Lesson 5: How to show 6, 7, 8 and 9 on an abacus
Level 1, Bead Village. The top bead and the bottom beads work together.
What your child does, card by card
Numbers 6 to 9. Five and some more. PlayType opens the lesson: “What comes after five? Five and one more.”
6, 7, 8, 9. The top beads and the ones rod are outlined in yellow while the kids explain. The labels “5 + 1 = 6”, “5 + 2 = 7”, “5 + 3 = 8” and “5 + 4 = 9” light up as each idea comes. “Top bead down, then bottom beads. 9 uses them all.” Any bead or finger may be tapped afterwards.
Thumb and fingers together: thumb out is 5. Each finger adds 1. 5 appears on the beads, then the rod clears again. Here the hands lead: they show 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and a moment later the beads copy each one. Then the card invites a touch: “Tap the thumb, then a finger.”
Pinch! On a real abacus. Thumb pushes up while the pointer finger pulls down. Below, one drawn right hand lights the thumb and the pointer finger as the beads go. Next it is your child’s turn to make 7, clear 7, make 9 and clear 9; a green ring marks each bead, and the finger’s name sits by the hand. One pinch makes 6, 7, 8 or 9. Open the pinch to clear.
Try it: your child makes 6, 7, 8 and 9, with a green ring on the next bead to move, changing the beads from one number to the next.
Then a short practice without rings: make 7, make 9, make 6, make 8, make 5 and clear the abacus; the beads are never cleared in between.
In Copy me the drawn hand holds up 8, 6 and 9 in turn, and your child copies each one in beads.
In your head: the beads flash 7, 9 and 6, 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 every number from 0 to 9!
What this lesson trains
20 answers, roughly five minutes: 26 moves of the beads, 10 of them with the top bead and 16 with bottom beads. Clearing comes up 3 times. Nothing goes past 9. Then 3 quick looks in your head.
The first thing your child does: make 7, clear 7, make 9 and clear 9.
Fingers and hands
Below the abacus the drawn hands show zero and 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 here, finger for bead.
On “Thumb and fingers together” 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 8, 6 and 9 and your child turns each into beads.
On “Pinch!”, the thumb and the pointer finger pinch together, so the top bead and the bottom beads reach the bar in one move.
What PlayBuddy and PlayType say
PlayType: “What comes after five? Five and one more.”
PlayBuddy: “Five and one is six. Five and two is seven.”
PlayType: “Five and three is eight. Five and four is nine.”
Stars
With 2 or fewer slips across the 20 answers your child earns three stars; 5 or fewer, two.