tap the third bead. Three go up together!”
Thumb up, pointer down, on a real abacus. Thumb pushes bottom beads up. Pointer finger pulls them down. First the thumb and the pointer finger turn yellow on a drawn hand while the abacus moves. After that your child must make 2, clear 2, make 3 and clear 3, guided by a green ring and the finger’s name. On a touch screen, try it with your own thumb and pointer finger.
Try it puts a green ring on each next bead; your child makes 1, 2, 3 and 4, changing the beads from one number to the next.
A tiny practice with no ring: make 3, make 1, make 4, make 2 and clear the abacus, each number made from the one before without clearing.
Copy me: the hand in the lower window shows 4, 2 and 3, one at a time, and your child makes the same number on the beads.
In your head: the beads flash 2, 4 and 1, one at a time, for 1.5 seconds each and hide; your child shows each number on the drawn fingers, then sees the beads again.
You're ready! You can make 1, 2, 3 and 4, with the right fingers.
What this lesson trains
19 answers in about five minutes. The tasks take 16 bead moves in all: every one with bottom beads, the top bead stays up. Clearing comes up 3 times. 4 is the top number here. Then 3 quick looks in your head.
It starts with doing: make 2, clear 2, make 3 and clear 3.
Fingers and hands
Below the abacus the drawn hands show zero and 1, 2, 3 and 4 here, finger for bead.
On “1, 2, 3, 4” the hands move first and the beads follow, so your child sees that a finger and a bead move together: open a finger and a bead goes to the bar, close it and the bead goes back.
In Copy me the hand leads with 4, 2 and 3 and your child turns each into beads.
On “Thumb up, pointer down”, the thumb pushes bottom beads up to the bar and the pointer finger pulls bottom beads down and moves the top bead.
What PlayBuddy and PlayType say
PlayType: “There are four bottom beads. Let's count them up together.”
PlayBuddy: “One, two, three, four. Each bead adds one more.”
Stars
19 answers: 1 slip still gives three stars; up to 4, two stars.