Lesson 4: How to show 5 on an abacus
Level 1, Bead Village. After 4 comes 5. The top bead does the job.
What your child does, card by card
The top bead: 5. One bead that is worth five! PlayBuddy opens the lesson: “Four beads are up. So how do we make five?”
Swap four beads for one. A yellow line goes round the top beads as the kids name them. The labels “4 = four bottom beads” and “5 = the top bead” light up as each idea comes. “There is no fifth bottom bead. The top bead takes over.” Any bead or finger may be tapped afterwards.
Fingers in, thumb out: four fingers are 4. The thumb alone is 5. Here the hands lead: they show 4 and 5, and a moment later the beads copy each one. Then the card invites a touch: “Tap the thumb. Watch the top bead.”
Pointer finger for the top bead, on a real abacus. The pointer finger brings it down, and pushes it back up. First the pointer finger turns yellow on a drawn hand while the abacus moves. After that your child must make 5, clear 5, make 5 and clear 5, guided by a green ring and the finger’s name. The thumb never touches the top bead.
Try it puts a green ring on each next bead; your child makes 5, 4 and 5, changing the beads from one number to the next.
A tiny practice with no ring: make 4, make 5, make 2, make 5 and clear the abacus, each number made from the one before without clearing.
Copy me: the hand in the lower window shows 5, 1 and 4, one at a time, and your child makes the same number on the beads.
In your head: the beads flash 5, 4, 5 and 3, one at a time, for 1.2 seconds each and hide; your child picks the number from 3, 4 and 5, then sees the beads again.
You're ready! You know 5: the top bead alone, the thumb alone.
What this lesson trains
About five minutes and 19 answers. Altogether the child makes 20 bead moves (12 with the top bead, 8 with bottom beads). 3 of the 15 bead tasks end on zero. 5 is the top number here. Then 4 quick looks in your head.
The first thing your child does: make 5, clear 5, make 5 and clear 5.
Fingers and hands
Below the abacus the drawn hands show zero and 1, 2, 4 and 5 here, finger for bead.
On “Fingers in, thumb out” 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.
Copy me turns it round: 5, 1 and 4 appear on the hand first.
On “Pointer finger for the top bead”, the pointer finger pulls bottom beads down and moves the top bead.
What PlayBuddy and PlayType say
PlayBuddy: “Four beads are up. So how do we make five?”
PlayType: “Five is the top bead alone. The bottom beads go back down.”
PlayType: “And your thumb is the top bead. It's worth five!”
Stars
With 1 or fewer slips across the 19 answers your child earns three stars; 4 or fewer, two.