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Features

The colored bead bars from 1 to 9, each in its own bead stair color
Count the beads on each bar and write the number
Draw a line from each bar to its numeral card
Find the missing step of a bead stair and write its number
Circle the bar with more beads
Number nine bars that are out of order, as in building the stair
Made to be read aloud, with big boxes to write in
Every page in color and in black and white
Answer keys included

Skills Covered

Count beads from 1 to 9 and write the number
Match a quantity to its numeral
Compare two quantities: which has more

Know the order of the numbers 1 to 9
See each number as one more than the one before
Find a missing number in a sequence

How to Use This Pack

Five pages built on the bead stair, read aloud to the child. Page 1 has seven bead bars to count, writing each bar's number in the box. Page 2 has six bars and six numeral cards: the child draws a line from each bar to its card. Page 3 shows four bead stairs from 1 to 9, each with one step missing: the child writes the number of the missing bar. Page 4 has eight pairs of bars: the child circles the bar with more beads. Page 5 has all nine bars out of order: the child finds the 1 bar, then the 2 bar, and so on, and writes each bar's place in the stair.

In the Classroom

Use the pages after the child has built the bead stair with the real bars, counted the beads on each bar and learned which color goes with which number. The black and white copies cannot lean on the colors, so they show whether the child counts the beads or remembers the color. On page 3 let a child who is stuck build the real stair and look for the gap. The pages make a quiet follow-up to the work and a record of it.

At Home

String beads or pasta on pipe cleaners to make bars of 1 to 9, using a different color for each, and build a stair together. Count each bar, touching every bead. Hide one bar and ask which step is missing, or hold up two bars and ask which has more.

Tips for Success

Touch each bead as you count it, and say the last number for the whole bar
In the stair, each bar has one more bead than the bar above it
A longer bar has more beads, because all the beads are the same size
To find a missing step, count up the stair until a number is not there
The colors help on the color pages, but counting the beads always gives the answer

Common Core Standards Alignment

This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:

K.CC.A.3 Write the numerals 0 to 20 and use a numeral to show how many objects are in a group, with 0 meaning none.
K.CC.B.4a Count objects by saying numbers in order and matching exactly one number to each object, none skipped or counted twice.
K.CC.B.4b Know the final number in a count gives the total, and the total stays the same however the objects are arranged or counted.
K.CC.B.5 Tell how many: up to 20 objects in a line, array or circle, or 10 scattered. Also count out a requested number up to 20.
K.CC.C.6 Decide whether one group of up to 10 objects has more, fewer or the same as another, by matching or counting.

Montessori Bead Stair Counting

Pre-K – K

The Montessori bead stair, the colored bead bars from 1 to 9, for counting beads and seeing each number as one more than the one before. Children count the beads on a bar and write the number, match bars to numerals, find the missing step of a stair, choose the bar with more beads, and number bars that are out of order from 1 to 9.

Download PDF

What’s Included

5 worksheets in color and in black and white, with answer keys (15 pages)
Count the beads, and match bars to numerals
The missing step of the stair, and the bar with more
Nine bars out of order to number from 1 to 9

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Free to print and share

This worksheet is free to download, print, copy, and hand out in your classroom or at home. You do not need to create an account, and there are no watermarks on the PDF.